My Theory on why Nader is running

[EmperorHasNoClothes]

I don't think he truly believes there's no difference between Kerry & Bush. Given that he knows his campaign may skew the election in Bush's favor, what reason would he have for running? He knows he has no chance of winning, and his support has dropped considerably, especially from third parties.

My theory? He wants Bush to win. Another four years in office without the need to place consideration towards reelection would give the shrub a chance to enact even more of the neocon agenda. This would piss enough people off to result in a major shift in politics in america, shifting away from the corporate/neocon track we're currently on to a more citizen-friendly mode.

It's an extreme means of enacting change, but I simply can't believe that Nader is running simply to split the two party system or out of megalomania. I'm not a Nader supporter, and quite frankly I wish he would just go away at this point but I don't believe he is that insane.

Any thoughts?

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

1. He wants to trigger a new progressive era in America

and in the big picture, he feels the suffering and loss of life will be worth the risk...that is why he is an academic...suffering is academic to him...it isn't real...that is why he is as dangerous as THEIR ideologues.

[glitch]

7. He's also fairly well insulated - he's a millionaire. nt

[Zensea]

2. Of course that's why he's running

It's not a theory.
I've heard Camejo say it.

[ibegurpard]

3. I think that you are somewhat correct

But I also think that Nader is incredibly naive by underestimating the power that the people and corporations he supposedly opposes have over the media. That kind of propaganda power can convince people that black is white so as long as they hold sway, it won't matter how bad things get... a large segment of the population will still believe things are okay.

[On the Road]

4. The Difference This Year

is that there is NO new movement, NO publicity, NOTHING that's building toward a more progressive future. Unlike 2000, his positions have almost no coverage. He makes news only in his efforts to get on the ballot. He can bitch about the closed two-party system, but this time around, Nader is a footnote.

The only effect he can have is to drain enough votes from Kerry to reelect Bush. Nader has to know that.

[mac56]

5. Read this article

From this past spring, about the 2000 election.

http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0418/levine.php

Snip:

Later I was introduced to Nader's closest adviser, his handsome, piercingly intelligent 30-year-old nephew, Tarek Milleron. Although Milleron argued that environmentalists and other activists would find fundraising easier under Bush, he acknowledged that a Bush presidency would be worse for poor and working-class people, for blacks, for most Americans. As Moore had, he claimed that Nader's campaign would encourage Web-based vote-swapping between progressives in safe and contested states. But when I suggested that Nader could gain substantial influence in a Democratic administration by focusing his campaign on the 40 safe states and encouraging his supporters elsewhere to vote Gore, Milleron leaned coolly toward me with extra steel in his voice and body. He did not disagree. He simply said, "We're not going to do that."

"Why not?" I said.

With just a flicker of smile, he answered, "Because we want to punish the Democrats, we want to hurt them, wound them."

[glitch]

6. He actually stated this in 2000, and at other times. Doesn't get a lot of

play among his supporters though. Wonder why that is?

[The Magistrate]

8. 'Hitler Is The Ice-Breaker Of The Revolution!'

You are corect about Wrecker Nader's motivation, Sir. This is an old delusion of the splinterist left, that bu detroying left-center elements and placing reactionaries in power by default they can provoke a revolutionary situation in which they will be the leaders. It never, ever works: once in, the fascists simply consolidate power and exterminate the splinterist left....

"History does not repeat herself. She says, 'Weren't you listening the first time?' and smacks you upside the head with a brick."

"LET'S GO GET THOSE BUSH BASTARDS!"

[LoZoccolo]

9. There were people here...

...that openly advocated letting things get worse so that people run to their types of candidates, or even letting the entire country collapse so they could build it again. They don't even know the magnitude of what they're asking for.

[ProfessorPlum]

10. "He wants Bush to win". Gee, ya think?

I'm glad you finally figured it out.

My apologies for coming off harsh, but what else could Nader's game possibly be? He's obviously been a Republican operative for years.

[Rambis]

11. Fuck Ralph Nadar!

You are rich you asshole, leave us something that we can survive on. I can't take 4 more years of bush, emotionally or financially. Quit playing with our future!

[mongo]

12. Nader has a Messiah complex

and believes that he is the only one who can save this country.

[calico1]

13. You are mostly right.

He wants to save the country by running it to the ground. Many people have said this and he himself has alluded to it on occasion. He feels that the only thing that will wake people up is total chaos and disaster. But he also wants to punish the Democratic Party for keeping him on the fringes and not embracing his more progressive but sometimes extreme policies. He is a total egotist and is outraged that people can't see how right he is about everything. :eyes: Unfortunately for him, his legacy will not be one of being instrumental in the seatbelt laws or other safety regulations, but of being or wanting to be the spoiler and of being in bed with the GOP to achieve his goals.

[WI_DEM]

14. I think he is a egomaniac

[Dulcinea]

16. I do too.

This is nothing but an ego trip for him.

"We have to destroy the country in order to save it?"

WTF?

[kerry-is-my-prez]

15. But as we've seen the 'Merican peepul are too dumb to notice these things.

Bush has already done irreparable damage to this country but people haven't even noticed - how does he expect them to notice this time around? Doesn't he care about the thousands of people who have been killed (Americans, Iraqis and Afghani citizens). Also the innocent animals who have been harrassed and killed due to BushCo's environmental policies.

Nader strikes me as a very callous, selfish and narcissistic person who is willing to see others suffer and die so that he can play his little "games" and get his share of the limelight.

[ibegurpard]

17. I don't think they're dumb

Like I stated above, I think that they're too busy,complacent, or apathetic to look beyond the media filter. No matter how bad things get, a substantial portion of the public won't see it and I don't think Nader is fitting that into his slash and burn strategy.

[MsTryska]

18. Call Me Crazy.....

but i've just never thought Nader's platform was all that good.


it just strikes me as overly socialist. a little socialism is good.

a lot of socialism and i feel stifled.

[DaveinMD]

19. Ralph Nader

is a big hyprocrite. He's fought organizing efforts for the employees at his organizations and is legendary for his abuse of his employees. Yet, he claims to be a friend of the worker. I wouldn't vote for him for dog catcher.