Nader picks Gonzalez as running mate

[Freddie Stubbs]

Source: UK Guardian

Perennial presidential candidate Ralph Nader on Thursday chose a San Francisco city politician as his candidate for vice president this year.

Nader, whom many Democrats fault for president George Bush's election to the White House in 2000, said Matt Gonzalez, former president of the San Francisco board of supervisors, shares his vision of an America rid of corporate influence in politics.

"He understands that what we are trying to do is make this a better stronger democracy," Nader said at a press conference.

Nader, 74, is a consumer advocate credited with helping popularise auto seatbelts and airbags, and standing up for consumers again corporations for decades, initially through his group Public Citizen. He was instrumental in the founding of government agencies that protect citizens from corporate environmental pollution and workers from unsafe working conditions.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/feb/28/ralphnader.uselections2008

---

The voters of San Fransisco knew better when they rejected Gonzalez for Mayor. Now the rest of us will get a chance to reject him.

[onehandle]

1. John McCain 2008.

That's all I see here.

[Joe Bacon]

94. Well, I see Count Ralph sunk his fangs into another victim

Count Ralph seems to rise from the grave in every even numbered year to suck the life out of anyone who challenges his beloved Republicans.

This year, I hope Dr Obama carries enough holy water and wooden stakes to put Count Ralph out of business once and for all!

[YOY]

2. Cue the "disapinting music" from "The Price is Right"

Bip bop boop Bwah...Bwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaw...

[ronnykmarshall]

67. LOL!!!!

That's priceless. Pun intended!

[EFerrari]

3. That's a mistake for Matt, imho. n/t

[LeftyMom]

4. Agreed.

Why book passage on a sinking ship?

[Auggie]

19. It puts him in the national spotlight for 15 minutes

[mike_c]

7. perhaps-- I have tremendous respect for Gonzales though...

...and despite the high level of antipathy for Nader among dems I think he's fundamentally correct on most issues-- far more so than any dem candidate other than Kucinich, who the dems more-or-less forced out of the race anyway. I wonder how many dems see Nader as a threat primarily BECAUSE they know he represents their interests better than their own political leadership?

Anyway, I'm a bit surprised that Gonzales agreed to this since Nader isn't running as a green this time and I would have thought Gonzales would be more interested in growing the GP than in devoting energy to an independent race, but one never knows, I suppose.

[EFerrari]

8. Matt works hard for progressives here no matter their party

affiliation. Last time I saw him was at a fundraiser for a Democrat who is now a state senator.

I was hoping he'd run for Congress but he must know what he's doing. :)

Eta: Dr. Leland Yee (who is great, too!)

[CreekDog]

11. Which begs the question

Since Matt is now supporting Nader, what progressive causes has Ralph Nader been working hard for these past several years?

It seems like the only thing Nader does these days is run for president.

[EFerrari]

15. That certainly is what Nader gets press for, isn't it?

But,if you go to his group's website, there's all kinds of stuff.

[defendandprotect]

78. The Nader Platform in 2000 was mind-boggling . . . if anyone thinks that

this man is simply about corporate/consumer issues they are dead wrong ---

Nader is also very concerned with worker's rights, safety ---
empowering citizens ---
and most especially our system of justice -- capital punishement, etal.

I don't think there is an issue which he hasn't been concerned with ---
and this has been true from the beginning.

Most of what we understand about corporate power and how it is defeating democracy
is information which Ralph Nader brought to the public's attention long ago.

Nader is also fighting for the rights of all third parties ---

[mac56]

21. Which also begs the question:

Why has Matt thrown in with a notorious Republican enabler?

[EFerrari]

29. Since Matt isn't a Democrat, he probably doesn't see it that way.

If the CA Democrats had a brain, they'd have recruited him by now.

[mike_c]

40. ding ding ding-- CA democrats might have been able to win...

...the last gubernatorial race if they'd recruited Matt Gonzales instead of Phil Angelides.

[AlphaCentauri]

89. agree, Matt is really an emissary of change

thanks God he is back in politics.

[depakid]

86. "a notorious Republican enabler?"

You mean like Harry Reid and a good 1/3 of the Democratic Senate?

If these Dems hadn't repeatedly abandoned their traditional values and constituencies, there wouldn't be a "Nader problem" in the first place....

[JackRiddler]

24. No, the press only covers Nader when he's running.

His organization remains as active as ever.

[CreekDog]

51. I heard Gonzales on the radio this morning (with Nader)

Gonzales said that after Pelosi became speaker "all the Democrats were voting for war funding". When a caller said that if Gore had been elected we wouldn't have gone into Iraq, Gonzales said that "we don't know that...Bill Clinton bombed Libya to take away attention from the allegations of perjury..." and Nader chimed in, "he also bombed Iraq several times...kind of a wag the dog...".

Nader called the main candidates "Pepsi Cola and Coca Cola"

Nader said that McCain was better on global warming.

Asked what he would do during the segment (when I was listening) he identified "white collar crime" and "more prosecution funding for the Justice Dept.". And he said real Israeli-Palestinian peace (almost as an afterthought).

What does everyone think?

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

54. NADER trying to come to the rescue of the GOP

Why else campaign AGAINST the DEMS? To bleed votes away from DEMS, who does that help?

[defendandprotect]

80. You mean, if you tell the truth about the issue of Global Warming and

which candidate is best on the issue . . . they you are working to destory Dems?

[AlphaCentauri]

90. well why not help Ron Paul be an independent candidate? n/t

[JackRiddler]

61. Libya?

Surely he, or you, mean Yugoslavia (1999). Or Afghanistan and Sudan (98) or Iraq (all the time). Those are the countries Clinton bombed, not Libya (Reagan, 85). I think also Somalia.

[CreekDog]

65. He said Lybia, incorrectly, he should have said Somalia

remember the "pharmaceutical" factory?

[JackRiddler]

70. The pharmaceutical factory was Sudan, cruise missiles, August 1998...

Somalia would have been the intervention Bush started in Dec. 1993 as a poison pill for the incoming Clinton admin. The Americans left after the Battle of Mogadishu in 1995 (known in American propaganda as "Black Hawk Down"). I think there were air bombings involved there.

[CreekDog]

72. Yep, Sudan I should have said

[EFerrari]

64. I think I would like to see the transcript.

:)

Whatever. I understand that Ralph Nader is a DU scapegoat. We all need a few.

[CreekDog]

66. It was on KQED's forum at 9am

This gets rebroadcasted at night and streamed online as well. You might listen there. Fairly scapegoated or not, the performance was not impressive. Gonzalez kept interrupting Nader (well, he's not VP yet :rofl:) but some of his answers were RW talking points. Eeek.

[EFerrari]

75. That's really hard to believe. I'll see I can find it any where.

:)

[CreekDog]

76. yup he said it

i found it very frustrating to hear.

[AlphaCentauri]

91. I would like to see Matt in the vice debates

B-)

[defendandprotect]

79. I think Nader works on and is concerned with so many issues that it

would be impossible for him to discuss every one in a radio appearance ---

Remember the Clinton bombings of Iraq . . . . at the time that we KNEW that this was already
a country with its infrastructure destroyed --- and that we had refused to clean up our depleted
uranium from the first Gulf War --- and 500,000 children died as a result of all of that.

America is being fleeced by corporate crime/white collar crime --- and the Justice Department is now
less well equipped to compete in lawyer power than the corporations they are prosecuting! If they ever get around to it . . . !!!

Pelosi is poison --- and I think everyone at DU understands that ---
Same with Reid ---
And I just saw a video of Pelosi a few weeks ago post the election where she is saying ---
the country wants us to end the war in Iraq!

[Gormy Cuss]

13. It is a good question --what's in it for Matt?

Perhaps to raise his national profile so that he can be a Green Party presidential candidate in '12? Short term, it gives him a wider audience for his ideas and that may be enough to convince him to sign on.

[EFerrari]

14. He's terrific on the stump. Maybe he's looking to grow his network

which isn't inconsiderable as it is. :shrug:

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

52. except when he's penning nasty attacks on Obama

like he did the day before Nader asked him to be VP candidate.

[EFerrari]

93. Do you have a link?

[Dhalgren]

16. I think you raise some very good points, mike. One of the elements

of the Democratic put-down of Nader is the put-down of progressives and progressive ideas in general. If Democrats don't see that, they are either not looking or in denial...

[mike_c]

41. since Nader is the only candidate running on a progressive slate...

...at the moment, it certainly is hard to dis Nader without simultaneously undermining progressive objectives. There just isn't anyone else out there to turn to at the moment. Dems are missing a major boat there, IMO.

[ronnykmarshall]

68. Yup.

Is Matt still on the Board of Sups?

[UpInArms]

5. from the headline, I thought he was pairing up with Gonzo!

and I thought - well, isn't that a fit!

[Parche]

6. Alberto?

:shrug: :hi:

[Demeter]

18. That's What I Thought--I Was Looking for the Onion Citation!

He might have better luck if it were.

[originalpckelly]

31. Yep, that's what I thought too!

:rofl:

[MaineDem]

49. That's what I thought, too.

I was so hoping it was true.

[douglas9]

9. Matt Gonzalez Profile

http://www.famouslikeme.com/47715/article.html

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

53. "You Have To be Freakin' Kidding Me: Gonzalez for VP? WTF?"

Greg Dewar, who lives in San Francisco and writes about local politics penned this:

"You Have To be Freakin' Kidding Me: Gonzalez for VP? WTF?"

So I'm at lunch and reading email when I notice someone sends me the news that in fact, Matt Gonzalez is running as Ralph Nader's veep candidate.

Wait, WHAT? This is a joke, right?

See this is what happens when you skip your morning paper and blogs. Beth Spotswood, of course had the funniest and most concise take on the news, and I'm sure others did too (I'll post links as I find 'em).

To me, however, this news encapsulates just how f*cking stupid Magical Matt really is, and how the local conservatives and whatnots need to give him a medal for helping bring down progressive politickers in 2008.

When people to the left of Attilla the Hun needed someone to run against a damaged Mayor Newsom, Gonzalez pissed away whatever political capital he had left, and made sure that other people's efforts were stalled. Then, at the last possible moment, he announces he's not running, but not before wasting a lot of important people's time, money and hard work.

read the rest at the link

[AlphaCentauri]

92. it took a especial trip, Clinton and Gore themselfs to defeat Matt in the SF election

very disappointing that they have to embarrass them selfs to defeat a progressive candidate.

[goforit]

10. As far as I'm concerned we have had one too many Gonzales's.

[mike_c]

42. got something against latinos and latinas?

:shrug:

[whistle]

12. Ralph Nader is so full of shit!

[El Supremo]

17. So what?

[orleans]

20. blah. i guess he (nader) needed a little tv time. n/t

[GoneOffShore]

22. Here's RAAALPHIEEE!

[mythyc]

23. that was a little bit of a blast from the past

I was living in SF when Matt was in office and ran for Mayor against Gavin Newsome. He energized a lot of people, kind of had an Obama-like charisma on the small city schedule. The entire city, in its mid to lower class echelons that is, got Gonzales fever when he ran for mayor--I had never seen everyone so excited and inspired. you couldn't go into any store street cafe or friend's house without hearing people advocating his campaign and promoting the green party's causes. Everyone was positive he was going to jettison Newsome in the mayoral election, and actually, he did win a healthy majority of the votes among those that were cast on the day of the election. Problem was, Newsome had a strong strong majority of absentee ballots and early voter ballots, which in the end gave him his slight edge. everyone was deflated, and then life went back to "normal." for a little while all of the city was political and it looked like Matt's grass roots movement would change the complexion and direction of the city, but then business as usual resumed and the mundanes took back over. I've been thinking all along that Obama's campaign has a similar dynamic on a much larger scale, which is good for populist motivation, though should he lose in either the primary or general (I don't think he will) and the mass majority return to its apathy, it would all the more disappointing not just in the moment but historically. I'm digressing----point is, Gonzales was very savvy and popular, but failed because he didn't organize beyond the grass roots, or on a large enough time scale; if he had, he probably would have won; this as a side note is one area where I see Obama as being far superior and hence having more potential to achieve his ends. Despite his appeal (having met him, like many of the 20-30 somethings in my demographic, he had a galvanizing charisma and personal integrity that gave his good causes more credence and credibility---like Nader), his greater consequence at the large-scale political level up was short-lived and inconsequential (though he made a hell of a Board of Supervisors chair and admirably opposed Willie Brown's corporate policies). Like Nader. Both are good men and stand for something I think we all or at least most of us strongly believe in, but their causes are better served in other realms like civil law and consumer advocacy. That said, I don't think Nader is going to affect this election one bit. Compare the 2000 numbers to the 2004 ones. He earned less than 1/5 the votes the second time around and did not alter the outcome of a single state race because the people realized that the stakes were higher than a symbolic (albeit noble-minded) vote would merit. I'm interested in hearing Gonzales stump, but really, who cares? Nader will have no impact whatsoever and come November this will be a side-note.

[EFerrari]

25. You may not know this but Matt is still active and influential

and we'll be hearing more from him. I have zero doubt about that.

You're right about how he galvanized progressives here. (Matt is the first politican my kid worked for. Boy, was he excited and into it!) To a certain extent, the coalition he built still works together which is why Newsom hasn't managed to gentrify the whole city yet, hard as he's been trying.

[acmavm]

26. So apparently no one but this 'unknown' would have anything to

do with him?

[EFerrari]

27. They had to bring Bill Clinton into San Francisco to beat

this unknown in that mayoral race . . ,

[acmavm]

28. What do you mean? That this guy should be a household name?

That everyone should know who's running for mayor in San Francisco?

I'm confused.

[EFerrari]

30. No, I mean that he had so much support here, that Clinton had to be

drug in to help Newsom because he was tanking. Gonzalez is known in California, in third party circles nationally and to anyone who is involved with Newsom. That's not bad for an "unknown".

[acmavm]

33. You give the guy WAY more credit than he deserves.

[EFerrari]

34. No. I don't at all.

:)

[mike_c]

43. read his profile (posted up thread) rather than demonstrate ignorance....

Matt Gonzales is not only well known, but well regarded. He is definitely one of the "good guys."

[acmavm]

48. Why do you think that anyone cares who ran for mayor in SF? We don't

really you know. But if you say so I guess we'll just have to take your word for it.

[Freddie Stubbs]

38. Yes, because Bill Clinton only campaigns for candidates who are 'tanking'

what evidence do you have that Newsome was 'tanking?'

[mike_c]

44. even with Clinton's help it was a very close race...

...and Gonzales was widely expected to win before Clinton became involved. Gavin Newsome was regarded as a rich dilettante by many. As it is, he barely scrapped out a victory over Gonzales, who got 47 percent of the vote in a city that had only 3 percent registered Green voters. The overwhelming majority of his support came from democrats who crossed party lines to support Gonzales rather than the dem candidate Newsome.

But I suspect you already know all of this.

[Freddie Stubbs]

45. 53%-47%, while not a landslide, certainly isn't a razor-thin margin

Who are these people who expected Gonzales to win? People who know something about politics, or a bunch of wide-eyed political neophytes, similar to this year's Ron Paulistians?

[mike_c]

46. that's 53-47 AFTER Bill Clinton campaigned for Newsome...

...and asked democrats to vote along party lines rather than for the green candidate who was widely predicted to win until Clinton tipped the balance.

You're right of course-- those of us who work for progressive goals are mostly moonbat freaks.... :crazy:

I'm sure you won't miss our votes.

[EFerrari]

47. It's not certain that Matt didn't win, no matter all the cr@p Willie Brown

pulled.

Save it for someone whom you can impress. I was here.

[ProudDad]

58. Not to mention th e money difference

The corporations that bank-rolled Gavin helped him outspend Gonzales over 20 to 1...

Money talks -- corporate money SCREAMS!!!!!

[EFerrari]

62. Having Willie Brown GOTV with city vans and workers and

threatening them with their jobs and disappearing ballots into the bay also helps. :)

[defendandprotect]

82. Good to have some better insight into what is going on . . ..

Can we count on honest elections anywhere ---
especially when third parties are already so hindered with even trying to get on the ballot ---

and keep in mind how dangerous Nader was to corporations that he couldn't even sit in a studio
where the debate was being shown on TV --- !!

[hunter]

32. Grrrrr.

I think Ralph Nader has always been a patcher, not a prophet.

Nader is the guy who lances the most disgusting boils on the fat ass of consumerism. He's never put himself out there on the bleeding edges of progressive activism.

[susankh4]

35. Damn (am I allowed to say that here?)

This is not good at all, I'm afraid.

Matt will go in for the kill... with the youth vote. Now that Barack has them all registered.

Oh boy..... here we go again.

[auburngrad82]

36. So when do we get to see who contributes to his campaign

He's not on OpenSecrets yet since he just announced but I'll bet there's more than a few die hard GOP supporters on the list.

[mac56]

50. Like someone wrote on another thread

Nader is smart enough to get unsafe cars off the streets, but too stupid to wonder why his donors are all Republicans.

[ProudDad]

59. "more than a few die hard GOP supporters"

not NEARLY as many as the republicans who contribute to ObamClint!!!

[MrsBrady]

37. go away Nader n/t

[JerseygirlCT]

39. Yawn. Ralph, just go away. nt

[CreekDog]

55. I heard Gonzalez on the radio this morning (with Nader)

Gonzalez said that after Pelosi became speaker "all the Democrats were voting for war funding". When a caller said that if Gore had been elected we wouldn't have gone into Iraq, Gonzalez said that "we don't know that...Bill Clinton bombed Libya to take away attention from the allegations of perjury..." and Nader chimed in, "he also bombed Iraq several times...kind of a wag the dog...".

Nader called the main candidates "Pepsi Cola and Coca Cola"

Nader said that McCain was better on global warming.

Asked what he would do during the segment (when I was listening) he identified "white collar crime" and "more prosecution funding for the Justice Dept.". And he said real Israeli-Palestinian peace (almost as an afterthought).

What does everyone think?

[panzerfaust]

56. GOP will, as last time

be his biggest doners.

I -think- that was true. Certainly, GOP did make many contributions to all of his presidential runs

[ProudDad]

60. Persons who happened to be registered republican

and who contributed to Ralph's campaigns were a tiny minority of his financial support in 2000 and 2004.

John Kerry got 100 times the "republican" money that Nader did in 2004 (which was ALSO a tiny minority of his financial support).

Check your freakin' facts!!!

[defendandprotect]

83. Thanks for keeping the record straight --- !!!

[EFerrari]

63. Unlike those staunch Democrats in the defense industry and in

Big Pharma that are bankrolling Clinton, McCain and Obama. And thank heavens, individual Republicans NEVER fund Democrats in an effort to influence the race.



There may be arguments to be made against Nader but this isn't really one of them.

[defendandprotect]

84. Imagine what's going to come down on our heads with this latest round

of corporate/defense/health care fund raising for Democrats --- !!!

[Name removed]

57. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[ronnykmarshall]

69. One thing that bugs me about Matt ...

Is that I wish he had not ran for mayor.

Selfish reasons. I'm a HUGE Angela Alioto supporter. If Gonzo had not ran, Angela would have had better chance of winning.

I LOOOOOVES me some Angela!

[ProudDad]

77. Obviously

you seem to like the corporate candidates...

The S.F. power structure had already picked Newsome -- Angela didn't have a chance...

[ronnykmarshall]

81. not worth it

:eyes:

[ProudDad]

85. If you want to blame someone for sinking Angela

blame Slick Willie Brown.

What IS IT with you f*cking Dems -- no one's allowed to run against the two-right-wings of the Big Business Party???

[Shakespeare]

88. "You dems"???

Wow. I love it when people reveal themselves.

[Deja Q]

71. Nice sig pic; what did Gore say? I remember what Perot said...

[Wabbajack_]

73. What? Michael Nader is running for President?

[Political Heretic]

74. MICHAEL KNIGHT IS RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT?!?!??!?!?!!?!

I AM FRIGHTEN

[The Blue Knight]

87. I have always liked Nader.

I sat about 12 feet away from Ralph Nader and heard him give a speech one time. After words, I chatted with him for about 10 minutes about the future of America. If anyone of you Nader-haters did that, you would see that this man's intentions are genuine. And if you took ten minutes out of your day and did some research, you would find you agree with 90% of his platform.

I probably won't vote for Nader, but I wish him the best of luck.

[robcon]

95. Gonzalez will join the other luminaries as Nader's VP candidates...

Winona LaDuke and Peter Camejo have gone on to sparkling political careers after running on Ralph's ticket. I predict a tremendous boost to Matt Gonzalez's political prospects after joining the Nader ticket. :sarcasm:

[fascisthunter]

96. Amazing how much attention this non-story is getting (nt)