Good Left Hook

A few months ago, it seemed that Rocky Anderson and Jill Stein might divide between them the 2012 votes of liberal Americans who are angry at Barack Obama’s slide into right wing political ideology. Now, it looks like most of those votes will go to Jill Stein.

Rocky Anderson’s presidential campaign promised to campaign against corporate-controlled political parties. Now, that promise is broken, as Rocky Anderson has joined Americans Elect, a political party that was set up using cash from Wall Street hedge fund managers, has taken huge contributions without disclosing the sources, and is controlled by a tiny group of wealthy, corporate-aligned political insiders.

Everything that Rocky Anderson has said about confronting the corporate elites is contradicted by this move. Americans Elect represents the 1 Percent, and is designed to shut the 99 Percent out of the political process. Rocky Anderson is now standing with the 1 Percent, allowing himself to be used by their ethically corrupt system, leaving the fledgling Justice Party to starve to death.

The Facebook page entitled Rocky Anderson and Jill Stein Campaign Together, which had been advocating for the Stein and Anderson campaigns to merge in a unity progressive ticket, is now encouraging disgruntled Rocky Anderson supporters to move to the Jill Stein for President campaign. The new title of that Facebook page is Former Rocky Anderson Fans Join Jill Stein For President.

Once trust is lost in a political candidate, it’s almost impossible for it to be re-established. Rocky Anderson has lost the trust of politically active progressives. That’s why it’s time to move to Jill Stein – a real liberal who doesn’t need to take corporate support to get on the ballot.

Wear one of these Jill Stein for President campaign buttons to show your new allegiance.

What kind of people support Rocky Anderson for President? They’re the kind of people who have a memory that lasts longer than just a few months – people who can think back and remember that the very same political parties that promised change in the last election are the same people pushing the same old political agenda America has been stuck with for a whole generation.

Rocky Anderson puts it this way: “Our supporters are those who want to see real change – who want to see an elimination of the corrupting influence of money in our government. We will have universal health care for all our citizens (which Ron Paul opposes) if we eliminate the influence of the many millions of dollars flowing from the health insurance and pharmaceutical industries. We will see major cuts in military spending by eliminating the corrupting influence of money from the military-industrial complex. I would make the case to the American people about the waste in our military budget and stop the practice of Democrats and Republicans alike fighting for massive funding simply to take the federal pork back to their states and districts.”

Voters in Georgia are tired of being told that they only have two choices in an election: Republican or Democrat. That’s why Georgians are giving their support to the Rocky Anderson for President campaign. Rocky Anderson isn’t a Democrat or a Republican. He’s the leader of the new Justice Party. Wear this campaign button to show that you have joined Georgia for Rocky Anderson for President in 2012.

Why would people in Maine vote for Mitt Romney for President? Romney brags about his record as an executive at Bain Capital, but when Romney was at Bain Capital, he bought up companies in Maine and then destroyed them, eliminating huge numbers of jobs that communities in Maine have never gotten back.

Consider the example of Randy Johnson, who had a good job at a paper plant in Maine – until Mitt Romney and Bain Capital moved on. Mitt Romney ordered the paper plant to be closed, and Randy Johnson was out of work.

Randy Johnson didn’t do anything wrong to lose that job, and he wasn’t offered another job by any of the companies that Mitt Romney owned. Romney just moved on, leaving Mr. Johnson, and other workers in Maine, as collateral damage to his effort to build up a personal fortune for himself.

Mitt Romney offers up abstract justifications for destroying jobs in Maine. That’s easy for him. All Mitt Romney saw was a balance sheet, and a way to exploit a vulnerability to make a short-term profit. Romney didn’t bother to get to know the people whose lives he was wrecking.

Workers in Maine have another perspective. To them, jobs aren’t just theoretical economic principles. They’re what it takes to keep their children fed and clothed. “These are not just thoughts. There are real jobs there were lost,” Randy Johnson explains.

Mitt Romney doesn’t understand that. Romney has never had to work in a job he didn’t want. Romney has never lived in fear of what will happen to his family if he loses a job. Romney inherited millions of dollars when he was born.

A politician who is out of touch with the reality of the jobs destroyed through corporate abuses is not suited to serve as President of the United States. That’s why, in the 2012 presidential election, Maine is against Mitt Romney.

Once upon a time, not very long ago, Newt Gingrich shut down America. He took our public square, the democratic government that the Founding Fathers fought for, and closed it off, locking the doors and turning out the light.

Why would Gingrigh do such a thing? It was all just because he had a grudge – a personal grudge against Bill Clinton.

Newt Gingrich tried to rob the USA of its democratically elected President too, on the accusation that Clinton had a series of extramarital affairs. Well, guess what? At the very same time, Newt Gingrich was having a series of sexual affairs.

This kind of selfish arrogance has been typical throughout Newt Gingrich’s political career. Now, as America is fighting its way out of the recession that Gingrich helped to cause, is the very last time that we should accept the flawed leadership of man who allows himself to be ruled by fits of rage.

Responsible voters need to turn out at the polls, because it’s time to shut down Newt Gingrich before he shuts down America

American liberals, ask yourself this question: What has Barack Obama done for you lately?

Obama has helped Republicans arrange for huge budget cuts to education, to Medicare, and to American infrastructure. He’s extended George W. Bush’s tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires. He’s done this while expanding military spending to record breaking levels.

Barack Obama has refused to support marriage equality for same sex couples. He’s actually sent lawyers to court to argue that homosexuality is like bestiality – an argument we thought was better suited to Rick Santorum.

Barack Obama has expanded the unconstitutional White House Office Of Faith Based Initiatives. He’s extended the Patriot Act without reforms. He has refused to reform the FISA Amendments Act, as he promised he would.

When the Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling platform exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, unleashing the biggest oil spill in American history, Barack Obama did not respond with a moratorium on new offshore drilling. Instead, Obama expanded oil drilling both offshore and onshore.

Barack Obama’s record in the White House is unacceptable to progressive Democrats.

Luckily, progressive Democrats have an alternative. Darcy Richardson is running for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination in 2012 – and he’s on the ballot.

Give Darcy Richardson your vote, and wear this Darcy Richardson for President campaign tshirt to show your support. The shirt is made in America, not in a nasty overseas sweatshop.

Yes, it looks like Mitt Romney is probably going to win the 2012 Republican presidential nomination contest, but let’s be honest – it wasn’t really a very vigorous contest, was it? The Republican presidential candidates competed with each other to see who could be the most insane, the most pathetic, the furthest outside of America’s boundaries of reasonable behavior.

So, Mitt Romney won that competition, huh? Well, that only means that Mitt Romney was chosen as the most outrageous of the whole bunch. That’s no distinction to be proud of.

Romney’s particular problem is that he’s still following a political agenda that was dying 50 years ago, a narrow vision of American values that was dead and buried long ago. Mitt Romney has dug that 20th century politics up out of its grave, and is trying to convince everyone it’s still alive and breathing. It’s disgusting to watch. Mitt Romney is the political undead of the 2012 election.

This political keychain perfectly captures the idea of Mitt Romney’s moaning, shuffling, tired old routine. It recasts Mitt Romney as Mitt Zombie, campaigning for Lord of the Underworld instead of for President of the United States.

I can picture Romney now, giving a speech to his fellow Republican zombies, promising “Brains in every pot!”

In the topsy turvy realm of Republican presidential politics, we’ve just seen a major upset. Oh sure, Mitt Romney won the Iowa caucuses, but he won by only 8 votes over Rick Santorum. That kind of victory, given that Mitt Romney was the presumed frontrunner, is really a loss.

It’s a troubling surprise, given that Rick Santorum benefits the most from Romney’s failure.

Rick Santorum is a former United States Senator. He’s a former senator because he was soundly driven out of office by Pennsylvania voters who were upset at his extremist right wing social agenda. Rick Santorum has the values of medieval times, expecting everyone to follow the commands of his Mother Church, supporting torture and endless war, suggesting campaigns of repression against cultural minorities.

Rick Santorum’s regressive zeal is a dangerous threat to American democracy. That’s why people, shocked by the Iowa caucus results, are now joining together as Americans Against Rick Santorum. Let’s hope we’re not too late.

In this election cycle, Iowa is all about the Republican Party. Barack Obama has got the Democratic Party nomination all sewn up. Liberal presidential candidate Jill Stein doesn’t have caucuses in her political party. The Justice Party is too new for its presidential candidate, Rocky Anderson, to face any challengers.

So, the Iowa caucuses are focusing on the Republican Party in 2012.

What if you’re not Republican, but live in Iowa, then? What can you do?

You can wear this Iowa Against the Republican Party tshirt, for starters. Put this shirt on to show that, for all the fuss about the choice of Mitt Romney versus Newt Gingrich versus Ron Paul, there are a huge number of Iowans who think that voting for any Republican presidential candidate is a huge mistake.

Eight days ago in New Hampshire, Mitt Romney was asked by a voter to comment on the indefinite detention provision in the National Defense Authorization Act. The NDAA grants the federal government the power to grab American citizens and throw them into prison for as long as it wants, without putting the citizens on trial or even charging them with a crime. A mere unsubstantiated accusation is all it will take under this bill for an American to be locked up.

The legislation was passed by both houses of Congress last week and is unopposed by President Barack Obama and so will become law. In spite of its dramatic nature, Mitt Romney didn’t seem to know what the legislation was at all. When asked about the National Defense Authorization Act, Romney stammered and delayed, saying, “Let me look at the particular authorization, ah, and, and, and I’ll make sure on our website we’ll describe our reaction to that particular amendment. I can tell you this, which is that there is an effort on the part of violent, radical jihadis to destroy America.”

The voter offered plenty of information for Mitt Romney and his aides to use to find out about the National Defense Authorization Act. The voter described “an amendment to a defense authorization bill last week that would allow the detention of Americans arrested in the United States and to allow the military to hold them indefinitely without charging them or trying them”.

That’s pretty clear. Yet, over a week later, Mitt Romney has taken no action to keep his promise. The Romney campaign has not made a single statement about the National Defense Authorization Act, and its extraordinary, unconstitutional imprisonment powers.

If I were a voter in New Hampshire, I’d take a look at Mitt Romney’s promise to a New Hampshire resident, and then I’d consider the way that Romney broke that promise, and then… there’s no way in hell I’d cast a ballot for Romney.

I love freedom. That’s why I can’t vote for Mitt Romney

A couple of days ago, we took note of a new t-shirt design over at Skreened, a dramatic design for Democrats against Kirsten Gillibrand.

Gillibrand, a United States senator from New York state, has infuriated progressive citizens by casting a vote in favor of the National Defense Authorization Act, which included the creation of extraordinary unconstitutional government powers – the ability of the federal government to throw American citizens into prison without trial, without charge, and without a time limit, on the mere accusation of association with terrorists. Kirsten Gillibrand ought to be ashamed of herself for this vote.

Now, we’re happy to report that the same basic design has showed up online, but this time as a political campaign button.

There’s Democrats against Gillibrand, as with the tshirt. There’s also, however, a similar liberals against Gillibrand design thrown in as a bonus.