Comments on: Can We Quit Pretending Ralph Nader Has Anything Of Substance To Say?

By: Duros62

Duros62 — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 15:13:44 +0000

Headline from my HuffPo email today:

RJ Eskow: Nader, Unsafe at Any Speed, Says Obama Wants to “Talk White”

We should honor Nader’s many career achievements, thank him for his service, then stop paying any attention to him.

Done.

By: OM

OM — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 19:47:34 +0000

If you don’t mind, I’ll just copy my comment from Raw Story: Out of these last 7.5 horrible years, I have to give Nader credit for the one positive thing he’d done:

Stop Lieberman from becoming Vice President.

By: mike in dc

mike in dc — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 18:57:54 +0000

Here’s a thought for the Naderites out there: the problem isn’t that there’s too many highly compensated corporate lobbyists working for their clients’ interests. The problem is that there aren’t ANY highly compensated progressive lobbyists working for THEIR clients’ interests. With the revolution in internet fundraising, there could be a couple dozen progressive orgs channeling a few million into hiring or developing professional lobbyists to work their connections and get some progressive legislation passed, rather than sending a few dozen underpaid recent college grads to try to get one meeting with one congressman. If you offer the choice between doing good and doing evil, and make it pay almost as much to do good, you will get a lot more people choosing to do good.

By: anotherbozo

anotherbozo — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 18:37:36 +0000

Nader has become the political equivalent of Ezra Pound. Did some great early work, then went nuts.

By: Duros62

Duros62 — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 18:18:53 +0000

Bravo, Leota.

By: Leota2

Leota2 — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 18:15:23 +0000

Obama can’t win it seems.
Conservative Republicans accuse him of being too black, too elitist,
too scary, probably a terrorist Muslim.
Some Democrats accuse him of being too white, too corporate, sexist.

The real problem in most of the whiners minds is that they truly don’t know where to put this man. He defies anything they base their belief systems on.
Half black, half white, born poor, culturally diverse, raised by single parent, well educated.

So he will be vilified because he defies set descriptions. Of course I know about twenty people with the same background as Obama– so when I hear idiotic thought processes become verbal I thank all that is good for the young people who are changing our world.

And idiots like Nader need to back off, keep whoring for Republican money, realize that Obama will be EVERYONES president, and say something of substance about the
Republican’s mess that he helped create. Has he? If so–good. If not, dry up.

By: Duros62

Duros62 — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 18:08:11 +0000

I think if anything Nader will pull votes from McNovocain.

By: Duros62

Duros62 — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 18:06:03 +0000

He attacked a large group of people based entirely and exclusively on the color of their skin, without taking any other factors into account, and without acknowledging individual differences

No he didn’t. That’s a lie.

By: Parthenon

Parthenon — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 17:59:40 +0000

One can only hope Bob Barr and Ron Paul will have a Nader-like effect on this election. I may give money to the Barr campaign, come to think of it…

By: somejackass

somejackass — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 17:49:39 +0000

It’s not that Nader has nothing of substance to say, it’s that he has nothing *new* to say. Now he’s just repeating the same old lines, when he isn’t sticking his foot in his mouth.

I was heartened to see Winona LaDuke (Native American activist and Nader’s running mate in 2000) give a hearty endorsement to Obama on the Colbert Report the other night. Not all of us left of lefties are completely divorced from reality…

By: SpiderJ

SpiderJ — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 17:44:39 +0000

Nader was very happy to accept Republican help throughout 2004 in order to undercut John Kerry. Any idea of Nader’s noble principles shriveled and died at that time.

By: Calvin Jones and the 13th Apostle

Calvin Jones and the 13th Apostle — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 17:24:52 +0000

Nader has indeed jumped the shark. While Nader has a legitimate beef with the Democratic Party on some issues he’s fast ruining what was once a wonderful legacy.

By: mike

mike — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 17:18:38 +0000

I think Nader has much, much more to say than Obama. Obama’s attack on black fathers was blatantly racist, there’s no denying. He attacked a large group of people based entirely and exclusively on the color of their skin, without taking any other factors into account, and without acknowledging individual differences. That’s the textbook definition of racism, and it’s a good thing that Nader called him on it.

But it’s clear to me at least that Obama is just corporate, imperialist business as usual. I mean he’s working with the Clintons, who are about as right-wing and corporate as you can get, and are extremely racist. They put more black people in prison than anyone in US history. I don’t have that much respect for Nader, but it’s good he’s speaking up and fighting the real battle while Obama rakes in corporate cash and is working to maintain white supremacy. I don’t know if I’d vote for Nader, but I certainly won’t vote for Obama after what he’s done lately, and because he’s a Democrat. The claim that there is any difference between the Democrats and Republicans at this point simply doesn’t hold any water any more. We really need to move on from these two parties.

But each to his own. I know how much you’d like to see a black man get elected president, but there are other issues that are much more important at this point.

By: Oliver Willis

Oliver Willis — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 17:02:48 +0000

When you accuse a black man of acting white you sort of abandon your substance.

By: Thom

Thom — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 16:42:49 +0000

Poverty and inner city exploitation issues have no substance?