To nobody’s surprise, Ralph Nader has announced his intention to run for the presidency again, stalking Harold Stassen’s record for futility with grim determination (Stassen ran for president 9 times between 1948 and 1992). Although he argues vehemently against the notion, instead blaming Democrats themselves, Nader likely cost Al Gore the White House in 2000, and gifted America and the world with George W. Bush. In Florida, Nader drew 97 000 votes, almost all of which would have gone to Gore. George Bush won that state by about 500. As Hillary Clinton observed, Al Gore would have been the greenest president in history. His commitment to the environment since leaving the White House has been rewarded with the Nobel prize. George Bush, on the other hand has fallen in lockstep with big business and undone most of the environmental protections put in place by the Clinton-Gore administration. So it is a stupendous achievement on Nader’s part to have delivered the result against the very contituency he purported to represent, and then to wash his hands of all blame.
As an effective consumer advocate, Nader was the conscience of America; as political gadfly, he is a nuisance who no longer even rises to the level of distraction. Like Jesse Jackson, he was more effective as a critic than as a candidate, but now he has allowed his perceived intellectual superiority to get in the way of what he once fought for. He remains caught up in the drama of David and Goliath, a noble and defiant individual struggling against the military-industrial complex.
He fails to realize that many of the reforms he fought for have been co-opted by the mainstream and that it is time to move on. We would like to remember him as an activist and rebel who taught social responsibility to corporate America. But as the country song goes – How can I miss you if you won’t go away?
Filed under: Election, Politics | Tagged: Al Gore, George W. Bush, Ralph Nader, Third party candidate
Just as in 2000… and we saw who we got then!!!
A vote for Nader was a vote for Bush.
And now:
A vote for Nader is a vote for McCain!
DON’T VOTE NADER!!!
If ya’ like going to war in the wrong country for no apparent reason vote McCain.
Uhhh…lemme see… terrorists from Saudi Arabia flew planes into buildings on the direction of another Saudi in Afghanistan…. soooo….OBVIOUSLY… we should invade Iraq.
Yep! Lemme have some more of that logic…. Maybe Bush can run as Vice-President…. Is that allowed? Because he and his staff are real geniuses.
Remember folks, the ONLY reason Bush got the White House was because of Nader. Thus Nader can be blamed for: The Iraq War, The economy, The price of oil, and possibly even 9-11.(one can only guess on that last one) McCain is just as nutty as Bush but smarter which makes him more dangerous.