Nader's New Running Mate Not A Nader Fan In 2004

New York Times:

Back in June 2004, Matt Gonzalez, the young president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, spoke candidly to a group of the nation's top college journalists as part of a prestigious writing competition.

As a prominent Green Party member, Mr. Gonzalez was asked how he felt about Ralph Nader taking another shot at the presidency. And what he said back then could make things a little awkward on the trail now that he's Mr. Nader's 2008 running mate.

Read the whole story: New York Times

Comments

[Rowland]

The disingenuousness of Mr. Nader lies in his failure to recognize publicly that political leadership consists not only of being correct on the issues, but of truthfully representing to the electorate that one has the political skill to organize and lead other politicians to further political goals associated with those issues. Mr. Nader may be right on each and every issue but what is obvious is that he is totally lacking in the personal skills to form the friendships and alliances that will cause movement within the political arena. If anything, he will alienate even the closest natural colleagues. In short, he sees and understands goals, as do many, but fails utterly to understand the necessary process.

[ReasonIsMyReligion]

Just wondering why Nader gets more coverage than Green Party candidate Cynthia McKinney.

Check out her video. Her message is simple and clear.

Food for thought that Clinton, Obama, and McSame can't get it right on this one key topic: IN 2006, AMERICA VOTED OVERWHELMINGLY TO END OUR PARTICIPATION IN THE IRAQUBACLE.

http://runcynthiarun.org/

[MetalCanuck]

Ralph Nader is better than Obama or Clinton put together. He is not in the CFR and isn't run by companies like the MSM Candidates are. People need to wake up and vote for a real leader.

[LoRiseAntlers]

You can vote for Ralph in the magical land of Paultardia,where the streets will be paved with gold standard bricks and everyone will be employed in pecking furiously at their keyboards in the war against the CFR,NAU,Illuminati and every other political bogeyman Alex Jones can come up with.

Long live the Love Revoluitio­n,Baby!!!!­!!!!!

[MetalCanuck]

Your an idiot and CNN just admitted America is heading to a great Depression. Ron Paul is right and you will look like a moron.

[armadillious2002]

Your correct Ralph is not run by Corporate America directly - he is run by the Republican Party.

[MetalCanuck]

No he is not, he can't stand the Repubs. He likes Dennis Kucinich and yes Ron Paul...not because he agrees with them but because they are honest like he is....keep drinking the Dem coolaid.

OH they just caved again on WIRETAPS!! HAHAHA! Keep drinking the dem koolaid LOL

[researcher]

whole system needs to be changed. throw them all out and start over. like change the constitution to term limits. jefferson told us what would be necessary every 200 years but no one listened in 1976.

now we suffer and think we can change the system with the same people within the system. lets see we have spineless demos and war mongering repubs. yea they will work to change the system.

[LoRiseAntlers]

Like Ralph,we all need to mumble "Jeffersonian Revolution" when anybody asks our position on anything.

That is the key to victory.

[factotem]

hooray... hooray for, um, Mr. nader and ... his running mate... whatshisface, because according to those who voted for him, his two previous runs have really forced the nation to talk about the real issues.

hooray.

??!!

.. and further more: &%$#%@@%

That is some massive self-delusion on the part of Nader and the Naderettes. If you voted for Nader, just admit you're a moron and move on. His campaigns have accomplished dick.

[nippersdad]

I cannot tell you how thrilled I am that you are completely content with the Chuck Schumers, Dianne Feinsteins, Nancy Pelosi's, Reids, Liebermans and Landrieus that such talk consistently works to the advantage of. If aiding and abetting the Republican agenda is what you are after, you simply could not have chosen better and I congratulate you.

If not, please, don't think to apologise to those of us who have been telling you so for the last eight or so years. Really, it isn't necessary to feel any complicity in the deaths of millions of Iraqi's or the looting of trillions of dollars from our economy. Think of us when you are paying for $4.00 gas at the pump and when grocery prices rise 2-300% (at best) over the next few years., we will most definitely be thinking of you.

[LoRiseAntlers]

nippersdad-stop your bullshiat sanctimony,okay?


Just because you support a fringe idiot who blows smoke up your ass does NOT give you the right to pass judgment on people who support someone who actually has a chance to be elected,and the political clout to actually effect change when elected.

take your self righteous self and go looking for some conspiracies,okay?

[factotem]

I'm sorry that you're content to imagine that a schmuch like Nader is the only alternaitve to Bush, Clinton Delay, Pelosi.

[transendentilist]

On the contrary, his campaigns have gotten George bush into the white house. If this asshole cared about America, he wouldn't pop up, out of the blue, every election year. The man is obviously a paid spoiler.

[RogerHWerner]

I can't forget all the good that Nader's done but damn, had he played the 2000 election a little less egotistically, he could have been a real player today. He could have ensured a Gore victory and goodness knows where we would be today. Maybe worse off but I doubt it. Frankly, Nader ran in 2004 and simply wasn't a factor and I don't believe he will be a factor in 2008. He has a right to run and if that's what he wants to do then he should do it.

[ReasonIsMyReligion]

I like him better as a punch line than a spoiler.

[nippersdad]

Hopefully the joke won't be on us, again.

[AnninCA]

I think he's cute as heck. As a Hillary supporter who may be forced to vote Independen­t......

I'm happy to see this cute guy.

I'll let him be my "viagra push."

*haha

[transendentilist]

Give it up Nader, you un-American meddler. If you truly cared about America, you wouldn't be spoiling the race with your once every four years appearance.
What is your game, Mr. Nader???

[nippersdad]

Perhaps if you had been listening when he was advocating against deregulation of the banks in the nineties, we would not be having the economic woes we are having today. Extrapolate that over all of the issues and you might just start to understand what "his game" really is. That's O.K., those people really didn't want those houses anyway, and the bankers who looted the system will be bailed out so, all's well that ends well, right?

[MetalCanuck]

You don't seem to understand that the Dems and the Repubs are the same. They are run by the same people.

[transendentilist]

Really? I don't understand? Nonsense. America has always been a two-party system. It's always a choice of the lesser of two evils. The dems are not anywhere close to being neo-conservatives. To say so is just not true.
Think about what you want from government.

[LyricalLexicon]

I don't plan to vote for Nader but this is a democracy and it is his right to run if he chooses. The DLC has taken over the party and the democratic leadership is moving the party toward the center. If the Democrats put true progressive candidates on ballot then there wouldn't be anything to fear from an independent like Nader. If Ron Paul decides to run as an independent, I wonder will republicans do all this whinning about him stealing independent and moderate votes for McCain like you people do about Nader. In fact, Ron Paul would probably be a bigger threat to steal votes from the Democrats then Ralph Nader due to the media's demonization of Nader.

[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.

[RogerHWerner]

I rather believe you're missing the main issue here and it has little to do with hypocrisy. For progressive and liberals the name of the game is to destroy the GOP. Frankly, I don;t just want to win in November I want to bury the GOP so deeply in their own stench they will cease to exist as a party. Anything that interferes with this is a problem and that includes a Nader candidacy. I don;t believe the DLC is completely stupid. If the GOP is demolished they just might get the point that the electorate is fed up with policies that favor multinational corporations and the ultra rich. If they don't, the next election would be a good time to deal with the DLC. I'll vote for a DLC candidate gladly...i­n this election but I think I speak for a lot of people when I say that it would be a mistake to presume this is a vote for politics as usual. But the only way for politics as usual to change is for one party to take a serious hit and my sense is the GOP deserve all the manure that comes there way.

[nippersdad]

"The name of the game is to destroy the Republican Party." Really, and who told you that? Question: with what do you intend to replace it? The DLC Democratic Party, Perhaps? The thing is to discredit, not destroy. They are a useful foil and a handy reservoir for the fascists and bigots in our midst. We need them.

The next four years are going to be economically devastating for this country...­alll of the economic bad news has deliberately been backloaded into the calculations. If you are happy to get DLC'ers in this election it may well be the undoing of the Democratic Party itself, and all of your hopes for Progressive change within it.

[isisdawnra]

It's clear to me Nader is really only interested in Attention.
Twisted with personality disorder, at best.
He is to be completly ignored

[NoahVail]

If the Green Party was smart (and I am not saying they are not) they would find a different front man. Nader should stick to consumer advocacy, learn to drive a car, and come out of the closet.

[PhillyQuaker]

List of Green presidential candidates and their campaign web sites:

Jesse Johnson http://www.jesse08.org

Cynthia McKinney http://www.runcynthiarun.org

Kent Mesplay http://www.mesplay.org

Kat Swift http://www.voteswift.org

[armadillious2002]

Nader - Yuck! Anybody who would vote for that bought and paid for nitwit needs a brain transplant and for sure needs to be neutered to stop the seed.

[nippersdad]

Thank you for that exquisitely reasoned, erudite and eminently polite take on the issue. Have you considered taking your talent for punditry into larger venues? Jerry Springer? FOX?

[zendem1]

No. have you considerd locking yourself in your basement on Election day, instead of traipsing your pretend-in­tellectual actualizing bullshit ass down to the poliing station to vote for that loser again, thus helping bring about 4 more years of republican rule?