Keller @ Large: Green Party Pres. Candidate Stein 'In This For The Long Haul'
BOSTON (CBS) - Massachusetts resident and Green Party Presidential candidate Jill Stein is full steam ahead.
Stein is headed for Florida to campaign, a state where fellow Green Party member Ralph Nader pulled nearly 100,000 votes in 2000.
Before she headed out to campaign, the Harvard-educated physician, instructor of internal medicine, and environmental health advocate sat down with WBZ-TV's Political Editor Jon Keller on Wednesday, and minced no words in her condemnation of the major-party candidates.
"Bush bailed out Wall Street to the tune of $700 billion. But under this president, that bailout has been over $4.5 trillion already distributed, $16 trillion more in free loans, and we haven't seen the end of it. And the problem has not been fixed," she said.
As for Mitt Romney, who stein debated in the 2002 governor's race, she says he's hardly a better solution.
Watch Part 1 Of Jon Keller's Interview With Jill Stein
Basically back to George Bush, with no apology and cheerleading for more deregulation, more tax breaks for corporations, more dirty energy… It's essentially Barack Obama's program, but without any restraint," Stein said.
Stein, who was recently arrested at an anti-foreclosure sit-in, criticized the presidential election as "a choice between a do-little party and a do-nothing party.
Watch Part 2 Of Jon Keller's Interview With Jill Stein
When asked if she could become the Ralph Nader of 2012; pulling crucial votes from the democrats by campaigning in swing states like Florida, Stein said she was determined to run.
"In my view, to concede the futility of the campaign is to concede the futility of our democracy," she said.
I'm in this as a mother. I'm in this for the long haul. I'm not giving up."
