In an online interview with the newly minted Green Party presidential nominee, Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney is called a “firebrand politician” who “may have found the perfect political home.”

From this writer’s perspective McKinney shows the endearing qualities that make her a match for the Green Party. Here are but two examples.

NW There are quite a few prominent third-party candidates running this year, including your former fellow Congressman from Georgia, Bob Barr, over at the Libertarian Party. Is he basically the conservative version of you?

CM The only thing I would say about Bob is that it’s interesting that Georgia is so well-represented in the non-major party lineup. Of course, I worked in the Congress for a long time with Bob Barr and, in fact, members of the Libertarian Party have reached out to me on several occasions this year and I expect there will be more mutual reaching.

NW So you might actually be working together on some issues?

CM I didn’t say that.

And

NW Of course, there’s the perennial third-party candidate question: What do you make of arguments that you’ll pull votes away from the Democrats, thereby ushering into office a Republican who shares even fewer of your views?

CM That’s not grounded in the facts. As the film “American Blackout” points out very well, there were numerous instruments used in the 2000 and 2004 elections to disfranchise voters. Voter caging and voter ID laws exist to disfranchise voters. The question I believe Newsweek ought to be asking is how can we ensure that people who have the right to vote also have the opportunity to vote. And after their vote is cast, how can we ensure their votes are counted. How can an environment that does not ensure election integrity ensure us that the will of the voter is reflected in the announced outcome?

NW So it doesn’t concern you that taking even 1 percent away from a major political party could result in four more years of policies that differ even more drastically from those of the Green Party?

CM That’s your language, not my language. I gave you my take, but you haven’t accepted my take. Maybe you would feel differently if your vote wasn’t counted. In an environment where people vote their values, we must have election integrity where every vote is counted. We didn’t have that in 2000 and 2004 and neither the Democrats nor the Republicans did anything about it. But in 2004, the Green Party did something about it.