Nader Picks Running Mate

ANN SANNER | February 28, 2008 01:41 PM EST | AP

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WASHINGTON — Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader selected Matt Gonzalez, a former member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, to be his running mate.

"I want someone who shares my sense of justice and opposition to corporate state control over our society," Nader said Thursday at a news conference announcing his choice. Nader launched his White House bid last weekend.

The Texas-born Gonzalez ran for mayor of San Francisco as a Green Party candidate in 2003 but lost to Gavin Newsom.

Gonzalez said he recognized the difficulties of winning the presidential election.

"I have no illusions about what's happening here today," Gonzalez said. "But let me also say that I've never entered a political contest with the idea that it couldn't be won."

Nader, the longtime consumer advocate, sought the White House in each of the last three presidential elections: He ran on the Green Party ticket in 1996 and 2000, and as an independent in 2004.

On Thursday, he said he would not be seeking the Green Party nomination, noting that the party has four announced candidates.

"We think that there is plenty of room in this country for parallel progressive candidates," he said.

Nader is still loathed by many Democrats who call him a spoiler and claim his candidacy in 2000 cost Democrats the election by siphoning votes from Al Gore in a razor-thin contest in Florida. Nader has vociferously disputed the spoiler claim, saying only Democrats are to blame for losing the race to George W. Bush.

Though he won 2.7 percent of the national vote as the Green Party candidate in 2000, Nader won just 0.3 percent as an independent in 2004, when he appeared on the ballot in only 34 states.


 
 

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- eggman See Profile I'm a Fan of eggman

It's nice to be able to vote for "Neither of those two losers." I've done it more than once when the Dem and GOP cjhoices were not acceptable. This election, we have an acceptable candidate on the Dem side so I'll vote for him/her (I assume it'll be "him" but whichever). But I'm glad there's a third-party candidate in the race. I hope Huckabee or some other rightwing nut runs too.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 01:22 PM on 02/29/2008
- Dendroica See Profile I'm a Fan of Dendroica

I love the way they've juxtaposed this story with the guy punching the prisoner at Gitmo. Almost makes it look as if he's the guy Nader has picked!

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 07:26 AM on 02/29/2008
- Demoid See Profile I'm a Fan of Demoid

LAST TIME AROUND HIS RUNNING MATE WAS THE PAST LEADER OF THE SOCIALIST WORKERS PARTY. NOW IT'S THIS CLOWN. WHAT WASTEBASKET DOES NADER GO TO TO FIND THESE NUTCASES?

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 06:19 AM on 02/29/2008
- JohnFromCensornati See Profile I'm a Fan of JohnFromCensornati

I don't know where he finds them, but the DLC can be ruled out.
Is that why you're screaming?

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 06:27 AM on 02/29/2008
- TommyMcCarthy See Profile I'm a Fan of TommyMcCarthy

Nice Volley! Backhand too! Love-Fifteen.....still your serve, "Demoid"..................................tm

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 10:38 AM on 02/29/2008
- win2kpro See Profile I'm a Fan of win2kpro

Does anyone really give a shit who Ralphie chose as his running mate?

Nader IS NOT a viable candidate, why does he continue to get ANY media attention.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 06:14 AM on 02/29/2008
- JohnFromCensornati See Profile I'm a Fan of JohnFromCensornati

I did not know that having a viable presidential candidacy was a prerequisite for media coverage in the USA.
Somebody should let the media know this.
Maybe we'd hear a lot less about Paris Hilton (and Hillary Clinton).

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 06:45 AM on 02/29/2008
- AtomicSplash See Profile I'm a Fan of AtomicSplash

So,... does anybody think Matt Gonzalez knows Ralph picked him as a running mate?

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 11:54 PM on 02/28/2008
- gregjones See Profile I'm a Fan of gregjones

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Say It Loud...BARACK & I'M PROUD !!!!!

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 07:17 PM on 02/28/2008
- LyricalLexicon See Profile I'm a Fan of LyricalLexicon

You people are a bunch of hypocrites, it seems its okay for third party candidates to run as long its not someone who would steal votes from your guy. If the Democrats had picked John Edwards instead of two DLC candidates then Nader wouldn't have felt any need to run for President since Nader had already endorsed him. All the crap about Nader costing Gore the election has gotten old. Yall sound like the talking heads on TV who think if you say something enough times it will become the truth. The truth is Gore was not a great campaigner and he dropped the ball by losing his home state, not to mention the Supreme Court decided the election. I have never heard the Republicans bitching about how Perot cost their man the election in 1992. If Obama with all his charisma, organization, media love and money winds up in a race with McCain thats close enough to be decided by Nader's less than 1 percent of the vote then the blame is on the democratic party for alienating voters with it's move toward the center.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 05:37 PM on 02/28/2008
- Dendroica See Profile I'm a Fan of Dendroica

You've never heard that?

You must have cotton in your ears.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 07:25 AM on 02/29/2008
- Groobiecat See Profile I'm a Fan of Groobiecat

Gore should have run better, sure. People reacted against Clinton, too, okay. There are lots of reasons Bush won. But this is not about that. Answer the following question:

Q. Could Ralph Nader have exercised his power to encourage his considerable following to vote against Bush by voting for Gore?

A. Yes or No?

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 06:28 PM on 02/28/2008
- JMorgan See Profile I'm a Fan of JMorgan

I think you have things twisted, but I'm not surprised after so many years of paternalistic politics.

We, the people, own our elections, and are responsible for our votes. Candidates aren't responsible for turning their voters on or off to other candidates.

If you want to be angry about the 2000 election, or the 2004 election, get angry at the people who voted for the winning candidate. Or get angry at the people who didn't vote for Gore or Kerry. Or the people who were eligible to vote, but didn't bother (about 100 million Americans). Or get angry at the people who toiled to make sure your vote didn't count, and steal those elections.

But to blame Nader is like cutting off your feet in the winter to prevent frostbite.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 05:27 PM on 02/29/2008
- cosmicfish See Profile I'm a Fan of cosmicfish

I don't know guys ... I think you are making a big error in judgement. You have pissed off allot of Clinton supporters with your nasty comments and many of them may just go with Nader. Just remember a few months ago everyone was looking at your Oba,a as some kind of joke so things can change over night.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 04:40 PM on 02/28/2008
- Groobiecat See Profile I'm a Fan of Groobiecat

Yeah, whatever, if Nader spoils it this year, I'm moving abroad. I'm tired of supporting the Iraq war through my taxes.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 06:29 PM on 02/28/2008
- ScottHickoryIsMyPornName See Profile I'm a Fan of ScottHickoryIsMyPornName

American citizens working abroad still have to pay US taxes; that's not going to help.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 08:56 PM on 02/28/2008
- Groobiecat See Profile I'm a Fan of Groobiecat

Not if you're not a resident and have dual citizenship. I hate supporting this mini-genocide....

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 09:10 PM on 02/28/2008
- PaddyDuke See Profile I'm a Fan of PaddyDuke

"Nader Picks Nose" " a headline as newsworthy as the announcement of his running mate.

Sure, let the man run, but must we give him a podium? He"s like a three year old eating paint in the attempt to get negative attention. Ignore him and he"ll stop.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 03:19 PM on 02/28/2008
- JohnFromCensornati See Profile I'm a Fan of JohnFromCensornati

Oh, look!
It's one of the Messiah's disciples.
Surely, BOH can beat McBush.
Yes, he can!

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 05:14 PM on 02/28/2008
- wijg See Profile I'm a Fan of wijg

"Nader picks himself as running mate"

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 03:10 PM on 02/28/2008
- gcallaghan See Profile I'm a Fan of gcallaghan

Wait a second.... what's Nader's middle name? Isn't Nader an middle eastern name? Where was he born?

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 02:58 PM on 02/28/2008
- ScottHickoryIsMyPornName See Profile I'm a Fan of ScottHickoryIsMyPornName

He was born in Connecticut. His parents were born in Lebanon. Wikipedia lists his religion as Maronite Christian.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 08:59 PM on 02/28/2008
- faretheewell See Profile I'm a Fan of faretheewell

Anyone have a list of all of the charities that have Nader on their board? I want to make sure that I don't inadvertently contribute to them.

At one time, I held him in high regard. However, when he failed to pull out of the race and gave the presidency to lil georgie, my opinion changed completely. Now, I have no use at all for him.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 02:24 PM on 02/28/2008
- wm1066 See Profile I'm a Fan of wm1066

Ditto.... but I don't think Nader is on any charities, he is not a charitable man.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 03:11 PM on 02/28/2008
- BachelorJohnnyCool See Profile I'm a Fan of BachelorJohnnyCool

"On Thursday, he said he would not be seeking the Green Party nomination, noting that the party has four announced candidates."

And the MSM won't mention them or any of the dozens of other small party and independent candidates. It's a real travesty that Nader gets more coverage in three days than Dennis Kucinich and Ron Paul could hope to get in three months, especially when he's treated like a serious candidate and they're dismissed as part of the lunatic fringe. The appropriate response to a Nader candidacy is, "He says he's running for President yet again. How sad. Now, moving on to important issues in the news..."

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 02:05 PM on 02/28/2008
- JohnFromCensornati See Profile I'm a Fan of JohnFromCensornati

Kucinich and wRong Paul were "dismissed as the lunatic fringe" because they sought the Dim & GOP nominations.
Nader would have received the same treatment had he sought the Dim nom.
Nader actually advocates very popular policies.
Policies that the Dims should be advocating but do not.
The same with Kucinich.
It's NOT fringe.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 05:07 PM on 02/28/2008
- brantl See Profile I'm a Fan of brantl

I wish Nader wasn't wasting everyone's time.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 01:54 PM on 02/28/2008
- JohnFromCensornati See Profile I'm a Fan of JohnFromCensornati

Life's a bitch and then you die.
Maybe you should pass by headlines with Nader's name in them.
Voila!
Your time is no longer "wasted".

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 05:09 PM on 02/28/2008
- Groobiecat See Profile I'm a Fan of Groobiecat

"Life's a bitch and then you die" -- great description!

Here's a different version: "Nader's a principled but incredibly arrogant jerk for not keeping his promise to drop out of the race and for not endorsing Gore which would have changed the outcome of the election in 2000 then 1,000,000 people in Iraq die!"

Too bad for those dumb Iraqis that Gore didn't have a more engaging personality, because, of course, Ralph didn't have *anything* to do with the 2000 election outcome, did he?

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 06:39 PM on 02/28/2008
- JohnFromCensornati See Profile I'm a Fan of JohnFromCensornati

You're posts get more idiotic all the time.
The problem with Gore was much more than his (lack of) personality.
The fact that you believe elections are about personalities tells me all I need to know about you and your opinions.
You won't find anything that I've posted that says Nader had nothing to do with Gore's loss.
You're the moron that thinks Nader was the *only* reason as if Florida was he only state that voted in the 2000 election.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 06:23 AM on 02/29/2008
- bandit42 See Profile I'm a Fan of bandit42

Who Cares?

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 01:52 PM on 02/28/2008
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