Cynthia McKinney Is Considering A Run For President??

[orleans]

"She quit the Democratic Party in September 2007<2> and on October 22nd, 2007, filed paperwork with the FEC creating an exploratory committee for a Green Party presidential campaign. <3>
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynthia_McKinney

"power to the people" is the committee name
http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/fecimg/?_27039553468+0

MCKINNEY, CYNTHIA ID: P80004930

Office Sought: President
Election Year: 2008
State: Presidential Candidate
Party: GRE (Green Party)

PRINCIPAL CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE:
POWER TO THE PEOPLE COMMITTEE - CYNTHIA MCKINNEY FOR PRESIDENT ID: C00440289

http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/fecimg/?P80004930

i found this because i was thinking there are a LOT of people running for president that we never hear about. i googled and found out how many:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election,_2008#Major_parties
look under candidates and potential candidates

[skipos]

1. No thanks. nt

[tammywammy]

2. I'll pass

[Nutmegger]

3. Hello orleans

Good to see you tonight.

If true, it's sad. We need more people like McKinney raising hell and bringing the real issues to light.

In other words, we need her working to change the party from within.

[orleans]

5. i don't know how that will go--she's registered green now. n/t

[bvar22]

25. McKinney was thrown under the bus by the ProCorporate Democratic leadership.

The CorpoMedia assisted.

[MonkeyFunk]

4. Finally!

The left-wing answer to Alan Keyes.

Of course, I'm not sure anybody was asking for one....

[saltpoint]

6. I wonder how many Green voters would prefer her to another candidate

for their standard-bearer in 2008?

Barbara Jordan was a Congresswoman. And a Democrat.

IMO Cynthia McKinney was never in Jordan's league.

I'm not a member of the Green Party but generally admire the people who comprise it very much.

My guess is that delegates to the Green Party convention will support another nominee and pass on McKinney.

[oasis]

7. She's in it for the green alright.

:thumbsup:;-)

[undercutter2006]

8. well if anything is she becomes the president

no security guard will ever disrespect her again by asking her for an id

[orleans]

9. (wanna bet?) n/t

[undercutter2006]

11. bet on what?

that she won't be the president?

you're on

one thousand dollars

cash money

[orleans]

18. no--what you said about security guards--that if she becomes president

they won't disrespect her anymore.

[eridani]

10. I wonder where she acquired the Green delusion that most voters are paying attention n/t

[WillowTree]

12. Oh goody!

Just what we need. Someone who doesn't have a chance in Hell of winning to draw votes away from the Democratic nominee. I'm sure Rudy would be pleased as punch to welcome her to the race with open arms.

[SoCalDem]

17. and out there trash-talking people she "used to" identify with

methinks Cynthia has a pretty big ego.. She got a raw deal, but she also makes sure SHE is in positions to create a "fuss"..Create a high profile and all sorts of people will comment on your actions or responses to you..

I wish she had written a book, gone on speaking tours, and re-grouped for a run in a different district..

Perhaps if the dems get back into office, she will be offered a DC job and she can start working her way back in.. Once out, it's a delicate maneuver to regain what you lost..

Cynthia would do well to offer sugar, instead of vinegar :)

[warren pease]

13. And what exactly does everyone find so offensive about McKinney? n/t

[saltpoint]

23. Her problem-solving skills appear to be unrefined.

Her constituents chose another Democrat over her and will likely stick with him.

I personally think the Greens could do a whole lot better.

Just as a point of consideration: if Senator Obama is nominated in Denver, what is the demographic rationale for Democrats to bolt the party in favor of Cynthia McKinney?

[warren pease]

26. I guess you'd have to see her speak to appreciate her...

I saw her in a small room with about 100 people and her communication skills are quite amazing. I've admired her guts and tenacity ever since Ari the spokesdork and official liar labeled her a member of "the grassy knoll society" for daring to call for an independent investigation into 9/11.

She spoke about that confrontation with the capitol security guard and shouldered most of the blame, although she did note that this particular cop was notorious for his belligerence directed at black members of Congress.

As to her political agenda, she's pretty much a black woman Kucinich. Same basic initiatives -- single payer health care, out of Iraq, repeal repressive and unconstitutional legislation like the MCA and patriot acts, supports choice, wants to impeach as many of the bastards as possible, also wants to pursue them after they're out of office through international tribunals like The Hague, as well as via multi-national indictments for war crimes, and so on.

I find it hard not to like someone who espouses those positions. Plus, she's quite bright, funny, articulate and passionate.

I don't know... I don't think she's earned the vilification I see in this thread. I suppose anyone running as a green would be a potential vote siphon away from Hillabarakwards, but I'm finding it nearly impossible to support this year's preselected top-tier candidates anyway.

I'll still vote for Kucinich, but if he doesn't manage to make the ballot in Oregon, I'll certainly give McKinney another look.


wp

[warren pease]

31. I forgot your other point...

Not to be too blunt or un-PC, but imo the similarities between Obama and McKinney are literally skin deep. If the demographic you cite is all African Americans of voting age -- across the board without factoring in variables like educational levels, socio-economic status, geography and so forth -- then you'd also have to assume there's some kind of generic black person who can't or won't differentiate on issues but only on color of skin. I think that's not the case.

The differences between Obama and McKinney on the issues are substantial. Here's two at random:

Re health care: Obama believes in universal "coverage," which is just code for inviting for-profit insurance companies and medical centers into a new system which would inevitably fail because these entities aren't in the health care business at all. Rather, they're in the money-making business. Those two interests are antithetical, as the current broken system proves every time it discharges a patient days too soon just to cut claims costs and free up another hospital bed for the next poor sucker.

Like Kucinich, McKinney believes in a single-payer, universal-access system in which docs and hospitals continue to operate as private entities but are paid out of a dedicated fund, amassed via an additional tax on ALL income, not just wages (the burden thus falling heaviest on the rich rather than on the usual targets), with payments distributed by the single payer -- in this case, the feds through an expanded Medicare system. Medicare, btw, operates at about a 3 percent overhead, while for-profit insurance squanders between 25 to 40 percent of gross on useless garbage like executive compensation, shareholder return, PR and advertising campaigns, an army of actuaries and claims adjusters whose primary job it is to find some way to weasel out of paying legitimate claims, real estate investments, trips to Barbados for the marketing and sales departments and so on... none of which do a damn thing toward performing their alleged jobs -- covering health care costs for their subscribers.

Re Iraq and Afghanistan: In a recent "debate," Obama wouldn't commit to ending US involvement in Iraq by 2013. Again, McKinney mirrors Kucinich's position, which is no more money for war and occupation, funds allocated for safe troop redeployment only, withdrawal beginning immediately.

And on down the line -- rescinding the patriot acts and the MCA, preventing implementation of Bush's notorious executive orders and presidential directives, reinstating Habeas Corpus and so forth.

And another key differentiator, Obama has pocketed about $80M from various campaign "contributors" in the first nine months of 2007, with the insurance/finance/real estate sector leading the corporate bribery race by a nose over something called "other."

I doubt McKinney has been able to raise $80,000; maybe not even $800. But she's out there fighting the good anti-corporatist fight and motivating others to do likewise, which earns her my virtual support (although I'm still voting for Kucinich in the primary and writing him in for the general election) and my best wishes in her continuing efforts to be an unrelenting pain in the ass for all representatives of the status quo.

Anyway, that's what I know, or think I know.


wp

[saltpoint]

37. Hi, warren pease. I'm not interested in leaving the Democratic Party,

which is problematic right out of the gate as regards the Greens.

As I've posted on DU before, I admire what the Green Party is up to, and know friends in Europe where it is quite a bit more viable and influential.

Senator Obama has an opportunity to make history in more than one way. History is teasing at his coattails right now, but the hour of decision approaches in Iowa and New Hampshire, etc. He has to win the Dem nom first. If he does, my point is that the nation's focus is going to be on Barack Obama. No one the Pukes can send up can match most of our team, and since Obama is the hinge here, let's invoke him as our nominee for right now.

I'm saying that a voter already inclined to consider Barack Obama is not going to be more attracted to Cynthia McKinney. The Green Party state organizations are impressive but vastly out-numbered. They can compete in some city/county/state races but the presidency remains well beyond their means right now. Much less so in Europe, but very much the case here.

McKinney is likely going to face some strong competition for the Green nomination. It's just my take, but I do not see the Green delegates preferring her over other possible nominees.

Her Democratic opponent in her Georgia district appealed to reliable Democratic trends there and whupped her good.

Your preparation and analysis is unfortunately not typical for most voters. McKinney doesn't have the numbers because voters are not kaleidoscopic in their problem-solving. Our legislation reflects this. Throw in media and image as components of post-Eisenhower U.S. politics and you see why Obama will command the field should he be nominated.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

32. She's "uppity"

;)

[warren pease]

33. Yeah, she's that alright.

I used to think Hillary was, too. Sadly, that's not even close. Her candidacy makes me want to drink heavily. For now, though, I'll settle for this...

:beer:


wp


On edit: poured a better brand of beer.

[emilyg]

14. Groan.

[nadinbrzezinski]

15. Fascinating list of candidates and potential candidates

one thing that struck me is... no Larouche candidate?

[orleans]

19. i didn't even think of that. wiki says he has run seven times in the dem party

i've seen a little table set up in town with their brochures a couple of times. both times they had impeach bush signs on the table.

[MADem]

16. Well, her supporters can't campaign for her here, thank heavens.

It's against DU rules.

[stimbox]

35. Here comes the hall monitor.

[flordehinojos]

20. i would vote for Cynthia McKinney in a heart beat!

She speaks truth to power, and would do her bestest good-to-power to return this nation to a sane course and put it back on its track ... or at least on a track of recovery from the bush stink hole the bushes have put this nation in ...!!!!!!!!
GO GIRL! i would vote for you in a heart beat!

[Progressive Friend]

38. I agree, McKinney and Kucinich are the best candidates running

[flordehinojos]

41. it seems only a very few can truly "see" McKinney, or Kucinich ... or Truth ...

but then, that people cannot see, Truth, is a long time, long ago journey ... Socrates was given Hemlock, Christ the cross, then (who was?) beheaded at the tower of London for speaking the truth?

Truth ... it really frees people and yet it carries so many enemies ... and the bushes are some of those who fall into states of convulsion whenever truth approaches them ... from jeb, to jr., to poppy ... to even mommy bush ... do you want to see them convulse? speak truth to power in their faces ... and that is what cynthia mckinney and dennis kucinich do: they speak truth to power!

(okay. i think i got off on a rant. sorry about that, but thank you for seeing and thank you for listening).

[ovidsen]

21. Never gonna happen

She's played the race card a few too many times in my book. ABC...Anybody But Cynthia.

[aikoaiko]

22. wackadoo attention seeker

[JerseygirlCT]

24. Oh brother. nt

[proud2BlibKansan]

27. She's got my vote

I am thrilled to see her running. Depending on who the Dems nominate, I will probably vote for her.

And no, it's not the same as voting Republican if I don't vote Dem. I live in friggin KANSAS. The electoral college here hasn't picked the Dem presidential candidate since 1964. So my presidential vote is wasted every election, since I never vote Republican. I have decided to vote my conscience this time.

[Basileus Basileon]

28. Hey, I didn't know that AW finally left. Great.

[book_worm]

29. So somebody else who would rather the Republicans hold the WH another four years

[Vinca]

30. Just what we need. Someone to split the vote so we end up with Ghouliani. nt

[MonkeyFunk]

39. She won't split the vote

she'll get between 20 and 100 votes, depending on how large her family is.

[Renew Deal]

44. It depends on who we run. If we run a rightist candidate like Hillary, we have a problem.

If we run someone more to the left, we should be fine. She will be attacking from the left whenever she can get attention. That's why running someone more left would be better.

[LWolf]

34. Great to see the large list of choices available, thanks! n/t

[Virginia Dare]

36. Maybe Nader will be her running mate...n/t

[Lydia Leftcoast]

40. She's smart as a whip and doesn't take shit from anybody

These are excellent qualifications for a candidate, and I wish her own party had treated her better and that the DLCers didn't keep spreading lies about her.

She was on to the whole BCCI scandal and wasn't going to let go. That's why the establishment Dems recruited a recently converted Republican to run against her in 2002.

[saltpoint]

42. Agree that she's smart as a whip. IMO she needs to be smart as an oak tree.

U.S. politics is a rough sport. I'm not disputing your points on her brains, only saying that for most of her career and especially lately she's positioned herself as a fire-belcher.

I use that noun not to diminish her appeal to her fans but to suggest that McKinney is no longer in the Congress by decree of her constituents. Whether an ex-Republican or a Republican outright outpolled her, it was she who was outpolled. In a Constitutional republic, that's how the game is played, and in playing it in full fire-belching mode, McKinney lost.

For all I know she may find success in he Green Party but IMO an absolutely vast percentage of now-Democratic-leaning voters will pass on her candidacy so fast it wil make our heads spin.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

45. According to Ulysses and CatWoman, who worked on her campaign

Republicans crossed over to vote against her in the GA primary.

[saltpoint]

46. As voters in some districts will do throughout U.S. electoral history.

Some states permit it. Some don't. She and her staff would have known about open primary voting from a long time back and would have known what they were up against.

I don't dispute the crossover point, but those voters are no more and no less Americans than McKinney's supporters, and the majority tossed her out of office.

She has every right to pursue the Green nomination, but IMO she will meet with considerable resistance.

Michael Bloomberg is rumored to be mounting a presidential campaign. He has the bucks and has literally been both a Democrat and a Republican before becoming an Independent just some months ago. He also has a base -- the nation's largest city -- whose constituents elected him narrowly over Mark Green the first time and by a more comfortable margin for re-election. If he wishes, he can cobble an impressive highway from all those components. McKinney has none of those advantages going in. Without a discernible base, she will have to gamble that Green delegates will support her bid. If they are not her base, then she does not have a base, and I don't think anyone can be elected to much of anything without one.

[EFerrari]

47. I worked the ERD that day and the campaign started getting

complaints about vote flipping and other trickery early in the day. I still don't know who really won that race.

I met Cynthia the day she declared as a Green. And even as a Green myself, it made me sad. Maybe she's just tired of getting beat up by idiots.

[Renew Deal]

43. The greens would probably nominate her if Nader didn't run as a green

She's got nothing going on though. She would steal votes from a rightist candidate like Hillary.

[defendandprotect]

48. Cynthia McKinney knows what's going on . . . and she tells -- She's great --- !!!

[Whisp]

49. She is what I think America wants to be.

take away the corp, the flotsam and $$$,...

McKinney is America.