Green Presidential Candidate Lays Claim To OWS, Panics Democrats
A Green Party presidential candidate announced her campaign today in Massachusetts and Democrats are already having Ralph Nader flashbacks.
Who is the rightful owner of #Occupywallstreet? The Democrats who stupidly embraced the movement or the Green Party which Democrats will now be forced to demonize?
Pass the popcorn, please…
Lexington doctor Jill Stein launched a bid to become the Green Party’s presidential nominee today, saying the Occupy Wall Street movement shows voters are frustrated with President Obama’s stewardship of the economy.
“We are hearing the need for this race in every park and plaza where there’s an encampment around this country,” Stein said at a press conference with about two dozen supporters on the steps of the Massachusetts State House. “There’s an enormous need for alternatives, and we see that breaking out all over.”
Stein said that, while she is not officially aligned with Occupy Wall Street protesters, “We are proud to give that movement an electoral voice.”
A frequent candidate for political office in Massachusetts, Stein has run unsuccessfully for state representative and secretary of state and for governor in 2002 and 2010, when she received about 2 percent of the vote.
She said she hopes to qualify for the ballot in at least 45 states. The Green Party will formally nominate a candidate for president in summer 2012. Kent P. Mesplay of California has also declared his candidacy, but Stein said “his campaign is not particularly active at this time.”
Democrats, pointing to the role Ralph Nader played in the 2000 presidential election in Florida, have warned that Green Party candidates siphon votes away from the Democratic nominee, thereby helping to elect Republicans.
Stein rejected that argument, saying there was little difference between Obama and his Republican challengers. Both, she said, represent the interests of Wall Street and would deepen the “Bush/Obama recession.”
Yeah, Obama is just like Republicans. Right.
This should be fun to watch.
UPDATE: Welcome Instapundit readers!
