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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsNader: White House pressured Democrats not to challenge Obama
Last edited Mon Jan 9, 2012, 12:52 AM - Edit history (1)
The consumer activist and former presidential candidate, who had been searching for a prominent Democrat to challenge President Obama, told The Hill he has given up his effort.
I hate to say but its over, Nader told The Hill.
Last year, Nader said there was an almost 100 percent chance Obama would face a primary challenge.
Well, I don't know if they did, but did he expect them to say "it's OK, go ahead"? We're dealing with something that could damage the election, and Ralph Nader seemed to think that he could run someone more "progressive" than Obama, which doesn't make sense as a primary challenge because the presidential approval ratings get higher for liberals, with moderates next, and conservatives last.
Bicoastal
(12,645 posts)...is why Nader had any interest in pitting a Democrat against Obama in the primaries. Last time I checked, Ralph IS NOT A DEMOCRAT. So why does he care about who represents our party in the General Election?
It's hard to avoid the conclusion that Nader simply wants to hamstring the Democratic party every 4 years, no matter what the cost to the nation as a whole.
Old and In the Way
(37,540 posts)in the Republican primary. Never seems to have anything to say about them. Maybe he only gets exposure when he's pounding on Democrats, though.
Funny, you never here or see him devote any time or energy in getting the Neanderthal Party to get more progressive and enlightened. The only problem for Nader appears to be the Democratic Party. I wonder if all of those cashed checks from Republican donors to finance his campaign against Democrats might be a root cause?
Wait Wut
(8,492 posts)...I meant to pick up some Fruit Loops at the store.
BootinUp
(47,141 posts)lol.
UpInArms
(51,280 posts)anything but a disruptor?
AtomicKitten
(46,585 posts)link: http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/202877-nader-white-house-pressured-dems-not-to-challenge-obama-in-primary
"Ralph Nader is accusing the White House blah, blah, blah ..."
ProSense
(116,464 posts)For example, he said if former Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) had opted to run against Obama, his future in the Democratic Party would be finished.
Feingold, who considered running for the White House in 2008, has repeatedly said he will not challenge Obama and supports the presidents reelection efforts.
Fuck Ralph Nader
karynnj
(59,501 posts)Not only the highlighted "if" is hypothetical, the conclusion that "his future in the Democratic party would be finished" is one too. The fact is that Feingold lost his Senate seat and turned down overtures to run for both the open Senate seat and the Governorship.
That he is already out of the Senate may end up meaning that his public service career is over - partly through his own choice not to run. There is NO evidence that he even considered challenging Obama - before or after he left the Senate. More, the suggestion he and others - Dean etc - do so is coming completely from the grass roots - and not them.
But to play out the hypotheticals, assuming that Feingold, who hates raising campaign money and who did find the water sufficiently warm in 2004 or 2008, when there was no sitting Democratic President, did challenge Obama. Whether he could regain a Senate seat or run for Governor or some other state office will depend completely on whether the voters in his state want him.
Nader likely forgets that Reagan challenged a sitting Republican President - and it was not a career ender. For the Democrats, Ted Kennedy's career was not hurt at all by challenging Carter, he went on to become the most influential Senator.
Here, Nader is just using Feingold's good namd and reputation.
graywarrior
(59,440 posts)He needs meds.
Wait Wut
(8,492 posts)"...almost 100 percent chance Obama would face a primary challenge..."
He's gotta be high.
I stand corrected.
TransitJohn
(6,932 posts)I don't get that comment?
LoZoccolo
(29,393 posts)Also, third parties allow well-disciplined minorities to win.
TransitJohn
(6,932 posts)n/t
DevonRex
(22,541 posts)TransitJohn
(6,932 posts)But, sadly, he's chosen to actively work against the Party's platform. I'll probably vote for him (it's either him or write myself in), but wish we had more Democratic voices in the public discourse. So, 'our guy,' probably.
RBInMaine
(13,570 posts)TransitJohn
(6,932 posts)Give what a rest already. Nice callout. DU sucks nowadays.
Calling me fringe and purist? Is that kind of nastiness necessary?
Kolesar
(31,182 posts)You certainly could find better use of your time than to needle people who post here.
TransitJohn
(6,932 posts)Kolesar
(31,182 posts)The kids are fighting
TransitJohn
(6,932 posts)n/t
frylock
(34,825 posts)so grain of salt and whutnot.
Response to TransitJohn (Reply #20)
Post removed
Ikonoklast
(23,973 posts)Do you think that slow-motion disaster is helping the Republican Party in any way?
JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)He has swung far to the right of us traditional Democrats.
onenote
(42,694 posts)Tarheel_Dem
(31,233 posts)JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)And having been raised in a family of staunch FDR Democrats.
onenote
(42,694 posts)and don't think you speak for them. My own history is of someone whose political identity as a Democrat dates back to 1960 and whose family were not only staunch FDR Democrats, but include my father who nearly had his career derailed because of then Congressman Richard Nixon's witch hunt against "leftists" who had belonged to the Lawyers Guild.
I know you don't speak for me or the members of my family.
Leopolds Ghost
(12,875 posts)So?
SunsetDreams
(8,571 posts)onenote: "I'm sure there are plenty of others that have similar histories
and don't think you speak for them. My own history is of someone whose political identity as a Democrat dates back to 1960 and whose family were not only staunch FDR Democrats, but include my father who nearly had his career derailed because of then Congressman Richard Nixon's witch hunt against "leftists" who had belonged to the Lawyers Guild.
I know you don't speak for me or the members of my family."
Tx4obama
(36,974 posts)IF there was someone that had wanted to run and they didn't because the White House said "don't do it" then that person whoever it could have been, in my opinion, would be a huge wimp without a spine - and therefore shouldn't be running for the position in the first place
Number23
(24,544 posts)I gotta bridge to sell you -- cheap.
Nader puts the word out about challenging a man with an 80+% approval rating among Dems combined with 90% approval rating among blacks and of course no one answers.
But it can't possibly be that people see right through his laughably absurd attempts to weaken the president or don't have any suicidal tendencies of becoming an international laughingstock and the butt of jokes for decades to come. Oh no, no one stepped up because Obama TOLD THEM NOT TO.
Thanks, Ralph. Yeah, you run with that.
beyurslf
(6,755 posts)he is not a Democrat. Go run in your has been party and leave us alone.
powergirl
(2,393 posts)In a 2011 interview on Freedom Watch, libertarian Republican Congressman Ron Paul (R-TX) and progressive Ralph Nader displayed a remarkable agreement on a number of issues. While he was quick to point out that he could not speak for all progressives, Ralph Nader spoke of libertarians:
To the extent they are genuine libertarian conservatives and not corporatists they are great allies with many liberals and progressives: to challenge the bloated and wasteful military budgets; to challenge undeclared wars overseas; to challenge hundreds of billions of dollars in corporate welfare, handouts, giveaways and bailouts; to challenge invasiveness of our civil liberties and civil rights by the notorious Patriot Act..
http://www.electcollett.com/tag/ralph-nader/
woo me with science
(32,139 posts)Good interview, actually. He talked about the issues he and Paul are aligned on (e.g., wars, the increasing police/surveillance state), but also drew sharp distinctions between them, particularly on Social Security and Medicare.
Asked if he would ever consider being Paul's running mate, he said that no, he would never do that.
Kolesar
(31,182 posts)His hair usually looks like a used Brillo* pad.
*Brillo, trademark
frazzled
(18,402 posts)The best it seems he can come up with is "For example, he said if former Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) had opted to run against Obama, his future in the Democratic Party would be finished." Wha? Russ Feingold, on his own, lost his Senate seat in 2010. What standing would he have to challenge the president (which, as the article states, he had no intention of doing: "Feingold, who considered running for the White House in 2008, has repeatedly said he will not challenge Obama and supports the presidents reelection efforts." . How could the WH threaten to finish his future in the Democratic Party when he had already suffered a defeat and lost his seat?
This is nothing but a bunch of unsubstantiated ooga-booga: "'The retaliation is incredible,' Nader said." That's it? I can't believe The Hill printed these completely unsubstantiated charges.
(PS: I do hope Russ Feingold has a future in the Democratic Party, but it will not have anything to do with Ralph Nader.)
Tarheel_Dem
(31,233 posts)MFrohike
(1,980 posts)If true, this would hardly be the first president to do it. As long as we're not talking about illegal activity or punishing constituents, it's not really an issue at all.
Tarheel_Dem
(31,233 posts)His criticisms are always of the Democratic Party. Why is that?
opihimoimoi
(52,426 posts)things?
MilesColtrane
(18,678 posts)Motown_Johnny
(22,308 posts)Maybe the guy is just freaking delusional and can't grasp it.
People should stop encouraging him, it isn't helping.
joshcryer
(62,269 posts)...was skewed by internal biases, and that he felt that Obama was going to be primaries for those reasons, he pulls the "political corruption" card.
If I were Nader and there were people who wouldn't run I would out them, I would call them out, I would back up such an extremely strong allegation.
RBInMaine
(13,570 posts)WI_DEM
(33,497 posts)he now has to fabricate the reasons why nobody in the party took him up on his offer to help them challenge President Obama. If he was serious he would be out there helping Darcy Richardson--isn't he undermining his challenge to Obama by saying 'it's over'--apparently Darcy, who has supported and helped Nader in the past, isn't good enough for Ralphie boy.
Bluenorthwest
(45,319 posts)now. Well known fact among most of us.
Noel Gallagher was good on the Norton Show. The song was excellent, and he was funny in the chat part. I'd take more interest in his take on our elections than Nader's.