Ralph Nader said Sunday he will run for president as a third-party candidate, criticizing the top White House contenders as too close to big business and pledging to repeat a bid that will "shift the power from the few to the many."Nader, 73, said most people are disenchanted with the Democratic and Republican parties due to a prolonged Iraq war and a shaky economy. The consumer advocate also blamed tax and other corporate-friendly policies under the Bush administration that he said have left many lower- and middle-class people in debt.
"You take that framework of people feeling locked out, shut out, marginalized and disrespected," he said. "You go from Iraq, to Palestine to Israel, from Enron to Wall Street, from Katrina to the bumbling of the Bush administration, to the complicity of the Democrats in not stopping him on the war, stopping him on the tax cuts."
"In that context, I have decided to run for president," Nader told NBC's "Meet the Press."
OK, so Meet The Press gave Nader what seemed like 15 minutes or so to not only announce his third run for the presidency but to explain why he's running. Whatever are the Nader whiners who claim the media locks out third party candidates and non-corporate messages going to say now?
The funniest thing about Nader's appearance on MTP this morning is that he once again couched his rationale for running in this idea that the American people view the two parties as equally culpable in the ills of society. Sure, it's true the Democrats didn't stop Bush on the war and on many things; as I've said many times, the worst initiatives of the past 7 years were bi-partisan, so by definition at least some Democrats supported them, which is exactly what we're trying to change from within the party. But this year of all years to paint the perception of both parties as equally bad is such a joke and so out of touch with reality; look at the discrepancy in turnout in the primaries, the discrepancy in the amounts of money being raised by the parties, not just the presidential candidates but also the committees, the enthusiasm for the Democrats is the big story of this year. So this argument that people are disillusioned by both parties equally is a joke.
But I don't blame Nader for running this year. Why wouldn't he, he sees an opportunity. What he won't say, because it would undermine his entire reason for running, is that stuff that he was advocating for years ago, things like universal healthcare and withdrawal from Iraq, are now on the lips of each Democratic candidate. He sees the Democrats inching to the left and that it's been the Democrats who've mainstreamed his message so he sees the chance to inch them even further and mainstream it even more.
The fact is our candidates can be better on issues such as healthcare and Israel so I don't mind Nader there to try to push them a bit further to better; and to those who fear that Obama or Clinton would be too librul (!) maybe Nader will serve as a reality check, evidence that Obama and Clinton's views are more mainstream than the Republican Party and John McCain would have them believe. But Nader's right on one thing, that if we can't beat the Republican this year, we might as well pack it up and go home, so I say bring it on, Ralph. Our candidate will wipe the floor with John McCain with or without Nader in this race.
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