Nader's nadir

June 26, 2004 3:03 PM

The Green Party rejects Ralph Nader. On the second ballot at the Green Party nominating convention held today in Milwaukee, WI, David Cobb defeated Peter Camajo (Nader's running mate) for the Green Party nomination, thereby denying Nader automatic placement onto the ballot in 23 states.
posted by thewittyname (16 comments total)

That's fine, the Naderites have the GOP pulling for them.

With Nader needing 1,000 people to attend his convention today, conservative groups are calling on their members to show up and support Nader so he can be on the ballot as a spoiler in Oregon. Under the state's laws, if 1,000 people show up at a convention and sign petitions, a candidate can be on the ballot. Nader drew only 741 at a previous attempt.

Russ Walker, of the Citizens for a Sound Economy, told reporters: "We disagree with Ralph Nader's politics, but we'd love to see him make the ballot.''

StopNader.com is organizing Democrats to show up at the convention this afternoon and demonstrate their distaste for the election shenanigans being played by the Republicans and readily accepted by Nader.

"Mr. Nader has insisted that his campaign is not a tool for the Republicans. This is the clearest evidence to date that it is,'' said Michael K. Frisby, communications director for the StopNader.com campaign. "What is the purpose of this campaign? Clearly, Mr. Nader's popular support has dwindled if he has to rely on right wing Republicans to get him on the ballot in a state where he has had considerable strength in the past.''

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/usnw/20040626/pl_usnw/republicans_helping_nader_in_oregon104_xml

Oh the irony: Ralph Nader calls on Canadians to reject right-wing rule
posted by skallas at 3:06 PM on June 26, 2004

Ethics Group Says Nader Violates FEC Laws

WASHINGTON - A watchdog group filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (news - web sites) against Ralph Nader (news - web sites) on Friday, saying the independent presidential candidate is violating federal campaign laws by accepting office space and telephone service from a public charity he created.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington alleges that Nader's campaign is renting valuable space at below-market prices from Citizen Works, an activist group that supports progressive causes.

The complaint also says Citizen Works and the Nader campaign share a common receptionist and several telephone lines. via Kos.

posted by Space Coyote at 3:24 PM on June 26, 2004

I really want to know what kind of crack nader is smoking.

He's on some sort of bizarre ego trip that is only going to serve to damage the prospects of future third-party candidates.
posted by bshort at 11:01 PM on June 26, 2004

second-party candidates too. ;)
posted by boaz at 11:44 PM on June 26, 2004

Aw man. I was really excited to see bshort's comment, because I totally agree. And then I saw boaz's comment, which just serves to bring the whole thing back to the 2-party oligarchical pole-driven shitfest everybody in one of the 2 major parties wants it to be. No offense, boaz, but not everything Nader has done, nor everything the Green party is doing, is about upsetting the delicate balance between Republican evil and Democratic buffoonery. There is a third way out there somewhere.
posted by scarabic at 1:37 AM on June 27, 2004

Scarabic, the 2 party system is incredibly entrenched, and I think that 3rd parties and their candidates often have something important to say, i.e., John Anderson in 1980. But Nader is beating a dead horse, knowing full well the consequences of 4 more years of Bush, although looking for another story I found this. I think Nader would make a terrible president.
posted by theora55 at 9:25 AM on June 27, 2004

Ha Ha.
posted by wfrgms at 11:02 AM on June 27, 2004

Frankly, I'm getting kind of annoyed at American commentors who are somewhere between blithely ignorant and pugnacious misinformed about our political system and parties telling us how to run ourselves. The "right-wing" in Canada is slightly to the left of the Democratic party of America on most issues, and unwilling to challenge the status quo on the rest.
posted by Pseudoephedrine at 12:19 PM on June 27, 2004

The partnership between Nader and the Greens has always been a bit of a marriage of inconvenience. It always seemed that Nader just was using the greens as a platform for his own one-note agenda without ever really being green. Greens were more than happy to use Nader for the short-term publicity.

Personally, I'm still waiting to see how things pan out.
posted by KirkJobSluder at 1:55 PM on June 27, 2004

This is the single greatest contribution that the Greens have ever made to US politics.
posted by Bag Man at 3:58 PM on June 27, 2004

So scarabic, do you mean pole-driven, poll-driven or pole-driven (Last one maybe NSFW)? Because they all kinda make sense in context.
posted by boaz at 5:47 PM on June 27, 2004

Oh yes. Oh hell yes.

Great for the Greens, who can now move on with the serious business of creating a real third-party alternative rather than merely stroking the ego of a megalomaniac who's effectively disavowed them. But even greater for the US and the world, whose chances of being run by a homicidal chimpanzee for another four years have just gone down by that much. Finally I could feel good about voting Green in local and down-ticket elections. Not that I can vote in the US anyway, but at least I could feel good about it if I did.
posted by ramakrishna at 9:16 PM on June 27, 2004

Nader has vowed to end the two-party system in the U.S. I'd say he's done a pretty damned good job so far.
posted by MrMoonPie at 7:23 AM on June 28, 2004

Oh, and my brother is, apparently, now National Co-Chair of the Green Party!
posted by MrMoonPie at 11:56 AM on June 28, 2004

Right-wing groups -- and Bush-Cheney '04 -- may have violated federal campaign law to help get Ralph Nader on the ballot in Oregon.
posted by homunculus at 8:59 PM on June 28, 2004

Nader has vowed to end the two-party system in the U.S. I'd say he's done a pretty damned good job so far.

At the expense of 10,000+ innocent Iraqis and nearly 1,000 Americans, not to mention the future of civil liberties, abortion and the separation of church and state. I guess speed limits and seatbelts just weren't enough. Thanks Ralph, you're a great American!
posted by Bag Man at 10:01 AM on July 5, 2004