(This cartoon image is by Clay Jones at
claytoonz.com.)
When it became evident that Bernie Sanders could not win the Democratic nomination there were a lot of very disappointed Bernie supporters. Most of them have followed the lead of their candidate and switched their support to Hillary Clinton -- if for no other reason, to keep Donald Trump out of the White House. But there are still a few hold-outs, and Jill Stein (the Green Party candidate) is doing her best to corral those unhappy voters.
However, the polls don't show Stein doing very well. She is having trouble hanging on to 4% of the vote. Samuel Warde, a Bernie supporter, tells us at
Liberals Unite why he cannot support the Jill Stein / Ajamu Baraka ticket. He writes:
As a Bernie Sanders supporter, I cannot vote for Green Party candidate Jill Stein. Here’s why.
To be honest, I never really cared for Stein, but that lack of regard turned into concern when she came out in July and proclaimed that she didn’t mind helping Donald Trump beat Hillary Clinton.
Here are the reasons why i cannot and will not vote for Jill Stein for president.
1. As noted above, Stein does not mind handing the election to Trump despite the kind of damage he could cause to the country if elected. Bernie Sanders formally endorsed Hillary Clinton back in July, telling the world: “I intend to do everything I can to make certain she will be the next president of the United States.” Stein’s message: “I will have trouble sleeping at night if Donald Trump is elected. I will also have trouble sleeping at night if Hillary Clinton is elected. And as despicable as Donald Trump’s words are, I find Hillary Clinton’s actions and track record is very troubling”
2. Sanders offered an optimistic vision for the country with his “America” campaign ad and a slogan promising “A Future to Believe in.” On the other hand, Stein’s message this week was: “We don’t really have a future right now to offer our younger generation.”
3. As NBC News reported: “Where Sanders tempered his disappointment with President Obama to avoid needlessly alienating people who feel warmly about the country’s first black president, Baraka defended calling Obama ‘your uncle tom president’ in a blog post. Baraka said he used the slur that describes a black person too eager to please whites in order ‘to shock people’ into thinking more critically about Obama. ‘I stand by that, even though it sounds very inflammatory, and provocative, and probably very strange to this massive audience here tonight,’ he told CNN host Chris Cuomo.
4. Sanders vowed to fight ISIS on his own terms, acknowledging voters’ concerns regarding terrorism, detailing a plan to rally our Mideast allies to destroy the militant group. Stein dismissed the issues stating”ISIS is not about to launch a major attack against our country.”
5. Sanders defended Clinton’s use of a private email server during the first Democratic primary debate, exclaiming: “The American people are sick and tired of hearing about your damn emails.” He went on to state: “enough of the emails. Let’s talk about the real issues facing America.” Stein’s response to the controversy was “with Hillary’s abuse of the rules, she was sort of too big to jail.”
6. As NBC News reports: “Most perplexing, Stein and Baraka said little about economic inequality and campaign finance, the two pillars of Sanders’ message. In a 90-minute town hall, she also did not make more than passing references to financial reform, labor rights, LGBT rights, abortion rights, health care, or immigration reform.”
(This cartoon image is by Clay Jones at claytoonz.com.)
