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

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.

If you happen to be in Washington D.C., and have some free time this afternoon, make your way over to the O’Bryne Gallery at Memorial Continental Hall (1776 D Street, NW). You’ll have the chance to watch history in the making.

Rocky Anderson will be giving a speech there, at 2:00 PM, to announce the formation of the Justice Party – the newest political party in the United States. Anderson will be running as the Justice Party’s presidential candidate for 2012.

If you like what you hear from this speech, then get yourself a Rocky Anderson for President campaign button, or if you think more generally, choose a Justice Party political button.

The veteran liberal political web site Irregular Times just put up a new collection of Jill Stein for President buttons and magnets. This collection includes the locally specific campaign button for Illinois voters supporting Jill Stein.

Why Illinois for Jill Stein? Isn’t Illinois the home base for the Barack Obama re-election campaign?

Yes, Obama is a strong presence in Illinois, but Obama’s presence has become defined as much by broken promises as by any positive association.

Besides that, the Jill Stein for President campaign also has a strong presence in Illinois in the form of Ben Manski, a well-known political organizer in Illinois and Wisconsin. Manski has been working to strengthen the Illinois Green Party for years, and now that work is paying off – for the Jill Stein campaign.

Third Party Politics notes that Jill Stein recently commanded 27 percent of the vote at a straw poll of students at Western Illinois University. That’s just 12 points behind Barack Obama and 6 points behind Mitt Romney.

Join Ben Manski, Jill Stein, and other Illinois liberals in demanding real change, not just vague, broken promises of hope. Wear a button to show that you’re one voter in Illinois who is voting for Jill Stein for President.

Iowa Against Gingrich describes the situation building with the 2012 Iowa caucuses in stark, but accurate, language:

“The Gingrich campaign in Iowa seems more like psychological therapy for Gingrich than anything, a way for him to get out all the negative feelings. The trouble is that the crazy, angry, flying off the handle approach seems to be getting Gingrich a lot of attention, and some strong support. Some voters seem to be drawn to Gingrich in some creepy way, attracted in spite of themselves to the insulting, abusive approach Gingrich takes to dealing with the American people.”

The fact is that there isn’t enough on-the-ground opposition to Newt Gingrich in Iowa right now. That’s what’s allowed Gingrich to surge to a double digit lead, in spite of his unstable personality and wildly vacillating political positions. A certain sort of Iowa voter senses energy in the Gingrich camp, and isn’t paying enough attention to figure out that it’s a very negative, dangerous sort of energy.

There isn’t time left to wait for someone else to step forward and organize everything for a grassroots anti-Gingrich effort in Iowa. It’s up to you. Speak out against Gingrich to your friends and neighbors, and wear this Iowa Against Gingrich campaign button wherever you go, to spread the word.

Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich accuses liberal of provoking a “moral collapse” in the United States. However, it was Newt Gingrich himself who was caught in a moral collapse the last time he was involved in the U.S. federal government.

Gingrich brought shame to the position of Speaker of the House. After his activities were discovered, Gingrich himself admitted that he violated ethics rules, and thus Gingrich became the first and only Speaker of the House to be subjected to an official reprimand.

Now, Gingrich is campaigning on moral values?

In Massachusetts, voters see through the smokescreen of “traditional values” that Newt Gingrich uses to try to distract people from his own terrible record of abuse of government power. That’s why people in Massachusetts are wearing this anti-Gingrich button for 2012. We just can’t afford to have such an unethical leader in office on Pennsylvania Avenue.