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Green Party Holds Presidential Debate in California
Democracy Now!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WYC0cEN6d4]
Ralph Nader: You want healthcare for all? Who says no? It’s the health insurance industry, the drug companies and the HMOs. You want living wage? Who says no and makes it stick? It’s McDonald’s. It’s Burger King. It’s Wal-Mart. You want peace in the world, and you want a country to wage peace and become a humanitarian superpower? Who’s opposed to that? The Lockheed Martins. What Eisenhower condemned is a military-industrial complex. Just ask: Who keeps saying no? And you know what the focus of a Green Party and an alternative party political movement has to be.
Cynthia McKinney cited Ralph Nader as part of why she was running on the Green ticket.
Cynthia McKinney: Mr. Nader, in a recent piece, asked us to take the next step if we don’t like what’s happening in our country. I’ve heeded his advice: I’ve joined your party. I’m helping Green candidates, and I’m here with you today. I ask you to take the next step with me.
Also participating in the Green Party debate were Jared Ball, Jesse Johnson, Kent Mesplay and Kat Swift.
Filed under: Cindy Sheehan, cynthia mckinney, debate, election, elections, Green Party Websites, media, News, Ralph Nader Tagged: | Peace Mom, Ralph Nader
We were there. It was a very successful event, especially since it had been pulled together on such short notice. Though the candidates had come prepared to debate, the event took on a forum feeling; the candidates genuinely expressed a sense of comraderie and shared purpose of party-building.
Cynthia McKinney received a lot of love from the audience. She also offered Mr. Nader, absent from the debate but watching in the audience, some gratitude, stating that his call to action helped to bring her into the party.
In an interview conducted with Ralph Nader after the event, he said that he was very pleased to see the level of discourse offered during the forum. Mr. Nader was only recently made aware that his participation in the actual event would trigger his candidacy which he is not yet prepared to do, since he knows that he will face a serious attack from Democrats the moment he does. He is already embroiled in legal battles with the DNC in many states.