Do you want Nader to run?

[Mobius]

Do you want Nader to run?
Simple poll, Im sure its been done already, but humor me here. Ive been absent form GD2004 and want dems feeling on this issue before I break out into a full panic, thank you:)

Do you want Nader to run?

[morgan2]

1. I hope ralph runs,

demands some changes in policies with the Dem. candidate, gets them and then drops out.

[Mobius]

2. he wont drop out

he'll stay in til the bitter end and win another one for Bush.

[Crunchy Frog]

22. Hey Mobius,

where did Batboy go? I miss him.

I agree with you about Nader staying in till the bitter end. This is all about his own ego. And I voted for him last time.:-(

[Blayde Starrfyre]

3. Neutral

I put neutral. You know why? Because it's his right to run. I don't give a shit. What I do give a shit about is all the so-called "Democrats" on this board who are acting like they have a stranglehold on American politics. If you think Ralph Nader shouldn't run as he sees fit, you don't deserve to live in America.

I'm not saying I'm going to vote for him. I'm just sick of the Nader bashing. The real solution is not to whine like little babies, it's to find why people like Nader and cop his positions so he has no reason to run.

[FG9942]

4. I said neutral

Because it does not matter to any one what he does.

In theory he has the same positions as Kucinich

[Mobius]

5. so splitting the dem vote and giving bush victory is ok?

:shrug:

[Forkboy]

8. Do you honestly think Nader wil "split" the Dem vote?

He's going to get about 10 Dem votes nationwide.

[jpgray]

11. Exit polls showed roughly half of his votes would have gone to Gore (nt)

[ozone_man]

26. This time he'll also pick up Republicans/Libertarians

who are fed up with Bush deficit spending, war, etc. Nader claims that he brings more to the party that would not be coming and I think he has a valid point. How many are going to tune out immediately when Kerry and Bush start droning about Patriotism. I think it's already started. Another 8 months of this stuff? How many people actually vote in this country, 50%?

Nader/LaDuke brings a real discussion that would not be happening otherwise, and that is a good thing for our failing Democracy.

[Pontus]

29. So half would have gone to Bush instead?

[Blayde Starrfyre]

10. The real question is

Is a system in which only the politcal chosen ones of two parties have the right to run ok? Because this seems to be what you want. Again, stop whining and look for a candidate who can overcome the "Nader problem." Hint: it's not John Kerry.

[legin]

15. Exactly right

Nader is running because the Democratic Party didn't pick a candidate that would make sure he wouldn't, and everybody here knows it even if they are not saying so out loud.

All this anti-Nader stuff is just a smokescreen to cover up the fact the Democratic Party have screwed up again.

[ldoolin]

9. You just said it!

If you think Ralph Nader shouldn't run as he sees fit, you don't deserve to live in America.

That is the best thing I've read all day in any of the Nader threads on DU.

[Blayde Starrfyre]

17. Thank you.

I have had enough of the Nader bashing on DU. The implications that he's some kind of Republican agent are just ludicrous and make my blood boil.

[jazzsammich]

20. amen, brother! (nt)

[JI7]

6. i lean yes and no

i'm not sure i want to explain now. but i lean towards him running if kerry wins the nomination. and against him running if edwards wins the nomination. but it's based on how i think people will view the candidates and how it could help and hurt edwards or kerry. i could be wrong though.

but i personally have no anger towards nader as some on here do. i think most of the anger has to do with 2000 rather than with him just wanting to run in itself. i have issues with some of the things he says, but no problem with him just running.

[TreasonousBastard]

7. I don't...

want him to run, but if he does, well, fuck him.

He got squat for votes last time out, and he rings more hollow this year. I doubt many people will buy into his bullshit this time.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

12. I hope he runs

and that people have the good sense NOT to vote for him!

[Forkboy]

16. Ah,rationality...a welcome sight!

:)

[liberalmike27]

13. Well

Funny how the people who chose Kerry because the media seemed to tell them he was more electable completely missed the fact that Dean people were going to be plenty irritated with the way that the DLC, the supposed Democratic pundits like Carville and Begala treated him, and the commercials some of the other most established democrats, as well as Gephardt and Kerry ran against him, low-blows if there ever were any.

Well, I say that electability goes in both directions, to the left of the Democratic "center" and to the right. You folks decided to believe the media and go with the right, which allowed for an opening. Who do you think sent all the emails recently to Nader about running, mentioned in last weeks Newsweek? Pissed off Dean supporters. We spent a lot of time and money trying to get the guy elected. It was bad enough for the media to do what they did, but for the DLC, and other Democrats who should have been neutral to back-stab him, and from what I've seen they are still twisting the knife, well all I can say is they deserve what they get, the voters, the DLC, and the lame-duck corporatist Democrats in Congress.

The rightest thing in this thread? Incorporate the positions of Nader, then you'll not have to worry a bit. But you see, they can't do that, because Nader addresses the real problem, the corporate puppet-strings that both democrats and republicans hang from.

[JHBowden]

14. Kerry already has Nader's positions.

Capital punishment? Kerry is against it. Gun control? Kerry is for it. Higher CAFE standards? You bet. No bankruptcy deform? Kerry is there.

The people comfortable with Republican policy outside of the GOP are go-Bush 100% Dean supporters. You guys dig guns, the Confederate flag, state executions, Gingrich on medicare, NAFTA, higher taxes on the working class, and so forth.

I'm not surprised why there is an effort to assist Shrub.

[Scott Lee]

18. Kerry actually supports Bush's positions

On virtually all major campaign issues.

[Zookeeper]

19. What is wrong with him? I think he fell and hit his head....

...I really admired Nader when I was a child. The way I remember it, he pretty much invented the whole idea of protecting the consumer and forcing corporations to take responsibility for the safety of their products. My family was NOT liberal, but he always seemed like a hero to me.

He didn't win my vote in 2000, because I wanted to avoid any chance of Bushie being elected. I was disappointed that he ran; it seemed like reckless idealism.

Now, it just seems bizarre.

Best case scenario: The fact that he doesn't have a chance and doesn't need to consider his political future certainly would allow him to be ruthless in his criticism of the Bushwah administration. OK if he limits it to them and doesn't attack the Democrat, which would be doing Karl Rove's work for him. Then, around August, he drops out and endorses the Democrat (Please, let it be Edwards! I can't imagine him endorsing Kerry.)

[dkf]

21. If you don't understand the danger of a corporate controlled media

then you really haven't been paying enough attention. IMO, this is the single biggest problem in the United States today.

If people finally start listening to what Nader is saying then I would be a very happy person. I don't necessarily want people to vote for the guy, but just listen.

[Zookeeper]

30. I'm really alarmed by the corporate controlled media...

I haven't read what Nader has to say about it because I do feel informed on the issue and because I'm so angry about the part he played in electing Bushwad. I lost tremendous respect for him.

There is a deep urgency about these issues for me. I have children in public school, a child with insulin-dependent diabetes who is being held hostage by Bush's pandering to right-wing, "Pro-life," anti-stem cell research wackos. Some of us thought we might be able to retire when we are say...70? A friend of mine says we don't have to worry about having money for health care or retirement, because when our turn comes, we'll just be taken out to a field and shot. Bush is bankrupting our economy. And he is undermining the only reasons that America could be considered "better" than anywhere else.

If Nader wants to be listened to, he should find a more productive way to do it.

[youngred]

23. No

Though I will staunchly defend his right to run and the rights of his supporters to do what they will. I will encourage them to not vote fore him but I won't censor them

[demnan]

24. He opposes the Iraq war

so I am all for him running and may vote for him.

This year "It's the war, stupid."

[mmonk]

25. where's

hell no in your poll?

[Demobrat]

27. Well, I'm certainly not voting for anybody

up their eyeballs in special interest money, which leaves out Bush and Kerry, so what the hell, why not?

[RichardRay]

28. Is there a HELL NO choice (n/t)

[GreenPartyVoter]

31. Neutral. I think far too many folks of all political stripes

are ABB.

So yes, Ralph and other progressives might snag a few votes, but so will the many conservative third parties out there.

Ultimately, I predict third party candidates and independents will harm Bush more than the Dem candidate. (Esp and Iraq keeps sending home more body bags and more and more folks go without decent work here at home. :( )