I'm profoundly disheartened by what a lot of people have said about Ralph Nader in the diaries lately, both in terms of the vitriol hurled at him and the erroneous assumption that he cost Al Gore the presidency.
Look, I'm gonna vote for whoever the Democratic nominee is this time around, but how dare anyone attack Ralph Nader so viciously. This man has done more to save more American lives than any Democratic politican has in the last 40 years. This man is one of the few voices out there who consistently has spoken truth to power. This man shares my values to a much greater extent than any other Democratic Presidential candidate, including my boy Dean. And I suspect the same is true for a lot of people who are attacking him because of blind devotion to the currently most "electable" candidate. Ralph Nader has EVERY right to run for President to give a forum for his ideas, and the energy being directed towards attacking him would be better spent attacking Bush.
I'd also like to take a second to debunk this idea that Nader cost Gore the 2000 election. If you buy this idea because the amount of votes Nader recieved was greater than the margin in FL or NH, you also should be spewing bile at EVERY lefty third party candidate that got more than 537 votes in FL. Why do you attack Nader when the Socialist Workers Party candidate (for example) would be just as culpable under this logic? Not to mention, plenty of Nader voters had Bush or none of the above as thier second preference, NOT Al Gore.
It also underlines the astounding arrogance of the Democratic establishment, who treats the progressive left like vassals. The DNC believes it owns every ballot left of the median voter, and this just aint so, baby.
If Gore had run a stronger campaign, or contested Florida more vigorously, establishment democrats wouldn't be using Nader as a scapegoat.
This time Ralph won't be getting my money or my vote... Kerry (or Edwards, theoretically) will get my vote simply as a vessel to oust Bush; nothing more, nothing less. This is another reason why attacks upon Nader are shameful: Those who vote for him this time are HIGHLY unlikely to vote for Kerry in ANY event.
Not to turn this into a Deaniac rant, but this campaign season has seen me and thousands of others follow Dean back into the Democratic Party only to see the establishment crush our hopes yet again. I still hope for a miracle, hail-mary Dean comeback, but in my heart I know it aint happening. Once again for people like me it's a case of "Here comes the new boss, same as the old boss."
I'm a populist. I'm a progressive. But don't dare call me a Democrat.
http://peelio.com/johnny
