Green Party candidate Jill Stein rips Bernie Sanders for Hillary Clinton endorsement
Despite their differences, former Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders came around on Hillary Clinton, endorsing the presumptive Democratic nominee Tuesday in hopes of defeating Donald Trump in November.
Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein: Not so much.
The third-party candidate and Lexington resident looked to capitalize on the rally Tuesday to make an appeal to Sanders supporters who feel Clinton is too moderate to ever support, ripping both the Vermont senator and the former secretary of state.
“Despite her penchant for flip flopping rhetoric, Hillary Clinton has spent decades consistently serving the causes of Wall Street, war and the Walmart economy,” said Stein in a statement released Tuesday afternoon.
Stein, who was also the Green Party presidential nominee in 2012, decries both Democrats and Republicans as “corporate parties” in her platform and proposes a move to a “to a human-centered economy that puts people, planet and peace over profit” by investing in social programs and renewable energy.
Stein recently offered the Green Party presidential ticket to Sanders, if he wanted it. But on Tuesday she blasted the lifelong independent and democratic socialist’s “false pragmatism.”
“Sadly, Sanders is one of a long line of true reformers that have been undermined by the Democratic Party,” she said, blaming the party’s nominating system of superdelegates and clustered primaries for his defeat. In fairness, Clinton did win the majority of pledged delegates, not just superdelegates.
“This false pragmatism is not the path to revolutionary change but rather an incrementalism that keeps us trapped, voting for lesser evil again and again,” Stein said. She added that she was disappointed that Sanders had refused invitations to speak to the Green Party.
During Tuesday’s rally. Stein simultaneously launched a tweetstorm, deriding Sanders’s embrace of Clinton’s policies.
Many Berning hearts are breaking right now. đź’”
— Dr. Jill Stein🌻 (@DrJillStein) July 12, 2016
Sadly @HillaryClinton had a major hand in creating the crises we face: disastrous crime bill, NAFTA, Wall St deregulation, destroying AFDC.
— Dr. Jill Stein🌻 (@DrJillStein) July 12, 2016
I wish Hillary believed what you believe, @BernieSanders. But it just doesn’t pass the laugh test.
— Dr. Jill Stein🌻 (@DrJillStein) July 12, 2016
Concluding her statement Tuesday, Stein congratulated Sanders for his “impressive” campaign and looked to position herself to inherit his “political revolution,” highlighting the policies in which she and the senator share common ground and mirroring his rhetoric.
“This November voters across America will still have the choice to cast a revolutionary vote to cancel student debt, achieve full employment and stop the climate meltdown through a Green New Deal, provide universal healthcare with Medicare for All, provide a welcoming path to citizenship, end mass incarceration and create a foreign policy based on international law and human rights,” Stein said. “We need to commit to improving the lives of all Americans, not just the wealthy and special interests.”
In an average of recent four-way general election polls with Clinton, Trump, and Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson, Stein has registered about 3.5 percent support. In 2012, she received about 0.36 percent of the national vote.
To comment, please create a screen name in your profile
To comment, please verify your email address
Conversation
This discussion has ended. Please join elsewhere on Boston.com