Ralph Nader will run

jegs2 · Post by **jegs2** » 2004-02-22 01:02pm

He's running for President:

CNN wrote:Nader's announcement was widely watched by Democrats, many who blame him for siphoning off votes in Florida in the 2000 election that might have gone to Democratic nominee Al Gore, who lost the state and the overall election in a split decision by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Democrats also fear a Nader campaign could swing the election to President Bush this year.

Joe · Post by **Joe** » 2004-02-22 01:06pm

Dems lose votes, though not as many as in 2000. I'd be surprised if half a percentage point of the popular vote goes to Nader.

Master of Ossus · Post by **Master of Ossus** » 2004-02-22 01:50pm

The democrats will lose a few votes, but not too many. I don't think Nader will have any appreciable impact on the election, this time around.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2004-02-22 01:53pm

I don't understand why he got any noticeable percentage of the vote last time. The man is a blithering idiot and a raving lunatic.

Master of Ossus · Post by **Master of Ossus** » 2004-02-22 01:54pm

Darth Wong wrote:I don't understand why he got any noticeable percentage of the vote last time. The man is a blithering idiot and a raving lunatic.

While I agree that he shouldn't have received his second vote (after his own) last time, he did manage to pull off a considerable portion of the popular vote in some states.

Tsyroc · Post by **Tsyroc** » 2004-02-22 01:58pm

In my case he was a protest vote for a third party in hopes that it would encourage more choices if he had a decent showing.

Mostly it was that or I was going to leave my choice for President blank. I really didn't like either of the canidates and I still don't.

jegs2 · Post by **jegs2** » 2004-02-22 02:01pm

Heck, my parents voted for Perot when he ran, despite my protest that they were trashing their votes. Thought it was awfully funny when Nader did the same thing to the Democrats a few years later...

RedImperator · Post by **RedImperator** » 2004-02-22 02:06pm

Darth Wong wrote:I don't understand why he got any noticeable percentage of the vote last time. The man is a blithering idiot and a raving lunatic.

He captured the disillusioned liberal vote. Eight years of Clinton playing towards the center had a lot of hard lefists convinced the Democratic party had sold out. They didn't feel there was any real difference between Bush and Gore, so why vote for either, especially when a True Believer is running?

This year, they're all more concerned with getting rid of Bush than electing a True Believer. So Nader will barely be a blip. I'm more interested in seeing how well right-leaning third party candidates do, because now the disillusioned conservatives are upset with Bush and might decide to cast a protest vote themselves.

Joe · Post by **Joe** » 2004-02-22 02:21pm

This year, they're all more concerned with getting rid of Bush than electing a True Believer.

Except for the Deanites. I wouldn't be surprised if a number of Deanites came out and voted for Nader, since many of them absolutely HATE John Kerry - check some of the user comments at the saddest place on the Internet to get an idea of what I mean, and they obviously are willing to sacrifice electability for principle.

General Zod · Post by **General Zod** » 2004-02-22 03:19pm

meh. i just hope we don't get a repeat of the Shrub Senior election, with a majority of the votes being subtracted from the democratic party and given to Nader instead that may have been able to turn the tide in favor of the democrats.

Einhander Sn0m4n · Post by **Einhander Sn0m4n** » 2004-02-22 03:29pm

Darth Wong wrote:I don't understand why he got any noticeable percentage of the vote last time. The man is a blithering idiot and a raving lunatic.

He sounds just like Al Sharpton then.

Howedar · Post by **Howedar** » 2004-02-22 03:32pm

Joe wrote:
This year, they're all more concerned with getting rid of Bush than electing a True Believer.
Except for the Deanites. I wouldn't be surprised if a number of Deanites came out and voted for Nader, since many of them absolutely HATE John Kerry - check some of the user comments at the saddest place on the Internet to get an idea of what I mean, and they obviously are willing to sacrifice electability for principle.

Of the few hundred active-ish Dean supporters at ASU, I can think maybe 5 who would vote for Nader over Kerry.

But I'm still pissed off that that retard is running and may fuck over the country again.

Asst. Asst. Lt. Cmdr. Smi · Post by **Asst. Asst. Lt. Cmdr. Smi** » 2004-02-22 03:49pm

He'll probably get even less this time around, and unless the election is really close, he won't have an impact.

Didn't he run in 1996 and got a fraction of a percent of the popular vote?

Master of Ossus · Post by **Master of Ossus** » 2004-02-22 03:53pm

Asst. Asst. Lt. Cmdr. Smi wrote:He'll probably get even less this time around, and unless the election is really close, he won't have an impact.

Didn't he run in 1996 and got a fraction of a percent of the popular vote?

In 2000, though, he earned almost 3% of the popular vote. That's a reasonably substantial percentage, for a third party candidate. Especially one with such ludicrous policies.

Iceberg · Post by **Iceberg** » 2004-02-22 03:58pm

Yup. Ralph Nader is an egotistical asshole. Story at 10.

Joe · Post by **Joe** » 2004-02-22 04:02pm

Read Ralph Nader's 2000 campaign platform sometime. Crazy shit, there was an interesting bit on CNN where Neal Boortz read it off to Phil Donahue (a Nader supporter) and made him completely lose his shit.

Hamel · Post by **Hamel** » 2004-02-22 04:06pm

The stakes are high this time around, hopefully the Nader voters understand this before they try to be cute like they were in 2000. Bush is free to do whatever he wants if he wins again. Unless he lies about a blowjob, he's untouchable for the next four years.

Knife · Post by **Knife** » 2004-02-22 04:06pm

He is a small threat, but still a threat. He'll apeal to the hard core left, which is the base vote. If the base is in jeoperdy, Kerry might have to shift left some to secure the base (and his cash) and that might hurt him with the centrists.

Joe · Post by **Joe** » 2004-02-22 04:09pm

Hamel wrote:The stakes are high this time around, hopefully the Nader voters understand this before they try to be cute like they were in 2000. Bush is free to do whatever he wants if he wins again. Unless he lies about a blowjob, he's untouchable for the next four years.

No he isn't, he has to worry about the future, if he goes too far he'll lose votes for the Congressional Republicans and whoever runs for President in 2008.

Master of Ossus · Post by **Master of Ossus** » 2004-02-22 04:11pm

Joe wrote:Read Ralph Nader's 2000 campaign platform sometime. Crazy shit, there was an interesting bit on CNN where Neal Boortz read it off to Phil Donahue (a Nader supporter) and made him completely lose his shit.

At least in the recent California gubernatorial elections, NONE of the third-party candidates have shown any ability, whatsoever, to provide reasonable platforms to appeal to voters. That's part of why I dislike them so much--I could do a better job. Even parties that have imminently reasonable GENERAL stances (ie. liberal socially, conservative fiscally), fall apart completely on specifics. It was pathetic reading through their platforms and realizing just how crazy and stupid some of them were.

Thus, the failure of Ralph Nader to provide a reasonable 2000 platform is endemic to third parties, at least if CA is any indication.

Master of Ossus · Post by **Master of Ossus** » 2004-02-22 04:12pm

Knife wrote:He is a small threat, but still a threat. He'll apeal to the hard core left, which is the base vote. If the base is in jeoperdy, Kerry might have to shift left some to secure the base (and his cash) and that might hurt him with the centrists.

While I agree that this is by far the greater danger for the Kerry campaign, Kerry has pretty much said he isn't going to change anything if Nader runs.

Hamel · Post by **Hamel** » 2004-02-22 04:20pm

Joe wrote:
Hamel wrote:The stakes are high this time around, hopefully the Nader voters understand this before they try to be cute like they were in 2000. Bush is free to do whatever he wants if he wins again. Unless he lies about a blowjob, he's untouchable for the next four years.
No he isn't, he has to worry about the future, if he goes too far he'll lose votes for the Congressional Republicans and whoever runs for President in 2008.

That's assuming this tinsy weensy little trend of Bush supporters going 3rd party because of his spending, etc continues. If it won't make a difference in November it won't make a difference over the next four years. Too many people will support him no matter what he does.

Knife · Post by **Knife** » 2004-02-22 04:34pm

Master of Ossus wrote:
Knife wrote:He is a small threat, but still a threat. He'll apeal to the hard core left, which is the base vote. If the base is in jeoperdy, Kerry might have to shift left some to secure the base (and his cash) and that might hurt him with the centrists.
While I agree that this is by far the greater danger for the Kerry campaign, Kerry has pretty much said he isn't going to change anything if Nader runs.

But isn't the word 'Kerry' a synonym for 'change his mind'?

Joe · Post by **Joe** » 2004-02-22 05:31pm

That's assuming this tinsy weensy little trend of Bush supporters going 3rd party because of his spending, etc continues. If it won't make a difference in November it won't make a difference over the next four years. Too many people will support him no matter what he does.

Swing voters, chief.

Fire Fly · Post by **Fire Fly** » 2004-02-22 06:12pm

I don't think he will have too much of an impact on the general election. There are so many anti-Bush people out there that they will throw their vote behind the canidate that has the best chance to oust Bush. I even know several friends of mine who are disenfranchised Republicans who are thinking about voting Democrat in November.

But that's just me.

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