Lunatic confident that, “Third time’s a charm!”
This from the AP...
Nader to discuss election plans
By SAM HANANEL, Associated Press Writer
Ralph Nader could be poised for another third party presidential campaign.
The consumer advocate will appear on NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday. Nader launched his 2004 presidential run on the show.
A spokesman for Nader did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
Kevin Zeese, who was Nader's spokesman during the 2004 presidential race, but is no longer working for him, said Friday that Nader has been actively talking to "lots of people on all sorts of levels" about the possibility of making another run.
Zeese said he could only guess what Nader might do, but added: "Obviously, I don't think ("Meet the Press" host) Tim Russert would have him on for no reason."
Last month, Nader began an exploratory presidential campaign and launched a Web site that promises to fight "corporate greed, corporate power, corporate control."
Nader's appearance on "Meet the Press" was announced Friday in an e-mail message from Nader's exploratory campaign. The message from "The Nader Team" urges supporters to tell friends and family to watch the show and requests online contributions.
"As you know, we've been exploring the possibilities in recent weeks," the message says.
Nader is still loathed by many Democrats who call him a spoiler and claim his candidacy in 2000 cost Democrats the election by siphoning votes away from Al Gore in a razor-thin contest in Florida. Nader has vociferously disputed the spoiler claim, saying only Democrats are to blame for losing the race to George W. Bush.
Though he won 2.7 percent of the national vote as the Green Party candidate in 2000, Nader won just 0.3 percent as an independent in 2004, when he appeared on the ballot in only 34 states.
…
At the sound of starting gun, the candidates for President of the United States fielded by the two major political parties ran the gamut from Mike Gravel to Ron Paul, Bill Richardson to Rudy Giuliani, Dennis Kucinich to Duncan Hunter, Alan Keyes to Chris Dodd, Tom Tancredo to Joe Biden, Fred Thompson to John Edwards, Mitt Romney to Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama to John McCain…with Mike Bloomberg waiting in the wings with his billion-dollar-Third-Party turkey baster in-hand.
You can say what you want about the campaign – the expense, duration, shitty horse race –driven press coverage, the hysterical collapse of the credibility of the punditocracy, that my man or woman got screwed -- but one cannot say there was a dearth of choices on the Presidential Pu Pu Platter.
And while it is a great and glorious thing that anyone who wants to can run for the office of President, it is the height of crazy to assay the political landscape of the last year and conclude that what American politics most needs at this moment is one more trip to the county fair squired by Ralph Nader’s
Gargantuan ego.
UPDATE: Much to my surprise, welcome NYT readers. And a bottle of something smooth and Celtic to the first one of you staffers who can explain to me in little words how in the wide, wide world of sports a third-rate water boy like David Brooks or an out-and-out blackshirt like Bloody Bill Kristol draws even a pfennig from the exchequer of your once-noble institution?
13 comments:
Well, I sure hope Nader stays the fuck away from this election.
One thought, though, about the "egomaniac" claim. Recently, I read at some blog (maybe even here?) the idea that all national level politicians are vain, egomaniacal narcissistic nutjobs, and all we want is to pick the one of them that won't fuck everything up as bad as the others.
Is there definite reason to consider Nader more so than your average vain, egomaniacal narcissistic nutjob candidate?
Well, maybe not more so...
But certainly he does not live up to his hype anymore.
http://www.reason.com/news/show/28405.html
Sad. He used to be someone I admired, but he has degenerated into someone who does it for attention.
Or maybe... that was his motivation all along. Yes, some good came of his agitating, especially back in the day.
But that monastic, dogged, single minded existence that his admirers thought bespoke his monk-like devotion to good... perhaps it was only Howard Hughes with less money.
Let 'im run.
I thought Bobo was the epitome of irrelevance, I was wrong.
Yea and verily; Ralph needs to sit this one out, and the rest of 'em, too.
Gadfly's don't make good candidates.
Can't Big Auto build something deliciously unsafe again so that this political jackleg can seek his El Dorado of relevance in more welcoming climes?
Come on, Motor City!
;>)
PhysioProf,
Valid point. I guess that's why Ed Wood and Orson Welles could (allegedly) relate to each other.
Of course the difference is, one of them is Ed Wood.
And the other one is Orson Welles.
WereBear,
I think he would have made a decent Senator or Representative. Give him subpoena power and let him go nuts.
But nooooo.
As Henry Drummond says in 'Inherit the Wind': "A giant once lived in that body." But Ralph Nader got lost.
Bustednuckles,
It would be amusing, but very sad. And I've had enough sad for awhile.
tanbark,
Amen
darkblack,
lol!
The Chinese toy industry cries out for Ralph.
Our very own Drifty in the NYT!. You've done us all proud.
if he did more to get third party/green candidates on the ballot and elected than than show up every 4 years like a recurring chancre i'd still have some respect for the guy
Driftglass,
Just wanted you to know that your genius in matching memes to images -- plus your Love of The Python -- is widely appreciated.
Into the Python Pot:
John Cleese, limbless Black Knight in your screengrab from an early Python film, showed up in Aspen for an American Film Institute Awards ceremony in 1999 ... about 30 years after the above was filmed. The Pythons were mystified when the film premiered in America, cuz the audience was so reluctant to laugh at the de-limbed idiot Black Knight.
They were later told that America circa 1969 thought maybe the armless and legless -- but still stupidly arrogant -- Black Knight was a reference to the United States, still to be mired in Vietnam for another 6 years. !!
So, your editing eye is spot on for our current Unfunny Black Knight stage appearance.
Thanx, Driftie.
Oh ... I agree with preznit on Ralph Nadir. Rather than jump in like Howard Dean with the 50-State Strategy, or like Progressive Democrats of America who are fielding dozens of candidates for ALL local/state positions (including bouncing Bush Dog Vichy Democrats out of office), Ralph the Chancre re-pustulizing every 4 years. Looking for love and $$.
Buh-bye, Nadir.
After the last seven years of Democrat/liberal cowardice and complicity with Bush-Cheney, I say thank you to ANYONE who stands up and speaks out against them. To hell with you "leftist" cretins out there who can't take criticism of your Murder Inc. Democrats. YOU and your "lesser evil" crap are the reason why there is no anti war and progressive movement today.
Drifty,
I think Nader, if he truly caused Gore's loss has done some good. Eight years of current numbnut have dug the grave of conservative movement. If Gore had won, these wingnuts would be whining about the mirage of efficient conservative rule. If Nader does some thing similar again, it could be the final nail in the coffin.
Just being the devil's advocate ;)
Darth Nader needs to fall into a river of lava. I'll push.
Well..ol' Ralph must need some money. Wonder who pays him to screw up the election? The GOP? The military industrial complex?
Big Oil? Big Banks? Big insurnace companies? Or all of them? He hurts the party that could help the poor and middle class in our nation.
Will he ever go away??
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