Drew Pritt writes that The time of death for the Green Party was just before 2:00 p.m. on July 12, 2008.
He bases this obit on the nomination of Cynthia McKinney as the party’s nominee. He places an photo of McKinney in an animated moment, next to the flag of the “Green Nazi Party” and explains why she is, in his estimation, an anti-Semite, has wasted taxpayer dollars by asking that the FBI files on Tupac Shakur’s murder be open to the public, and has “thrown staff under a bus”, including a link to a story at MSNBC which says that McKinney called a member of her staff a fool.
Enjoy!
41 responses so far ↓
1 inDglass // Jul 13, 2008 at 2:56 pm
Pritt presents a very weak case against McKinney.
McKinney was a strong opponent of government secrecy. Why should the files on Tupac Shakur’s murder be classified?
He says she voted against a “pro-Israel resolution,” but fails to cite that resolution or how voting against it could make one anti-semite. Is it possible she voted against it because it was unconstitutional or some other good reason?
He demonstrates his own hypocrisy in criticizing her for not denouncing a statement by her father about Jewish financing and then criticizing Muslim financing of her campaign.
Finally, the green flag with the swastika next to her photo shows how he is simply trying to scare people with suggestion of the Holocaust.
These are typical establishment attacks of an anti-establishment candidate. Mr. Pritt, your attacks on McKinney are pathetic.
2 G.E. // Jul 13, 2008 at 3:18 pm
My heroes are Ayn Rand, Murray Rothbard, Ludwig von Mises, and Larry David.
I am no anti-Semite.
I would vote against every “pro-Israel” resolution that came before me and no doubt anger the neocon/liberals owned by AIPAC and their demented followers like Drew Pitt, at every turn were I in Congress.
Go Cynthia!
3 Nexus // Jul 13, 2008 at 3:24 pm
“My heroes are Ayn Rand, Murray Rothbard, Ludwig von Mises, and Larry David.”
Do you think McKinney holds any of these people in high regard?
4 Gregg Jocoy // Jul 13, 2008 at 3:33 pm
Nexus:
If I have a chance, I’ll ask her. Really. I promise.
5 Mike Theodore // Jul 13, 2008 at 3:38 pm
Speaking of, any word from Paulie Cannoli? I hate how conventions are like safari’s. You have to wait till someone comes out to hear of their voyage. I could call his phone, but why the hell would I do that?
6 Nexus // Jul 13, 2008 at 3:39 pm
Thank you Gregg.
7 Deran // Jul 13, 2008 at 3:50 pm
LOL! Oh, mercy, I hope I haven’t upset Mr. Pritt too much!
I think his use of graphics celarly indicates what this si really all abt. mr. Pritt objects, very strenuously to Ms. McKinney’s stalwart support for a secure, peaceful and prosperous pre-1967 borders, two-state solution with Israel and Palestine.
It is also instructive to the Greens on the potential for the US pro-Israel lobbies to come after the GP, like they did McKinney in 2002 and 2006. You think the slanders against Nader were bad in ’00, just wait! Especially if Ms. McKinnney get’s any major msm coverage.
8 Gregg Jocoy // Jul 13, 2008 at 4:25 pm
Yes, you are so right Deran! This is exactly why I wanted to report it here, and asked my listeners at Green Party Watch Radio to read the article. If they don’t know in advance the stuff that will be thrown at them they will be more likely to be thrown for a loop and perhaps even wind up believing an actual lie.
Knowledge is power. It’s good to know what others are saying about us.
9 Jimmy Clifton // Jul 13, 2008 at 4:31 pm
Notice that the Socialist Party USA never nominates kooks and whackos! Nearly all other third parties do.
10 drewpritt // Jul 13, 2008 at 4:57 pm
Gentleman, I disagree. If you return to this article you will see there is historical evidence, not just from Golda Meir, but Palestine Liberation Organization executive committee member Zahir Muhsein, and Lebanese American Sharon Nader Sloan, Esq. noted in her article “The Big Lie†from 2001 that this is clear evidence that Palestine is a big lie.
There never was a Palestine or a Palestinian people. There is an Israel. There always has been a Jewish people since the time of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Come on, I read your thoughts now be open to reading mine.
Also, I added (3) Videos about the Green Party’s nominee. One is her lying on CNN. One is her with her aides being blatantly ANTI-SEMITIC on the night she was defeated. I never hear her object as they say very nasty comments. Finally, one is in the original obituary article where she throws her trusted aide under the bus, then tries to tell CBS news what they can and cannot use from a live microphone feed!
Compelling stuff and it reminds me why I remain a Democrat. I am a Progressive but at least we are not required to get lockstep behind our nominees like you guys are doing now. You didn’t vet McKinney. I am digging all this stuff up on her from public record and reputable sources.
The Green Party committed suicide when it nominated Cynthia McKinney! They sold out so they could have their own nominee of color. Otherwise, why were so many qualified GREENS passed over for a woman who wouldn’t even become a Green till your party agreed to pay off her debts.
Give me a break!
11 drewpritt // Jul 13, 2008 at 4:57 pm
The blog is http://PointsByPritt.wordpress.com for all the evidence.
12 johncjackson // Jul 13, 2008 at 5:15 pm
What Greens were “passed over”? I am not a Green, but it seemed to me it was McKinney and a bunch of no-names. What great Greens did she defeat?
As a Libertarian maybe I don’t have room to talk, but I would take our 6th or 7th place finisher over the Greens runnerup- in terms of qualifications and respectability.
13 inDglass // Jul 13, 2008 at 5:34 pm
McKinney was dominating in early primaries when there was no way of knowing whether Clinton, Obama, or Edwards would be the Democratic nominee. The Greens appear to have backed her because of her record in Congress, not because of her color. As far as I can tell, you, Mr. Pritt, are making much more an issue of race than Ms. McKinney or the Green Party.
14 Lance Brown // Jul 13, 2008 at 5:36 pm
Drew, you ought to stop lying about that “threw her trusted aide under the bus” story. You’re just lying. That’s not what she did at all. Telling one condfidant what you think about another confidant is not throwing someone under a bus. Unless you are arguing that the entire snafu was some incredibly crafty scheme by McKinney to publicly blame her aide while making it look like she didn’t intend to, then I don’t see how you define that as throwing the guy under the bus. She clearly did not mean for the public (or even the reporter, from what I can tell) to hear what she said about “Coz”.
15 JimDavidson // Jul 13, 2008 at 5:57 pm
The only criticism I would offer on this story, GE, is that the summary neglect to explain who Drew Pitt is. Since I never heard of him before reading this page, I didn’t click over to the link you provided. My reaction was, “Well, who cares? It isn’t like the few thousand watermelons in the country (green on the outside, red on the inside) are going to care what he thinks.”
And so I resolved not to care, either.
16 inDglass // Jul 13, 2008 at 6:01 pm
Why might Mr. Pritt be so hell bent against Cynthia McKinney? On June 11, he wrote,
I suppose it is possible he was promoting them to co-host “Good Morning, America” and not to run the White House, but it sure looks like Pritt is a “Yes We Can” man. It’s no wonder he is accusing the Green Party of selling out “so they could have their own nominee of color.”
17 George Phillies // Jul 13, 2008 at 6:22 pm
One of the above remarks makes it a bit hard to follow who said what. Who said “There never was a Palestine or a Palestinian people”, and when did they say it? The march of history would appear to have made this statement less than current.
18 Steven R Linnabary // Jul 13, 2008 at 6:42 pm
drewpritt sayith:
There never was a Palestine or a Palestinian people.
Herein lies Mr. Pritts extreme and repugnant hatred of certain human beings. They don’t exist!! Or at least they are not “human” enough for any consideration.
I believe that Hitler made similar claims against certain people he disapproved of. If they lack humanity, they can be disposed of. Repulsive.
On a side note, I would suggest that Mr Pritt get a “spell-checker” if he is going to continue with his blog. They are cheap, and really helpful when one is spelling challenged.
PEACE
Steve
19 inDglass // Jul 13, 2008 at 6:50 pm
Perhaps that swastika flag would be better fit next to Pritt’s photo than McKinney’s.
20 drewpritt // Jul 13, 2008 at 7:29 pm
In D Glass, the Palestinian people as you call them are not recognized as a nation. Give me historical evidence for a people, a historical reference to them owning that land, or even a culture. You cannot because Palestine is a purely political abherration.
So I take it you believe its okay for terrorists to blow themselves up among innocent people with explosives killing and maiming others?
Its okay to shoot missles into hospitals and residential areas to make a political statement?
This is an insurrection by radical elements. If it was in the United States, it would be called what it is, a civil war. These terrorists who commit these acts talk about a Free Palestine and have people believing there once was a nation of Palestine. There never was! They have people believing there was a Palestinian culture, people, and history. Where is it? It does not exist!
I am not a Nazis, because I discuss these issues with you, and I am open minded to read your comments. You are the Nazis because you try to force me and others to submit to your views. I refuse.
It’s Israel, not Palestine.
21 Lance Brown // Jul 13, 2008 at 7:59 pm
Drew,
You’ve made a far better case for yourself being anti-arab (or anti-Muslim, or anti-”Palestinian”, except they don’t exist), then for Cynthia McKinney being anti-semitic. Maybe you should focus on exposing yourself – you’re much better at that.
22 Lance Brown // Jul 13, 2008 at 8:12 pm
If you’re so open-minded, Drew, then why did you delete my responses on your blog?
23 Trent Hill // Jul 13, 2008 at 8:42 pm
While I abhor Mr. Pritt’s slanderous lies and major-party adherance, he is right about Palestinians.
Find a reference, prior to 1910, to the “Palestinians”. Palestiniansare actually not ONE ethnic group, but a grouping of ethnic groups. Before the Jews were in Israel,it was a barely-arable land which a variety of travelling farmers would use. When Israel came in, this group would coerce into what we now know as “Palestinians”. Of course, this is all irrelevant to wether they should be able to own a country–America wasn’t a culture or people before 1760.
24 inDglass // Jul 13, 2008 at 8:42 pm
Mr. Pitt,
The history of the region and people of Palestine is very complex. Like many former colonies, names of people and places have changed and borders have been drawn by people who had no business doing so. One thing is certain, the Palestinian National Council met in 1988 and voted 253-46 to declare the State of Palestine. That State is now recognized by over 100 countries.
You imply that acknowledgment of that state is an endorsement of terrorism and the violent atrocities committed by some members of that state. You also act as if Israel is not also guilty of many atrocities against the Palestinians as well as other people.
No one has called you a Nazi. We have called you out for inappropriately suggesting Cynthia McKinney is Nazi-like. And we have said that you fit the description of a Nazi more so than she does.
25 Trent Hill // Jul 13, 2008 at 9:22 pm
inDglass,
I agree with most of your statement. However, the history of Palestinians is not difficult to grasp,as it is so young. Again i’ll say—this does not mean they are less human or should be treated inferior to Israelis.
26 tsipos // Jul 13, 2008 at 9:50 pm
Well, if they’re not Palestinians, and they’re living in Israel (as many Israelis claim the West Bank and Gaza to be) then they must be Israelis. Arab Israelis.
Mr. Pritt calls the violence (which is committed by a minority) an insurrection. This again implies they are Israelis, since an insurrectionist is by definition a citizen or subject of the government he is rising up against.
If these are Israelis, not Palestinians, then have Israel formerly annex the West Bank and Gaza, and grant full citizenship and voting rights to its inhabitants. It’s what the U.S. did when it annexed the Southwest. You take the land, you take the people.
Israel would be more multicultural, multi-religious, and multi-ethnic than it currently is. But that should be fine with Mr. Pritt, since he claims to be a progressive, and diversity is a progressive value.
The trouble is, Israel wants the land, and the water under the land, but not the people living thereon. And there is no nice, progressive, liberal solution to that mess.
27 green in brooklyn // Jul 13, 2008 at 11:27 pm
Drew Pritt, with his rabid Zionist remarks, is clearly a racist, anti-arab, anti muslim Democrat. He is not, nor has he ever been a Green, so why should we be reading his drivel?
Please don’t stoop to giving his remarks more room on this site, or I’m sure I won;t be alone in not coming back.
28 JimDavidson // Jul 13, 2008 at 11:31 pm
Find a reference prior to 1500 of Americans.
It is well known and completely understood that there were people living on the land which Israel now occupies. Many of those people were forced off their land in the same way, often by the same measures, as the German nationalists forced people off their land in their hunt for lebensraum just a few years earlier than the founding of Israel.
To suggest that there are no Palestinian people is to say that the people who were forced off their land into concentration camps in the Gaza strip do not have the right to sovereign self-determination. The people of the Palestinian national organizations, such as the PLO and Hammas, identify themselves as Palestinians.
Prior to 1850 there was not a place called Kansas and no people who called themselves Kansans. There were Kanza Indians, of course. But there were no Americans who called themselves Kansans. Are we to deny the people of Kansas the right to sovereign self-determination because they lack historical antecedents prior to some arbitrary date?
The term Palestine is a British term, like the term Iraq. It is certainly true that Europeans liked to draw lines on the maps of other people’s countries. Often drawing lines dividing ethnic populations (see the history of Somalia) or including diverse peoples in one country who came to hate each other (see also Rwanda).
The fact that Palestinians have over the years resorted to all kinds of senseless violence is not a point in their favor, but it is a valid criticism of Israel. If the Israeli government treated the people living in Gaza decently, if it allowed them trade and commerce, if it didn’t try to wall them in and starve them out, perhaps the people there could be brought to the negotiating table, and might stop firing the missiles they smuggle in. But, of course, Israeli fascists and their nationalist socialist sympathisers like Drew Pitt don’t want to treat other human beings like sovereign individuals with rights and property and the possibility of earning respect. Pitt seems like an enthusiast for all manner of tyranny and ethnic extermination.
The irony of Israel’s government engaging in ethnic extermination of others is much too heavy for me. One can get poisoned from that much irony.
29 green in brooklyn // Jul 13, 2008 at 11:31 pm
Tsipos,
Interestingly enough, the 2008 Green party platform update was voted down primarily for two reasons: one, a mention of bettering the guest worker program, which was seen as somehow endorsing Bush’s guest worker program , which is seen in Green circles as slavery. The second objectionable position was about Israeli-Palestinian relations, and setting forth a 2-state solution, rather than the one-state solution you suggest.
30 Gregg Jocoy // Jul 13, 2008 at 11:32 pm
gib….I hear ya.
Well, if anyone is to blame for posting this, I must bear responsibility for doing so. I should have just let it lie.
31 Trent Hill // Jul 13, 2008 at 11:39 pm
“If these are Israelis, not Palestinians, then have Israel formerly annex the West Bank and Gaza, and grant full citizenship and voting rights to its inhabitants. It’s what the U.S. did when it annexed the Southwest. You take the land, you take the people.”
tsipos–Israel has offered to do this. And, in fact, Arabs, Palestinians, and Assyrians are treated FAR better in Israel than Jews are in Palestine, Syria, or Egypt. Jews in Syria and Egypt are second-class citizens, while Arab-Israeli’s are the ONLY kind of citizen,first-class.
The Israeli state has done terrible, terrible things–as has the other side. But they’ve treated Arab citizens of Israel far better than their opposition has treated Jews or Israelis.
32 Mike Gillis // Jul 13, 2008 at 11:40 pm
What an idiot. The opposite of “Zionist” is not “Anti-Semite”. Nor is it the opposite of “pro-Israel”.
What a sad tactic by the people who defend Israel’s regular human rights abuses.
I also criticize the Chinese government’s human rights abuses against Tibet. Does this mean I hate Asians as well?
I criticize the US’s military intervention abroad and criticize our government’s human rights and civil liberties policy. Does this mean I hate Americans?
33 G.E. // Jul 14, 2008 at 12:11 am
Jim Davidson – I didn’t post the story, nor will I ever give Drew Pitt the time of day in an official capacity so long as I shall live.
34 G.E. // Jul 14, 2008 at 12:17 am
Interesting observation: The GP, CP, and LP are all “anti-Zionist” and anti-war. The majors are pro-Zionist and pro-war. Connection?
The Green Party of Michigan had a fairly large Jewish representation, and that representation was the most anti-Israel. Libertarianism’s 20th century heroes — Rothbard, Mises, Rand, and Friedman — all Jewish.
There is a big difference between being anti-Zionist and anti-Semitic, but everyone here understands that except Democratic neocon Drew Pitt.
35 tsipos // Jul 14, 2008 at 6:22 am
Trent Hill: “Israel has offered to do this.”
What? Give full, equal voting rights to the Arabs on the West Bank and Gaza? Not from everything I’ve read and heard. Tony Judt (who is Jewish) is famous for his one-state solution, and it’s my understanding that most Israeli Jews oppose it, because it may mean losing a Jewish majority vote over time.
Judt’s piece: http://www.nybooks.com/articles/16671
“Arabs, Palestinians, and Assyrians are treated FAR better in Israel than Jews are in Palestine, Syria, or Egypt. Jews in Syria and Egypt are second-class citizens, while Arab-Israeli’s are the ONLY kind of citizen, first-class.”
It’s certainly true that Jews aren’t treated well in Arab countries, but again, from what I’ve heard, Arabs are hardly first class citizens in Israel.
Here are some articles on the subject of Israeli Arabs’ second class status, from Jewish sources:
http://www.jewishcurrents.org/2003-jan-muraskin.htm
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/anti-semitism/relisrael99.html
36 Sean Scallon // Jul 14, 2008 at 10:27 am
There’s no question McKinney’s color had a lot to do with her nomination. It would look silly for the Greens to claim to be more progressive than the Dems and yet have the Dems nominate an African-American long before the Greens do.
Here’s the Greens’ dilemma as I see it. Their base of white hippies is aging rapidly. They need new blood and activists and they need to expand from their white citadel if they are going to compete with the Dems in the future or with any party on the left.
This is why they they’ve gone in this direction with McKinney and Clemente, more urban, more racially diverse, more youthful. Now they may be a disaster as a far as a ticket goes, but I don’t think they’ll do any worse than Cobb. They very well need a less polarizing figure than McKinney in the future but there’s no turning back from the direction they’ve chosen.
As for the aging white hippies? Most of them will probably vote for Nader. But Nader is an end point, not a beginning. McKinney is a start, not an end.
37 drewpritt // Jul 14, 2008 at 12:50 pm
Wow, good to see the freedom of speech is under attack her so grandly. And by a party that claims it supports it.
* I provide evidence, continuing evidence, of how Cynthia McKinney will direct the Greens in a direction that will not grow but weaken the party. Thats my opinion and I am welcome to it.
Immiediately, I am called an Obamaite, a Clintonista, a slanderer, etc. Of course, I refuse to drink your Cool-Aid, so somehow I am wrong for disagreeing.
* Whats even more funny is I defend Israel and provide evidence to it’s historical claim to where it is, and also point out Palestine does not exist as a historical people, culture, or political unit, till after Israel existed. In fact, it wasn’t till after the Arab nations who attacked Israel in 1948 and 1967 got beat so bad that suddenly there was a push to recognize Palestine and it wasn’t till after 1973, that the P.L.O. began to be recognized.
Immiediately, I am called anti-Arab. Mind you, I have many Muslim friends who know me. I respect them, greet them with Salaam, and have been a delegate in college three years in a row to the Model Arab League. I have eaten mansef with these Arab friends. But you wrongly ASSUME I am anti-Arab.
* Because I point out that once there was mounting problems with Cynthia McKinney in being able to raise money for her campaign, her anti-Israel bias, and other contraversies, that it was in my opinion a mistake for the Greens to adopt the radical New Black Panther agenda….which Cynthia McKinney aligns herself with and embraces openly, I am called a rascist or better yet, supposedly shilling for Barack Obama.
* I even show a video on my blog of Cynthia McKinney lying on CNN to Wolf Blitzer :
http://pointsbypritt.wordpress.com/2008/07/13/why-did-cynthia-mckinney-lie-on-cnn/
Well thats suddenly turned into a FOX News report and ignored. It’s CNN and a live interview.
Look, I have my opinion and you have yours. If you cannot take criticism on the issues and policies of your nominee, you never should have nominated her if you are Green.
Also, I have a right to my opinion as much as yours. And these baseless attacks on me and my character show how lacking in character you possess.
38 karenstepanski // Jul 14, 2008 at 12:53 pm
“I am not a Nazis, because I discuss these issues with you, and I am open minded to read your comments. You are the Nazis because you try to force me and others to submit to your views. I refuse.”
You would think someone who pretends to be Jewish would at least not spout inappropriate Nazi analogies at every corner.
39 tsipos // Jul 14, 2008 at 1:41 pm
Drew, who’s attacking your free speech? Or calling you names? Not I.
Yes, Israel is now reality. The Jews that are there now, and the Arabs that are there now (whether you want to call them Palestinians or Arabs or spaghetti), are also reality.
A two-state solution can’t work, especially if the Arab “state” can’t control its own underground water (as Israel wishes to retain control), and is all cut up into tiny hamlets, dotted by heavily fortified Jewish settlements.
The only humane way to deal with this reality is to unite the nation into one entity, and give all Jews and Arabs thereon equal rights. I think the population would be roughly 50/50 Jewish and Arab.
As with South Africa, it’d be difficult for these two ethnicities/religions to get along after decades of mutual violence. But that’s the only humane solution.
But I’m not optimistic that either side will be forgiving to the other, or will try and get along. Both sides want total victory, with the other sides either submissive or expelled.
All the U.S. can/should do is pull out of this mess. With have HUGE problems of our own, with our economy tanking, banks and mortgage lenders collapsing, etc., etc.
40 Steven R Linnabary // Jul 14, 2008 at 1:51 pm
drewpritt sayith:
Wow, good to see the freedom of speech is under attack her so grandly. And by a party that claims it supports it.
Nobody is attacking your “right of free speech”, but rather responding to your continuing distortion of fact.
Apparently, you feel as though anybody that disagrees with your assessment is attacking your free speech right. That is pathetic.
* I provide evidence, continuing evidence, of how Cynthia McKinney will direct the Greens in a direction that will not grow but weaken the party. Thats my opinion and I am welcome to it.
Of course you are “welcome” to your opinion. Personally, I haven’t seen any evidence of how McKinney will weaken the Green Party. Most polls show that a majority of people are growing tired of a pointless war. How would becoming pro-war help the Green Party when the pool of voters in favor of pointless war is shrinking, and that pool of voters is already comfortable in the democrat and republican party?
esalamu alaikum
Steve
41 Trent Hill // Jul 14, 2008 at 2:54 pm
JimDavidson,
To be clear–I agree with you. Just because an ethnic group is “new” does not mean that they do not deserve a right to self-determination. More importantly, it doesnt mean they are sub-human. I was simply refuting someone else’s point that Palestinians had been a culture for….forever.
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