Nader is running. Not too much of a surprise. More power to him. Democrats, I have to tell you: Attacking Nader isn't the answer. People voted for him. People will vote for him. Calling Nader a spoiler, or acting as if votes for Nader are rightly votes for a Democratic candidate, is only telling many voters that they do not have the right to vote for their candidate of choice. There are people that truly will not vote for President Bush or whoever wins the Democratic nomination.
I don't know what to make of Nader not running as a Green. Some quick googling doesn't provide any more insight.
Perhaps it is because he wants to reserve the right to drop out of the race at a later date.
Perhaps it is because he wants to see the Green Party continue without relying on Nader's celebrity.
Perhaps it is due to some small details of election law.
On NPR yesterday Nader said he is going to focus on taking votes away from Bush supporters that are fed up with patriot act and corporate pornography for kids and some other stuff I can't remember. That has been my theory: Nader could appeal to conservatives just as much liberals. State's rights is a huge part of the green platform which Nader ran under last election. I always thought the Green party should focus more on appealing to conservatives. Nader is saying this will be part of his strategy. Maybe he felt it would be hard to do this as Green party candidate. Perhaps there was too much friction with other Greens over this strategy in the past.
And of course, Nader would be a non-issue to many people (or perhaps a much greater issue?) if this country had a halfway logical election system.
I don't think Nader will make that much of a difference this time. There are not many people that are going to support him. Too many people are scared of a Bush re-election. I think Nader is going to have a hard time getting on the ballot since he doesn't have the Green Party machinery behind him now.
Uncle Moogie also has some things to say about Nader.
Posted by brad at February 23, 2004 08:38 PM