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March 2, 2008 at 22:54:50
by Dan Lawton Page 1 of 2 page(s) |
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When great changes occur in history, when great principles are involved, as a rule the majority are wrong. The minority are right. --Eugene Debs Five times, Eugene Debs ran for president, including once while imprisoned for violating the Espionage Act by criticizing U.S. involvement in World War I. Five times he lost badly, never winning more than 6 percent of the vote. Yet, despite his lack of success, he continued to run, and run, and run. What makes a man spit in the face of conventional knowledge, shake off the guarantee of sure defeat, and toss his hat into the presidential ring over and over again?
On CNN on Tuesday night, news anchor Anderson Cooper posed that question to perennial presidential candidate Ralph Nader, who had just announced his fifth run for president.
Cooper: Do you worry that your reputation will be tainted? I mean, all the things you have accomplished thus far, will people just see this as some farcical and narcissistic run?
Nader: I’m a fighter for justice, Anderson. When there’s perennial injustice you have got to keep going after it.
Nader, who turned seventy-four yesterday, is best known for his exhaustive accomplishments in areas of environmental preservation, auto safety, and corporate regulation. His early clashes with the automobile industry were integral in the passage of the 1966 National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act, which mandated a series of safety features that were previously not included in cars. His actions drew such ire from GM that they hired call girls to seduce him and detectives to dig up dirt on him. As a result, Nader successfully sued them for $425,000 for invasion of privacy.
He used the money to found the first of hundreds of nationwide Public Interest Research Groups (PIRGS). Composed of college-aged staff and volunteers, these grassroots organizations--often referred to as Naders's raiders--joined with Nader to champion government reforms such as the Freedom of Information Act, the Clean Air Act, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Consumer Protection Agency.
Mr. Nader is also the direct cause of a significant piece of airline reform that affects all of us. Bumped from an overbooked Allegheny Airlines flight in 1972, he successfully sued the airline for $50,000. As a result, airlines were forced to compensate individuals they bumped from flights.
But despite the fact that he’s accumulated a progressive legislative record more formidable than Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama combined, Mr. Nader has become the whipping boy of the liberal intelligentsia as of late.
Earlier this week, Democrats across the country frowned menacingly at Nader’s announcement that he’d be running again. They cursed him, they mocked him, and they whispered his name like it was a rare form of cancer while balling up their fists and hissing.
The liberal media were angry as well:
[Nader] remains as obstinate, prickly, and egotistical as ever," said the New Jersey Star-Ledger.
"Nader: Unsafe at Any Age," headlined the Louisville Courier-Journal.
Current Democratic candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama also reacted hostilely to Nader’s announcement. Mrs. Clinton stated that Nader is “responsible” for George Bush, while Obama alleged that Nader “doesn’t know what he’s talking about.” In addition, an article at Politico.com reported that Democrats had already committed to preventing Nader for accumulating votes by “working behind the scenes and using court challenges.” These are the same tactics that the Democrats utilized in 2004 and that are currently the target of a lawsuit by Nader—who alleges the Democrats abused the court system in 2004 by filing frivolous lawsuits to keep him off the ballot.
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Nader still shouldn't run
I love Ralph Nader's politics like my own mother, but that doesnt mean I think he should run for president again. I voted for him in 2000 and would love to be able to justify my vote to my liberal friends who have mercilessly hounded me ever since. Gore, the DLC, the Republican machine and many other factors, not the least of them the Supreme Court, all figured in Gore's loss of Florida. But Gore was incompetent, DLC misread the electorate, the Republicans perpetrated fraud and the Court was corrupt. Nothing could be done about them, even in hindsight. Conversely, Nader made a direct decision to campaign for votes that he knew would go overwhelmingly for Gore. To my profound regret, I conclude that to risk a victory by McCain is simply not worth the satisfaction of voting for Nader. Please help me get around this dilemma. I am all ears. by Deano (2 articles, 1 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 18 comments) on Monday, Mar 3, 2008 at 12:10:12 AM  (0+)
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Reply: Nader
You might take some comfort from numbers offered by Greg Palast. He indicated that over 250,000 registered Democrats voting in Florida in the 2000 election crossed over and voted for Bush. It was not Nader. It was a failure of the Democratic party that they prefer to keep covered up by blaming anyone else they can. by Jack Harrington (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 675 comments [70 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Monday, Mar 3, 2008 at 4:16:28 PM (0+)
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Reply: Get Out of Your Vaccum
I wouldn't suppose any of those votes were counted by Diebold computers were there? Of course there was nothing amise when at first count Gore had a negative 16,000 votes in Broward County. The count in Florida and throughout was rigged and has been since. As long as corporations are counting the votes it will be corrupt. Of course the SUpreme Court made the ruling that we do not have the right to have our vote counted, but you morons blindly shout out, "Get Over It!" If we have no right to have our vote counted we had our democracy stolen, and you said "Get Over It" Shame on you! by Dennis Kaiser (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 18 comments) on Monday, Mar 3, 2008 at 9:17:49 PM (0+)
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Reply: Vote count
As I noted, the numbers of cross overs came from Greg Palast, and from everything of his I have seen, he is very very thorough in his research. Similar numbers were reported in other venues, however, and typical crossover numbers for Democrats ran 8 to 11 million nationally in that election. I have seen reports of crossovers as high as 23 million, but that seems very unlikely and would indicate to me wiggle room for criminal behavior. by Jack Harrington (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 675 comments [70 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Thursday, Mar 6, 2008 at 10:56:55 AM (0+)
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Reply: Would things be better with Gore as President?
Not likely, since the Vice President would then have been Joseph Lieberman who introduced the resolution to go to war with Iraq and the resolution to go to war with Iran. by Anton Grambihler (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 4 diaries, 314 comments [7 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Monday, Mar 3, 2008 at 10:10:40 PM (0+)
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Nader Welcome --- IF
Nader's appearance once again could be of great aid to America and our citizens "IF" he makes the following issues of this campaign: 1. The Security & Prosperity Partnership, which is due to begin in 2010 (the second year of the term of whmever wins this election). This has not ever come up for discussion. The importance of this is that it completely takes our governmen out of the equation. Only the Executive Branch will have any say in it. In short the US loses its sovereignty under this "agreement" which nobody seems to know anything about. Presently you have Clinton and Obama touting how NAFTA needs to have something happen to it...SPP will supercede NAFTA! It needs to be discussed and the people need to be educated on it. Notice how none of the questions have been asked to address this. 2. A discussion of our Constitution being restored has not taken place since the Political 'insiders' as well as his own Democrat Party eliminated Dennis Kucinich from the race. If our Constitituion is not restored durng the next candidacy it never will be. This next term is critical! 3. The process of our government needs to be restored. We need to return to the process being the Executive Branch, the Legislative Branch, and the Judicial Branch, each with their own responsibilities and authorities, providing a 'checks and balances' situation. Again, if this process is not restored this next term it will be lost forever in the future. Presently, we have nothing more than a Fascist Dictatorship functioning under the facade of "Democracy" This needs to be brought out in order that people know what has happened while they napped. While those three elements need to be brought into the campaign and none of the Political insiders will bring them up as they would be most happy taking over under the present state, Nader could contribute probably more than he could ever imagine ifhe would make these an issue. They define the future of our nation. We either get back to a democracy, or we fall into a Fascist Dictatorship (call it Capitalistic, Corporate, whatever..if corporations are making the laws and bribing politicians it's all the same) Should he fail to make any of these an issue, he is merely dead weight in a time we need a 'hero.' by Dennis Kaiser (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 18 comments) on Monday, Mar 3, 2008 at 7:44:00 AM (0+)
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Why?
If the proper questions were asked of each candidate Nader would come out as the correct choice from the current field. by Gallaher (2 articles, 0 quicklinks, 4 diaries, 990 comments [34 recommended, 1 rejected]) on Tuesday, Mar 4, 2008 at 4:45:49 PM (0+)
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