02-22-2004, 12:17 PM
In the heart of the most successful example of capitalism in the world is one man who I think must surely be the most supremely selfish man of all - Ralph freakin' Nader . WHAT IS HE THINKING?! He just announced that he plans to run for President. WHY DON'T YOU JUST JOIN THE REPUBLICAN PARTY, YOU IDIOT!!
It has not been more important to unseat the current President and begin to undo the damage done since the Vietnam era. And now this little bastard, who KNOWS he does not stand a chance to win the Presidency, wants to play spoiler again!
He ignored the good of his country and, indeed, the good of the entire planet. He was strongly anti-Iraq War, and since John Kerry voted for it, NADER IS GOING TO TAKE EVEN MORE DEMOCRATIC VOTES THAN LAST TIME!
Just look at the very last paragraph of this article!
Nader to run for president as independent
Sunday, February 22, 2004 Posted: 11:08 AM EST (1608 GMT)
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Ralph Nader, a consumer advocate and former Green Party presidential candidate, said Sunday he will run for president as an independent in the 2004 election.
"After careful thought and my desire to retire our supremely selected president, I've decided to run as an independent candidate for president," Nader said during an interview on NBC's "Meet the Press."
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.
"We can't afford to have Ralph Nader in the race," Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe told CNN on Friday. "This is about the future of our country. If you care about the environment, if you care about job growth, you've got to support the Democratic nominee. So I'm urging everybody to talk to Ralph Nader."
Nader said he is jumping into the race to "challenge the two-party duopoly" that he said is damaging American democracy. He lashed out against what he called the treatment of third-party and independent candidates as "second-class citizens."
Nader, who will turn 70 this month, ran as a Green Party candidate in 1996 and 2000.
After the candidate was shown an Internet message calling on him not to run that was posted on an anti-Nader Web site -- ralphdontrun.net -- Nader said it was "a contemptuous statement against Democracy, against freedom, against more voices and choices for the American people."
"It is an offense to deny millions of people who may want to vote for our candidacy an opportunity to vote for our candidacy," Nader said.
"The liberal intelligentsia," he said, "has allowed its party to become a captive of corporate interests."
Washington is "corporate-occupied territory," Nader said. "We need more political and civic energies inside the campaign to challenge this two-party duopoly that's trending toward one-party districts all over the country."
Nader made clear his desire to help kick Bush out of the White House. He said he supports impeaching the president for "misleading" Americans about the Iraq war and "fabricating" reasons for taking military action. And he accused Bush of being "a giant corporation in the White House masquerading as a human being."
In December, Nader said he would not run for the Green Party nomination in 2004. That decision means he will have to go through the process of getting ballot access in all 50 states as an independent, a daunting and expensive task.
Nader said Sunday that he does not know in how many states he will be able to get his name on the presidential ballot. Either way, he added, "there are 40 slam dunk states where Republicans or Democrats will win handily."
In the 2000 race, Nader won less than 3 percent of the vote nationally. But many Democrats are convinced he tipped the election toward Bush because the president's margin of victory in two states -- Florida and New Hampshire -- was smaller than the number of people who voted for Nader.
Had Gore carried either of those states, he would have carried the Electoral College and won the presidency.
However, it is impossible to know what those Nader voters would have done if he had not been in the race. Nader himself insists that "Gore beat Gore" and that many of his voters would have stayed home or voted for Bush if he had not been on the ballot.
Still, the possibility of Nader drawing votes from the left side of the political spectrum has leading Democrats worried.
"I think the role at this point that he plays is a similar role to what he played last time, and that's a spoiler," Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California told CNN. "I hate to say that."
One question raised by a Nader candidacy is whether he would appeal to voters who were energized by the campaign of former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean -- particularly voters opposed to the war in Iraq, which both Kerry and Edwards supported in Congress.
Dean, who suspended his campaign last week, has said he will support the Democratic nominee in order to beat Bush. But some of his supporters who are less satisfied with their choices may be more open to Nader.
As one Dean supporter put it in a message posted on his campaign blog, "All I can say is I understand the reasons Nader is running this time a lot more than I understood them last time."
It has not been more important to unseat the current President and begin to undo the damage done since the Vietnam era. And now this little bastard, who KNOWS he does not stand a chance to win the Presidency, wants to play spoiler again!
He ignored the good of his country and, indeed, the good of the entire planet. He was strongly anti-Iraq War, and since John Kerry voted for it, NADER IS GOING TO TAKE EVEN MORE DEMOCRATIC VOTES THAN LAST TIME!
Just look at the very last paragraph of this article!
Nader to run for president as independent
Sunday, February 22, 2004 Posted: 11:08 AM EST (1608 GMT)
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Ralph Nader, a consumer advocate and former Green Party presidential candidate, said Sunday he will run for president as an independent in the 2004 election.
"After careful thought and my desire to retire our supremely selected president, I've decided to run as an independent candidate for president," Nader said during an interview on NBC's "Meet the Press."
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.
"We can't afford to have Ralph Nader in the race," Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe told CNN on Friday. "This is about the future of our country. If you care about the environment, if you care about job growth, you've got to support the Democratic nominee. So I'm urging everybody to talk to Ralph Nader."
Nader said he is jumping into the race to "challenge the two-party duopoly" that he said is damaging American democracy. He lashed out against what he called the treatment of third-party and independent candidates as "second-class citizens."
Nader, who will turn 70 this month, ran as a Green Party candidate in 1996 and 2000.
After the candidate was shown an Internet message calling on him not to run that was posted on an anti-Nader Web site -- ralphdontrun.net -- Nader said it was "a contemptuous statement against Democracy, against freedom, against more voices and choices for the American people."
"It is an offense to deny millions of people who may want to vote for our candidacy an opportunity to vote for our candidacy," Nader said.
"The liberal intelligentsia," he said, "has allowed its party to become a captive of corporate interests."
Washington is "corporate-occupied territory," Nader said. "We need more political and civic energies inside the campaign to challenge this two-party duopoly that's trending toward one-party districts all over the country."
Nader made clear his desire to help kick Bush out of the White House. He said he supports impeaching the president for "misleading" Americans about the Iraq war and "fabricating" reasons for taking military action. And he accused Bush of being "a giant corporation in the White House masquerading as a human being."
In December, Nader said he would not run for the Green Party nomination in 2004. That decision means he will have to go through the process of getting ballot access in all 50 states as an independent, a daunting and expensive task.
Nader said Sunday that he does not know in how many states he will be able to get his name on the presidential ballot. Either way, he added, "there are 40 slam dunk states where Republicans or Democrats will win handily."
In the 2000 race, Nader won less than 3 percent of the vote nationally. But many Democrats are convinced he tipped the election toward Bush because the president's margin of victory in two states -- Florida and New Hampshire -- was smaller than the number of people who voted for Nader.
Had Gore carried either of those states, he would have carried the Electoral College and won the presidency.
However, it is impossible to know what those Nader voters would have done if he had not been in the race. Nader himself insists that "Gore beat Gore" and that many of his voters would have stayed home or voted for Bush if he had not been on the ballot.
Still, the possibility of Nader drawing votes from the left side of the political spectrum has leading Democrats worried.
"I think the role at this point that he plays is a similar role to what he played last time, and that's a spoiler," Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California told CNN. "I hate to say that."
One question raised by a Nader candidacy is whether he would appeal to voters who were energized by the campaign of former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean -- particularly voters opposed to the war in Iraq, which both Kerry and Edwards supported in Congress.
Dean, who suspended his campaign last week, has said he will support the Democratic nominee in order to beat Bush. But some of his supporters who are less satisfied with their choices may be more open to Nader.
As one Dean supporter put it in a message posted on his campaign blog, "All I can say is I understand the reasons Nader is running this time a lot more than I understood them last time."
