August 23, 2008
Presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney spoke to a full house in Dana Point.  Her speech was regularly interrupted by applause from the crowd.  McKinney acknowledged progressive Democrats present at the meeting who had come to her and stated that they would vote for Dennis Kucinich in the primary but wanted a candidate on the general election ballot for whom to vote.  The pleas of progressive Democrats were a primary reason McKinney decided to run for the Green nomination, which she easily won. 

The audience present consisted of a variety of voters and future voters who had been let down, against and again, by the two major parties.  Progressive Democrats gave the Democrats their support in 2000.  In 2004, progressive Democrats convinced Greens to support John Kerry in an effort to remove Bush.  Kerry conceded the day after the election amidst reports that an investigation would show he won Ohio and the 2004 election.  Now major progressive Democratic organizers have declared they are tired of throwing away their votes on candidates who won't even try to count the votes.

McKinney noted that she would be there after the 2008 election to make sure votes are counted.  Democrats no longer trust Barack Obama or Howard Dean to do anything to ensure the votes are counted, even if that means four more years of Republican rule.  The Democrats have not even succeeded in making sure that the votes from California's February primary were counted as a great many votes continue to sit, uncounted, in Los Angeles.  It is believed that many or most of these uncounted Democratic primary votes were for Dennis Kucinich.

McKinney was the first member of Congress to file Articles of Impeachment against Bush, Cheney and Rice.  As a Democratic Congressional leader, she contested the elections of 2000 and 2004.  The majority of Democrats, including current Speaker Nancy Pelosi, supported Bush in the seating of contested electors.

Congresswoman McKinney, along with Kucinich and others, led the opposition to the war in Iraq, the opposition to the Patriot Act and the opposition to the Real ID Act.  Because she had the courage to ask questions about 9/11 on behalf of the families of victims, Pelosi retaliated by abusing her position to remove Ms. McKinney's seniority.  Now Pelosi is being challenged by Cindy Sheehan, the mother of a fallen serviceman. Pelosi has had veterans and families of servicemen, serving in Iraq, arrested for trying to visit her office.  In doing so, Pelosi showed contempt for the voters and for the servicemen and their families.  Now, as the progressives come into their own, Pelosi may be out of work and Sheehan and McKinney are on the rise.

Whatever happens in November, McKinney is an historic candidate.  She is the first woman to be nominated by one of the top three parties.  Her Vice Presidential running mate Rosa Clemente is a popular women's right leader.  This is the first time a nominated team for P/VP has contained two women.  Women make up the majority of voters.   Barack Obama has dissed women voters with his treatment/mistreatment of Hillary Clinton. The news is playing down the role of women in this election and women are responding by saying they are tired of doing things the way the men running the executive branch have done it for years.

Will the women's revolution of 2008 be successful?  The news media may be in for some surprises when the votes are counted in November.

Copyright ©2008 by the Creative Youth News Team.  All rights reserved.

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