I'm listening to Joe Keating talk to Thom Hartmann about how the Pacific Greens are the only party that can and will protect our environment. I'm hearing from him the same line of crap we got from the Naderites 6 years ago: There's no difference between the Republicans and the Democrats.

O yea, they got that so right.

I wish the Dems were much stronger on the environment, but to make the claim that Kulo is just as bad as Saxton on the environment is to totally ignore reality. But that's politics. Candidates must pump themselves up; Ted's doing it, Ron has no choice because he's got nothing but his hot air, and Joe Keating is doing it. He has to take the line that the Dems are bad on the environment, just as he has to claim that the major environmental groups have sold out because they support Ted and the Democrtats. That's how this game is played.

But in the end, when we have to decide who to support, it's very easy to dismiss Keating. He's not honest. He knows that any Democratic governor is going to be lightyears ahead of almost any Republican on the environment. He knows Ted is not marginally but immeasurably preferable to Saxton. He knows that a Gore presidency would have been so much better than Bush's: no 9/11 attacks, no tax cuts for the rich, no seeking any excuse to attack Iraq, and Gore would have made the environment his number one issue. Gore would have signed Kyoto and he would have pushed for policies to reduce global warming.

Joe Keating may represent the party for whom the environment comes first, but he's representing them badly. His dishonest attitudes towards the Dems and the governor make him totally appropriate for his minor party status. With emphasis on the word "minor."

As his website says, Go Joe. And take Mary Starrett with you.