Nader Plays Down Green Party Rebuff

[The Sushi Bandit]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A10480-2004Jun27.html

A day after not getting the Green Party's endorsement for president, Ralph Nader brushed off the rejection as an inconvenience, described the party as "strange," called the party's national nominating convention "a cabal" and predicted who the big loser in its decision not to endorse him would be.

"The benefit was really for the Green Party," Nader said yesterday of what an endorsement of him would have meant. "I don't want to exaggerate it, so I'll just say massively more."

Endorsing him, Nader said, would have meant higher visibility and better fundraising opportunities for the party. Because of his vice presidential running mate, Peter Miguel Camejo, it also had the potential to attract Latino voters.

[sniffa]

1. and another thing..

michaeL moore Looks Like a beach baLL.

[eyesroll]

2. Nader seems to have this weird sense of entitlement

Look, Ralph, the Green Party nominated its own, instead of endorsing someone who has never joined.

Maybe if he actually JOINED THE PARTY, more people would have voted to endorse him. Just a thought...

[qazplm]

4. This has got to

be a message to some on the far left not to vote for this guy.

I mean, the Green Party has been home to the far left long before Nader came along, and simply because they dont endorse him he basically calls them strange and a cabal and that they would be a loser for not nominating him?

boy, look up the word ego, and it doesnt just have Nader's picture, it has his whole bio.

[Zero Gravitas]

3. Nader

should just crawl back under the rock he hides under in between elections.

[damnraddem]

5. Hurrah for the Greens!

Their 'safe state' policy should be safe -- and even without it, Cobb will not draw like Nader has. This will keep Nader off the ballot in many states, and keep some votes from going to him. After what he said about the Greens, he may lose most Green votes. LOL!

When I get e-mails about voting for Nader (or even for Greens) in 'safe states,' I reply that the 2004 election in the US is like Harlan County: "there are no neutrals there." Defeating Dubya is THE thing. That egomaniac, Nader, has destroyed all credibility he once had, defiled the memory of the good he once did. I'm happy that the Greens thwarted him.

[onehandle]

6. WAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Big stinky meanies! Bullies! Let them have their "Green-Man Nader Haters Club"! I'll show 'em! They were big dummies not let me in!


........described the party as "strange,"......

Strange!? How about SANE!

[PATRICK]

7. A Man for No Parties

Well, it is so much more refreshing for Nader to prove things from his own mouth than ranting and arguing our own opinions. he just insulted the greens and likely ALL third parties as well as putting himself morally above the two majors and probably the masses of American citizenry.

What I always enjoyed in an absurdist type of amusement is that Ralph HAS been corrupted by the political game in one of its most essential temptations. The temptation to actually believe in one's superior ego while striking the lamentably age old poses. Transplanting his dry purity and cold zeal to the scene was a very amusing meld, especially as he seems incapable of being self conscious, reflective and detached from the game and the real seriousness of the vocation.

If your are not following me your are against me and unworthy of anything. Now this is the attitude pouring from his own mouth, disdaining anyone, anyone who will not support his campaign regardless of how much they support some of his just causes. He'd rather take Republican money and favors than criticism from the allies who make his "crusades" work.

I'd say- if the GOP media were to allow this story some time at all- that this drastically undercuts the Nader effect. Not just the loss of the Greens he damaged as much as "helped", but his dissing comments that give the lie to what exactly he claims to achieve on the political scene. This is NOT the guy who will provide a clear and sane
alternative to the disenchanted. Buchanan was better on the right side
doing his thing. Nader is in no man's land, proud, unbending, with an electric fence around his conscience. His most likely votes will be fraudulent ones and without a party the very thought about allowing a lone curmudgeon into a national debate is lost mirage.

Now this is not a virulent rant. Watching this determined consumer advocate plow through and play the game has been very interesting. I am not sure he himself has learned a single thing about what he is actually doing. Always challenged about his effect on the election and his purity no one looks how he has been seduced by the game itself. I don't think he has either.

Were his words to be given the same kind of play as Dean's howl, these understated digs would be the last shovelfuls of ego on his political grave and Kerry can collect a few more points in the strange polls.

[The_Casual_Observer]

8. So WTF party is this bastard going to run on

Or can he simply run as the Ralph Nader Republican Disruptor Party???

[geek tragedy]

9. And the Green party responded by quoting Dick Cheney.

Nader is clearly interested in what's best for the future of the Green Party.

/sarcasm

[PurityOfEssence]

10. Reality? Piffle; I've got a dream.

Well, maybe it's a delusion, but it's pretty.

[Cicero]

11. Greens have saved themselves from electoral obscurity

Remember what happened to the Reform party? After Pat Buchanan goose-stepped his way into the nomination, it quickly went into the toilet. Where are they now in 2004? DRT (Dead right there.) And the Libertarian Party's infatuation with Harry Browne nearly tore it apart after 2000.

In rejecting Nader, yes, they may well have lost out on all the free publicity, but ultimately its for the best, in regards to the long-term health of the national party.

Later,