The Gamut

Reuters: Nader to Announce Presidential Plans on Sunday Frankly, I consider this a good thing. Hold on. Hold on. Let me explain. As noted on the Talking Points Memo blog, "Nader now isn't even running as a Green, he has apparently abandoned even the pretense that he is in the race to create a viable third party in American politics. If he runs, it would now be strictly on a platform of vacuous moral posturing and self-aggrandizement."

So why is this a good thing? Look, we all know that the only people who want Nader to run are republicans. They will spend part of their war chest to keep him in the race, and all to no avail. Greens won't vote for him. Certainly democrats won't vote for him. And republicans are even less likely to give him a vote. All that leaves is independents and libertarians, and I doubt that even they will take Ralph seriously this time around.

Actually, if there is a downside to this run, it is the harm Nader will do to his own cause - which in the right time is not a bad cause at all. But this is the wrong time, and everyone but Ralph seems to realize this. But there is potential in this for the democrats to do good. Not by voting Nader certainly, but by not challenging his right to campaign and by digging to prove that the only way Ralph is able to generate funds is from the GOP.

Welcome Nader into the race, but don't debate him on the issues. Just join him in his criticism of Bush and agree with him about everything else. Give people no reason to favor him, and make certain that he is pressured to release all of the sources of his campaign finances. When the cash is shown to come from Halliburton (for example) have reporters ask Cheney why he thinks his old pals are subsidizing Bush's opponent. The obvious answer is that it is because Nader is not Bush's opponent at all. He poses no risk to Bush. Theoretically, financially supporting him splits the anti-Bush vote making it easier for them to again put in a right-wing president with less than a majority of America's support. Even if they don't admit it, the point will be made. Our ideals don't matter to the right. The only things that matter are maintaining power and advancing THEIR vision of America, whether we want them to or not.

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