# Jill Stein campaign thread **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [June 11, 2016, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jill-stein-campaign-thread/757088 "2016-06-11T07:12:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Deeg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/deeg/32/2955_2.png) [@Deeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deeg)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2016, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jill-stein-campaign-thread/757088/101 "2016-08-02T04:32:29Z")
> [@Thing\_Fish](#): > > ecological sanity The GP’s version of ecological sanity is about on par with Trump’s version of economic sanity, minus the unconstitutional part. ---
**Author:** ![Thing\_Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@Thing\_Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing_Fish)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2016, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jill-stein-campaign-thread/757088/102 "2016-08-02T04:48:35Z")
I read it as more her saying that there are reasonable grounds for concern and that it would be nice to have more data, which AFAICT seems perfectly fair, though I admit to not having followed the science on this issue very closely. And her primary concern appears to be the cognitive and behavioral implications of excessive computer use by kids, a concern shared by the American Association of Pediatrics. And I have read the thread, and nobody has cited her as saying anything remotely critical of vaccination per se. I am concerned about the fact that the GP overall is clearly a safe space for homeopaths and allied woomongers, but all the attempts I have seen to link Dr Stein herself to such attitudes seem to just be flailing attempts at character assassination . A good example would be your own post above, where you seem to be attacking her for saying that mercury is a toxic substance and that reducing children’s exposure to it by removing it from vaccines in which it wasn’t medically necessary was a good idea. If you do believe that the consensus of the scientific community is wrong and that mercury is actually good for children, then I’m sure you wouldn’t want to vote for the wife of the President on whose watch the CDC ordered it removed from most vaccines, right?😛 ---
**Author:** ![Thing\_Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@Thing\_Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing_Fish)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2016, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jill-stein-campaign-thread/757088/103 "2016-08-02T04:52:35Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > Best I can find is that she is not correct. Thank you. That is, um…not encouraging. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2016, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jill-stein-campaign-thread/757088/104 "2016-08-02T17:18:26Z")
Stein again proves she’s a joke by picking ‘activist’ Ajamu Baraka. Never heard of him but his Wikipedia shows him to be a minor league version of Cornel West > **[Ajamu Baraka](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajamu_Baraka?wprov=sfsi1)** > > Ajamu Sibeko Baraka (/əˈʒɑːmuː bəˈrɑːkə/ ə-ZHAH-moo bə-RAH-kə; born October 25, 1953) is an American political activist. In 2016, he was the Green Party nominee for Vice President of the United States on the ballot in 45\[a\] states and received 1,457,216 votes (1.07% of the popular vote). > Baraka currently serves as the national organizer and spokesperson for the Black Alliance for Peace. > Baraka was born in 1953 and grew up on the South Side of Chicago. He served in the U.S. Army during the Vietn... ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2016, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jill-stein-campaign-thread/757088/105 "2016-08-02T17:36:15Z")
I’m sure the two of them would make for a lovely TED Talk. Less convinced about them leading the United States. ---
**Author:** ![Thing\_Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@Thing\_Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing_Fish)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2016, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jill-stein-campaign-thread/757088/106 "2016-08-02T21:34:08Z")
:eek: Holy sh\*t! I would be very happy to have the opportunity to vote for Cornel West. Assuming that this wikipedia page is accurate, this guy is to Cornel West as Dan Quayle is to JFK. He thinks the US is secretly supporting ISIS. He supports Bashar al-Assad in his struggle against “US imperialism”. He described the vigil for victims of the Charlie Hebdo massacre as a “white power march”. He thinks that Bernie Sanders is an imperialist white supremacist. I could have lived with a candidate being soft on homeopathy, but there’s just no way in hell I could vote for this crap. This is why the Green Party can’t have nice things. ---
**Author:** ![choie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/choie/32/7829_2.png) [@choie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/choie)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2016, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jill-stein-campaign-thread/757088/107 "2016-08-02T21:49:32Z")
Sanity has apparently become an “optional extra” in this campaign. ---
**Author:** ![Lance\_Turbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lance_turbo/32/6156_2.png) [@Lance\_Turbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lance_Turbo)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2016, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jill-stein-campaign-thread/757088/108 "2016-08-03T22:02:00Z")
I just saw a Jill Stein ad on MSNBC in Colorado. Can’t find it online right now. I’ll link to it if I find it. She’s says both Trump and Clinton are bad and offers a “Green New Deal.” ---
**Author:** ![Do\_Not\_Taunt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/do_not_taunt/32/2968_2.png) [@Do\_Not\_Taunt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Do_Not_Taunt)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2016, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jill-stein-campaign-thread/757088/109 "2016-08-04T02:55:01Z")
> [@Thing\_Fish](#): > > If you do believe that the consensus of the scientific community is wrong and that mercury is actually good for children, then I’m sure you wouldn’t want to vote for the wife of the President on whose watch the CDC ordered it removed from most vaccines, right?😛 The consensus of the scientific community is not that the mercury as used in vaccines (it no longer is, btw, with no changes in autism rates) was harmful. In fact, the consensus is the opposite: it was inert. ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2016, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jill-stein-campaign-thread/757088/110 "2016-08-04T04:30:26Z")
Salon has an article, discussing Stein’s anti-vax position and the Snopes article. Amanda Marcotte points out that Stein herself may not be anti-vax personally, but she uses language that panders to anti-vaxers. > **[Jill Stein's anti-vax game: How and why the Green Party candidate is...](https://www.salon.com/2016/08/03/jill_steins_anti_vax_game_how_and_why_the_green_party_candidate_is_pandering_to_the_anti_vaccination_crowd/)** > > Jill Stein sows doubt and fears about vaccinations, and the supposed Snopes debunking did nothing of the sort The article goes on to quote David Gorski, (ie - ORAC, of Scienceblogs) and Paul Offit. > [@Amanda Marcotte](#): > > But, as you can see if you click that Vox link above, the accusation is not that Stein herself is personally anti-vaccination. The accusation is that Stein panders to anti-vaccination crowd by sowing doubts about vaccination safety and validating their completely unfounded suspicions that the FDA is somehow working for shadowy corporations. > > “Dr. Stein uses a common anti-vaccine dodge in which she denies that she’s anti-vaccine, but then repeats anti-vaccine tropes about vaccines not being tested the same way as other drugs (if anything, they’re tested more rigorously), corruption in big pharma, etc.,” David Gorski, a surgical oncologist and pro-science blogger explained to me. “She even walked back a Tweet from saying ‘there’s no evidence’ that vaccines cause autism to ‘I’m not aware of evidence linking vaccines to autism.’ Talk about an antivaccine dog whistle!” > > Even LaCapria admits, in her Snopes article, that Stein’s words “echo language used by vaccination opponents”. But, for some reason, she didn’t feel this very important caveat requires a more responsible Snopes rating. Dr. Offit in particular explains why he thinks that Jill Stein deserves the anti-vax label: > [@Salon article](#): > > “I think she’s anti-vaccine,” Dr. Paul Offit, a distinguished pediatrician who serves as the director of the vaccine education center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, said of Stein in a phone interview. “My definition of anti-vaccine is that you put out information about vaccines that’s misleading, that you put out bad information. She’s done that.” > > Like Gorski, Offit’s concerns centered on Stein’s tendency to stoke unnecessary fears about the FDA and CDC. > > “Pharmaceutical companies,” Offit stated firmly, do not “make decisions for the FDA.” > > “They’re not at the table. They have no influence. They sit back and watch it happen. They hope for the best,” Offit added, “they have absolutely no influence in it. None. Zero.” I think Marcotte, who I’m kind of iffy on, does a good job of explaining why it’s not about what Stein believes personally, but about the way she’s trying attract the ignorant anti-vax crowd by flying the anti-government flag. It’s like a perfect storm of politicians catering to the anti-intellctuals. Gorski has a lengthy response to Snopes’ dismissal of the anti-vax charges against Stein. It’s long but worth a read, not just for the many examples of Stein and her supporters mouthing anti-vax “concerns” about vaccincations, but because of the evidenced based rebuttal of them. [http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2016/08/01/jill-stein-and-left-wing-antivaccine-dog-whistles/](http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2016/08/01/jill-stein-and-left-wing-antivaccine-dog-whistles/) ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2016, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jill-stein-campaign-thread/757088/111 "2016-08-04T19:23:25Z")
> [@Measure\_for\_Measure](#): > > Trump is an anti-Vaxer. [So is Jill Stein](https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/4ixbr5/i_am_jill_stein_green_party_candidate_for/d31ydoe?context=3&st=iqajyhbu&sh=085b92f3). > [@boffking](#): > > She’s a doctor. If she practiced family medicine, she should know better than this. She is not actually an anti-vaxxer. In keeping with her libertarian principles and her Green Party/tin hat companions, she complains that the FDA is owned by big pharma. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2016, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jill-stein-campaign-thread/757088/112 "2016-08-07T08:30:25Z")
Jill Stein and Donald Trump stand shoulder to shoulder with Vladimir Putin. In a 2015? trip to Moscow, Jill Stein [shot a video](http://americablog.com/2016/08/jill-stein-moscow-criticized-us-human-rights-said-nothing-russian-human-rights.html): [INDENT][INDENT]From Moscow, Stein noted that we “need to rein in US exceptionalism, and totally reform and revise our foreign policy so that it is based on international law, human rights and diplomacy.” Making those comments from Moscow, at this time, is rather unconventional, [unless you work for Donald Trump](http://americablog.com/2016/07/trump-foreign-policy-adviser-goes-moscow-says-us-isnt-democratic-praises-russia.html). With Red Square as her backdrop, Stein suggested that we need to “replace a US policy of domination with a way forward based on respect, collaboration, international law and human rights.” She added, “we’ve seen that vision really resonate here.” [/INDENT][/INDENT] Wow. Looks like Trump isn’t the only authoritarian wannabe that admires Putin. Here’s Jill Stein [eating dinner](https://twitter.com/zatchry/status/762055852991713280) with Vladamir Putin and Michael Flynn of the Trump campaign. As far as I can tell, she had no criticism for Russian government policy during that junket, notwithstanding their invasion of Ukraine, LGBT policy and repression of the press. > **[Russia: Country Profile](https://freedomhouse.org/country/russia)** > > Access Freedom House reports on Russia, see recent news and perspectives, and learn about our work in the country. [https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-press/2016/russia](https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-press/2016/russia) [http://www.jamestown.org/single/?tx\_ttnews[tt\_news]=45230tx\_ttnews[backPid]%3D228#.V6bwOjXz\_-U](http://www.jamestown.org/single/?tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=45230tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D%3D228#.V6bwOjXz_-U) > **[Ukraine: The Line](https://www.crisisgroup.org/europe-central-asia/eastern-europe/ukraine/ukraine-line)** > > The 500km line of separation between Ukrainian forces and Russian-backed separatist rebels suffers heavy daily violations of the ceasefire agreed in Minsk in 2015. Escalation is possible, and the status quo risks a political backlash against the Kyiv... ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2016, 9:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jill-stein-campaign-thread/757088/113 "2016-08-07T09:05:02Z")
Trump admires dictators. Stein, like many “useful idiots” just doesn’t recognize evil when she sees it. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2016, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jill-stein-campaign-thread/757088/114 "2016-08-08T01:03:17Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Trump admires dictators. Stein, like many “useful idiots” just doesn’t recognize evil when she sees it. I think Putin finds Trump to be more useful than Jill Stein. And it’s questionable whether Trump has the capacity to recognize tyrannical evil or care if he does. And Jill Stein apparently admires dictators. Bill Weinberg notes that Stein’s Green Party, “…is practically a stateside propaganda organ of the Bashar Assad regime…” [INDENT][INDENT] The Green Party platform contains not a single word about Syria, despite a lengthy section on the “Palestinian-Israeli Conflict.” This commitment to human rights is rather (shall we say?) selective. Let’s start by examining Stein’s “Green Shadow Cabinet”—which openly shills for the Assad regime. Stein’s “Attorney General” Kevin Zeese runs a website with the hilariously ironic name of Popular Resistance, which we have had to call out as a platform for Assad regime propaganda, repeatedly seeking to exculpate Assad of the Ghouta chemical attack and portraying the Syrian opposition as monolithically jihadist. Worse yet, the Shadow Cabinet’s Ajamu Baraka, identified as “Public Intervenor for Human Rights” (sic!), actually hailed Assad’s thoroughly controlled pseudo-elections which confirmed his inherited dictatorial rule in 2014 as a victory against “foreign intervention,” crowing about Assad’s widespread “support,” and how the opposition was “fomented” by the “gangster states of NATO.” [/INDENT][/INDENT] Stein apparently asserted at one point that Syrian rebels gassed their own people, apparently as some sort of frameup for her hero Bashar Assad. > **[Jill Stein: pro-fascist hippie dupe](https://countervortex.org/blog/jill-stein-pro-fascist-hippie-dupe/)** > > Jill Stein, presidential candidate of the Green Party, talks about human rights while her party serves as a stateside propaganda organ of the genocidal Bashar Assad regime. The Republican Party is currently in the midst of a civil war, with the establishment on one side and Trump/Stein on the other. Pence I guess is split in the middle. Don’t get me wrong. All have the right to freedom of speech. I’m just saying that Donald Trump and Jill Stein are incoherent and amplify some of the worst undercurrents of American society. Newt Gingrich and Rudolph Giuliani were recently sent to Trump GQ as part of a self-proclaimed intervention. Perhaps trusted colleagues such as Steve King, Paul LePage and Louie Gohmert could pay a visit to Stein’s office and make an appeal on behalf of the party she loves, the GOP. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2016, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jill-stein-campaign-thread/757088/115 "2016-08-08T01:11:11Z")
> [@Measure\_for\_Measure](#): > > The Republican Party is currently in the midst of a civil war, with the establishment on one side and Trump/Stein on the other. Pence I guess is split in the middle. Don’t get me wrong. All have the right to freedom of speech. I’m just saying that Donald Trump and Jill Stein are incoherent and amplify some of the worst undercurrents of American society. . It is interesting to see that of Stein, Trump and Johnson, \*Johnson \*is the voice of reason.:eek: ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2016, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jill-stein-campaign-thread/757088/116 "2016-08-08T05:49:25Z")
Let’s take a detour back into reality. The Republican controlled House and Senate adjourned for recess without action to combat the Zika virus. Obama had asked for [$1.8 billion](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/09/us/politics/obama-congress-funding-combat-zika-virus.html) to combat the disease. Republicans had supported a $1.1 billion bill that was laden with various poison pill measures. [NYT](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/29/us/politics/congress-zika-funding.html): [INDENT][INDENT][INDENT] Democrats said they blocked the bill because Republicans were using the must-pass legislation to score political points, jam through unpalatable policy changes and cut money from other programs, including provisions that would hinder access to contraception for women and weaken environmental restrictions on pesticide use. Republicans, in turn, accused Democrats of manufacturing excuses for blocking the bill, but they did not dispute that some of the provisions favored Republican policy positions. [/INDENT][/INDENT][/INDENT] The point being is that the Democrats indeed support regulation of pesticides and are willing to take some heat to avoid rolling back such regulations. Also, the Republicans aren’t especially invested in fighting Zika. (There were also provisions cutting $540 million from the Affordable Care Act, curbs on Planned Parenthood’s participation (though Zika can be transmitted sexually), and a $107 million cut to Ebola spending.) Borrowing funds for 10 years currently costs 1.6% per year, less than the Fed’s long run inflation target of 2%. Personally I think that spending hawks, spending doves, centrists and even certain libertarian leaners and hard environmentalists have something to contribute to the discussion. But those ungrounded in reality like Jill Stein and Donald Trump should be as sidelined as possible by the electorate. I’m saying that there’s serious albeit somewhat boring work to be done and it would be better if the adults were in charge. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2016, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jill-stein-campaign-thread/757088/117 "2016-08-08T16:11:37Z")
If you need further proof that Jill Stein is a pathetic joke, her website is still featuring a march from July 25 on the front page. ---
**Author:** ![chargerrich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chargerrich/32/5399_2.png) [@chargerrich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chargerrich)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2016, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jill-stein-campaign-thread/757088/118 "2016-08-08T18:55:32Z")
One of Dr. Stein’s platforms is employment as an “enforceable right” meaning the the unemployed could sue the government if not “given” a job. I can see it now, hundreds of thousands of people given jobs cleaning toilets or highways or parks and then complaining that they wanted a CEO job 😉 ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2016, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jill-stein-campaign-thread/757088/119 "2016-08-08T21:15:57Z")
Here’s a good article discussing why the Green Party convention was a complete joke. > **[The Green Party Takes Itself Very Seriously, But No One Else Should](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-green-party-is-a-joke_n_57a8c341e4b0aae2a5a0a464?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000013§ion=politics)** > > Even a participation trophy might be out of reach. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2016, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jill-stein-campaign-thread/757088/120 "2016-08-21T16:48:00Z")
Update time: Her running mate thinks [Barack Obama is an Uncle Tom](http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/8/18/1561474/-Is-President-Obama-an-Uncle-Tom-Green-Party-veep-nominee-Ajamu-Baraka-just-called-him-one). The Sixties called. They want their pejoratives back. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jill-stein-campaign-thread/757088.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jill-stein-campaign-thread/757088.md?page=7)