What can Ralph Nader possibly hope to get out of running for President again? If I were an investigative reporter, I'd "follow the money!" There's absolutely no chance he'll win. And he must know that. So what's in it for him? It has to be they money. I'm not going to say the Republicans are behind this. But if they aren't, it sure would be the best chance they have to beat Obama or Hillary. Every vote for Nader will be a vote for McCain in the last analysis... unless the vote is coming from someone who wouldn't have voted otherwise. Suppose Nader cuts into the Democratic vote by 5%. After the last election, does anyone doubt that this is a dream come true for the Republicans? Now we need a right-wing extremist to run as a 4th party candidate to do some equal damage to the Republican vote. Someone tell Howard Dean to get busy funding such a campaign. (I looked for a photo of Nader and ran across this political cartoon by Gary Markstein. It's the same thing as 4 years ago. Does anyone wish Nader hadn't run 4 years ago? I know I sure do. Talk about a spoiler.)
8 comments:
I hate conspiracy theories, but Nader has to be getting something for stepping up as a whipping boy. Someone must be paying to take votes away from the democrats.
It's either that, or he's just discovered that he makes more money by getting the attention. It can't be that he actually thinks he's doing the country some good. If he causes Democrats to lose, he's hurting consumer causes. Can there be any doubt about that?
Boy, thanks Aliman for telling me that y'all are here. I really hate to go against the grain here, but...I...well, voted for Nader during the election when people told me that I was taking votes from Gore. But, I felt that I ought not "play the game" of strategic voting, but vote for the right person: a person who would implement universal health care, call a spade a spade, and not worry about tired communist slander (for example). Now the dems have a real candidate in Obama (he is not a savior, but much better than I could ever imagine in the current climate).
All in all, I want to think that Nader and his supporters are thinking nothing other than what an essential candidate he is for the country.
Democracy has some crazy, but passionate, fringes...thank God!!
Nice to see you here, Chris. I can't disagree with you more. I think I'll post my answer, because it's an important question.
Wow, Chris, you arise from the ashes and appear in the blogsphere, and get blasted!! Well, I'll have to chime in against Nader, too, but that's OK. Let's keep it up.
V.La.Diff.!!!
I truly didn't mean to blast anyone. Sorry if it comes across that way. I simply disagree, strongly, with the idea. : )
Sorry, I guess "blast" is too strong. But that's the good thing about this kind of dialogue with you folks, we're all big boys. Even on the more "academic" kind of Subud discussion group (Subud Vision Page http://www.subudvision.org/as/Aas2.shtml) there's still ill feelings around disagreements to a certain extent. I told the editors I can't afford to read or write there because of that. People's egos are tied up in everything, and if there's disagreement then it's tied up with a personal afront. But not here, so "Blast" was too strong. My tea is steeping too long, gotta get it (no more coffee for me in the morning--can't take the jolt anymore at my old age. Aloha
Hey hey all, I certainly do not feel blasted. My hair is a little blown back though! Please understand that I know neither of you would ever be out to "blast me" . I would never do that to you either, of course...let the good times roll baby!
I wrote a kind of response, because this is a huge issue. I see Olav's point, but disagree from top to bottom. My reaction is not to only disagree with his central point, but an entire context of thinking about politics. I think that there are a lot of cultural givens that get in the way here. But this is not easy to get across in the comments section. Ha ha
Thanks for your time guys.
Post a Comment