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Wednesday, December 31st, 2008

Cynthia McKinney’s green with ambition

Tuesday, November 4th, 2008

Could Green Party candidate Cynthia McKinney pull off a victory even if she loses in today’s presidential election?

I have to reject your premise that I will not win. As a minor party, we must define for ourselves what our goals are. We are launching a 5 percent campaign, because if the Green Party is able to cross the 5 percent threshold it gets the legal characterization of a national major party, and gets subsidized by the government in the same way as the Democratic and Republican parties are.

Read the full In These Times story, “Dreaming Green.”

Atlanta blogs today

Thursday, October 2nd, 2008

— As the big debate approaches, is Sarah Palin a sign the apocalypse is upon us? Over at Politits, Dcup wonders how Johnny Mac feels when his running mate is more popular than he is.

— Seeing the latest Katie Couric interview is disturbing. And the lovely Sara at Going Through The Motions makes the case that she’s the more qualified “Sara” to be vice-president because she can actually name some rather well-known Supreme Court cases. Maybe the other Sarah should click through to the list, just to bone up on our country’s history.

— And who wants to bet that the magazines she wouldn’t admit to reading include the National Enquirer and US Weekly? Based on Palin’s lack of reading material, ATLmalcontent hopes that it all turns out to be a bad dream come January.

— Ms. Palin professes to have a gay friend, although his/her identity remains a mystery. But J-Mac did agree to give an interview to a gay magazine, although he dictated that the questions and answers be written out. Can’t ever be too careful, right Mr. “Straight Talk” Express? At Reporter-Cub, there’s links and some analysis.

— As Driftgrift notes, Cynthia McKinney is running for president. No, I’m not kidding. Really and truly. For the Green Party. And based on the video Driftgrift dug up, either it’s the end of the world as we know it or else Cynthia has turned completely psychotic. Dig those bugged-out eyes.

– Going local, Righteous Jackass ponders Karen Handel, who used op-ed space in the AJC to make a vow to protect the integrity of the November elections and yet fights to limit the number of people who actually can vote. It’s the idea of the elite democracy, he says, where only a few are smart enough to lead the rest of us.

— And, finally, going even more local, the fine ladies at Pecanne Log discuss CL’s bankruptcy and stake out their vision for what the paper should be in the future.

Ron Paul to endorse Bob Barr and Cynthia McKinney, sort of

Tuesday, September 9th, 2008

The Houston Chronicle reports Republican Congressman and former 2008 Presidential hopeful Ron Paul will offer a hearty 25 percent endorsement to the presidential candidacies of former Georgia congresspersons Cynthia McKinney and Bob Barr at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. tomorrow.

They don’t quite put it in those terms.

The report says Paul will urge his supporters to reject Obama and McCain and instead cast a vote for any one of the four other candidates on the ballot this fall: former Republican-turned-Libertarian Bob Barr, former Democrat-turned-Green Cynthia McKinney, Constitution Party candidate Chuck Baldwin, or independent Ralph Nader.

According to the National Press Club’s events calendar, Paul and Barr each have press conferences scheduled tomorrow.

Perhaps Barr will be there to give Paul 25 percent of a thank you.

DeKalb CEO: Ellis’ race to lose, but you never know…

Monday, August 4th, 2008

“Forget it, Jake. It’s South DeKalb.”

With apologies to Chinatown, that’s what DeKalb voting patterns make me think of. Who imagined, back in 2004, that Cynthia McKinney would win back her Congressional seat without a runoff against such heavy hitters as Lianne Levitan and Cathy Woolard? Ditto for embattled CEO Vernon Jones, who easily won re-election that same year against six challengers, including a sitting commissioner, also without a runoff.

South DeKalb politics is like a sealed box; you can speculate all you like about what’s inside, but you never really know until you take the lid off on election day. (more…)

Cynthia McKinney, come home!

Wednesday, April 2nd, 2008

An altweekly that loves it some homegrown characters needs you!

The former U.S. Congresswoman from DeKalb County — who now resides in the heady hills of California and is running for president as a Green Party candidate — spoke at an event in the Golden State sponsored by Project Censored. Fun crazy talk was uttered!

From the Washington Examiner:

  • “For those of you who know about the murder of Dr. Martin Luther King, everything you think you know isn’t true. It’s a lie.”
  • “Georgia isn’t the most advanced place. I’ll be like Hillary [Clinton], trying to retract that in a minute.”
  • “Bush said he was clicking around on the Internet. Well, Spitzer was clicking around, too, all over America.”
  • “I’ve learned so much on so many issues since I’ve been here in California about the forest fires and how the forest fires might not be unpurposeful events. That there is a purpose. A public policy purpose that comes at the end of a forest fire experience that allows developers to go into pristine areas where they were previously denied access.”

To be fair, I don’t know if I can fault her for that second statement.

Cynthia McKinney launches 2008 presidential bid

Tuesday, December 11th, 2007

Ex-U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney launched her bid for the 2008 Green Party presidential nomination with a speech Dec. 4 at Texas Southern University.

A right-wing website reports the former congresswoman from DeKalb County compared her campaign to a revolution in Haiti. I haven’t read a transcript or listened to a recording of the speech, but I doubt she’s attempting to lure voters by promising to make the U.S. more like the hemisphere’s poorest nation.

In the meantime, here’s a speech she gave at Baruch College in New York last month. The speech is little more than a list of what she considers America’s gravest ills: poverty, racism, election fraud, 9/11 conspiracies, etc. I suspect her presidential campaign launch covered some of the same ground.

McKinney drops libel suit against AJC

Wednesday, August 15th, 2007

In case you missed this last night:

Two weeks after accusing The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and its parent company of libeling her in news articles and editorials, the former U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney has withdrawn a lawsuit against the newspaper.

A source close to McKinney informs me* she decided to withdraw the suit after she learned Sweet Tea agreed testify on the AJC’s behalf.

(*not true)

Word: Cynthia vs. Cynthia

Monday, August 6th, 2007

Feisty former U.S. Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney has picked yet another fight — this time with Pulitzer-winning AJC editorial page editor Cynthia Tucker. McKinney has sued Tucker, the newspaper and its owners, Cox Enterprises, for libel, alleging that she suffered “permanent impairment to her ability to continue her livelihood” as a result of two of Tucker’s opinion pieces and another article.

“[W]hat changes to the ‘stinking system’ has McKinney wrought? She doesn’t have the prestige or power to pass a resolution in support of sweetened ice tea.”

— From Tucker’s July 30, 2006, editorial

“Tucker knew that the Power Rankings by Congress.org rated Cynthia McKinney 277 of 435 Congresspersons in legislative effectiveness.”

— From McKinney’s July 2007 lawsuit, in an attempt to prove Tucker downplayed McKinney’s power and prestige

“This is a set-up for the catfight of the century.”

— Posted by “Wings-n-Wind” on the conservative website www.freepublic.com

McKinney vs. metaphors

Monday, July 30th, 2007

Former U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney has filed a libel suit against the AJC.

Atlanta Progressive News reports the suit lists five “false and defamatory” statements about McKinney penned by Pulitzer Prize-winning AJC op-ed columnist Cynthia Tucker in a July 2006 column.

Fifth on the list:

McKinney takes issue with a statement by Tucker that McKinney “doesn’t have the power or prestige to pass a resolution in support of sweetened iced tea.”

I hope this gets to trial, if only to hear McKinney’s attorney attempt to prove she was indeed powerful and prestigious enough to legislate on behalf of sweet tea.

It’s too bad legendary attorney Lionel Hutz is no longer with us. It’s the case he was born to argue.