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Today's
Stories
October 2 /
3. 2004
Paul Wright
John
Kerry on Criminal Justice
Kathleen and Bill Christison
An Exchange with Israeli Historian Bennie Morris
Kathie Helmkamp
My Son Trent: a Marine Who Doesn't Want to Kill
Phillip Cryan
Indigenous Mobilization in Colombia
Lenni Brenner
The First Ex-Catholic Saint: Memories of Mario Savio
Fred Gardner
Pot Shots: In Case You Missed "Montel"
Ron Jacobs
It Did Happen Here: When Neo-Nazis Terrorized Olympia
Ben Tripp
Sticker Shock
William S.
Lind
The Grand Illusion: Iraqi Security Forces
Dave Zirin
The Swindle of the Century: Baseball Comes to DC
Dave Lindorff
Lies from the Great Debate
Luscon Pierre-Charles
Haiti's Elections: a High-Tech Sham is Underway
Zoe Moskovitz
& Sasha Kramer
Separating Lies from Truth About Haiti
Nelson P. Valdes
Habana Night vs. Latin American Scholars in Vegas: 61 Banned
Cuban Academics
Alan Farago
The "Ownership Society" and the End of the Everglades
Nancy Haley
What is the Historical Jesus Trying to Tell Us?
Alex Billet
Long Live The Clash: London Still Calling After 25 Years
Steve Fesenmaier
Save and Burn: The War on Libraries
Poets' Basement
Smith, Holt, Albert
October 1,
2004
Steve Breyman
Kerry's
Missed Opportunities
Rose Gentle
My
Son Died for a Lie
Lee Sustar
Iran
in the Crosshairs
Ralph Nader
What
We Didn't Hear at the Debate: Where's the Exit Strategy?
Walter Andrews
We Are Less Secure Now Than Ever
Mike Whitney
Pandora's
Government
Mickey Z.
Debate
This
Saul Landau
The
Iraq Invasion: Lessons from the Pinochet Cases
September 30,
2004
Ralph Nader
10
Ways to Beat Bush: a Gift to the Kerry/Edwards Campaign
Patrick Cockburn
The
Kidnap Capital of the World: Iraq's One Growth Industry
Gideon Levy
When You Have Breast Cancer in Gaza
Joshua Frank
Presidential Debates? Pass the Remote
Niranjan Ramakrishnan
I Dreamed They Had a Debate
Ali Khan
Dershowitz's
Jihad: Inventing Exceptions to International Law
Steve Perry
An Interview with Sibel Edmonds
September 29,
2004
Behrooz Ghamari
Playing
Politics with Nukes: A Collision Course with Iran?
Ray McGovern
More
Troops to Iraq...After the Election
Walter Brasch
Tinseltown
Traitors?: Applauding Only the Right Entertainers
Chris Floyd
The
Deceivers: Chronicle of a Quagmire Foretold
Stacey Reynolds
The Story of a Mercury-Poisoned American
M. Junaid Alam
Disrupting America's Fateful Non-Debate on the Roots of Terrorism
John L. Hess
They've Already Called It
Paul Craig
Roberts
Delusion
Rules: War, Outsourcing an Debt
September 28, 2004
Mike Whitney
Kerry's
Moral Compass
Fred Gardner
Pot
Shots: the Civics Teacher
Dan Meek
How Democrats Kicked Nader Off the Oregon Ballot
Greg Bates
Choking on Progressives for Kerry
Alan Farago
Jeanne in Haiti: Where is the World?
Lori Berenson
The Cajamarca Protest
Wayne Madsen
Where
is the Florida National Guard?
Robert Fisk
Why Have We Suddenly Forgotten Abu Ghraib?
September 27,
2004
Gary Leupp
The
Expulsion of Cat Stevens
Patrick Cockburn
As British Muslims Plead for Bigley's Life, US Airstrikes Pound
Fallujah
Sam Husseini
The Problem with Public Opinion Polls
Lee Sustar
Putting Bosses First: Latter Day Democrats and Labor
Dave Lindorff
A Progressive Case for (Gag) Kerry?
Norman Madarasz
Talking International: Contra Kerry
Kevin Pina
The Tragedy of Gonaives, Haiti
September 25
/ 26, 2004
Alexander Cockburn
C'mon
Ralph, You've Got Nothing to Lose
Dave Zirin
The Courage of the NBA's Etan Thomas:
"I Am Totally Against This War"
Saul Landau
The Reality of Empire and Campaign Rhetoric
Dave Lindorff
Our Heroic Baby-Killers
Brian J. Foley
Bush at the UN: the Sound of No Hands Clapping
William Blum
Progressives and the Election
Alan Maass
Why is Kerry Running Such a Lame Campaign? You Can't Blame It
All on Bob Shrum
Lucson Pierre-Charles
Haiti: Another Lost Story
Solange Echeverria
An Interview with Kevin Pina on the Floods in Haiti
Nicole Colson
What About the Supreme Court?
Justin Smith
The New Sparta
Joshua Frank
Iraq: From Clinton to Bush
Karyn Strickler
Momma, Don't Let Your Babides Grow Up to be Cannon Fodder
Michael Donnelly
Rather Disingenuous: "Remember in November"
Greg Bates
The Politics of Nader's Republican Support
Todd Chretien
Lesser Evilism: We Are Living in the Logical Conclusion
William Loren
Katz
Dire Warnings from the Past: From Wilson to Bush
Omar Barghouti
Americans, You've Lost Your Alibi!
Poets' Basement
Holt, Clarke, Albert, Laymon and Ford
Website of the Weekend
Carnival of Chaos
September 24,
2004
Dr. Teresa
Whitehurst
The
Value of One Life: Keeping Up Appearances and Leaving Hostages
to the Wolves
William S.
Lind
Destroying
the National Guard
Mike Whitney
The Bush Tent Show
Nancy Welch
What's
at Stake for Women in 2004?
Niranjan Ramakrishnan
Logical Limbo
Joshua Frank
Fear Mongering 101
Victor Kattan
An Interview with Afif Safieh
Ben Terrall
Kerry and Haiti: Will He Stand Up?
Kathleen and
Bill Christison
"Finally
It Broke My Heart": Random Impressions from Palestine
September 23,
2004
Patrick Cockburn
Why
Are They Still Holding "Mrs. Anthrax?"
Christopher Brauchli
Ashcroft's "Distressing Lack of Care": Hamdi and the
Phony War on Terrorism
Derek Seidman
Fighting for a Union at Starbucks: an Interview with Daniel Gross
Michael Neumann
Three
Years and Counting? How Time Flies
September 22,
2004
Patrick Cockburn
Zarqawi's
War: the Mysterious Sadist from Jordan
Neve Gordon
The
Wall, the Court and Sharon
Joshua Frank
History Repeating: New York, 1832 and Now
Ron Jacobs
Stormy Seas on the Citizen Ship
Jack Random
Defending Dan? Rather Not
Tarif Abboushi
Kerry's Final Straw: Confessions of a Despairing Voter
Mickey Z
Stupid White Guy Quiz
John L. Hess
Faking the Difference: a Serious Debate?
Jeffrey St.
Clair
High
Plains Grifter: The House Rules
September 21,
2004
Gary Leupp
"We
Are Not Secure": Kerry's "Unwavering Commitment"
to Securing a Middle East Realm
Robert Jensen
Large
Dams in India: Temples or Burial Grounds?
Elaine Cassel
Fourth Circuit to Moussouai: Ask Your Questions; Prepare to Die
Stanley Heller
Reagan and the Killing Fields of Lebanon
Adam Federman
America Will Disappoint the World, Again
David Whitehouse
What's Behind the Horror in Darfur?
M. Junaid Alam
How to Avoid Becoming an Anti-American
Paul Craig
Roberts
Attention
Deficit America
Website of the Day
True American War Heroes: the Iraq Refuseniks
September 20,
2004
Cockburn /
Buncombe
Get
Fallujah
David Price
Relying
on Phonies: What If The Problem with Phone Polls is That They
Are Phone Polls
Dave Lindorff
How
Dems Fight: Tigers Against Nader, Pussycats Against Bush
Harry Browne
Pre-Nup at Leeds: Talked Out, But Does IRA Give Up?
Mark Wesibrot
Bush's
Ownership Society: No Taxes for Owners, Only Workers
Karyn Strickler
The Keys to the White House v. the Shrum Curse?
Uri Avnery
The Temple Mount Bombers
September 18
/ 19, 2004
Alexander Cockburn
Forgeries,
Fingerprints and Forensic Fakery
Jeffrey St. Clair
High Plains Grifter: Bush's Mask of Anarchy
Patrick Cockburn
Into the Abyss: the Week Iraq's Dream of Peace Fell Apart
Fred Gardner
Pot Shots: Financial Torture (Asset Forfeiture)
Joe Allen
The Comrades Kerry Abandoned: the Real Story of Vietnam Vets
Against the War
George Corsetti
Poletown Revisited: Finally, Some Vindication
Scott Handleman
The Knock-Knock of a Sledgehammer: Sequestered in Nablus
Richard Ward
Two Weeks in Beit Arabiya
Conn Hallinan
Ashcroft and Indonesia
Lori Smith
Health Care in America: And Then I Got Sick...
Dave Zirin
Hold the Booyah!: SportsCenter Out of the Middle East
John L. Hess
Rather Will Take the Heat, As Bush's War Deteriorates
Brian J. Foley
W is for Wimp: So Why do Manly Men Love Him?
Mickey Z.
Pat Tillman and Osama bin Laden: Odd Juxtapositions
Poets' Basement
Vest, Landau & Albert
Website of the Weekend
Eye on the NYTs
Septemeber
17, 2004
Ray McGovern
Gossing
Over the Record
Patrick Cockburn
The New Iraqi Economy: Baghdad's Thriving Kidnapping Industry
Lee Sustar
The State of Working America: an Autopsy of the American Dream
Mike Whitney
John Kerry: 195 Lbs. of Political Helium, Not an Ounce of Sincerity
Victor Kattan
Black September
Ray Hanania
Israel's Demographics
Greg Bates
Nader's Victories: a Mid-Campaign Assessment
Website of
the Day
The Road to Hell
September 16,
2004
Landau / Hassen
Meet
the New Villain: Syria
Joanne Mariner
Inside
Darfur: a Photo Essay
Patrick Cockburn
US
Offers Conflicting Accounts of Baghdad Bloodbath
Greg Moses
Four Million Children Might Be News
Joshua Frank
Nader in the Battleground States
Christopher Brauchli
The Bush Drug Lottery Flops
David Himmelstein
Folke Bernadotte: a Rosh Hashonah Remembrance
Website of the Day
The Abu Ghraib Index
September 15,
2004
Patrick Cockburn
Hell
on Haifa Street
Ron Jacobs
Oppose War, Not Just Bush
David Lindorff
Blanking Out Dissent
Joanne Mariner
Talking About Darfur: Is Genocide Just a Word?
Angela Godfrey-Goldstein
An Open Letter to Madonna: Please Don't Support Israeli Apartheid
Dave Zirin
Is the NFL Ready for Us?
Yigal Bronner
"They
Are Building Walls Around Us"
September 14,
2004
Gary Leupp
The
Problem of Chechnya
Jennifer van
Bergen
What's
Wrong with Torture?
Stan Goff
Wake Up and Smell the Jungle Rot
Patrick Cockburn
The
Punishment of Fallujah: US Precision Strickes...on Ambulances
Anis Memon
Nader
in Michigan
Michael Donnelly
The Nuance Comes Off: Former Naderites Beg for Kerry Votes
Werther
Zell Miller: the Peckerwood Pericles
Website of
the Day
Osama Bin Forgotten?
September 13,
2004
Gabriel Kolko
Elections,
Alliances and the American Empire
Phillip Cryan
How Do You Say "Death Squad?": Language in Colombia's
War
Patrick Cockburn
One of Baghdad's Bloodiest Days: "I'm a Journalist! I'm
Dying! I'm Dying"
Noah Leavitt
The War on Civil Liberties
Robert Jensen
Highjacking Catastrophe: Bush, the Neo-Cons and 9/11
Mike Whitney
Alan Greenspan: Fed-Master to the Wealthy
John Chuckman
Stop Talking About the "Election"
Mike Burke
Kerry/Edwards Website Censors Discussion of Israel/Palestine
Issues
CounterPunch
Wire
The Quotations of David Cobb: "I Don't Care How Many Votes
I Get"
Website of the Day
Keep It In Your Pants: the Bush Plan to Combat Teen Promiscuity
September 11
/ 12, 2004
Alexander Cockburn
Swatting
at Flies
Fred Gardner
Yet Another Prozac Scandal
Saul Landau
When Our Assassins Go Free
Jennifer Van Bergen
How to Beat Bush: a Simple Strategy for the Average American
Roger Burbach
/ Jim Tarbell
The Real Dead Enders: Iraq and the Crisis of Empire
Christopher Reed
9/11 in an Historical Context: a Minor Event When Compared to
Worldwide War Casualties
Francisc Catalin
An ABC of American Interventions
Carl Estabrook
Big Science and Government Terror
Bernard Chazelle
Anti-Americanism: a Clinical Study
Sharon Smith
Third Party Blues
Dave Lindorff
Perhaps This Time We're the Silent Majority
Mike Whitney
Fallujah: an Iraqi Beslan?
Frederick B.
Hudson
Their Sons Perished in the Flames, But Not Their Faith
Mickey Z.
Round Up the Usual Suspects: a Look Back at 9/11
Ron Jacobs
Redneck Music for the New Century
Greg Moses
Soap Opera Moments in Texas School Funding Trial
Benjamin Dangl
/ Andrew Kennis
An Interview with Leslie Cagan
Poets Basement
Del Papa, Albert, Gelman
September 10,
2004
Patrick Cockburn
Disappointment
at Samarrah?
Michael Donnelly
Democrats v. Democracy
Alan Farago
Mosquitoes in a Hurricane
Doug Giebel
Karl Rove's Terror Playbook
Mike Whitney
Bob Graham's Political Tsunami
David Domke
God's
Will, According to the Bush Administration
September 9,
2004
Joe Bageant
Karaoke
Night in Bush's America
Ed Kinane
Abducted in Baghdad
Peter Bohmer
The Cuban Revolution: Present and Future
Todd May
The Emerging Case for a Single-State Solution
Jeremy Scahill
The New York Model: Indymedia and the Text Message Jihad
Joshua Frank
Green House Party Gasses
Fran Shor
The Crisis in Public Dissent: When Protest is Considered a Terrorist
Act
Patrick Cockburn
Welcome
to the Dirtiest City in the World: Despair in Baghdad
Website of
the Day
Liberty Street Protest: No to War at Ground Zero
September 8,
2004
Patrick Cockburn
This
Doesn't Smell Like Victory: A War on Two Fronts in Iraq
Dave Lindorff
Bush Confuses; Kerry Mute: Spinning 1000 Dead
Bulent Gokay
Russian and Chechnia After Beslan
Lisa Viscidi
Land Reform and Conflict in Guatemala
Niranjan Ramakrishnan
Byrd's Eye View
Mike Whitney
Afghanistan: American's Drug Colony
Stan Goff
Body
Count: 1001
Website of
the Day
Bush and the Love Doctors
September 7,
2004
Diane Christian
Hostage Tactics: a Game of Mortal Poker
Joshua Frank
Greens
Unravel from Within
Patrick Cockburn
Fallujah
Erupts Again: US Death Toll in Iraq Nears 1000
Ron Jacobs
Bush and Putin: "We're Not Girlie Men"
Chris Floyd
Cry Havoc: Bush's Own Personal Janjaweed
Dr. Carol Wolman
No Blood for Oil at Paul Bunyan Day Parade
John Ross
The
Politics of Darkness North / South
September 6,
2004
Alexander Cockburn
An
Anti-Labor Day That Lives in Infamy: How Many Democrats Voted
For Taft-Hartley?
Ralph Nader
The
Cruel Legacy of Taft-Hartley: a Labor Day Call for Rights for
Working People
Lee Sustar
What's Driving the Attack on Pensions?
Kathleen and
Bill Christison
Dual
Loyalties: the Bush Necons and Israel
September 4-5,
2004
Alexander Cockburn
Elephants
and Gramsci
Ted Honderich
The
Way Things Are
Sasan Fayazmanesh
The
Holy Empire: Who We Are and What We Do
Douglas Valentine
What the World Should Know About Guantanamo
Patrick Cockburn
New Iraqi Police State Flexes Its Muscles
Gary Leupp
Neo Cons Under Fire
Fred Gardner
Pot Shots: the Hempstead T-Shirt
William A.
Cook
The
Day of the Lemming
Dave Zirin
Kobe Bryant and the Price of Freedom
John Chuckman
The Day the World Ended
Karyn Strickler
God Save the Endangered Species Act
Vanessa Jones
Bad Day with an Ikea Cup
Mike Whitney
Kerry: the "Better" War Candidate
Mark Donham
Dear John (Kerry): Start Explaining and Fast
Mickey Z.
McBypass Nation: Feeling Clinton's Pain
Alan Farago
Can the Everglades be Fixed?
Poets' Basement
Landau and Albert
September 3,
2004
Jeffrey St.
Clair
High
Plains Grifter: Jesus Told Him Where to Bomb
Rahul Mahajan
Bush's RNC Speech: an Annotated Response
Carl Estabrook
The
Book of Slaughter and Forgetting
Joshua Frank
The Florida of the Northwest: Oregon Dems Sabotage Nader Again
Gary Leupp
Music to My Ears: Sunday's March
James Hollander
Deja Vu in Manhattan: Assisted Political Suicide?
Mark Engler
Republicans
Among Us: a Week at the RNC, Inside and Out
Jesse Sharkey
Making Students and Teachers Pay for the Crisis in Education
Jane Stillwater
Calling the Cops on Your Own Kid
Stephen Green
Serving
Two Flags: the Bush Neo-Cons and Israel
September 2,
2004
Jeffrey St.
Clair
High
Plains Grifter: Part 3: More Pricks Than Kicks
Max Gimble
Et Tu, Menchu? Extrajudicial Killings and Clandestine Graves
in Guatemala
James Petras
President Chavez and the Referendum: Myths and Realities
Christopher
Brauchli
Bush and the Afghan Electoral Model: "If They Want to Vote
Twice, Let Them"
Todd Chretien & Jessie
Muldoon
Will the Democrats Expel Zell Miller?
Jack Random
Spite and Venom Day: the Turncoat and the Profiteer
Alan Maass
The Real Vietnam
Christa Allen
Contre Bush
Website of
the Day
[Redacted]
September 1,
2004
Alexander Cockburn
The
Stench of Doom
Kathleen and Bill Christison
Poor Larry Franklin
Dave Lindorff
Kerry's Litmus Test
Josh Frank
Protest in White: Not All of New York Rises Up
John L. Hess
Moles, Scoops and Flip Flops
Mike Whitney
Deconstructing Arnold
Jack Random
Kindergarten Night at the RNC
Andrew Wilson
War on the Pachyderms: Why Do Elephants Hate Us?
Jeffrey St.
Clair
High
Plains Grifter: Part Two: Mark His Words
August 31,
2004
Joseph Nevins
Escapism
and Global Apartheid: The Dominican Republic & the NYTs
Matt Vidal
Beyond
Bush's Rhetoric on the Economy
Neve Gordon
Kerry and the Middle East
Dave Lindorff
Bush
the Peace Candidate?
Mike Whitney
NPR Leads the Charge for War Against Iran
Jack Random
Opening Night: Playing the War Card
Jeffrey St.
Clair
High
Plains Grifter: the Life and Crimes of George W. Bush (Part One)
CounterPunch Photo of the Day
Pete Seeger in NYC
August 30,
2004
Justin Podhur
The
Disappeared Mayor
Shaun Joseph
The
Hypocrites at TheNaderbasher.com
Mike Whitney
Israeli Moles in the Pentagon: What More Could They Possibly
Want?
Ron Jacobs
Live, From New York: the Majority of Protesters Claimed No Candidate
David Lindorff
Sunday in Manhattan: the Sound of Marchin', Chargin' Feet, Boy
Dave Zirin
USA Basketball: The Team White America Loved to Hate
Sam Husseini
Israeli Spying on the US: a Long History
August 28 /
29, 2004
Alexander Cockburn
Zombies
for Kerry
Patrick Cockburn
Najaf Ceasefire Good for Iraq, But Weakens Allawi and US
Ray McGovern
Blowing Smoke on Intelligence
Dr. Juan Romagoza
From El Salvador to Abu Ghraib: Reflections of Torture Survivor
Ray Hanania
An Israeli Spy in the Pentagon? Ridiculous!
Fred Gardner
Eddie Lepp Busted by DEA: Facing Life for Growing Medical Pot
Diane Christian
Big Men: the Better Leader Lets You Live
William S. Lind
The Desert Fox
Paul D'Amato
The Left Takes a Dive for Kerry
Joshua Frank
Greens at the Crossroads
Mickey Z.
Media Declares War on Anti-War Protests
Winslow T. Wheeler
Sen. McCain's Pork Chops: an Exchange
Justin E.H.
Smith
The New Age Racket and the Left
Thomas St. John
Burning Slaves at the Stake: On "Sinners in the Hands of
an Angry God"
Ali Tonak
Help the NYPD?
Mark Engler
New York Says "No"
Justin Felux
Haiti: the Attica of the Americas
Poets' Basement
Gelman, Albert, Ford and Hamod
August 27,
2004
Gary Leupp
Neocon
Musings
Robin Cook
The
Ghosts of Abu Ghraib
Diane Christian
Disarming
Michael Donnelly
Situational Democracy: the Show Me the Green Party?
Jack Random
4F and Other Heroes: an Army of War Resisters
Mike Ferner
"To the Swift Boats!"
Mazin Qumsiyeh
7000 Palestinian Political Prisoners
Veronza Bowers, Jr.
"You Won't Be Leaving Tomorrow"
August 26,
2004
M. Shahid Alam
The
Clash Thesis: a Failing Ideology?
Diane Christian
War
Rules: Bush is No Sun Tzu
Derek Seidman
"They're As Bad As Wal-Mart:" Starbucks Workers Get
Organized
David Lindorff
Court to RNC Protesters: Drop the Rally
Christopher
Brauchli
Signs of Dissent: the Bush in the Bubble
Stew Albert
Reporting Suspicious Activity
Mark Donham
Judgement in Athens: Give the Koreans Their Day in Court
Saul Landau
Pinochet:
the Al Capone of the Southern Cone
Website of
the Day
The Kerry 527 Ad You'll Never See
August 25,
2004
Amelia Peltz
Can
I Have 9.8 Seconds of Your Time?
Noah Leavitt
Defining and Redefining Torture
Ron Jacobs
Takin' It to the Streets: It's Not About the Election, It's About
Democracy
James Brooks
Coronado Crosses the Jordan
Akiva Eldar
How to Win the Jewish Vote: Turn Gaza into a "Mini-Afghanistan"
Gemma Araneta
Chavez's New Brand of Populism
Philip Cryan
Uribe's Boys: the Death Squads of Colombia
CounterPunch Wire
Cheney Opens the Closet Door
August 24,
2004
Jeremy Scahill
John
Kerry: the Warchurian Candidate
Gary Leupp
"We
Want Them to Go Away"
David Domke
God
Willing: an Echoing Press and Political Fundamentalism
William Loren Katz
The Meaning of Hugo Chávez: Black and Indian Power in
Venezuela
Jonah Gindin
With Chavez? Reading the International Private Media
Fran Schor
Denying Atrocities: From Vietnam to Fallujah
Joe Bageant
Driving
on the Bones of God
Website of the Day
The Great America Lockdown: a Primer for the RNC
August 23,
2004
Winslow Wheeler
Don't
Mind If I Do: Porkbarrel and the War on Terror
John Pilger
Bush
May Be the Lesser Evil
Stan Goff
Swift
Boat Dogfight
Bill and Kathleen
Christison
Notes
from the West Bank: Build, Demolish, Rebuild
Mike Whitney
The Unraveling of Afghanistan
William Blum
Brave
New World of Iraqi Sovereignty
Ralph Nader
A Letter to the Washington Post: a Shameful and Unsavory Editorial
August 21 /
22, 2004
Cockburn /
St. Clair
"They
Want Blood:" The Bi-Partisan Origins of the Total War on
Drugs
Landau / Hassen
Failing
the Mission? Form a Commission
Brian Cloughley
The
Bush Team in Iraq: Moral Cowardice, as Practiced by Experts
Josh Frank
Nader as David Duke? The ADL Wants You to Think So
Mike Whitney
Reincarnating Mengele: the Torture Doctors of Abu Ghraib
Ron Jacobs
Day Labor Blues
Mickey Z.
Shooting at Whales: 40 Years After Tonkin
Fred Gardner
Dr. Wolman Comes Out: The Cannabis Consultants
Dave Zirin
Uprising in Athens: Iraqi Soccer Team Gives Bush the Boot
Josh Saxe
Witnessing Police Brutality in LA
Yanar Mohammed
Letter from Baghdad: a Democracy of Killings and Bombings
Helen Williams
Ali's Story: a Taste of Reality from Baghdad
Michael Donnelly
Elemental and NaturalForests, Fire and Recovery
Elizabeth Schulte
The Crisis in Affordable Housing
Poets' Basement
Adler, Albert, Virgil, Ford and Krieger
Hot Stories
Alexander Cockburn
Behold,
the Head of a Neo-Con!
Subcomandante
Marcos
The
Death Train of the WTO
Norman Finkelstein
Hitchens
as Model Apostate
Steve Niva
Israel's
Assassination Policy: the Trigger for Suicide Bombings?
Dardagan,
Slobodo and Williams
CounterPunch Exclusive:
20,000 Wounded Iraqi Civilians
Steve
J.B.
Prison Bitch
Sheldon
Rampton and John Stauber
True Lies: the Use of Propaganda
in the Iraq War
Wendell
Berry
Small Destructions Add Up
CounterPunch
Wire
WMD: Who Said What When
Cindy
Corrie
A Mother's Day Talk: the Daughter
I Can't Hear From
Gore Vidal
The
Erosion of the American Dream
Francis Boyle
Impeach
Bush: A Draft Resolution
Click
Here for More Stories.
|
October 4, 2004
"I Don't
Have Any Goals for Votes"
An
Interview with David Cobb
By
JOSHUA FRANK
[Editor's note:
David Cobb refused to allow the text of his interview to be edited
for clarity, brevity or to conform to the merciless but inexorable
laws of grammar.--JSC]
Joshua Frank: Mr. Cobb,
thanks for agreeing to this interview. How do you respond to
the claim made by many Greens, including your primary opponent
Carol Miller, that you only garnered a mere 12% of the nation-wide
vote during the Green Party presidential primary, but still managed
to capture the party's nomination? Do you believe this support
provides legitimacy for your campaign? Or does the Green Party
have a democracy problem because its delegates are disproportionably
divided among states?
David Cobb: Joshua, I'll be
happy to address how I earned the Green Party's presidential
nomination but before I do, I'd like to make two points. The
first is this: the primary season ended three months ago. It's
time to focus on the general election and getting the Green message
out. It's time for our party to unify and these types of discussions
aren't particularly productive at this point in time. If people
have concerns with the primary and nominating process they should
have addressed those concerns when the rules were being drafted.
And, of course, after the election, I would encourage them to
work to make the Green Party as democratic as is humanly possible.
I have to say I'm skeptical though, because many of the people
who are crying "foul" now seem to be doing so only
because their preferred candidate lost. I suspect that many of
them will lose all interest in genuinely strengthening the democratic
character of the Green Party at the conclusion of this campaign.
The second point concerns the
questions you've posed to me in this email interview. Just about
every one attempts to challenge the legitimacy of my campaign
or somehow compares it to Nader's previous or current efforts.
I'll answer all your questions to provide a perspective that's
been missing from articles of this nature: my perspective. However,
your questions only once mention the words "George Bush"
or "John Kerry" whom I happen to be running against.
And the only substantive policy question you've asked concerns
a misstatement I made on Iraq.
So, in case anyone who reads
this is wondering: I'm running for president to present a genuine,
progressive alternative to the corporately-financed and morally
corrupt two old establishment parties. I'm running on a pro-peace,
anti-war platform and yes, I call for bringing our troops home
from Iraq as quickly as they can be transported -- which I've
been told should take five weeks. I call for a repeal of the
so-called "Patriot" Act, for a Living Wage, for single-payer
universal health care and for an end to the hypocritical and
racist war on drugs. I call for D.C statehood and for upholding
treaty rights with Native nations. I call for a 50% cut in the
Pentagon's budget over a ten-year period and for investing those
funds in developing alternative energy resources such as wind,
solar and biodiesel. I call for an end to commercial logging
on public lands. I call for easing ballot access restrictions
and am offended by the tactics used to keep Ralph Nader off the
ballot. I believe we should get private money out of our public
elections and I support open debates, Instant Runoff Voting and
proportional representation. I support reparations for the descendants
of people brought to this country in chains. I support equal
rights for people to marry whom they choose. I support clemency
for Leonard Peltier. I think your readers want this information
and should be presented with it.
And yes, I'm running to grow
the Green Party which is getting bigger, stronger and better
organized in each election cycle.
Now, as to how I earned the
Green Party's presidential nomination, I believe it is because
of three things. First, the Green Party was ready for a grassroots
campaign by someone who is a member of the party, who would campaign
on the party's platform and who worked shoulder to shoulder with
them as I have. I joined the Green Party because of Ralph Nader
but there are many Greens, myself included, who thought it was
time for a different candidate and a different kind of campaign.
I've spent the last eight years working with the party as a grassroots
organizer, candidate, candidate trainer, lecturer, fundraiser
and lawyer. So I'm well known within the party and my work has
been respected and appreciated at the grassroots. Incidentally,
I think we would really have to question our commitment to grassroots
democracy if we had the same candidate for national office three
times in a row.
The second reason I won and
earned the nomination is because I worked my tail off for it
-- harder than anyone else. I traveled to forty states and spent
months on the road all across the country. I visited states where
primaries, conventions and caucuses were held and I participated
in debates with my fellow candidates.
The third reason I won and
earned the nomination is because I actually sought the nomination
and I agreed to accept it. I participated in the internal democratic
process which the party established. Ralph stated explicitly
to the Green Party, in a public letter, that he was not seeking
nor would he accept the nomination.
Now, as to this "12%"
myth, you know that there are three kinds of lies: lies, damn
lies and statistics. This "12%" business falls into
at least one, if not all three, of those categories. People who
are interested in how this myth was propagated and how it has
been deconstructed can check out www.greensrespond.org.
Please keep in mind that I
received the majority of delegates' votes at the convention and
that I agreed to not accept the nomination unless there was majority
support. I agreed to this even though the party rules say that
a candidate can win a nomination with a plurality. No other candidate
willing to accept the nomination had a chance of winning even
a plurality of the vote. In other words, I made this agreement
even though I was the only candidate who stood to lose out on
the nomination by agreeing to it.
The Green Party operates as
a representative democracy and I encourage and welcome all efforts
to make it more democratic.
Frank: What is the largest
crowd you've spoken to along the campaign trail? It was reported
that in mid-August during a major rally in California, only three-dozen
supporters showed up. Is that a typical number for your gatherings?
Cobb: I suppose if you figure
in the coverage I've received in the New York Times, CNN, ABC,
NPR, CSPAN, and newspapers and radio and television stations
all across the country, that I've addressed millions and millions
of people. In person, I've addressed gatherings from thousands
of people, including a crowd of over 3,000 in Wisconsin about
a week ago, to a handful. Something in between is "typical."
Frank: Are you planning
on holding any super rallies like the Green Party during the
2000 election?
Cobb: We're focusing on other
ways of getting our message across. My running mate, Pat LaMarche
is doing a two week tour of homeless shelters where she's sleeping
in a different shelter each night to draw attention to this critical
issue. I'd like to see Dick Cheney do that. I just completed
a Green Tour which focused on alternative energy, green architecture,
green businesses and sustainability.
We are also debating other
third party candidates when invited and have been the major force
behind organizing alternative debates to the corporate-sponsored
debates in Florida and Ohio.
I don't think this is the year
for super rallies and I haven't heard of Ralph doing any either.
Oregon was the birthplace of the super rally and, as you know,
Ralph drew tens of thousands of people, people paying to see
him, in 2000. This year, Ralph found it pretty difficult in Oregon
to get 1000 people to attend a nominating convention for him.
It's safe to say it's a different political climate than it was
four years ago.
Frank: How many votes do
you hope to get? And will getting less than 0.5% of
the popular vote make the Greens politically irrelevant?
Cobb: The Green Party is the
fastest growing party in this country and we have elected hundreds
of people to office including state legislators, city and county
councilors and mayors. Regardless of our presidential vote total,
we won't be politically irrelevant; we'll go on making real differences
in people's lives at the local level.
I don't have any goals for
votes except for states in which we need a certain percentage
to retain ballot access. In terms of tangible objectives, I want
to register more Green voters, support local candidates and retain
ballot lines.
Besides, in our winner-take-all
system, the number of votes received at the ballot box is one
of the least important indicators of support. For example, in
our first presidential campaign in 1996, Ralph Nader received
less than 1% of the vote and I think it's safe to say that we
did not become politically irrelevant afterwards.
Frank: Many frustrated Greens
I've spoken with that have decided to back Ralph Nader this year
are concerned as to how the Green Party will mend the fences
with Nader-Greens. If Mr. Nader does have the support he needs
to move ahead with his own third party (he has registered the
Populist Party in several states, and said he'll go forward if
there is support), how will this affect the Greens? What if popular
Green Party member Peter Camejo follows? It is hard to discount
the fact that Ralph Nader helped build the Greens into a national
force -- won't many of the people he brought on board the Green
Party follow his lead as opposed to yours?
Cobb: I think your question,
perhaps somewhat surprisingly, presupposes a hierarchical, individual-centered
movement -- a cult of personality. I'm running as candidate following
the lead of the Green Party; it's not the other way around. I
am not a cult figure and when this election is over, I, thankfully,
won't be considered the Green Party's "leader" or figurehead.
So if people simply "follow" either Ralph Nader or
David Cobb then they're not following principles or being part
of a movement. It reminds me of the Eugene Debs line: "I
wouldn't lead you out of the wilderness, even if I could, because
if I could, someone else could lead you back in."
Your question also presupposes
that Green Party members who support the duly nominated candidate
of their party, a candidate -- unlike others -- who actually
sought and agreed to accept the nomination, are somehow the ones
who have to be mending fences. While there's an argument to be
made that it is those who have "left" the party, at
least in the presidential race, who should be doing the mending,
I think it is up to all of us to come together again and find
the common ground that brought us together in the first place.
Ralph has never been a member
of the Green Party or any other party so there isn't really a
question of him "leaving" the party. As to Peter Camejo,
I think Peter is the best person to be discussing his future
plans.
Frank: Do you still believe
that Nader is "supported by racists", as you said to
a New Mexico audience last month?
Cobb: I believe that Pat Buchanan
is supported by racists. So, while building coalitions is a worthy
endeavor and the need for ballot lines is a political reality,
Ralph has nonetheless courted the support of the remnants of
Buchanan's political organization.
Frank: One last question
regarding the Nader-Camejo campaign. Do you still think it is
appropriate to focus on fellow Green, Peter Camejo's socialist
history -- something many saw as red baiting -- as was done on
your presidential web site after he was chosen as Nader's VP
-- when he has headed an investment firm for the last two decades?
Cobb: Let's be clear: the only
reference on our site to Peter's former socialist affiliation
was in a news article where I answered a journalist's question
about my opinion on the choice of Camejo as Nader's running mate.
I don't have a problem with anyone being a socialist and in fact,
as many activists are aware, we have the Socialist and Communist
parties to thank for many of the New Deal proposals which were
successfully co-opted by Roosevelt and the Democratic Party.
Frank: How many Green ballot
lines do you expect to gain for the Green Party this year? Do
you expect to lose ballot access in any states? If not, how will
you get the required percentages needed in the states that call
for them? If you do lose some ballot lines, how will this in
effect grow the Green Party?
Cobb: The Green Party will
be on 28 or 29 ballot lines this year and is growing and will
continue to grow, regardless of how well we comply with restrictive
and anti-democratic ballot access laws designed by the two old
parties to keep the competition at bay. We need to work on changing
these laws -- as has been successfully done by Green activists
across the country. Some ballot access laws are nearly impossible
to comply with. Until the laws get changed, or until the Green
Party achieves major party status, we will inevitably lose ballot
status in some states in some election cycles. The U.S. is the
only democracy where a presidential ticket has to comply with
51 different sets of rules and regulations just to get on the
ballot.
Ballot access requirements
vary incredibly from state to state. Most require petitioning,
some require voter registration, some require fees. A number
of states require a certain percentage of the vote -- in the
case of Minnesota, for example, it's a hefty 5% -- to stay on
the ballot. I think it is inevitable, given the political climate
and the fact that there are two candidates running on an anti-war
platform who will split the Green and Independent vote, that
we will lose some ballot lines.
Frank: On the Iraq war,
do you still think the US should not, as you said to Amy Goodman
on Democracy Now!, "cut and run?" Did you realize that
when you said this, that it was the same position of both George
Bush and John Kerry?
Cobb: I knew saying those words
in particular was a mistake the moment they left my mouth and
I have clarified my position ever since. Thank you for giving
me that opportunity yet again since I know that some people have
refused to admit or recognize that I have clarified my position,
consistently and repeatedly. What I meant by that rather unfortunate
comment is that the U.S. has an obligation to provide resources
to a sovereign--not a puppet--Iraqi government to rebuild Iraq.
You can check the consistency of my position on Iraq from the
press releases we've issued for the past ten months or so: bring
the troops home; end the occupation.
JF: Do you expect to get
into the "official" presidential debates? Are you willing
to be arrested as an act of civil disobedience if you are not
allowed to participate?
Cobb: Frankly, I do not expect
to be invited to the "official" corporate-sponsored
debates and I'm one of four candidates -- Nader, Badnarik of
the Libertarian Party and Peroutka from the Constitution Party
are the others-who are on enough ballots to theoretically win
the presidency who are being excluded. And yes, I have said repeatedly,
on the record, in print and on broadcast, that I am willing to
commit non-violent civil disobedience to protest the exclusion
of the Green Party.
I think we've done an admirable
job of presenting alternative viewpoints to the voters. Michael
Badnarik and I debated in Miami across the street from the first
corporate debate and we also debated during the RNC. He and I
will debate in Texas on October 7 and we'll both participate
in debates with other candidates at Cornell and Eastern Tennessee
University, too.
I think we need to pressure
not only the corporate debates but the "open" debate
sponsors to set realistic standards which will allow for independent
and third party participation. Frankly, I think the standard
should be whether a candidate is on sufficient state ballots
to win. And I say that not because I've met that standard, but
because qualifying for the ballot is a daunting enough prospect
as it is. Opening up debates to people who qualify by this standard
won't let so many people in that the critics can say that they
would become unwieldy. There would actually be fewer participants
than there were in the Democratic primary debates.
Frank: You've said that
you are not running a "safe-state" campaign, and that
you would campaign for Greens in any state if asked. Will you
campaign for yourself in any state, particularly swing-states,
where presidential votes matter most?
Cobb: I've already campaigned
on behalf of our ticket and local candidates in swing states
such as Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin and
Maine. I am not avoiding any states. I am running a strategic
campaign designed to grow the Green Party and make the most of
limited resources.
JF: Mr. Cobb, thanks again
for your time.
Cobb: Thank you, Joshua. I
look forward to seeing this interview published in its entirety.
Joshua Frank, a contributor to CounterPunch's forthcoming
book, A
Dime's Worth of Difference: Beyond the Lesser of Two Evils,
is putting the finishing touches on Left
Out: How Liberals did Bush's Work for Him, to be published
by Common Courage Press. He welcomes comments at frank_joshua@hotmail.com.
This interview originally ran
on Lefthook, the online
journal of radical youth.
Weekend
Edition Features for October 2 / 3, 2004
Paul Wright
John
Kerry on Criminal Justice
Kathleen and Bill Christison
An Exchange with Israeli Historian Bennie Morris
Kathie Helmkamp
My Son Trent: a Marine Who Doesn't Want to Kill
Phillip Cryan
Indigenous Mobilization in Colombia
Lenni Brenner
The First Ex-Catholic Saint: Memories of Mario Savio
Fred Gardner
Pot Shots: In Case You Missed "Montel"
Ron Jacobs
It Did Happen Here: When Neo-Nazis Terrorized Olympia
Ben Tripp
Sticker Shock
William S.
Lind
The Grand Illusion: Iraqi Security Forces
Dave Zirin
The Swindle of the Century: Baseball Comes to DC
Dave Lindorff
Lies from the Great Debate
Luscon Pierre-Charles
Haiti's Elections: a High-Tech Sham is Underway
Zoe Moskovitz
& Sasha Kramer
Separating Lies from Truth About Haiti
Nelson P. Valdes
Habana Night vs. Latin American Scholars in Vegas: 61 Banned
Cuban Academics
Alan Farago
The "Ownership Society" and the End of the Everglades
Nancy Haley
What is the Historical Jesus Trying to Tell Us?
Alex Billet
Long Live The Clash: London Still Calling After 25 Years
Steve Fesenmaier
Save and Burn: The War on Libraries
Poets' Basement
Smith, Holt, Albert
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