Lets all sing a song for Ralphie Nader!

MKSheppard · Post by **MKSheppard** » 2004-07-21 03:30pm

http://www.washingtontimes.com/national ... -9387r.htm

Nader defends GOP support

By Steve Miller
THE WASHINGTON TIMES

Ralph Nader yesterday defended the support he has received from Republicans in his presidential bid, saying that "Republicans are people, too."

The independent presidential candidate, in a debate with former Democratic presidential hopeful Howard Dean, also called his bid to run as an outsider as an expression of freedom.

"It's called freedom," Mr. Nader said. "Freedom of conscience, freedom to authentically communicate the necessities to the American people without the trappings of special interests and commercial cash."

Mr. Nader picked on the Democratic Party throughout the hour-long debate, which was held at the National Press Club and sponsored by National Public Radio's weekly program "Justice Talking."

The consumer rights advocate recited a list of grievances he has with the system: the criminal justice system, the "failed" war on drugs, big-money influence in the political process.

"How can all that fit inside a Democratic Party that has ignored year after year these important changes for a more just and prosperous America?" Mr. Nader asked.

Mr. Dean told Mr. Nader that his White House run could help President Bush get re-elected. Democrats fear that the consumer advocate will mine crucial votes that otherwise would go to Mr. Kerry in November.

The former Vermont governor repeatedly accused Mr. Nader of accepting help from Republicans. And he emphasized that his feelings were not a hangover from the 2000 election.

"What's gone is gone and what's done is done," Mr. Dean said to Mr. Nader. "I don't begrudge Ralph Nader for running in 2000," but he called Mr. Nader's candidacy "disingenuous" because of its support from the right.

"You have 46 percent of all your signatures to get you on the Arizona ballot turned out to be Republican supporters," Mr. Dean noted. "One out of every $10,000 check has been from people who have already given money to Bush/Cheney — this is not going to help the progressive cause in America."

Mr. Nader came back quickly.

"You really are being very inaccurate in addition to being very unfair," he said, before launching into a diatribe against the major parties.

"We don't want to settle for the lesser of two evils in our country. We don't want to have another special-interest clone in Washington. We don't want to have another Washington insider whose stance shifts back and forth with every poll and we don't want to have an insensitivity to the plight of workers, American workers, in this country who have lost their manufacturing jobs."

Mr. Nader paused briefly before adding: "All those quotes come from Howard Dean the first, against John Kerry in the primary campaign; what you're hearing now is Howard Dean the second in a desperate attempt to smear our campaign."

Mr. Dean refused to let things go without asking Mr. Nader to bow out of the race, as so many other Democrats have done, including Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe.

"You have an extraordinary career in standing up for the American people," he said. "I ask you not to turn your back on your own legacy."

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and
Yes I know, FR, but it links to a story that's gone now

ST. PAUL - Another presidential poll found that Minnesota could go either way for president in November, and the new numbers suggest that Ralph Nader could be a deciding factor.

The poll commissioned by the St. Paul Pioneer Press and Minnesota Public Radio shows that 45 percent of Minnesota voters would vote for Democrat John Kerry, while 44 percent favor President Bush.

The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus four percentage points, which makes the race a tossup. Only 2 percent would vote for independent candidate Nader. The remaining 9 percent were undecided.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2004-07-21 03:33pm

On one level, I respect Nader's fiery principled refusal to back down. Unfortunately, his principles come from the sort of addled pseudo-intellectual moron reasoning that leads to people thinking you can replace nuclear power plants with hydrogen fuel cells.

The principled moron versus the unprincipled opportunist. Gotta love politics, eh?

Marksist · Post by **Marksist** » 2004-07-21 05:20pm

Nader is being a fucking ass hole. Howard Dean owned him in that debate a week ago.

I'm not one of those people to tell Nader he can't run, but, I think it's bullshit he can't get enough signatures on his own fucking merits that he has to accept GOP support. From people he knows are only signing the petitions to get him on the ballot because the GOP knows that Nader has a lot more of a chance to "take" voters from Kerry than he would take from Bush.

Nader: At least have the god damned common courtesy to get signatures on your own merit, and stop taking support from Republicans that aren't going to vote for you anyways.

Xenophobe3691 · Post by **Xenophobe3691** » 2004-07-21 05:47pm

Marksist wrote:Nader is being a fucking ass hole. Howard Dean owned him in that debate a week ago.

I'm not one of those people to tell Nader he can't run, but, I think it's bullshit he can't get enough signatures on his own fucking merits that he has to accept GOP support. From people he knows are only signing the petitions to get him on the ballot because the GOP knows that Nader has a lot more of a chance to "take" voters from Kerry than he would take from Bush.

Nader: At least have the god damned common courtesy to get signatures on your own merit, and stop taking support from Republicans that aren't going to vote for you anyways.

This is politics. If building a huge Pyramid Temple and sacrificing cute puppies, kitties, and babies Aztec style would get them votes, they'd do it. With smiles on their faces, too, just for the cameras.

Master of Ossus · Post by **Master of Ossus** » 2004-07-21 07:44pm

Nader is a COMPLETE idiot, but I really don't see what the big deal is about his campaign. No candidate is entitled to votes that go to someone else, regardless of the circumstances behind that person's campaign. If a voter goes into the booth and votes for Nader, then no other candidate can claim that that vote was rightfully theirs. I think that the Democratic whiners who've been asking Nader to bow out are missing the whole point of the third-party: to show ways in which the big two parties can alter their messages to appeal to more people.