By Brian Carnell

Monday, December 8, 2003

The Washington Times reported in September that a self-described "grassroots committee of active Greens" set up VoteMcKinney.Org to urge Cynthia McKinney to seek the Green Party nomination for president.

The Times quotes Green Party spokesman Scott McLarty as saying of a possible McKinney presidential bid,

I think if McKinney ran a good campaign, a focused and energetic campaign, I think we would do very well. Some people have said that the dream team could be [Ralph] Nader with McKinney as a running mate, or vice versa.

McLarty goes on to say that,

In 2000, Ralph had some baggage, which was the perception that he was not interested in certain kinds of social concerns . . . [but McKinney is interesting] because she is considered an African-American leader with an outstanding human rights record, with environmental interests.

I'm not sure how McLarty expects people to take seriously a party that would embrace someone like McKinney who continues to be the most prominent individual in the United States to run interference for Zimbabwe strongman Robert Mugabe.

In fact, last June McKinney gave a speech that not only continued her long-standing apologia for Zimbabwe, but also saw fit to praise the corrupt former dictator of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Laurent Kabila. What's next? Is McKinney going to suggest that Idi Amin was simply the victim of a smear campaign by Western imperialists?

McLarty must have a strange conception of human rights if he thinks McKinney's record there has been "outstanding."

Sources:

Greens go online to 'draft Cynthia'. Steve Miller, The Washington Times, September 22, 2003.

Up Close - Zimbabwe. Speech, Cynthia McKinney, 21 June 2003.

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