Discussion for article #237782
I never thought of Nader as a “Kingmaker”, more of a “Bushmaker”
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who would listen to this festering pile of crap that still refuses to even acknowledge his own culpability in getting Bush elected in 2000?
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Anything to avoid talking about the elephant in the room: His intentional and indispensable role in ushering Bush and Cheney into the White House.
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Ralph Nader’s greatest legacy is the Supreme Court decision that vastly accentuated the thing he’s been railing about for over four decades: the undue influence of big money on American politics.
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Right after Obama was elected President in 2008, Ralph Nader went on Fox News and called Obama an “Uncle Tom.”
His polemics are of a piece, and his “both parties are the same” rants only appeal to the cynical and disaffected.
And once again he seems bent in driving this country over the cliff by advocating positions that appeal only to a small minority of the electorate and by demoralizing liberals and youthful voters and discouraging them from voting for the Democratic front-runner.
Does anyone remember how the Republican Party of certain states enabled some Green Party candidates to get on state ballots? Can anyone deny that Nader’s tactics only serve to split the Democratic base?
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Nader’s arguments sounded legitimate in 2000. The last 16 years have proven him to be wrong. He should shut up now.
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Old man yells at cloud!
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Nader’s arguments weren’t even legitimate in 2000. How was it that so many people voted for someone without a single ally in Congress to help him enact his agenda?
And voted for him over Al Gore, who had served as a US Senator, and then Vice President for eight years in what was one of the longest economic expansions in this country’s history? And who could have counted on upwards of half of Congress to get his agenda through?
How could they have dismissed Gore in favor of someone willing to make all kinds of promises that he had no ability to make good on?
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Ralph Nader’s been chewing those sour grapes for a long, long time. It’s too bad he didn’t just keep to flagging dangerous vehicles and consumer products. He’s unelectable at any speed.
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You don’t have to look hard to find people who are attracted to Nader’s thesis. He appeals to the purists who are offended by the very idea of politics. Once any politician moves an iota from what Nader defines as Principles, they are forever tainted and unworthy of support. Compromise is the ultimate sin.
He positions himself as the truth teller who would never bend those Principles for mundane purposes to gain more supporters or actually get elected. And he relegates himself to the dustbin of history as a one issue, self-promoting paragon of virtue, who can’t rally any real political power and can only throw rocks from the sidelines.
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Being perceived as centrist is something of a necessity for a president of this polarized country–we have too much of a winner vs. loser mentality as it is. I think Hillary Clinton understands this, and will pick her battles. People need to feel their president will keep them safe, and that involves some militarism. Sorry, idealists–we live in the real world, and we have real enemies. Something that gets lost in the din of media is that the president represents a party platform, and the Democrats have a MUCH more responsible platform. As for Ralph Nader, I have long thought he was a bit on the autism scale. He is really smart but has no people skills, and he is of a rigid mindset. My car was demolished in a front-end collision and I was completely uninjured, thanks to solid engineering and an airbag, and I thank Nader for that, but since then he has done little but cause problems, as far as I am aware. The 2000 election was sure some bitter fruit.
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Sigh. And too many “liberals” will fall for Nader, hook, line, and sinker.
Thanks for bringing us Bush, Ralphie.
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The cynic in me just can’t shake the suspicion that Nader actually wants Republicans to get elected President, just to prove some sort of self-fulfilling prophecy of doom or to make himself feel relevant.
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I said “sounded” legitimate, not that they were legitimate.
Also, despite Gore’s pedigree, his campaign was not great. Sadly we all know that voting decisions are made from the gut by too many people. Gore didn’t understand this, or his personality was such that he couldn’t do anything about it.
If we could go back in time and make Gore a slightly better candidate, I wonder what the world would look like today?
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Unsafe at any read…This old fossil needs a museum and a lap dance.
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Ralph Nader? Larry King? WTF?
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King for Ora.TV,
Really…like it’s broadcast in elevators or something.
I swear, the ideological purity-troll rat-f**kers like Nader (and Greenwald) have done more to suppress the liberal vote than any Republican Governor or Secretary of State could even dream of doing.
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