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What I’ve Been Up To Lately
- Remember kids, Twitter Torah experiment at 2:30PM EST: Collaborative discussion on Parshat Balak. Get in on it at #balak. 20 hrs ago
- RT @spagnoloacht Video of my Creative Commons Salon presentation on the Jewish Digital Narratives platform http://blip.tv/file/2305108/ 1 day ago
- Yes Men pull out of Jerusalem Film Fest http://su.pr/1uJUsU 1 day ago
- More updates...
GOP re-enlisting Nader to split the vote?
Time magazine warns us that perennial Green Party candidate Ralph Nader is likely going to announce a bid for the White House on Meet the Press this Sunday. Considering that Zogby has Obama with a 7% lead over McCain in a national match-up, is it any wonder that he’s stepping in now?
In 2004, Nader not only took cash from the GOP, he took illegal assistance from the Bush campaign to get on the ballot in Oregon. It would not surprise me in the least if Nader is once again receiving encouragement and assistance from the Right, which — you can be certain — will do whatever it takes to make sure their man takes it in November.
If anyone you know mentions their intent to vote for Nader, you have my permission to club them upside the head with a blunt object.
Not that I don’t really agree with this sentiment, but I find it really frustrating that he still draws so much attention away from the election fraud in 2000.
Here’s the issue. Florida’s delegates were stripped by the Democratic party for moving their primary before February 5th. Come general election time their are going to be a lot of pissed of Democratic Floridians that can fuck it up again and give the election to the GOP. Even without Nader their are big problems ahead in Flordia.
With Nader it only makes it easier.
Sigh
If we are to condemn Nader for taking money from people who also donate to the republicans, shouldn’t we also condemn Democrats for taking money from people & corporations who also donate to Republicans? The Democrats take money from Halliburton & Microsoft, among others, and they also give money to Republicans. By the logic of this post, the Democrats are also backed by the right.
[...] of Obama’s success as a Black candidate, he may be covertly working for Hillary, he may, like Ralph Nader, be a GOP operative being used to split the vote, or he may genuinely have issues with [...]
That’s entirely disingenuous Joe. We’re not talking about Nader receiving money from lobbyists who spend on both sides of the aisle. We’re talking about his campaign being bootstrapped by the GOP with the sole intent of divvying up the liberal vote. They didn’t back him because they believed he had a shot at the White House and wanted to curry political favor. They backed him because the margins in 2000 and 2004 were so small, that having the Democratic contender lose a few percentage points would be enough to put the GOP candidate over the line. And that’s precisely how it played out.
[...] [update]: To add to the mix, just read this tidbit on Mobius’ blog about Nader and the GOP. For your enjoyment. And yes, I’m still annoyed. And so over Nader. [...]
Re the CommonDreams article: If
If I understand it correctly, it basically alleges that Republicans ended up signing petitions to help Nader win placement on the ballot because he could not get enough “authentic” support. But if this is true, that his vsupporers were not really supporters at all, how could he possibly have “stolen” votes that were destined to go to Republicans anyway? All of these allegations–even if they are true–don’t really make him seem like a vote thief (if there is any such thing in a truly democratic idea of elections).
yaman –
in some states he drew away votes, but not necessarily in the states where he received direct GOP support to get on the ballot. that is not, however, for lack of trying.
The Democrats could easily snap up Nader’s votes if they snapped up some of his stances.
That’s the whole point of voting independent left (whether it be Nader or whoever). Its a protest vote to get the Democratic Party to reach for those more liberal votes.
As a liberal, I currently feel the Democratic Party has moved to far to the right. Therefore, IF i vote for an independant left candidate (which, if Hillary wins, I most likely will do), it is a protest vote, and a protest vote is never wasted.