Thursday, July 01, 2004
Odd Bedfellows
What is up with Ralph Nader? According to this article in the New York Times, he is now affiliated with the Reform Party.
Clearly Nader has become desperate. After the results of the 2000 election, people have abandoned third party candidates in droves. The only way that he can get any support is to join forces with the opposition. Liberals have shunned him because of his perceived role in Gore's defeat, so he has to go to the conservatives for support.
Conservatives realize Nader's value to them. Liberals realize Nader's threat to them. Apparently the only person that doesn't understand his role, is Nader himself. Does he want another four years of Bush? Is Nader a closet Bush fan? I know, he claims that there is no difference between the two major party candidates. He may be right, but does he really want Kerry to lose that badly? Does he really want Bush to win?
Any votes siphoned off by Nader will come from Kerry. The conservatives see this as a win/win situation for them. Nader is their tool, their bitch. By allowing the conservatives to help him get on the ballot, he's become a part of the problem he professes to fight against. He may as well join the conservatives.
This election comes down to one issue: Do you want George W. Bush to be re-elected or not? If so, vote for Bush. If not, you really only have one choice: John Kerry. A vote for anyone else is a vote for Bush.
- ...Mr. Nader, the left-leaning consumer advocate, and Patrick J. Buchanan, the right-leaning commentator, hardly seem like political soul mates. But four years after Mr. Buchanan won the endorsement of the Reform Party, Mr. Nader has succeeded him as the party's standard-bearer.
His alignment with the Reform Party is but one example of how Mr. Nader is facing such daunting forces to get his name on statewide ballots this year that he is seeking support from groups that do not necessarily share his long-held liberal beliefs.
Clearly Nader has become desperate. After the results of the 2000 election, people have abandoned third party candidates in droves. The only way that he can get any support is to join forces with the opposition. Liberals have shunned him because of his perceived role in Gore's defeat, so he has to go to the conservatives for support.
- He is also getting helping from other unexpected quarters. Democrats have sued to keep Mr. Nader off the ballot in Arizona and Illinois and may be planning a similar challenge in Texas, but Republicans and some conservative groups in Oregon, Arizona and Wisconsin are feverishly, if not cynically, mobilizing to get him on ballots in those states in a drive to siphon votes from the likely Democratic nominee, Senator John Kerry.
Conservatives realize Nader's value to them. Liberals realize Nader's threat to them. Apparently the only person that doesn't understand his role, is Nader himself. Does he want another four years of Bush? Is Nader a closet Bush fan? I know, he claims that there is no difference between the two major party candidates. He may be right, but does he really want Kerry to lose that badly? Does he really want Bush to win?
Any votes siphoned off by Nader will come from Kerry. The conservatives see this as a win/win situation for them. Nader is their tool, their bitch. By allowing the conservatives to help him get on the ballot, he's become a part of the problem he professes to fight against. He may as well join the conservatives.
This election comes down to one issue: Do you want George W. Bush to be re-elected or not? If so, vote for Bush. If not, you really only have one choice: John Kerry. A vote for anyone else is a vote for Bush.
