Back in February, comedian and activist Roseanne Barr officially announced that she was seeking the Green Party nomination for president, and since then she's pulled no punches about her thoughts on the two major parties.
On her campaign site, she writes, "Americans have voted for the lesser of two evils in the past elections, it has not gotten us anywhere." She's also separately referred to both Mitt Romney and Barack Obama as empty suits.
On Sunday, she took aim at another Washington target, former House speaker Nancy Pelosi, saying via Twitter, "Pelosi is a criminal too-insider trader with VISA-she needs to go-vote her out!!"
The statement refers to a story broken by CBS' 60 Minutes in November of 2011, detailing how congressional officials have the ability to legally trade stocks based on nonpublic information obtained during the course of their jobs. In Pelosi's case, some claimed the then-speaker was unduly influenced by VISA at the same time that legislation limiting credit card swipe fees was before the House. The legislation eventually passed, and in April of 2012 the STOCK Act, which closed the insider trading loophole for congressional officials was signed into law. Nevertheless, for Barr and others who believe the two-party system is irreversibly broken, the appearance of impropriety in the case is reason enough to vote Pelosi and anyone else who benefitted from the overturned rule out of office.
Depending on who you are, Barr's heated Tweets can read as either crudely insightful or wildly conspiracy theory-ish, but her methods may be working. On the Green Party's web site Barr is second only to frontrunner Jill Stein in delegate count. And while the more buttoned-up Dr. Stein currently enjoys a healthy lead, Barr's number one issue of legalizing marijuana could resonate with undecided voters as her candidacy gains prominence.
What do you think? Is Roseanne right about the two major parties? Does she stand a legitimate chance at getting the Green Party nomination? What other comedian would you like to see run for public office?