Green Party nominee: Debate commission ‘two-party tyranny’

by Mark Hensch - 09/27/16 1:31 PM ET

Green Party presidential nominee Jill Stein says the presidential debates’ organizer is stacking the deck for Democrats and Republicans.

“The Commission on Presidential Debates is a private corporation run by the Democratic and Republican parties,” she said on Fox Business Network’s “Mornings with Maria” on Tuesday.

{mosads}“They set a threshold that basically silences political opposition. That’s not what democracy looks like; that’s two-party tyranny. We’re at 2 percent having not been covered, essentially. We’ve basically been suppressed.”

Stein and Libertarian presidential nominee Gary Johnson were not included in Monday night’s presidential debate, the first of three this cycle.

The commission required third-party candidates to reach 15 percent support in an average of five polls it has selected.

“It wasn’t the American people who won the debate,” Stein said Tuesday, referring to the clash between Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and Republican nominee Donald Trump the night before. “The people of America are screaming for more voices and more choices. They have rejected at unprecedented levels Trump and Clinton as being the most disliked and the most un-trusted ever.

“What’s wrong with this picture?”

Law enforcement officials escorted Stein off Hofstra University’s campus in New York before Monday evening’s debate.

Stein on Tuesday said she was exercising her civil rights, adding authorities did not explain her ejection.

“That’s a good question,” she said when asked why she was forced to leave. “They were not going to answer that for us. We were there to assert our democratic rights. We don’t think it’s fair. We had huge support from the students on campus.”

Stein has repeatedly argued debate participation is essential to her White House bid.

Experts predicted the first debate may shatter viewership records, with more than 100 million people tuning in.

Clinton leads Trump by about 2 points nationwide in the latest RealClearPolitics average of polls.