Nader: Bush is a Dictator!

[Miss Modular]

Nader Calls Bush 'Dictator'
by Kaye Ross


Ralph Nader said his 2000 presidential candidacy -- which some say siphoned off votes that could have meant a Democratic victory -- is not to blame for President Bush or his war.

The war in Iraq developed instead, he said, from ``a messianic militaristic determination turned by a closed mind, facilitated by a cowering Congress and opposition Democrat Party and undeterred by a `probing' press.''

Bush is acting ``in effect as a selected dictator,'' Nader told the Mercury News in an interview Friday. The president has not listened to any of the many retired admirals, generals and foreign-policy experts who have warned against the war, Nader said. And the stated reasons for going to war ``have either been disproved or greatly distorted,'' he said.

The greatest danger will come, Nader said, after the war has been won. Bush, whom he called ``a hit-and-run president,'' will not stick with the difficult, protracted process of rebuilding Iraq and making it democratic, he said.

The warring factions Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has held at bay will dissolve into Shiite Muslims against Sunni Muslims against secular Baath Party loyalists, and Kurds fighting invading Turks, he said.

``For a cheap political advantage, the administration will destroy freedoms and civil rights, undermine our economy and destroy the position of the United States in the world,'' Nader said.

But it's not his fault, he said. In fact, people could just as easily blame David McReynolds, the Socialist Party candidate in 2000, for giving the key state of Florida to Bush, he noted. McReynolds polled 622 votes in the state, and Democratic Vice President Al Gore lost by 537 votes. Nader, who ran as the Green Party candidate, got 97,488 votes.

``When people ask me this, I say, `What would you have me do?' '' Nader said. ``Everybody has a right to run for office.''

Copyright © 2003, San Jose Mercury News

[Protoclown]

Good for Nader for speaking his mind.

[VinceZeb]

Wow, I have got to respond to this. Darth Nader, yes, we hear you!

Let's all vote for the Green party so EVERYONE can be miserable and poor! It will all be equal then!

And yes, I know I am going against my policy of attacking the argument and not the giver, but Nader I hold no respect for whatsoever. He needs to go back to being a consumer avocate and not a political figure.

[mburbank]

So when are you going to respond?

Or was that the responce?

[KevinTheOmnivore]

He holds no respect for Nader, yet tells him to remain a consumer advocate. I wonder why....

[VinceZeb]

Nader is a pretty decent consumer avocate. He has no brains when it comes to politics of a nation. He is overstepping his boundries and that is why he didn't get crap for votes. If people want to be cool and vote for someone that is outside the box, vote for the Libertarians.

[Skulhedface]

Actually, it's my understanding that he didn't get crap for votes because his campaign wasn't as well-funded as the major two parties and that most people are already so mistrustful of politics and politicians in general that they knowingly vote just for the lesser of the two big evils.

Also, let's not forget that roughly 50% of all registered voters even bothered to show up to vote in the first place. That's SO much better.

[VinceZeb]

You bring up the voter turn out, and it needs to be addressed. We need a non-partisan group to try to educate people to get out in vote. Rock the Vote was a Clinton vehicle (Chris Cornell of Soundgarden/Audioslave admitted this during an MTV interview for a special) and unfortunately this war will cause people to blindly vote Republican. I honestly blame the govt schools and society for making the new voting bloc a bunch of mealy-mouth idiots who don't care about what is going on.

[Skulhedface]

Well, you've got to look at the statistics.

As of now, Bush's approval rating is roughly 66%.
In November 2000, only 50% of all eligible voters even bothered showing up for the polls.

The longer this war drags on, inevitably Bush's approval ratings will start to plummet. I'll fashion a guess at 50%.

Well, if 50% of voters show up next time, as last time, and only 50% of that 50% were Bush voters, I just don't see Bush winning again.

Besides, wasn't Bush Sr.'s approval rating at 90% or so during the first round of the Gulf War? And did HE get reelected?

[VinceZeb]

Economy and the Rock The Vote campaign killed him. The human hand grenade didn’t help much either (Perot). No matter how good national security is, if the economy is in the shitter, the standing president is screwed.

Besides, who are the democrats going to run? Besides Sharpton, all the candidates are seen by the majority of the public as being not presidential material, especially "I consulted my special friend" Gephardt from my state of Missouri. I do hope Sharpton runs and pulls votes in the primaries. Then the liberals will have to put up or shut up with their "We love blacks (especially their votes) long time" stance.

[Skulhedface]

Perot was a threat? I thought he got less than 1% of the vote.

[VinceZeb]

He got republican votes from what polls and studies suggest.

Bush 41 was screwed, starting when Pat "Blame the Jews" Buchanan decided to run against an incumbent president of his OWN party!

[KevinTheOmnivore]

Nader is a pretty decent consumer avocate. He has no brains when it comes to politics of a nation. He is overstepping his boundries and that is why he didn't get crap for votes.

Much of his consumer advocacy goes hand-in-hand with his platform he held. What would you say he is/was particularly off about? Anything specific?


If people want to be cool and vote for someone that is outside the box, vote for the Libertarians.

Yeah, cuz Harry Browne is such a hipster. :lol

[VinceZeb]

Browne has half a brain until you metion drugs to him. Then after that he goes freakin nuts. Libertarians need to quit turning psycho everytime someone metions drug laws. I'm talking the libertarians with common sence. Like Neil Boortz. If he ends up running after he gets out of radio, I would vote for him in an instant.

http://www.boortz.com - Go to the Church. You may just learn something.....

[Ronnie Raygun]

Go NADER!!!

Keep getting your 7 or 8%.

[Anonymous]

Did you know that the people killed on 9/11 were like, totally way less than 1% of the total US population?

Time to not care about them either. Which is good, 'cause my little war horse is starting to give me wicked bow-leg.

[VinceZeb]

What the hell are you talking about?

[Anonymous]

If you don't have anything useful to add, keep on doing what you're doing.

[Ronnie Raygun]

A political opinion is much different form life/death.

Understand? Or is this too complex?

[Anonymous]

What? There are different shades of black and white now?

[Ronnie Raygun]

No.

But there are apples and oranges.

[Anonymous]

Which one is the black one?

[Ronnie Raygun]

Neither,

One is usually red...sometimes green....and the other....well, .....ORANGE!

[Anonymous]

LAST WORD






LAST WORD

[Ronnie Raygun]

LAST WORD UP!

[KevinTheOmnivore]

Chojin's point is right on, and Ronnie can't comprehend it, so it must be "apples and oranges."

Ronnie espouses that we live in a one person, one vote society, and all is fair. Yet when 8% vote for Nader, he finds it insignificent. I guess they should all be voting Democrat. Hmmm, but the Democrats are all liars, too, so then I guess they should be voting Republican....hmmm....

It sounds to me like Ronnie would do just fine in a theocratic politburo type of government.

[VinceZeb]

Considering how many people vote to begin with, that 8% for Nader is low. Besides, you have to put it in context:

How many people vote for someone else besides Republicans or Democrats not because of what they agree with, but just because it is different?

How many people truly know what the Green party is about? It is just like any one other of those one agenda parties, like the Leaglize Marijuana party, the Pro-Life Party, etc?

[KevinTheOmnivore]

Considering how many people vote to begin with, that 8% for Nader is low.

Considering it comes from a high % of young people, a demographic that traditionally doesn't even vote, it's in fact quite high, using your logic.

Besides, you have to put it in context:

How many people vote for someone else besides Republicans or Democrats not because of what they agree with, but just because it is different?

So? How many people vote simply along Party lines? How many people vote for a Democrat, simply because they don't like the Republican, and vice versa??

How many people truly know what the Green party is about? It is just like any one other of those one agenda parties, like the Leaglize Marijuana party, the Pro-Life Party, etc?

No, it's not, but you do raise a valid point. The fact that it calls itself "Green" hinders it at times. It more so resembles a European labor party, more than a weed party. Granted, decriminalization is an issue, but it's only one of several.