Nader on Kucinich from CNN

[diamondsoul]

http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/02/23/cnna.nader.woodruff/index.html

<snip>

WOODRUFF: Essentially, you're arguing that the White House should be worried about your candidacy. But they're not saying anything negative about it. They're saying it doesn't affect anything they're doing.

NADER: Well, that remains to be seen. But I think we have ways to take the Bush administration apart that the Democrats are either too cautious or indentured through their financial contributors .

For example, President Bush is raising $200 million. Now, he's raising it from all the corporate fat cats who've got business before the Bush administration: contracts, grants, deregulation, things they want, right? Why aren't the Democrats exposing that? Because they're dialing for the same dollars. I'm not dialing for those dollars.

WOODRUFF: You endorsed Dennis Kucinich back in January.

NADER: Yes.

WOODRUFF: And you said you were supporting him. What happened? He's still in the race.

NADER: Well, I still urge Democrats in the primary to support him. I've worked with him for 30 years. I would love him to be the Democratic nominee.

WOODRUFF: But what? I mean, but you've announced you're running.

NADER: It doesn't seem like he's a front-runner yet. That's the problem. The real Democrats in the progressive tradition of the Democratic Party are getting nowhere in the midst of the corporate Democrats.

WOODRUFF: We've already heard from John Kerry, John Edwards. They both have said they wish you weren't running. We've heard from any number of other Democrats.

Howard Dean just put out a statement saying -- he said, if George Bush is re-elected, all of the health, the safety, the consumer, the environmental, the open government things that you've spent your life working for, will all be undermined. And he said that the judges that the president is appointing will still be in office 50 years from now.

NADER: Agreed.

WOODRUFF: In other words, that's going to be on your shoulders.

NADER: Agreed. I think that a second front against Bush is going to be very, very effective.

By the way, Governor Dean did his best to rip into Kerry. Remember -- I mean, they ought to talk. The main thing is we need more competition, more voices and choices. We're asking for volunteers to get on the ballot in those difficult states.

And, by the way, Judy, you should see the bias in state laws against third parties, independent candidates. We've got a whole listing of the 50 states' requirements on our Web site: votenader.org.

WOODRUFF: But you're saying you can get beyond that. Ralph Nader, finally, all these people are saying this is all about Ralph Nader's ego, about himself, and not about the party, and not about the cause.

NADER: This is a commitment to justice, Judy. I've been working for 40 years on behalf of the health, safety and economic well-being of the American people. I don't like citizen groups being shut out by both parties in this city, corporate-occupied territory, not having a chance to improve their country.

<snip>

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. This quote

"I don't like citizen groups being shut out by both parties in this city, corporate-occupied territory, not having a chance to improve their country."

Gets an Amen from me no matter who says it.

Here's hoping Ralph can take some air out of the GOP without damaging the DNC too much this time. Who knows? If he keeps stating Dennis' name all the time, he could effectively BOOST DK in the primaries by getting his message out for him. Heaven knows the press isn't giving DK the time of day, even though he says nearly all the same things. *grrr*

[virtualobserver]

2. given what Nader is saying here.....

Democrats should try to get him into the debates.

[redqueen]

5. You haven't been paying attention

the Dem party machine avoids him getting into debates just as ferociously as the Republicans.

It's all about protecting the status quo.

[Nlighten1]

10. Exactly...yet so many DU'ers are blind to this...

Ralph is right...a lot of the Dems are holding their hand out for corporate money and being soft on the Republicans in fear of not getting that money.

[redqueen]

16. Spot on!

Cheaper whores are still whores, after all.

[asthmaticeog]

18. Well put...

... but if I may suggest a refinement, it's my undersanding that cheaper whores spread nastier diseases.

[redqueen]

20. Very true

You might say the spread of the animus towards the working class espoused for decades by the right wing to the left is the very nasty disease carried by these DLC types.

[info being]

3. The man speaks the truth

If the Dems want him to go away, they should support Kucinich. He'd never run against Kucinich.

On edit: of course I wouldn't expect any of these Nader-bashers to compromise or sacrifice anything. No, someone else is always supposed to sacrifice to vote for THEIR candidate. Then they rub our noses in it.

[GreenPartyVoter]

13. Yep, they think we owe them something

but the second we want them to scratch OUR backs in excahnge for casting a vote for their guy, forget it! *l*

And they wonder why there are other parties out ther actually working to reach the left.

[AVID]

4. a few words come to mind . . .

A: Dellusional - he is blinded by his Superman Ego

B: Trickster (and we don't even get it) - He plans on garnering $$$, support, and b* antagonism, then - in August or Sept. - become the hero of heros and throw all his $$$, support and antagonists toward the DEM Nom for his own, personal Oct. Surprise.

Choice B, please

[GreenPartyVoter]

14. B, please let it be B!

6. Wasn't Dean saying this all along?

"For example, President Bush is raising $200 million. Now, he's raising it from all the corporate fat cats who've got business before the Bush administration: contracts, grants, deregulation, things they want, right? Why aren't the Democrats exposing that? Because they're dialing for the same dollars. I'm not dialing for those dollars."

Sounds familiar.

[ShimokitaJer]

17. Of course. Why else do you think Nader waited

until after Dean was out of the running before he announced his run. Nader is looking to fulfill the same "opposition" status for the party leadership that Dean used to.

22. and the corollary is

Dean's collapse or the centrist Democratic push in some sense creates Nader or creates an opening for Nader that would not have been there if Dean had stayed active in the race.

I do think Nader is sincere and not an opportunist (I give him the benefit of the doubt) although I think his entry is very problematic.

[lovedems]

7. Everything Nader is saying is fine and dandy

However, the chimp has been campaigning for the last 3 years and Nader has been nowhere to be found. If he felt so strongly about this, we would have heard from before this. It would make him more credible in my book. He instead opted out of criticizing the republicans when he should have. Where was he in the 2000 elections while the republicans were taking the congress with the assistance of huge corporate backers? He was MIA.

I admire his support for DK, but barring a miracle, DK will not be the nominee so by Nader critizing Edwards and Kerry, he is doing more harm than good to the democratic party, once again. The GOP will not be affected by his campaign, the democrats will. I see his campaign as fracturing a democratic party that is working hard on unification. Hopefull he will fail and the democrats will stay united despite his efforts.

[ShimokitaJer]

21. Just because he hasn't been in the news...

doesn't mean he hasn't been active in denouncing the Bush administration's actions. Nader releases regular news releases and promotes reports through the organizations he's involved in such as Public Citizen, Citizen Works, and Common Cause, and through his regular news column "In the Public Interest."

The fact that you haven't seen Nader on the news in the last three years says more about the selectivity of the news media than about Nader's lack of activity. In fact, since he only seems to make the news when he's running for president, I'd say it's the ideal way to get his positions noticed.

[redqueen]

23. Someday I hope a majority of Democrats will stop being led by the media

I think I'll be waiting a long while.

[HuskerDem]

8. This quote shows how little Nader really thinks of Kucinch and progressive

Democrats:

NADER: It doesn't seem like he's a front-runner yet. That's the problem. The real Democrats in the progressive tradition of the Democratic Party are getting nowhere in the midst of the corporate Democrats.

Translation: You kids are too dumb to punch your way out of a paper bag and your leader is getting you nowhere. I'll step in with my super incredible massive wisdom and steer the ship from here.

Nader disgusts me at every possible level. I have ALWAYS been impressed by the strength and the effectiveness of Kucinich and his supporters to get their message out and to keep the movement going. Too bad Nader thinks DK & company are all so incompetent that they REQUIRE his presence.

[el_gato]

9. gimme a break

your spin on this comment is an utter mischaracterization

[RichM]

12. Your "translation" of Nader's remarks is pure & utter malarkey.

- There is not even the faintest negative implication for DK, in the quoted remarks. Quite the contrary.

- As to the implication for the Dem Party in general: Nader's exactly right. The failure of DK's campaign to capture far wider attention and support is indeed an exceedingly negative reflection on the Democratic Party as a whole. It proves, just as Nader said, that real progressives simply cannot get a fair hearing in the midst of the corporate-dominated Democratic Party.

[goodhue]

15. the quote shows how little Nader thinks of the democratic leadership

Nothing here suggests any disregard of Kucinich. Indeed, Nader thinks that democrats should support Kucinich and implies that were Kucinich a front-runner a Nader candidacy would not be needed. Also, Nader states that Kucinich does not seem like a front-runner YET; allowing the possibility that things might change.

[diamondsoul]

11. Kicking because this is the Nader I respect. n/t

[asthmaticeog]

19. Yeah...

... if only he were out there saying this stuff and NOT running.

But then, if he didn't announce, the media wouldn't be paying him any attention at all. Six of one...

[GreenPartyVoter]

24. Transcriptof Nader at the NAT'L PRESS CLUB

"I urge the liberal establishment to relax and rejoice. This is a campaign that strives to displace the present corporate regime of the Bush administration. This is a campaign that will have many purposes and many functions in a political system that's rigged from beginning to end, from state-access barriers to exclusionary debates against third parties and independent candidates whose hopes and rights we hope to carry throughout these campaigns at the national state and local level. This campaign can also be a trim tab factor turning the rudder of these giant political parties toward a more dedicated concern for government of, by and for the people.

We hope to show that increasingly corporations are trampling conservative values, as we notice increasing conservative fury with the Bush administration on matters such as massive, useless deficits due to wealthy tax cuts; on matters due to the big brother Patriot Act; corporate subsidies to major corporations paid for by taxpayers; on matters involving NAFTA and the WTO, undermining our nation's sovereignty at all three levels of government; on matters of promise by the Bush administration to do something regarding corporate pornography and violence beamed to children at a very impressionable age, undermining parental authority."

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0224-03.htm


Please, Ralph, keep the message alive, but toss the ball to the Dem in November!!!

[SEAburb]

25. What does Kucinich have to say about Nader's pres run?

After all Nader just eclipsed Kucinich. Nader really disrespected Kucinich by announcing his run for the presidency while DK is still running. It's a slap in the face to DK the way his so-called supporters are fawning over Nader.

[no name no slogan]

26. DK supporters "fawning" over Nader?

Where did you get this from? Not among the 2300+ that packed Northrup Auditorium for him last Saturday!

We had somebody passing out Nader lit outside the venue, but most people were disregarding it. We've still got a fight going on for OUR guy, why should we focus on what Nader is doing? There's still 70% of the delegates left to award, and we're not giving up any time soon.

I voted for Nader in 1996 & 2000 because he was the best Democrat running. But this year, I'm working my ass off for Dennis Kucinich, who is the best Democrat running this year.

As DK said after Nader announced his candidacy, "I'm focused with lazer-like intensity on making the Democrats a viable second party".

[IrateCitizen]

27. How do you construe this as either "fawning" or a "slap in the face"?

It is neither. It is simply recognizing some of the truth in what the man is saying.

If George W. Bush got up tomorrow and said, "The media conglomerates in this country must be broken up because they do a grave disservice to the public debate," I would stand up and applaud his statement. But by no means would such a statement -- something having been said by DK for quite some time -- be construed as a "slap in the face" or recognition of the value of that statement be "fawning".

[goodhue]

28. kick