Ralph Nader: Always a Bridesmaid ...
NOOOOOOOOO! I was woken this morning by my radio, spewing the news that Ralph Nader is running for the presidency. For the fifth time. The fifth time! Dude is 3 years older than Grandpa McCain.
Of course, Republicans are thrilled. As always.
In fact, this is how thrilled the Republicans were the last time Ralph threw his hat into the ring:
Consumer advocate Ralph Nader's quixotic presidential campaign says it submitted about 5,400 signatures to get on the Michigan ballot, far short of the required number of 30,000.
Luckily for him, approximately 43,000 signatures were filed by Michigan Republicans on his behalf, more than meeting the requirement.
--ABC News, 2004
What? I'm sorry, but when Republicans are signing the guy's petition in greater numbers than his own supporters, when Republicans want this Lefty on the ballot that ballot that badly ... his candidacy probably is not a good bet for the progressive movement, mmm-kay?
Of course we all remember the disputed lore of the 97,000+ Florida votes that went to Nader in 2000, and how that, combined with the Republican election fraud fuckery, cost Gore Florida, which cost ... well, you know the rest.
For want of a battle ...
Funny part of that story is, Nader never had a chance, and he knew that, but his petulant insistence on playing with the big boys may have cost the country the chance to have the Greenest president ever. But hey, at least he had his 15 minutes.
This from Planetary Movement:
At any rate, Ralph Nader is emerging as a threat via the ancient and outmoded electoral machinery still in position in America in 2008. Nader’s candidacy could shift electoral votes in marginal battleground states and provide a smokescreen for election-rigging just as it did in Florida in 2000 and in several places in 2004.
I'm thinking voters this time around are tired of Ralph. I mean, come on, Ralph, even my Ex takes a hint better than you do, and he's not one for subtle cues. I think after the Florida farce, potential Naderites have figured out that a vote for Nader is just throwing a vote to McCain, as it was throwing a vote to Bush in the last 2 elections.
I'm hoping most folks see that yet another Nader run is not going to change the system, which is what the 3rd party contingent is really pushing for to begin with. I'm thinking, if anything, Nader is hurting that cause. I mean, face it, Ralph, you're becoming an annoying fixture. So the whole concept of a 3rd party challenge becomes old news. Not a realistic option. Same old guy. A guy who, for all his talk of social justice, isn't really all that supportive of the populations who might be willing to jump on his bandwagon, populations who may feel marginalized by the other parties. Women, communities of color, the LGBT community, Latino communities, all have reported that Nader, for all his "change the system" blather, is basically anti-corporation, pro-political reform, and that's his bag of tricks. I'm hoping those who want to make a statement have had enough years to see that Nader's not the guy to make it worth their while.
Ralph, please, not this time. Not this year. Look at the bigger picture, dude. Look at what's happening this time. Just go home.
29 comments:
Seriously , can this guy be a bigger asshole. I would love to find out how much he gets paid by the republican party to play this game. You know someone has him in their pocket. He is the pimple on Satan's ass.
I wish that man would get a freaking clue! Does he not get how selfish what he's doing is?
I am hoping that if anything it will get people out there voting for a Democrat. A lot of the hippie-dippie types that love him, don't vote because they think their vote won't matter. If they vote for Nadar they're right. I wish he would just go away.
Oh, and Sageweb is right. He IS a pimple on Satan's ass.
Sageweb: There are rumors saying the repubs are grooming him through the backdoor, as one site put it (blech), but who knows if that's truth or drama. Satan needs to get himself some friggin' Clearasil for his ass. Or better yet, just sit down real hard.
Whim: Apparently not. It's all about the Ralph.
Evil-G: I hope so. I guess there will always be those Nader fanatics, of whom I can only ask ... why? You want to make a statement, all you're stating is "Go McCain!"
Nader sucks. He takes votes from socialists. And I've met tree stumps more exciting than him. He was speaking at our demo and I was like, who's that marble bust? and they were like, Oh, that's Nader.
nadar is a spoiler..we had one of them in our last election for governor...kinky friedman got in the mix and broke up the 3 dem's running for gov and we ended getting good hair perry for another 4 years...jeez...
How delusional and self absorbed has he become.. is it an early onset of dementia or something???
WittyOne: Ha! Well, I'm sure he'd be better than Dubya, but that's about all I can say.
YDG: He's a spoiler alright. And Kinky Friedman sounds, well, intriguing.
DL: Well he's 74, so it's not that early.
I've heard those "Republican in Progressive's Clothing" rumors around Nader and I'm unconvinced. I think this is more about Nader's sheer need for self-aggrandizement which has completely overtaken the valid points that he makes in terms of consumer rights and protections. Simply because he feels the voters are "disenchanted" with the Democratic party certainly doesn't then imply that he is in any way more attractive.
I also question the effect he'll have this time because Obama not only got there first, but he has more charisma and looks less like your creepy Uncle Billy who always smells like Vicks Vaporub and whisky and who no one wants to leave the kids with. What base Nader might have had, Obama has already energized and claimed. There's also some question exactly who Nader will pull votes from. Many moderate Republicans detest McCain but can't quite bring themselves to vote for Obama or Hillary. Depending on how Nader frames HIS FREAKING FIFTH RUN (some people just don't know how to take a hint), he might actually sway those Republicans.
The biggest problem with all of this, imho, is that it puts ideas in the heads of Bloomberg, Paul, Huckabee, Duke, Keyes and about a billion other dark horse candidates which turns the Presidential elections back into a special interest "zerg".
Who's that marble bust?
HAH HAH!
That was awesome.
QJ: ...and looks less like your creepy Uncle Billy who always smells like Vicks Vaporub and whisky and who no one wants to leave the kids with. HA! Good point - a lot of the young voters tired of the establishment have found that "change they can believe it", and it's not Ralph Nader.
I tend to agree with you in the Repub rumor -- I'm not so sure the Repubs are lining his pockets behind the scenes, but it wouldn't absolutely shock me. After all this time, we could actually chalk it up to habit, eh? "Election year, time to run again!" I'm not so sure about moderate republicans swinging for Nader though ... I'm thinking if they're of a mind to swing, they'd go Obama, or just stay home, but who knows.
And I'd actually love to see Huckabee or Paul as a 3rd party choice. Let it siphon off republican votes for a change.
Hat: Yeah. That's the payoff for years of diaper changing and teenantics.
As far as I can remember, the notion of Nader serving as a Republican siphon depends on the New Evangelical movement. An emerging trend in evangelical Christianity has groups of them more concerned with notions of the environment, poverty, war and hunger than the standard window peeing and moralizing. Thus, while these groups still tend to nominally identify as Republican, they're more interested in ideals than affiliation. Of all the candidates, they might feel more drawn to Nader because of his idealistic stances over McCain, Obama or Clinton, who they see as just more Big Business politicians. Even if this panned out, there would still be some question exactly how many voted could be bled off McCain in this way.
I'm all for third party candidate, but I think they need to be viable. Siphon candidates just sort of perverts the whole process and reduces our electoral system to an ongoing game of political whack-a-mole.
Ralph Nader is a douche bag of liberty.
At first I think,'A viable third party candidate is the perfect way to effect change in this country's political malaise'.
And then I think,'Still,..taking advantage of a nations splintered socio-political system is how Hitler took power!'..
Then I think,'..Ralph Nader is still alive?'..
QJ: Interesting -- I guess i've been out of the Evangelical crowd for too long, because in my experience (and I was a fair Bible thumper) those issues would never trump abortion, gay marriage, and welfare. I sure would love to see the red side split a bit this time, though. A third party alternative would be fantastic, but the way the system is now ... that's a long shot, and Nader's definitely not the one to pull it off.
RG: I'm pretty sure that's against the Patriot Act, sir.
Sling: Well, yes! But "viable" being the key word. And I think QJ made a good point that Obama's already captured a lot of those folks fed up with the political malaise, so who's left for Uncle Ralph. As for your last thought ... not sure, better take his pulse.
I actually watched Meet the Press to hear the announcement, and -- while I'm completely annoyed by his fifth non-campaign, as much as anyone else -- will give Nader credit for having some good responses to Russert's list of reasons why he shouldn't run.
The thing is, third parties only work in a parliamentary system, and we don't have that. And, I think you're right -- the only votes for Nader this time around will be throw-away protest votes, and I can't imagine that there will be too many of those in '08; the stakes are too high.
Red -- Oh, I didn't see that, I'll see if I can find it. Yeah, even the protest vote crowd isn't going to be that psyched about Nader. The Bohemian would be the first in line to vote 3rd party, trust me, but she's not doing the Nader dance.
Nader's first run did change the system. It broke it.
Oh come on, now. That's a pretty flippant thing to say, that Nader's first run back in the 90s broke the system. If one man running can break an entire electoral system, that really doesn't say much for the health or robustness of that system in the first place, arguing that the system was headed for a break-down regardless of the actions of an individual.
Nader's incessant campaigning says far more about his own egomania than about the state of the U.S. electoral system which, while not perfect, is far from "broke".
Who cares who runs or gets in outside of the us? iTS THE SAME THING... NO MATTER WHO RULES THE ROOST...DON'T SHOOT ME i am an American...duh!
Australians hope hope hope people don't think they are from the US (not american...that involves north and south america) when they travel...I warn my kids...go top Canada, the UK anywhere but not the US.... I have real trouble being concerned with any country which says its civilisded and still had the death penalty..."thou shalt not kill" no exceptions or qualifications whatsoever
Allan: His first run was so long ago, I barely remember it.
QJ: 3rd parties can't even break into our system, let alone break them. However, I'd have much prefered he stayed home in 2000...
MC: Judging from my years out of the country, I'd say a whole lot of people care outside the US. GeeDubya has shown that his actions and asshattery are far reaching, and have affected many people in the world, not just within our country. Had Gore taken his rightful place as prez in 2000, things would be a hell of a lot different in a lot of places on earth. Trust me, there are plenty of us dumb uncivilized Americans who do care, and are trying to do something about it. Which is why I would appreciate Nader staying his ass home.
Ralph is a spoiler....with fuckery.
Hey sunshine! Ralph is just being Ralph. I can't imagine that he will stop a Democrat this time around. Obama has young voters turning out in friggin' droves, and Dubya has disenfranchised most of the nation. I think it is still our election to lose. If we manage to snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory? I will lose my mind.
the republicans don't need to be cheering because they put him up to it.
Rosemary: I say bury him in one of your snowbanks.
Tater: Hey sweets, I missed you! I think you're right, and that seems to be the consensus -- many of the folks who'd get jazzed about a 3rd party run have already gone the way of Obama, and Ralph is old news. He's not going to get anyone energized but himself. And that's debatable. I've already informed Al that if the Repubs win, we are so doing a contract marriage, and I'm out of here. (Al? You do remember that ... right? We're still on?)
Monica: That's what some say -- if it is the case, I wish someone would find out and run a huge story on it, to hurt the wingnutters even more than they've already hurt themselves.
OK, gave the election to Dubya, who did break it. And of course it's flippant to say that. So what?
Allan: flippancy and sarcasm are encouraged 'round these parts.
That's why I love it here. Part of it, anyway. Outrage and humor are other positives! Too many to list, rock on!
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