Third
Parties
and
the
Third
Presidential
Debate
Gary Johnson 2012
October 23, 2012
FOR
IMMEDIATE
RELEASE
Contact:
Natalie
Dicou
Joe
Hunter
Libertarian presidential nominee Gov.
Gary Johnson released the following statement in response to Monday
night's debate:
"With
only two weeks to go before Election Day, it is more clear than ever
that the views and concerns of millions of Americans are being shut out
of this campaign by the Republicans and the Democrats. Let's have a
debate not about how much longer to remain in Afghanistan, but about
why we shouldn't bring our men and women home now. No one on the debate
stage is challenging the fundamental premise of endless foreign
intervention. Rather, we have two candidates agreeing with one another
about flawed foreign excursions we cannot afford.
"And
remarkably, we heard a continuation of the fallacy that we can somehow
balance the budget while spending more on defense. It doesn't add up.
"There
is a candidate who will, in fact, challenge the status quo. But the
Republicans and Democrats don't want the American people to hear from
that candidate. Doing so would spoil the 'two-party party.'"
####
Jill Stein for President
October 22, 2012
Stein files lawsuit against the CPD
Last week Green Party presidential candidate Dr. Jill Stein was
arrested, along with VP candidate Cheri Honkala, attempting to get into
the presidential debates in Hempstead, New York. This week her
fight continues with a
lawsuit
filed today against the Commission on
Presidential Debates (CPD), claiming that the CPD, Democratic National
Committee, and Republican National Committee, together with the Federal
Election Commission and Lynn University, had deprived her of her
constitutional rights to due process, equal protection, and free
speech, as well as her statutorily protected civil rights.
The lawsuit sought both an emergency court order enjoining tonight’s
CPD presidential debate from taking place. According to the lawsuit
pleadings, “Dr. Jill Stein is not only equal under the law to the two
“major party” candidates, she is better, because she became a viable
contender for the Presidency while being discriminated against by the
defendants at every turn.”
“Our constitution is supposed to protect us against manipulations of
democracy of the kind scheduled tonight, and I hope the court will act
now to stop this farce, but either way, we will keep up the fight, and
one of these days American elections and our debates will be reclaimed
by the American people,” said Stein.
Meanwhile, Free & Equal, a genuinely non-partisan civic
organization, is hosting an alternative debate hosted by Larry King
tomorrow, Tuesday, October 23 at the Chicago Hilton featuring Dr. Jill
Stein, Gov. Gary Johnson and others. Unfortunately, no major
cable networks in the U.S. are airing this debate; rather it is being
brought to the American people via television by Al Jazeera and Russia
Today.
“It shouldn’t be the case that the only TV networks bringing this
debate to the American people are based in countries whose political
systems are even less democratic than our own,” said Ben Manski,
campaign manager for Jill Stein, adding that, “The failure of CNN,
MSNBC, and others to broadcast the debate only adds to the global
perception that the United States doesn’t live up to the democratic
standards it professes.”
Dr. Stein and Ms. Honkala will appear on 85% of ballots on Election
Day, and recently polled 2-3% in four consecutive national polls.
Furthermore, Dr. Stein is the only presidential candidate recognized by
the federal government as a serious candidate, as evidenced by the fact
that she alone among general election candidates has qualified for
federal public financing.
The presidential debates are the first opportunity for millions of
voters to see the candidates themselves, not just their advertising
campaigns. Until recently, these debates were exclusively organized by
the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) - a supposedly
"nonpartisan" entity which is a puppet of and serves the interests of
the Democrats, Republicans and the big corporations that fund both of
them. The CPD's criteria to be included in these debates is designed to
exclude independent presidential contenders who promote ideas that
challenge those in power.
Over 14,000 have signed a statement calling on CPD to change its
criteria, and repeated public calls for opening the CPD debates have
been ignored by that corporation.
“The debates must include every candidate who is on enough ballots to
win the White House and who has demonstrated a minimal level of support
-- meaning either 1% of the vote in a credible national poll, or
qualification for federal matching funds, or both,” reads the
statement. “In 2012, the Green and Libertarian party candidates both
meet all of these criteria and are both contenders for the
presidency…These debates belong to the people, not the politicians or
Wall Street.”
Free and Equal Election's Alternative Debates will be available live
online, streaming from http://freeandequal.org/live on Oct. 23 and Oct.
30 at 9:00 PM EST. More information at:
http://action.freeandequal.org/debate-rsvp/