The Party's Over: Democratic Party is a lost cause for voters opposed to the Iraq War

Press Release

The Party's Over: Democratic Party is a lost cause for voters opposed to the Iraq War

Green Party of the United States
www.gp.org

Wednesday, June 6, 2007

Contacts:
Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, 202-518-5624, mclarty@greens.org
Starlene Rankin, Media Coordinator, 916-995-3805, starlene@gp.org

The Party's Over: Greens call Democratic Party a lost cause for voters opposed to the Iraq War

* Democratic Congress members' capitulation on war funding strips away illusion that Dems oppose the Bush agenda, say Greens

* Greens appeal to antiwar voters: stop wasting your votes, support and join a real antiwar party

WASHINGTON, DC -- Green Party leaders, preparing for the party's 2007 national meeting in Reading, Pennsylvania, July 12-15, called the Democratic Party a lost cause for Americans who oppose the Iraq War, and urged antiwar voters to support and join the Green Party as the 2008 election year approaches.

Greens said the vote in Congress for full funding of the war amounted to a betrayal of Americans who voted Democrat in 2004 and 2006 in the hopes that a Democratic Congress would work for withdrawal of US troops. According to a CBS/NYT poll released last week, only 23% of the public approves of the way George Bush is handling the war in Iraq.

Carl Romanelli, 2006 Pennsylvania Green candidate for the US Senate:
"Electing Democrats means supporting the Iraq War. The Green Party is appealing to all antiwar Americans who have voted Democrat because they want an end to the war: stop wasting your votes, and help us build a real opposition party!"

Liz Arnone, co-chair of the Green Party of the United States
"Until May, Democratic politicians pretended to be against the war by calling for a troop withdrawal timetable, with a deadline delayed until September 2008, the height of the election season. The capitulation on war funding strips away the last illusion of an antiwar Democratic Party."

Darin Robbins, treasurer for the Steuben County (New York) Green Party, New York State Committee member, and 2003 and 2005 Green candidate for Corning Alderman:
"Despite the resounding 'no' to George W. Bush from voters in the 2006 election, Democratic Congress members sided with the White House, proving that the war machine is bipartisan, and that a vote for a Democrat is a vote for President Bush's 'endless war' agenda. Groups like MoveOn can either support Democrats or support an end to the war -- they can't have it both ways. The Green Party, not the Democratic Party, represents the majority of Americans on the war."

Aimee Smith, Co-chair of the Peace Action Committee and second place finisher in the 2006 race for Michigan's 15th Congressional District:
"Democrats in Congress could have brought an end to the war by blocking the funding. This would have forced Bush to bring the troops home. By allowing the legislation to go to a vote and then voting with Republicans to continue bankrolling the war, they also sided with war profiteers, oil companies, and the Israel lobby. A genuine peace party must be free of the corporate influences that demand war -- one of the reasons the Green Party accepts no corporate funding. We also refuse to be intimidated by neo-conservatives, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the Christian Zionist lobby, and the rest of the powerful Israel lobby."

Jody Grage, treasurer of the Green Party of the United States:
"As in 2004, the few Democrats in Congress who genuinely oppose the Iraq War are at odds with their own party. Dennis Kucinich, Mike Gravel, and other Democrats who genuinely oppose the war have no chance to win the nomination. Ultimately, the role they play will be to lure antiwar voters into supporting a Democratic nominee who will maintain the occupation, and who will compromise for the benefit of corporate arms makers, defense contractors, and oil companies who bankroll his or her campaign and the Democratic Party itself. Progressive and antiwar Democratic candidates play a similar role in every presidential election, herding voters who agree with them behind a nominee who rejects their ideals. The only thing that will break this pattern is the presence of a strong, independent, noncorporate antiwar party."

Jim Coplen, co-chair of the Green Party of the United States:
"Democratic politicians have surrendered to the Republican 'support our troops' PR scheme, which is based on the delusion that we help our young men and women in the military by keeping them in harm's way, in an unwinnable war that was based on a litany of White House lies. The only way to support our troops is to bring them home right now. Keeping them in Iraq means hundreds more dead and maimed US soldiers, as well as more mass Iraqi civilian casualties and destruction of their country."

MORE INFORMATION

Green Party of the United States
http://www.gp.org
1700 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 404
Washington, DC 20009.
202-319-7191, 866-41GREEN
Fax 202-319-7193
Green Party News Center http://www.gp.org/newscenter.shtml
Green Party Speakers Bureau http://www.gp.org/speakers/

Peace Action Committee of the Green Party (GPAX)
http://www.gp.org/committees/peace/

"Green for a Change": 2007 Green Party Annual National Meeting
Reading, Pennsylvania, July 12-15
http://www.gp.org/meeting2007/



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