July 10, 2003
Green Party: Living in a Fantasy World
Representatives of the Green Party, ISwitched.org sent out a press release today “Billionaire investor Warren Buffett for President? Some Green Party voters say “Yes”!”. At first glance, I was amazed that a party that endorses nationalized health care would get support from Warren Buffet. However upon reading closer, it appears that the Green Party has no viable candidates and is hoping only to throw big names into the debate and show that they would support them if they ran. Such other notables as Oprah Winfrey (next week: “Dictators who round up dissidents and the countries who love them”) and Susan Sarandon (hey who needs the 2nd amendment?).
So why did they headline Warren Buffet? I admire the man, but not for the same reasons that they cite: “modest lifestyle and attacks on excessive executive compensation” and “ability to self-finance a competitive campaign for President”. My impression is that they think he’ll bend to the meager weight of the Green Party in a bid to run, that he would turn on his heels on such issues as nationalized healthcare and gun control when he has stated in the past that “Government can’t deliver a free lunch to the country as a whole. It can, however, determine who pays for lunch.” (excerpt from Dividend Voodoo).
The Green Party is deluded and appears to be casting a wide net in the hopes that they will catch a viable candidate other than Ralph Nader, who has already capitalized (books, speaking tours, etc.) on his run in 2000 and appears to be going nowhere.
Posted by Stephen VanDyke at July 10, 2003 04:20 PMActually, based on his record on corporate governance and his true conservative outlook, Buffet t isn’t a bad match for the Green Party.
Posted by: rev_matt at July 10, 2003 07:40 PMYou totally misread the press release; quite interesting… Warren Buffett was one of over a dozen people selected to be placed on the online ballot through a grassroots nomination process, no endorsement of him, or solicitation of his candidacy was implied. This is simply a straw poll of sentiment at the grassroots of the Green Party.
The most likely result of this poll, since it uses IRV, is a victory by a more conventional candidate - Warren Buffett is likely to be eliminated fairly early as he’s unlikely to be high on any but a few people’s lists.
Posted by: Thomas Leavitt at July 13, 2003 06:42 AMThis site isn’t an offical party site or anything, as they clearly state on the home page. The author is getting worked up over nothing — which makes me wonder what other agendas are at play with this post.
Posted by: pineappletown at July 13, 2003 09:32 AM Unless the situation has changed recently, we Greens are about evenly split on the issue of gun control and the the Second Amendment.
We have far more pressing matters of concern.
