The Nader for President Exploratory Committee sent an appeal for funds on February 18, which says, “Ralph will decide soon whether to throw his hat into the ring to challenge the corporate powers that control our political system. Over the past two weeks, we have been exploring whether or not anyone on the national political landscape is effectively addressing a whole slew of major issues, including:
Adopt a single payer, Canadian-style, health care system
Cut the bloated, wasteful military budget
Adopt a Wall Street securities speculation tax
Support solar energy not nuclear power
Reverse U.S. policy in the Middle East
Impeach Bush/Cheney
Adopt a polluter carbon tax
Crack down on corporate crime and corporate welfare
Open up the Presidential Debates
Repeal the anti-union Taft-Hartley law
So far, no luck. Not even a blip on the political radar.”
Allready the groundwork is being laid for funding the ballot issue and beyond. Ralph is quoted as saying he needs 10 mil to feel comfortable about running, but insiders tell me his goals for 2008 reach far beyond the Presidential race…
I think that Ralph is going to have a really tough time getting on the ballot for 2008. A lot of people are sick of him. He should retire from running for President and give Cynthia McKinney a chance to run with the ball.
Personally I hope Ralph runs, he has nothing to lose and the Green Party has everything to gain from his exposure. He can count on me for donations upon his announcement. Now that Ron Paul is out of it I have no one to support. It would be great to support a great American such as Ralph.
I agree with Andy. With McKinney in the race, there’s no need for Nader to run.
I also agree that Mr. Nader’s day has passed as a progressive candidate. I do wonder if Obama is nominated if McKinney will run? He pretty much has the insugency momentum with him. I wouldn’t if I were her, let Nader be the token opposition.
WHERE DUTY CALLS
Nader Gravel & Paul Kucinich
Awake from your slumber
4 Wise Men march with the people
Washington DC
Whistleblowers
Honesty compassion intelligence guts
Not carrots sticks coercive diplomacy
Divided we fall
Mike Gravel
Dennis Kucinich
Ron Paul
Ralph Nader
No bribery blackmail extortion
Rage against the machine
Democracy rising democracy now
Suffer not
McCain, Hillary, Obama talk of hope, courage, experience, change.
Nader talks issues.
Maybe that’s why the corporate Dems and corporate Republicans don’t want him to run.
Pro nuke?
Vote for Obama.
Anti-nuke?
check out naderexplore08.org
I’m sorry to the Cynthia McKinney supporters, but her campaign really hasn’t set the world on fire.
In five months of running for president, she’s apparently willfully refusing to talk to media and isn’t a blip on the campaign season radar.
Ralph Nader got more media coverage in a week of announcing that he’s thinking about running than she has in five months of all-out campaigning.
And even among Greens, her primary results haven’t been that impressive, losing to Nader in a landslide in CA (61% to 26%) when she was campaigning and he wasn’t. Losing badly to Uncommitted in Arkansas and with huge write-in results in DC of over 20% (I wonder who a majority of those votes were for). And losing to Nader again in MA, where the Greens have the most racially diverse party in the country.
Clearly, the McKinney campaign isn’t going to be the campaign to watch in 2008. The Greens have an opportunity to work on the biggest and most visible campaign in 2008 with Nader or they can continue to exist under the radar with McKinney, whose campaign seems to exist only on lefty blogs and through word of mouth.
I hope that the Greens make the right decision and nominate Nader this year.
Thanks Mike G for your comments. Too many people just repeat the media garbage they say about Nader. Meanwhile, Cynthia McKinney won’t garner many votes as Nader would.
well at least this will not be a dull election.nader receives votes from the left middle and right.
Mike – As I said before, Nader is a joke among the population not familiar with the Green Party. You can only run so many times for the same office before you become a punch line on the late night shows such as Leno and Letterman. Therefore, he isn’t going to attract any new voters if he runs this time around. The only people that will vote for him will be those that did so in the past, and then probably even less as some of those voters tire of him. Did he get the media attention when he announced his exploratory committee? Sure. But after that, we never heard about him again, which is exactly what will happen during the campaign season. And if they do mention him, it will be about how he split the vote enabling Bush to win. And again, I don’t believe that philosophy so don’t bother arguing that issue with me. But the media will keep bringing it up, and that’s what most voters will remember. After all, the average voter doesn’t do their own research on candidates. They let the media do it for them. If the Green Party wants to grow, they need to move on beyond Nader. If they stick with him, they’ll just be seen as living in the past.
The Green Party needs to move beyond Nader. The Green Party should stick with McKinney. Nader should run as an independent. Even if he gets on only 40 states, he will torture the Democrats — who deserve to be tortured. They who vote for torture of others.
More voices, more choices.
naderexplore08.org
Everyone, even within the 3rd party world, seems to have forgotten about Eugene Debs, who ran five times as the Socialist Party candidate, and Norman Thomas, who ran SIX times, and neither was considered a joke or a has-been (although the final two Thomas campaigns in 1944 and 1948 had a bit of a “here we go again” quality about them). Norman Thomas was a hero of Martin Luther King, Jr. and became known as “America’s Conscience,” much like George McGovern in the 1980’s.
I think it says something about the intellectual laziness and shallowness of the mainstream media that Nader has been frequently compared of late with Harold Stassen, whereas I have yet to see one comparison of him with Debs or Thomas — a comparison which would be vastly more appropriate and historically accurate.
I agree that the Green Party needs to develop a cadre of nationally respected leaders and “move beyond Nader.” But until that happens, no figure of equal or greater prominence than Ralph Nader – who is still held in high regard in truly progressive circles – is working 24/7, as he is, on the issues those of us in left wing 3rd party circles care about.
I’d like to see Cynthia McKinney go head-to-head with Ralph in a public forum once he declares. That would be fascinating to see.
David – They aren’t a joke years later when nobody remembers them, but at the time of their third or fourth run, they get to be a joke. Maybe not to you because you are involved with third parties. But to the general population, they are a punch line. I can remember Gus Hall appearing on the Communist ballot line for four or five successive presidential elections in the late 50’s and early 60’s when I was growing up. People would say, “Guess what, Gus Hall is running again!” and everyone would laugh and make fun of him. Now maybe old Gus wasn’t a joke to people in his party, or to those who were promoting third parties in general, but he was to the general population who didn’t follow third parties. Nader is going to run into the same thing. Although, I do agree with you that I would watch a McKinney/Nader debate. If only to see what happens as I wouldn’t vote for either of them.
excellent work…