Ralph Nader and Public Citizen

[hurl]

I'm certain this topic has been addressed often before my time on DU, but I'm too lazy to search. Ralph Nader's name has been mentioned a few times recently, and of course he's not well liked around here - for good reason. I definitely have some bitterness about his role in getting Bush elected, whether it was decisive or not.

My question is more related to Public Citizen, the consumer advocacy group he founded. I am hard-pressed to find another group as focused as Public Citizen on fighting against corporate oligarchy and for the middle class.

My question is two-fold:
1. Does your opinion of Ralph Nader prevent you from supporting Public Citizen?

2. If it does, are there other groups similarly focused that you would support instead?

It is important to me to financially support efforts to fight for the middle class against corporate oligarchy, but in doing so, I don't want to undercut my own efforts by inadvertently supporting an agenda that also works against this very goal.

I admire the focus and activism from Public Citizen, but Nader's original involvement does leave a bit of a question. According to the mighty Wiki:
"Mother Jones also pointed out that Nader’s association with Public Citizen was causing fund raising problems. Mother Jones cited a letter by Public Citizen to its readership with the disclaimer: "Although Ralph Nader was our founder, he has not held an official position in the organization since 1980 and does not serve on the board. Public Citizen—and the other groups that Mr. Nader founded—act independently.""

What say you? Is Public Citizen sufficiently tied to Nader for you to withhold support?

I don't intend to argue against you either way on this question - just trying to get a feel for the general sentiment here on DU. Personally, I want to do my part toward leveling the playing field, and I'd like your thoughtful input on the best way to do that.

[Eko]

1. This is what gets me.

"It is important to me to financially support efforts to fight for the middle class".,,,,,,,,,, I mean, ok, what about the freaking poor?

[hurl]

2. Thanks - A fair point

It's a legitimate question. I didn't intend to leave out the poor, but I admit that I may not see their POV as clearly, not being part of that population. Is there an organization similar to Public Citizen that also includes the poor in its advocacy?

[Eko]

4. Yes

The Democratic party.

[Gothmog]

3. Rove funded Nader

I will never forgive nader Rove funded Nader in 2000 and 2004 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eric-zuesse/ralph-nader-was-indispens_b_4235065.html

Furthermore, Karl Rove and the Republican Party knew this, and so they nurtured and crucially assisted Nader’s campaigns, both in 2000 and in 2004. On 27 October 2000, the AP’s Laura Meckler headlined “GOP Group To Air Pro-Nader TV Ads.” She opened: “Hoping to boost Ralph Nader in states where he is threatening to hurt Al Gore, a Republican group is launching TV ads featuring Nader attacking the vice president [Mr. Gore]. ... ‘Al Gore is suffering from election year delusion if he thinks his record on the environment is anything to be proud of,’ Nader says [in the commercial]. An announcer interjects: ‘What’s Al Gore’s real record?’ Nader says: ‘Eight years of principles betrayed and promises broken.’” Meckler’s report continued: “A spokeswoman for the Green Party nominee said that his campaign had no control over what other organizations do with Nader’s speeches.” Bush’s people - the group sponsoring this particular ad happened to be the Republican Leadership Council - knew exactly what they were doing, even though the liberal suckers who voted so carelessly for Ralph Nader obviously did not. Anyone who drives a car the way those liberal fools voted, faces charges of criminal negligence, at the very least. But this time, the entire nation crashed as a result; not merely a single car.....

On July 9th, the San Francisco Chronicle headlined “GOP Doners Funding Nader: Bush Supporters Give Independent’s Bid a Financial Lift,” and reported that the Nader campaign “has received a recent windfall of contributions from deep-pocketed Republicans with a history of big contributions to the party,” according to “an analysis of federal records.” Perhaps these contributors were Ambassador Egan’s other friends. Mr. Egan’s wife was now listed among the Nader contributors. Another listed was “Nijad Fares, a Houston businessman, who donated $200,000 to the Bush inaugural committee and who donated $2,000 each to the Nader effort and the Bush campaign this year.” Furthermore, Ari Berman reported 7 October 2004 at the Nation, under “Swift Boat Veterans for Nader,” that some major right-wing funders of a Republican smear campaign against Senator John Kerry’s Vietnam service contributed also $13,500 to the Nader campaign, and that “the Republican Party of Michigan gathered ninety percent of Nader’s signatures in their state” (90%!) to place Nader on the ballot so Bush could win that swing state’s 17 electoral votes. Clearly, the word had gone out to Bush’s big contributors: Help Ralphie boy! In fact, on 15 September 2005, John DiStaso of the Manchester Union-Leader, reported that, “A year ago, as the Presidential general election campaign raged in battleground state New Hampshire, consumer advocate Ralph Nader found his way onto the ballot, with the help of veteran Republican strategist David Carney and the Carney-owned Norway Hill Associates consulting firm.”

It was obvious, based upon the 2000 election results, that a dollar contributed to Nader in the 2004 contest would probably be a more effective way to achieve a Bush win against Kerry in the U.S. Presidential election than were perhaps even ten dollars contributed to Bush. This was a way of peeling crucial votes off from Bush’s real opponent - votes that otherwise would have gone to the Democrat. That’s why the smartest Republican money in the 2004 Presidential election was actually going to Nader, even more so than to Bush himself: these indirect Bush contributions provided by far the biggest bang for the right-wing buck.