Jill Stein formally launches 2024 White House bid as Green party candidate

I liked her better when I didn't know she was Putin's lapdog.
- What happened with her? She seemed okay when she was running a few elections ago and had some support, but then went a bit off and I stopped following her.
  
  Apparently she received some funding that was traced back to Russia and is effectively acting as a spoiler candidate.
- she's not, so you can like her again.

If you like the ideas of the Green Party, vote for them at the local level. The fact that they don't seem to want to govern at the local level is enough for me to ignore them as an option.
- This needs to be said more than anything else.
  Politics NEVER changes from the top down. You don't elect some absolute newcomer who circumvents all the normal paths and then completely revolutionizes the country. (At least not in a stable, functioning society.) Politics in the US happens from the ground up. Not top down.
  If any third party was serious about changing society, they would start at the local level. Then, after proving that they can enact meaningful change and bridge the divide between the huge political span that Americans hold, they would sweep their state elections and federal elections.
  All of these pie-in-the-sky parties who think that they will win the presidency and then somehow enact society-changing legislation (the president doesn't make laws!!!) are either fools or charlatans.
- vote for them at the local level.
  They only run in a handful of local races. I've lived in both a red state and a blue state- Indiana and California- in multiple districts and I have never once seen a green party candidate on the local level.
  
  That is literally my point. Ignore them until they seem to want governance as opposed to only seeing them in national headlines tilting at windmills. It's worthless.
  If you like Stein's platform, voting for Stein will decrease the likelihood of you ever seeing such a policy implemented. If, say, a state rep. runs on a Green platform, they would likely get my vote.
- Gayle McLaughlin used to be the Green Party's best example of what they could do at the local level, until she left in 2016 to vote for Bernie Sanders. I'm fairly certain she is the outlier.
  
  Right. I do believe that many members of the Green Party are good political options. It's just they as a party don't rally around them. They only seem to push for the presidency. I don't see how they can hope to accomplish anything when they seem to shoot for the moon every four years, and only manage to spoil things.
  Until I start seeing good options on the ballots from the Greens, I will just continue to hope the progressives win the dem. primaries for my local seats.
- They can't run local level candidates without funding. All you do is complain instead of help.
  
  I'm a voter, my friend. I can complain about a party all damn day. If you think that a political party is going get a dime from me before they can even convince me to vote for them, you have strange spending habits.
  
  And they can run presidential candidates without funding??? What the heck are you talking about?

We need ranked choice voting.
- We certainly do, but you wouldn't catch me voting for that Russian stooge after everything that went down in 2016.
  
  Jill Stein is not a Russian stooge
- So vote for the candidate that supports ranked choice voting.
  
  The federal government doesn't control elections. You handle that at the state (or county/parish/whatever) level. At least here in Oregon, people can bring measures to the ballot by petition rather than waiting for the legislature to do anything about it, and given two party monopoly, they aren't going to do anything about it for you.
  
  So the Dems then, their voting rights policy has moved towards at the very least making it much easier to switch to a PR system of any kind.

I mean, GREEN does stand for Getting Republicans Elected Every November.
- no it doesn't
  
  https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/22/us/politics/green-party-republicans-hawkins.html
  https://apnews.com/general-news-65e9d5d001dfd10c86ca9ab37e53e159
  https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/2020/09/14/green-party-lawyers-have-ties-gop-counties-association/5791100002/
  https://www.dallasnews.com/news/2010/06/24/gop-linked-firm-paid-532000-for-greens-petition-drive-files-say/?outputType=amp
  https://www.ktvh.com/news/montana-news/pac-promoting-green-party-candidate-has-gop-ties
  https://www.inquirer.com/news/pennsylvania-election-green-party-billy-lanzilotti-philly-republicans-20220826.html?outputType=amp
  Yes. Yes it does lol. The GOP routinely bankrolls the Green Party to try to prevent Dem wins in close races. It’s basically the only purpose of existence for them today.

Remember when Jill Stein helped elect Donald Trump?
- Dobbs remembers!
- no. that didn't happen.
  
  Electricity wasn't discovered either.

Fuck off Jill

Not this shit again. Our country literally might not survive another Donald Trump presidency, which is what you're helping happen by supporting a 3rd-party candidate when we have a 2-party system.
Keep Trump and his goons from taking power
Vote local. This is where things like ranked-choice voting and reproductive rights are created and have impact
When it's not "first past the post", vote for whoever you want, guilt-free! At this point, there's no such thing as a spoiler candidate...
It's called priorities.
- Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos!
  
  I voted but Sanjaya, but that's only because the ballot was confusing.
- vote for whoever you want, guilt-free
  i do this now. the only decision i have left to make is whether it's going to be jill stein or cornel west.
  
  We count those as Republican votes. Thank you for your service, patriot!
- I don't believe there is any way Biden will be re-elected. If for no other reason when he finally dies of old age who would want kamala running the show.
  
  This is as bad a take as people saying there's no way he can lose re-election. Pro or against, betting POTUS (who has the best healthcare in the world) will die in the next 4 years is the longest of bets. Also, no one votes based on who the successor might be. Lastly, he's healthier than Trump for fuck's sake...
  
  He can, and possibly will, pick a new running mate.

Never forget that Jill Stein was at the same event and at the same table as Putin and that traitor Flynn
https://www.pbssocal.org/shows/democracy-now/clip/why-jill-stein-attended-moscow-dinner-with-putin-and-flynn
- this is decontextualized propaganda. if you click the link and watch the video, the explanation is benign.
  
  Why don't you do everyone who can't watch a video at the moment a favor, and explain how it is decontexualized?

Oh look another Russian agent
- she's not a russian agent.

We need a Green Party in the US but this ain’t it.
- We need ranked choice or approval voting before third parties actually have a chance.
  
  How are you going to get that by voting for people who don't support it?

I used to hear people complain that Stein sat at a table with Putin and I assumed it was at a charity event or state dinner but it turns out she was a special guest for the 10th anniversary of the Russian state funded TV propaganda network RT in Moscow.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/guess-who-came-dinner-flynn-putin-n742696
- she was a special guest
  no, she wasn't. she bought a ticket.
  
  You don't sit with Putin, just because you purchase a ticket.
  
  “They did offer to pay my way and I said, No thank you.”
  Sounds like a VIP to me. She was also sitting at the table with the keynote speaker, Michael Flynn.
  Until now, Stein hasn’t offered many details about how she came to be there or what happened beyond saying it was “a great opportunity to lay out some of my foreign policy proposals and get Russian reactions to them.”
  So she wanted Putin's approval on her foreign policy?
  https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/06/jill-stein-says-nothing-happened-at-her-dinner-with-putin/
  
  Oh what luck! She bought a ticket and ended up next to those people. She must have been so surprised!
  
  If that's true, is that supposed to make it better? She traveled half way around the world to celebrate the anniversary of a Putin propaganda network.

Again? How much did Putin offer her this time?
- For a stand up gal like her? At least 1 dollar

Wow, her chance of winning is so high. And won't tip the results toward the right wing at all And pigs have wings
- Something something Russian check is in the mail Jill.
  Totally not running as a spoiler, nahhh. Not good ol Jill Spoiler Stein! She just wants you to Send A Message™ (at an incredibly important time that has lasting repercussions if you actually follow through.)
  Here's an idea, if you actually gave a shit Jill, why not lead the charge for ranked choice voting!!! Put your damn face all over the media when it's not an election year so you can actually push for positive change. At least then you'd stand a chance and people could actually vote for you! But no, that's not the intent. The intent is to syphon votes from Democrats again.
  
  Her last campaign went heavy on ranked choice (as all green party candidates have been) but the green party has to run candidates to retain ballot access and therefore retain members. Campaigns are also a great way to promote issues ignored by major candidates (such as rcv) but the press has not been kind to third parties since ross perot so its not a surprise most people are unfamiliar with green party platforms.
  in 2023 post covid her tepid vaccine skepticism seems like some major baggage (along with 2016s brutal coverage) and I wouldn't be surprised if she was more picking up jimmy dore style dumbass voters this time around and less acting as a spoiler. Her reputation is so toxic at this point that it does seem like the green party is throwing democrats a bone here.
  
  i think she'd be just as happy to "syphon votes from" republicans. i think she wants all the votes she can get and doesn't much care who your second choice would be.
  
  democrats don't own the votes, the voters do. they need to earn them like everyone else.
- Green Party will always run a candidate. Just be thankful their candidate is the charmless husk of a moron that is Jill Stein.

- This is implying Jill Stein doesn’t know she is helping Republicans with her failed 3rd party run.
  
  Girl is getting paid to help them for sure.
  
  she's not helping republicans.

As someone else mentioned, Jill is a great Green party candidate for Democrats because she sucks. She's not that young, has Russian baggage, and isn't the new face that could make the party more popular. The philosopher dude, West, seemed a bit more dangerous, but Stein being their nominee drills in the fact that there are no viable 3rd parties. The real strategy has been that of the DSA, where they promote their own candidates within the two party system. It's both realistic, and far more effective than throwing your vote away.
The only people who will vote for a known spoiler like Jill Stein are to far gone to have really been potential Biden voters.
- she has no Russian baggage.
  
  Really?
  
  The funny thing about baggage in politics is that it needn't be based on truth or an actually immoral act. Plenty of politicians lose votes and races because they did something that prudes consider scandalous, but younger people don't care about. A ton of the reasons for people disliking politicians are either based on lies, or something that's unimportant.
  I hear so many lies or half truths about politicians I don't like either, but still vote for because they're the best option. It's like people purity test by telling a lie when they don't need to in order to make their point. They then accuse the person who points out their lies of holding a position they do not hold. I don't like lying, even about people I hate. I want to dislike people for good reasons, and wish others did as well.

You mean the Russian puppet Jill Stein? I'm pretty sure the Republicans are already doing that one.
- Can you elaborate on this comment a bit?
  
  https://www.pbssocal.org/shows/democracy-now/clip/why-jill-stein-attended-moscow-dinner-with-putin-and-flynn
- jill stein isn't a russian puppet
  
  Yes she is.

You know what would be amazing, if a third party candidate would run and then demand policy position concessions form the Democratic nominee in exchange for dropping out, rather than running through the election and risking a Republican presidency.
- The green party is routinely funded by the GOP. Their existence is to be a spoiler and pull votes from Dems to swing races towards republicans.
  They’re already doing what they’re being paid to do.
- That's kinda what the WFP does?
  They have a sort of tacit agreement with the Dems where they'll run their candidates in the Dem Primary pool and then both will endorse the winner, and then they'll only compete directly when there's no chance it'll throw a race to the Republicans.
- I think that's the only rational way to interpret her run. Even she doesn't want to run through.
  Edit: I checked her record on previous runs, and omg I was so wrong...
  
  Yyyyyep, she's a regular Nader type, unfortunately.

oh fuck off, jill

Why vote for Stein when you can directly vote for Trump? /s
- a vote for stein is a vote against the other candidates in the race.
  
  So you're effectively going to vote for nobody and let everyone else decide the race?
  
  Maybe if you don't understand how the US electoral system works...

Been there. Done that. Not again.

Putin’s cock ain’t gonna suck itself

Is she still willing to acknowledge worries from people about phones and microwaves? Or is she supporting science this year?
- She still waiting on putin's directives

Yet another useful idiot for #Putin.

She is not the reason why Clinton lost and this amount of hate is not proportional. No, I didn't vote for Jill and I have no intention to.
- Clinton lost because she is a corporate ghoul with no soul and no real views. She just believes whatever gets her the most attention and success.
  
  Yeah how dare an elected official change their views to align with her desired constituents.
  Real politicians tell their voters to shove it and cry about it!
- clinton because she was a bad candidate.

Don't let them lie. It is a 2 party system here bucko.

Well, for anyone that cares, she's been a promoter of ranked choice voting.
- Cool she was also out here being a fucking vaccine skeptic while people died
  
  i like her, but this is a legitimate criticism and not a whacked out conspiracy theory. i don't care to debate it, either. it's actually a very valid reason to dislike her and prefer that she not hold public office. it's not disqualifying for me, personally, but i can respect people who take this position on it. at least you aren't screaming about meaningless bullshit.
- More a self-promoter than anything.
  
  The hell do you think political campaigns are?

Oh Jill

I understand Jill Stein's connections to Russia are because of RT (Russia Today), who was publishing lots of US progressive content back in 2016, at a time when no US media would touch any of it. Yea, it sucks that we had to have Russia of all places publish progressive content, such as Pro Bernie Sanders, StandingRock protests, and Green Party positions to get any visability AT ALL. So Stein was at a table with other people who were getting their issues published by RT, and Putin joined in. Now I wouldn't get anywhere near any RT content.
- I mean that connection is hardly incidental, she attended conferences with Putin and Putin had it out for Clinton personally after she made comments calling his reelection's legitimacy into question because of how rigged it was.
- Ah I remember this. In 2016 I didn't know what RT was but I really liked their coverage, mostly because NPR and any mainstream American media wouldn't cover Bernie in a positive manner. Got a bit of whiplash in 2017 from that.

Aw fuck, not again!

These comments are hilarious. All y'all arguing about third parties being spoilers. I can't believe anyone bothers to vote. If we could change anything by voting they wouldn't let us do it.