[Peace-discuss] Fw: Re: Ralph Nader: Tragedy to Farce

[C. G. Estabrook]

Our polity only appears to be democratic: we have no idea what policies a 
president will follow in office and no real way of removing a criminal executive 
(as the Clinton impeachment showed).

We forget that in 2000 Bush was the peace candidate, rightly criticizing Gore's 
enthusiasm for the illegal war against Serbia.  In the circumstances, a vote for 
Nader made good sense: it rejected the crimes of the Clinton administration 
without affirming the Republicans.  --CGE


Jenifer Cartwright wrote:
> What Congress did was after the fact, as was the FL debacle, and then 
> what the Supreme Court did. NONE of that would have come into play w/o 
> Nader's presence in the 2000 election... and it's incredible that he's 
> doing it again... and that people are falling for it... again!
>  --Jenifer 
> 
> --- On *Sun, 9/7/08, Tom Abram /<tabram at gmail.com>/* wrote:
> 
>     From: Tom Abram <tabram at gmail.com>
>     Subject: Re: [Peace-discuss] Fw: Re: Ralph Nader: Tragedy to Farce
>     To: jencart13 at yahoo.com
>     Cc: "Peace-discuss List" <peace-discuss at anti-war.net>
>     Date: Sunday, September 7, 2008, 6:14 PM
> 
>     Nader is magnitudes less to blame for the Iraq War than the
>     Democrats who actually voted to authorize force and continue to fund
>     the occupation.  Claiming his participation in the electoral process
>     as a non-corporate party candidate to be a farce is nothing less
>     than political bigotry.  I will be voting for the Green's candidate,
>     Cynthia McKinney, but I still support Nader's right to run, attain
>     ballot access, and enter the debates.  I wish others would have the
>     same respect for an open democracy.
> 
>     Tom
> 
>     On Sun, Sep 7, 2008 at 5:58 PM, Jenifer Cartwright
>     <jencart13 at yahoo.com <mailto:jencart13 at yahoo.com>> wrote:
> 
> 
> 
>             A kinder gentler view of Nader than my own...
>              --Jenifer
> 
>             --- On *Sun, 9/7/08, Helene Feiner * wrote:
> 
>                  Hi all,
> 
>                 I'm so upset with Nader. This presidential election
>                 monkey wrenching
>                 has sure changed my opinion of him. I agree that our
>                 system needs to be
>                 changed but not by essentially throwing support to the
>                 Republicans.
>                 This reporter echoes how I feel about him.
> 
>                 By James Fallows
>                 Ralph Nader: tragedy to farce
> 
>                 24 Feb 2008 11:00 am
> 
>                 I have liked and admired Ralph Nader so much. I first
>                 worked for him
>                 when I was in my teens (and he was in his 30s). Under
>                 his auspices,
>                 encouragement, and relentless pressure, I'd written two
>                 books for his
>                 organization by the time I was 23 -- if only I'd been
>                 able to keep up
>                 that pace! Or that sales success, since one of them --
>                 Who Runs
>                 Congress, turned out in eight weeks, with Mark Green and
>                 David Zwick
>                 --- eventually sold in the millions.
> 
>                 Nader was funny, warm, brilliant-seeming, and, yes,
>                 caring. He visited
>                 my wife in the hospital after our first child was born.
>                 For years after
>                 that, he never failed to ask about both of our kids (or
>                 my wife)
>                 whenever I talked with him. I say all this as an
>                 indication of why
>                 Ralph Nader has so many people who actually are loyal to
>                 him -- and who
>                 wish they didn't have to face the reality about the
>                 choices he has made
>                 over the last eight years.
> 
>                 That he stayed in the race in 2000 was tragedy. (See:
>                 Invasion of Iraq,
>                 2003, and subsequent occupation.) That he came back in
>                 2004 was
>                 unfortunate; his entry in 2008 is farce. Farce because
>                 it suggests
>                 detachment from political reality (the differences
>                 between the
>                 Republican and Democratic nominees are so faint that we
>                 can say, What
>                 the hell!) and, worse, narcissism. The fact that it
>                 won't make any
>                 difference in the outcome actually is sad.
> 
>                 I will always like and respect Ralph Nader and will
>                 always admire the
>                 wonderful things he has done. But I wish to God that he
>                 had not made
>                 this decision, or will reverse it soon. (And, I am sorry
>                 that saying
>                 this will make me an enemy in his eyes.) He is a better
>                 man than his
>                 recent decisions indicate.
> 
> 
> 
> 
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