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Enter Nader
The Weekly Standard ^ | February 22, 2004 | Matthew Continetti

Posted on 02/22/2004 3:48:48 PM PST by RWR8189

Defying the "liberal intelligentsia," Ralph Nader declares for president.

ON SUNDAY, Ralph Nader, the consumer advocate and former Green party presidential candidate, announced that he is as an independent candidate for president in 2004. But will a Nader run this year make a difference? Top Democrats seem to think so. Over the last few weeks, Nader has been the subject of entreaties from Democratic party leaders not to run for president, most notably Terry McAuliffe, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee. "I'm urging everybody to talk to Ralph Nader" and tell him not to run, McAuliffe told CNN on Friday. Spokespeople for John Kerry, the Democratic frontrunner, also released a statement on Friday, saying that it was "important [Democrats and progressives] remain united in November."

Here is why Democrats are worried: Whomever the Democratic nominee turns out to be--either Sens. John Kerry or John Edwards--their positions on a few major issues will be closer to President Bush's than they would probably like to admit.

Consider Iraq: While both Kerry and Edwards have been sharply critical of the president's policies there, they still believe it necessary for the United States to stay the course. Neither Kerry nor Edwards will argue in the coming months that the United States should withdraw unilaterally from Iraq as soon as possible. Nader will. Also, there's tax policy. Both Kerry and Edwards only want to repeal those portions of the Bush tax cut that affected Americans making over $200,000 a year. Nader? He'd scrap the whole thing.

So it's possible that Nader will peel off some of the antiwar liberals who make up much of the Democratic base. But will Nader draw as much support this year as he did in 2000? Probably not. After all, plenty of progressives feel that Nader cost Gore the election in 2000. But in a political environment as highly polarized as today's America, says one anti-Nader progressive, just a few thousand--or a few hundred--votes for Nader in select states could cost the Democrats the White House. Again.

Nader doesn't seem to mind. On "Meet the Press," he exhibited a marked animosity toward the Democratic party. He said there wasn't a whit of difference between the Republican and Democratic parties--a talking point he used often in the 2000 presidential race. Sounding a lot like, well, a conservative, he said that those urging him not to run--a motley crew that includes the editors of the Nation magazine, ice-cream magnate Ben Cohen, and an assortment of websites such as Ralphdontrun.net and NoNader.org--were all members of the "liberal intelligentsia." After Tim Russert showed him an ad from RalphDontRun.net, which argues that Nader voters in New Hampshire and Florida helped George W. Bush win the presidency in 2000, Nader said such advocacy was a "contemptuous statement against democracy, against freedom."

Indeed, Nader's palpable animosity toward the liberals who no longer support him was the subject of most his ire on Sunday. The "liberal intelligentsia," he said, has "let their party become captive to special interests" over the last 25 years. Democrats are now a "corporate paymaster minion." He says he's running for president because "We can't just sit back like the Nation magazine and betray its own traditions and the liberal intelligentsia and once again settle for the least-worst [alternatives]."

It was enough to make you forget, for a moment, about tax cuts and Iraq and health care and judges and all the substantive issues at the center of the 2004 presidential campaign. Instead, Nader 2004 may be a presidential campaign run entirely out of spite.

Matthew Continetti is an editorial assistant at The Weekly Standard.


TOPICS: Front Page News; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 2004; greenparty; nader; weeklystandard
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1 posted on 02/22/2004 3:48:48 PM PST by RWR8189
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To: RWR8189
How about this ticket for 2004.

Nader/Nadler 2004

2 posted on 02/22/2004 3:50:43 PM PST by Paleo Conservative (Do not remove this tag under penalty of law.)
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To: RWR8189
I haven't heard why he is running as an Independent instead of as a Green. Have the Greens gone Dem?
3 posted on 02/22/2004 3:53:37 PM PST by DeFault User
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To: DeFault User
The Greens are not thrilled about Nader and if he didn't get their nomination in June it would be too late to get on most state's ballots by then.
4 posted on 02/22/2004 3:56:13 PM PST by Semper Paratus
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To: RWR8189
Sounds like the Clinton's needed an insurance policy!
5 posted on 02/22/2004 4:02:57 PM PST by lt.america (Captain was already taken)
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To: RWR8189
I was looking forward to Nader entering presidential elections. I figured a Dean team-up would be a logical extension as both want to change the democratic party away from being a right wing copy of republicans.
Strength is in togetherness and who knows, change back to true democratic principles just might cause the democrats to rediscover their natural home base.
6 posted on 02/22/2004 4:04:14 PM PST by hermgem
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To: DeFault User
The greens are not going to vote Democratic. Just look at how GREEEN AL GORE is and was. AL is Earth in the Balance Gore, Kyoto treaty Gore, Global Warming Gore, Save the Whales Gore. What did Al Gore just do on the coldest day in years?? He gave a major speech claiming Global warming is going to kill us all. IT made him a joke, but Gore is so Green he still did it. If the Greens did not vote for Gore in 2000 they are certainly not going to vote for Kerry or Edwards in 2004.

The Greens and Nader hate the Democrats as much as they hate the Republicans. They see no difference. How many times does Nader and his followers have to say there is no difference between Democrats and Republicans before we believe they mean what they say.

We see a huge difference between Democrats and Repubicans but Nader and the Greens do not. They did not vote for Gore. If Nader had not run in 2000 they still would not have voted for Gore.

The Democrats think they have much in common with the Greens and Nader. The Greens and Nader do not share that view.


7 posted on 02/22/2004 4:09:03 PM PST by Common Tator
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To: Paleo Conservative
Nader/Nadler 2004

"Three for the price of two!"

8 posted on 02/22/2004 4:16:47 PM PST by Grut
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To: Semper Paratus; Common Tator
Thanks. Nader and the Greens are even more socialist than the Dems. The question remaining is how many votes the Greens and/or Nader may draw. A recent opinion voiced on FOX was that it won't matter except in a few battleground states. Of course, that assumes the election will be close this time around.
9 posted on 02/22/2004 4:17:30 PM PST by DeFault User
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To: Grut
ROTFLMAO!
10 posted on 02/22/2004 4:18:10 PM PST by Paleo Conservative (Do not remove this tag under penalty of law.)
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To: RWR8189
Golly, I'd hate to see Nader draw off enough support from the Centrist crap weasels to get a couple of extra non-traitors elected to the senate!

I'd sure love to see a capable black man run with Ralph. Aren't there a couple of those flaming leftists who aren't in jail? How about Mumia, the Cop Killer? Maybe, Ralph could find a lovable Hollywood type who shares his views to run with him.

Remember, in 2002, the company the media set up to conduct exit polls, lied about their results and reported early to get California Nader voters to stay home. Even the leftist media felt Ralph could do damage to the sleazoids. GO RALPHIE!!!

11 posted on 02/22/2004 4:19:14 PM PST by Tacis
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To: RWR8189
I'd just like to suggest that the Nader campaign needs a little freeper astroturfing.

Just act like a moron and incorrage him to run. Tell him what he wants to hear. Promise him money. The Democrats are'nt left wing enough ya know.

The DNC is pulling out the stops to get him out. All's fair.
12 posted on 02/22/2004 4:21:04 PM PST by Dinsdale
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To: RWR8189
Nader enters stage LEFT on a white horse, provided by the Clintons, at no charge.
13 posted on 02/22/2004 4:22:41 PM PST by cynicom
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To: Common Tator
Exactly right about the Greens. I'd look for some articles stressing the "no difference between the parties" concept targered directly for our friends on the left -- Bwah,ha,ha...if you know what I mean. These folk need to be riled up a little - then they will serve to draw moew of the vote away from union-dog Kerry.
14 posted on 02/22/2004 4:23:12 PM PST by rhombus
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To: Paleo Conservative
haha...I spose their motto could be: "We got the Nads to get the job done!" or a good one to mock the other sides masculinity "Two Nads are better than none"...too bad it wouldn't work for those dweebs.
15 posted on 02/22/2004 4:28:40 PM PST by Jim_Curtis
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To: lt.america
I think it is Nader who needs a life insurance policy.

You never know what the Clinton family might be capable of.

16 posted on 02/22/2004 4:31:49 PM PST by El Conservador ("No blood for oil!"... Then don't drive, you moron!!!)
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To: Paleo Conservative
EEEWWWWW. And in which country will that ticket run? 'Cuz it ain't gonna fly here. LOL :-) (Well, except for the Kucinich crowd....)
17 posted on 02/22/2004 4:44:09 PM PST by Viking2002 (I think; therefore, I Freep............)
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To: Dinsdale
As soon as someone shows me where to write the check, Nader is getting the max.
18 posted on 02/22/2004 4:44:27 PM PST by RWR8189 (Its Morning in America Again!)
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To: RWR8189
I'm wondering if Nader will acquire the same support he enjoyed from Leftists in 2000. Many democrats are standing against him with their token vigor and barbarity of unchecked ignorance. A far cry from the relative passivity (and in some cases support) he received as a candidate in 2000... Will he be the ingredient we're hoping for, or a false hope?
19 posted on 02/22/2004 4:44:53 PM PST by freebacon
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To: cynicom
Nader enters stage LEFT on a white horse

That's where the 'rats get the panty bunch. That he wold go after the Deaniacs and force Kerry to look over his left shoulder. A distraction, at a minimum, that they could do without.

20 posted on 02/22/2004 4:50:22 PM PST by Semper Paratus
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