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[Marxism] McKinney says she won't be a "spoiler" -- because system is already fixed



From
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewPolitics.asp?Page=/Politics/archive/200802/POL200
80220a.html
- see original for videos.

Green Party No 'Spoiler' for Obama, McKinney Says
By Penny Starr
CNSNews.com Senior Staff Writer
February 20, 2008

College Park, Md. (CNSNews.com) - Former Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-Ga.) said
her bid for the White House as a Green Party candidate won't hurt Sen.
Barack Obama or Sen. Hillary Clinton's chances for being the first
African-American or woman U.S. president, respectively, because U.S.
elections have been corrupted.

"Basically, what you are suggesting is by participating in the Democratic
process the Green Party is going to become, quote, 'the spoiler,' " McKinney
told Cybercast News Service at a rally Tuesday at the University of
Maryland. "It is impossible to become a spoiler based on past experience
when one examines the past.

"In the 2000 election, 6 million votes were not counted," she said. "They
were cast but not counted. It is impossible that George W. Bush won the
White House on 537 votes. That was constructed. That was contrived, and the
Democratic Party failed to fight for the voters who voted it into the White
House. In 2004, 3 million votes were cast but not counted."

In a speech given to a small but enthusiastic crowd at the university's
cultural center, McKinney referred to the Reconstruction Party platform, a
grassroots organization in New Orleans spawned by Hurricane Katrina, to
explain her presidential goals.

McKinney cited the war in Iraq, poverty, homelessness, and other issues as
"Hurricane America" and showed a graphic photo of an illegal immigrant who
died in a border-crossing accident.

McKinney said all immigrants should receive amnesty, because coming to
America to support their families should not be a crime and these workers
are an economic necessity.

During a question-and-answer session following her speech, one supporter
asked McKinney what caused her to leave the Democratic Party.

"When the Democrat majority could have voted to stop war funding, they
didn't," McKinney said. "When the Democrat majority could have instituted a
'livable' wage, they didn't. When the Democrat majority could have rolled
back the Patriot Act, the Secret Evidence Act, and the Military Tribunal
Act, they didn't.

"I'd had enough of 'didn'ts' and wanted to be with people who would," she
added.

Another supporter asked McKinney how she would fund her proposed "Department
of Peace."

"It's called Department of State," she said, adding that she would not only
change the name but the purpose of the department.

Hip Hop artist Head Roc performed throughout the event, rapping songs that
berated the two-party system, corporate greed and social injustice.

McKinney is one of several Green Party candidates seeking the party's
nomination. Former Green Party nominee Ralph Nader has not decided to run
for president, but he won the Green Party nomination in the Super Tuesday
California primary nonetheless.

The party is on the ballot in 20 states and the District of Columbia. Scott
McLarty, media coordinator for the Green Party, said the party would be
represented in primaries, conventions or caucuses in all 50 states.

Make media inquiries or request an interview about this article.

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