Ouch. The Washington Post throws a beat-down on the Green Party

[WilliamPitt]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A8622-2004Jun26.html

The handful of Greens who've gathered for his session on alternative forms of commuting agree on the general principles: Keep those "Hummers" rotting in the garage. But as always with Greens, the strength of commitment lies in the purity of the details.

"Sixty-five percent polyester?" asks Bruce Hunter, eyeing the coverall tag with suspicion. "Why is that?" Then they drift into discussion of a future of 12-foot-wide lanes reserved for "human powered only."

Theoretically this could be a big breakout moment for the Greens. In the past four years the party has doubled in size. It has seeded a crop of scrappy local candidates with no money but big dreams who are running for city council-type seats and are actually winning. It has an administration hostile to one of its central concerns -- the environment. And it has a spiffy new logo!

But deep at their core Greens are still Greens, the aging grad students who never left campus, earnest and agitated, endlessly fine-tuning among themselves. The big decision this year -- whether to endorse Ralph Nader for president -- is debated endlessly as the weekend progresses, in the elevators, in the bathroom, down the escalator, long after midnight. But so is everything else, whether to drive or walk to the Kinko's, order for here or to go, whether to sleep at the corporate hotel.

"You're taking the elevator?" Janice Moore asks her friend. "Do you know who owns Otis stock?"

What counts is the tribe and all its intricate unspoken rules: Ethnic food is always better, and leftovers are never thrown away. People should carry their own silverware. Bags are cloth, preferably obtained free at museums or libraries. Hair is pure, no coloring, no blow-dry. Braids are cool.

Men should cede the microphone to women whenever possible. Women should cede it to lesbians. Lesbians to women from Third World countries, etc.

Women who are not Palestinian dress like Palestinians down to the head scarves, known as "solidarity kaffiyehs." Head scarves used to symbolize female oppression but no longer do -- chiefly, it seems, because Laura Bush said the women in Afghanistan were oppressed and we had to liberate them, and everything Laura Bush says is wrong.

...more...

It appears Hanna Rosin did not enjoy her time at the convention.

[WoodrowFan]

1. don't blame the Post

we see the same "purer than thou" here everytime someone mentions Nadar vs Kerry.

[GreenPartyVoter]

2. Well boo-sucks to that.

I know I am not a perfect green. Use more ziploc bags than I should. Could do better about conserving on water. And yeah, I color my hair and it ain't with Henna.

When I go to the Full-Circle Fair in the summer, I may be wearing my world peace shirt, but I am also eating meat at the lunch counter and using a paper napkin to wipe my face with.

I know. Not a perfect Green as far as consumption goes.

But that's life.

There are plenty of other soccer mom Greens like me in the country, who gravitated to the party for one reason or another. Me, it was for the sake of election reform.

So while the Post may have been correct in estimating the "type" of Green at the convention, believe me, if I'd had the money I would have gladly have been there too. And good luck to that journalist trying to pigeon hole me like that.

[Junkdrawer]

3. Well call me a tinfoiler, but now that the Greens have abandoned...

spoiler Nader, perhaps they won't be treated as nice by the corporate media.

[DeaconBlues]

10. Yep, the honeymoon is over

Now that the Greens have decided to not actively campaign in battleground states (at least this is my understanding of Cobbs' strategy) and won't be such a danger to Kerry, the knives have come out. Anybody remember the Post having an article about the Greens like this when they endorsed Nader in 2000?

[depakid]

4. Being disrespected by idiots

is a badge of honor.

One has to wonder whether the Washington Post realizes that they are no longer considered a reputable newspaper. It's sad to see how low they've fallen.

[GreenPartyVoter]

5. True enough.

[MikeG]

6. Anyone uncomfortable with the stereotypes in this article?

[WilliamPitt]

16. Juuuust a bit

This was a nasty piece of work.

[DinahMoeHum]

18. Yep. The "Nothing-But-The-Best-For-The-Oppressed" stereotype.

:evilfrown:

[JohnLocke]

7. Wow. "Beat down" is an understatement!

[JohnLocke]

8. I like this quote:

"I'm at the point where I'm embarrassed to be a Green in front of my family ... It's like saying we don't care if George Bush gets elected."
- Joan Strasser, Green Party delegate

[Cat Atomic]

9. Ok, and all Republicans smoke cigars and wear top hats.

What the hell sort of cartoonish garbage is that? Could those stereotypes be a little more predicatable?

I vote Green at the local and state level every time, and I'm no "aging grad student". I come from a long line of blue-collar laborers. People who are essentially unrepresented by the two major political parties in this country.

I'm not surprised that Republicans don't notice us. They never have.

[dumpster_baby]

14. it's called propaganda. If it is "cartoonish," then it is very effective

It is not supposed to provoke analytical thought, but just to spread a a believable meme.

[dumpster_baby]

11. "Smashmouth Progressives" need to stage a coup of the American Left

We need to import some of the smashmouth, hardcore, self-interest progressivism from Europe. The media is doing here just what they have done over the years--making liberals look like effete misfits.

Class warfare is what you need. Go watch the movie _They_Live_. Play to the base emotions. Demagogue it, or risk losing everything.

[ShaneGR]

12. My favorite part of the article....

Cobb has developed a strategy he calls "smart growth." In safe states, those that are locked up for Bush or John Kerry, he tells Greens to vote Green. In battleground states, he says, "Vote your conscience," which is understood to mean hold your nose and vote for Kerry.








Smart man.... well, not brilliant, but smart enough not to help Bush.

[GreenPartyVoter]

17. Actually, I hear he is very intelligent.

[stevedeshazer]

13. What a pantload, this writer is insane or grossly biased

I'm a lifelong Democrat who supported the Greens in 1996 and 2000, both financially and with votes along with my family. We were concerned about the rightward drift of the Democratic Party. Were we wrong? Knowing what you all know today, were we wrong? Someone please explain.

Stop the daggers, okay? I'm solidly Kerry now, and so is everyone else I know. We have to be. I think Kerry will make a good President, but he surely will inherit a shitload of problems caused by ten years of Republican politics as usual, or as Jim Hightower says, "politics more than usual."

Greens (the ones I know) are:

NOT "a handful", rooting for Hummers rotting in garages.

NOT bike riders that look like "Marvin the Martian" wearing gloves that look like oven mitts.

NOT "aging grad students who never left campus, earnest and agitated, endlessly fine-tuning among themselves."

NOT as described in the two paragraphs here from the article:

"What counts is the tribe and all its intricate unspoken rules: Ethnic food is always better, and leftovers are never thrown away. People should carry their own silverware. Bags are cloth, preferably obtained free at museums or libraries. Hair is pure, no coloring, no blow-dry. Braids are cool.

Men should cede the microphone to women whenever possible. Women should cede it to lesbians. Lesbians to women from Third World countries, etc."

And even if this were so, SO FUCKING WHAT? Yes, I know lesbians, and guess what? I don't defer to them any more than anyone else. AND THEY DON'T ASK ME TO, despite the fact that I may, just may, be concealing a penis in my pants.

Gee, I guess I should start wearing a suit and going to Applebee's more often.

Jesus. All hail the First Amendment.

[Zorra]

15. "Leftovers are never thrown away"

Corporate America must be scared shitless of the Greens. Especially considering that the Green Party has doubled in size over the last four years.

"But deep at their core Greens are still Greens, the aging grad students who never left campus, earnest and agitated, endlessly fine-tuning among themselves. The big decision this year -- whether to endorse Ralph Nader for president -- is debated endlessly as the weekend progresses, in the elevators, in the bathroom, down the escalator, long after midnight. But so is everything else, whether to drive or walk to the Kinko's, order for here or to go, whether to sleep at the corporate hotel".

"You're taking the elevator?" Janice Moore asks her friend. "Do you know who owns Otis stock?"

I find it refreshing that there are some people who think seriously about the consequences of their every action and then decide upon a course of action that is least destructive to others and the environment.

I think Hannah Rosin is wrong about the Greens; the strength of commitment does not lie in the purity of the details, but in the purity of the action. Recognizing the best course of action sometimes takes considerable thoughtfulness.