The "People's Party" has a presidential candidate: Cornel West. Because that party is such a joke -- and a dirty joke at that -- Cornel now wants to be the Green Party's presidential candidate. He's not at present. He'll need to campaign and then may or may not get the nomination. The Green Party does not approve of The "People's Party" (most people do not approve of PP). In addition, Cornel West is not a member of the Green Party. It's a head scratcher, all right.
Is Cornel West for real? It's so hard to tell.
For example, he does interviews with grifter Glenneth Greenwald and that's a suspect move. Glenneth isn't a leftist so why is Cornel making nice with him? Glenneth's also a raging transphobe and hate merchant so why is Cornel calling him "my brother Glenn Greenwald"?
Then there are other questionables.
Democrats can pretend that Biden has the support of progressives, but I, for one, would never ever vote for Biden. And I am not alone. Thank goodness @CornelWest has given us a terrific alternative. #cornelwest2024 https://t.co/Nhuhu3t0sn
— Medea Benjamin (@medeabenjamin) July 23, 2023
We're not big on fake asses and Susan Benjamin is nothing but a fake ass. Earlier this year, she wanted to gather with people like herself, remember? She wanted to join them onstage -- other racists and Nazis. Then the rank-and-file of CODEPINK told her no damn way. So she didn't . . . join them onstage. She just joined their event because nothing says "peace" and "left" like mingling with Nazis?
If you missed their failure of an event, consider yourself lucky.
Reporting on it, Jacob Crosse and Joseph Kishore (WSWS) noted:
Pacifist journalist and author Chris Hedges, having evolved politically from warning of the fascist threat in the United States to promoting the unity of left and right, opened the event with a sermon intended to provide benediction for the speakers who would follow.
Hedges, along with Max Blumenthal of the Grayzone, Jill Stein of the Green Party, and comedian Jimmy Dore and a few others were there to give a progressive gloss to the “left-right” coalition and legitimize the extreme right. Their principal message was that unity with the fascistic right was permissible and should be actively pursued. Those who oppose collaboration with the right are viewed as political enemies.
The visceral hostility to opponents of “left-right unity” was recorded in various video clips of Hedges and Blumenthal, in conversations before the start of the rally, denouncing the World Socialist Web Site.
This anger against the defense of principled socialist politics erupted in the speech of Dore. He devoted most of his remarks to a thinly-veiled denunciation of the World Socialist Web Site for opposing unity with the fascists.
In the case of Dore, alliance with the right is not only a tactic. It is an expression of his own political views. Dore advanced the position of the far right on the COVID-19 pandemic, denouncing public health measures and vaccines. At one point he declared that “they” want me “to hate my neighbor for the pain I am feeling because of that because they wouldn’t take a vaccine that didn’t work the way they said it did in the first f**king place.” He added, “Eat boosters you mother f**kers.”
At one point, Dore bizarrely asked, “Why are we sending that money to Nazis in Ukraine when we could be funding Nazis here in America struggling to buy eggs?”
Jacob Crosse went on to draw a very direct line between fascists and Nazis to the organizing of the event and conclude, "There is not only a close political kinship but a direct line of
communication connecting outright Nazis to the Libertarian Party, the
principal organizer of the 'Rage Against the War Machine' rally. Those
supposedly on the 'left' who participated in the rally served primarily
to lend these far-right forces political credibility and legitimacy."
This is the group that Susan "Medea" Benjamin wanted to be onstage with, this is the group that she did rally with.
CODEPINK has had a racial problem from the beginning. Like Lena Dunham, they constantly insisted that they were going to fix it, they were going to bring more people of color into their White group. Like Lena, they never did. Unlike racist Lena, they didn't claim that they couldn't write White characters not being White. Instead, they just walked away from the promise and thought no one would notice.
Why would anyone notice? All CODEPINK ever does is walk away from promises. There are troops on the ground in Iraq because CODEPINK got bored and dropped it as an issue. That's what peace groups do, right? If they're racist anyway.
They also, when Barack Obama gets sworn in as president, start calling for the Afghanistan War to . . . continue, right? That's what they do, right? Because that is what CODEPINK did.
Over and over, they've disappointed. And yet Susan aka Medea has remained the public face. For over 20 years. As we noted earlier this year, "Editorial: Susan Benjamin needs to step aside from leading CODEPINK." 20 years as the public face. 20 years. She's 70 now. She is Dianne Feinstein refusing to step aside and let younger people lead.
And this is who rallies to Cornel West?
She's also a proponent of the 'safe state' 'strategy.'
Are people aware of that? In 2004, her 'answer' (not that anyone was waiting to hear from her) was that Green Party members should vote for John Kerry for president unless they were in a state which was predicted to go to Kerry anyway. Kerry was the Democratic Party's presidential nominee. That's the kind of Green that Susan actually is.
So, no, her 'endorsement' is as meaningless and attention-seeking as anything else this shallow fake ass ever does.
Renee Johnston of BLACK POWER MEDIA has offered many strong critiques of Cornel's campaign. For example, see the video below.
One of the critiques was that he was out-of-step with internet. After her critiques, he and/or his team have finally started using the official website as a tool to attract voters.
And, last week, the campaign finally managed to issue two press releases:
Cornel West calls for the nationalization of the fossil fuel industry and an immediate halt to oil, gas and coal extraction to combat the climate emergency
War, Climate and My Presidential Campaign
Prior to that? This 'happening' campaign issued a press release on July 12th. Before that July 4th. Before that? Nothing at the website.
At the website, he says he's for "Unleashing Democracy:"
Massive investments in satisfying the social needs of everyday people. Medicare for all including humane mental healthcare, decriminalization of drugs, and creation of humane rehabilitation sites. decent housing for all, quality education for all, free college tuition for all, and jobs with living wages for all. Abolishing poverty and houselessness. Targeting the vicious legacy of white supremacy by ending mass incarceration, demilitarizing policing (abolishing Cop-Cities), and promoting reparations for past unjust treatment of Black people. Prioritizing the empowerment of indigenous peoples. Protecting the reproductive rights of women and ending all forms of patriarchy. Securing the rights of LGBTQ+ and Trans-Peoples. Treating every migrant and asylum seeker with dignity and implementing fundamental changes in immigration policies. Public financing of elections with rank-choice voting, eliminating the Electoral College and a national holiday for voting. Democratizing unaccountable monopolies and oligopolies with workers' control.
Sound great and it is needed but how?
If you were president, how would you do any of that? Public financing? That's not happening. You would be a Green with a Congress in the hands of the Democrats and the Republicans. Congress writes the laws, the president just signs off on them. You are aware of that, right?
So you're not going to achieve any of that even if you got the Green Party nomination (they will decide on their nominee at their summer 2024 convention).
We like the idea, we just don't see you doing it.
Then there's "Secure the rights of LGBTQ+ and Trans-people."
We don't agree with that.
Oh, we're all for the rights of LGBTQ+ people.
Does Cornel not even understand what LGBTQ+ stands for? L=Lesbians, G= Gay men, B= bisexual people, T=trans persons and Q=Queer persons.
Why would you say "and Trans-people" after you said LGBTQ+?
Why?
Unless you didn't understand what it meant?
A single sentence and the campaign doesn't even understand the basics of LGBTQ+?
More to the point, he keeps going on shows and making nice with transphobes like Glenneth and Jimmy Dore and Max Blumenthal?
Again, if a miracle was delivered and he became president, he wouldn't be restricted in what he could do since Greens do not control Congress -- or even have a small number of members in Congress.
So don't tell us what you're going to do. Show us right now, how you defend LGBTQ+ people because we're not seeing it when you shuck and jive with all the transphobes on YOUTUBE.
Susan 'Medea' Benjamin is all about seeking attention. Maybe that's why she's so high on Cornel West? Thus far, it seems like he's just about seeking attention as well.
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Illustration is Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "Cornel's Crackpot Cracker Parade."