Ladies and gentlemen, Eric Alterman (MSNBC doesn’t permalink properly, but I did my best):
I found it silly of Hightower to say from the stage that it didn’t matter if you supported the Greens or the Democrats so long as you “got involved.” Progressives don’t need the involvement of people who work to elect candidates like George W. Bush and Norm Coleman via the kamikaze Greens. Right-wing activists don’t organize and contribute money to elect our guys.
Even if Alterman hadn’t noticed conservative pundits’ bitching and moaning about the Libertarian Party, I have no idea how he managed to miss the 1992 Presidential election. Ross Perot took a share of the popular vote roughly four times the size of what Ralph Nader got in 2000.
Sheesh. I can’t believe we’re still dealing with this. I say, “Sorry, Jim: Vote smart or don’t vote at all.”
Wait a second…. I thought the problem with the Greens is that they attract votes to which Democrats are somehow entitled. If a person would otherwise not vote at all, what negative impact could her Green vote possibly have? For Alterman, this issue is not about making sure the best people get elected, it’s about ridiculing and ostracizing the people he doesn’t like.