Nader Again: A Snare and a Delusion

Ralph Nader is running for president, again. But he has a problem: he doesn't understand the web as well as the web understands him. Message to Ralph: It's not the 1970s any more. It's not even the 1990s any more.

In 2000, when Nader made his first serious run for president, he had a substantial base of supporters. (Full disclosure: I was among them.) But that was before the real flowering of the web and the networked public sphere. In 2004, he ran again, but--for obvious reasons--he was far less popular. (You can read some of my criticisms back then here, here and here.) The rationale for his candidacy--that there were no serious differences between John Kerry and George Bush--made sense to few people. Online, Nader was battered: After initially soliciting opinions on his candidacy from visitors to his website, he shut down that option because the tide of opinion was so negative.

Four years ago, Nader told the New York Times that he wasn't bothered by the fact that he had just a few hundred supporters on Meetup.com, compared to 188,000 for Howard Dean; 45,000 for John Kerry; and 23,000 for his friend Dennis Kucinich. His comment was: "I really don't deal with the Web. There isn't enough time in the day to go into virtual reality." I wrote then that I thought that line should lead his political obituary.

I have a feeling Nader's view of the web hasn't changed. In fact, the web gave me the goods to prove it, video and all. Yes, during his appearance last Sunday on Meet the Press, where he announced his new bid for the White House, he told Tim Russert, "I want the people out there just to look at our web site and see how exciting it's going to be. I've been assured by my computer/Internet literate associates--I grew up in the Underwood typewriter age, you know--that this is going to be the most exciting, informative, participatory Web site of any presidential campaign, votenader.org."

Puhleeze! Nader's campaign website is hardly anything to write home about. Right now, it mostly reminds me of Joe Biden's campaign site, which was also overstocked with pictures of The Candidate in his many poses. To his credit, Nader does have a blog, which includes a moderated comments section with a lengthy disclaimer noting that it may take several hours before comments are reviewed and approved. (I'm not sure how one comment that spelled Hillary Clinton's name as "Hitlery" passed muster, but Nader's minions do not appear to be censoring comments critical of Nader's run as of now--we'll see if that policy lasts.) Nader also has a MySpace page, with about 500 friends, and a Facebook page he launched this morning, it appears. And someone on his team has made a cute YouTube video aimed at recruiting volunteers.

But when Nader goes on Meet the Press, he's in his pitch mode. After all, this is broadcast politics, which he understands. You have to look at his college visits to find out what he really thinks of the net. Here are two examples...

To read the rest, go to TechPresident.com

Comments

[BrooklynLager]

I agree with just about everything Nader says on the issues. But what I don't understand is why he thinks making a symbolic run for the Presidency is the best way to accomplish those goals.

He's basically going to spend the next 8 months holding press-conferences when his talents and ideas could be put to much better use organizing and doing the work that every other progressive does, and that Nader seems to think is beneath him.

[socks1]

Now that Ralph isn't going to cut into the large lead the Democrats will have over McCain, might be a good time to listen to what Ralph has to say about the closness of the 2 power political parties.

From moment one of the Reagan administration the American people were fed the bs propaganda of a corporate agenda that has made economic slaves of the American people.

So here we sit, fast becoming a 3rd world country, with less freedom, mounting debt, lack of jobs and other countries owning our infrastructure.

The guy that is preaching a message of how to get out of this corporate mess is Nadar. It might be a good thing to finally give him a few minutes of your time and try to understand what he has been saying all these years. A lesser man would have given up long ago but he is still eager to fight for you and your kids.

If only to know how to nudge the coming President into a better way, you will do yourself alot of good reading what Ralph has to say.

[emjay1954]

It sure would be nice to see the Democrats do one tenth as much about stopping Bush as they do about stopping Ralph.

Of course, they have more in common with Bush than with Ralph, so I understand the allocation of their efforts.

[Anderkoo]

Nader, and his supporters, may be right that the two-party system is broken, but if that's the case, the right way to fix it isn't to participate in the system, it's to reform it from the outside. Starting, perhaps, with a small state and pushing for whatever electoral reforms (proportional voting, campaign finance reform, whatever) will eliminate the bias towards two parties.

There's something off about complaining that the system is broken and then jumping into it anyway.

[dadw5boys]

THE YEAR DOES NOT MATTER!

NADER THE TRAITOR GETS PAID JUST TO RUN!

MONEY IS THE SAME ONLY HAS LESS VALUE THANKS TO NADERS SUPPORTERS.

[research]

Nader is a conservative.

Nader is financed by conservatives

Nader's campaign will help conservatives win the white house.

[strifeknot]

You're a deluded Dem loyalist. Nader is well to the left and more principled than you and any other pusillanimous party member.

[S1m0n]

Poli sci recognises two kinds of voters: Expressive voters and Effective voters. The latter uses the strategy of much of the activists in the democratic party; voting for the attainable result closest to the one they really want. The former votes for the position they most closely identify with, regardless of result. Each camp thinks the other is crazy.

Nader voters are almost exclusively voting expressively. Democratic party theories about these being lost dem votes depend on thinking of them as effective voters. That's an error; they're not. If they were, they'd already BE voting democrat, regardless of Nader.

[research]

Political Science is not much of a science. What about people who start out voting in the primaries based on what they want, then after the primary vote for the closest attainable goal: a dem president.

[JohnFromCensornati]

While I believe a Dim president is better than a RepubliCon president, that's not saying much.
The Dims CHOSE to fund the occupation of Iraq in order to improve their chances in this election.
They were NOT forced to do that.
They are nothing to get excited about.

[ozamerican]

Well, to prove that at least some shreds of democracy are still intact, he should run if he wants to.

It's not even going to be close between Obama and McCain, so Nader shouldn't be a factor. If anything, he might peel off a few votes from McCain (from the older demographic who might still remember Nader).

[mightbesane]

I'll give you instead Ralph's comments on Meet the Press recently. He said that there is no difference between the two political parties but that 'I was more critical of Bush than I was of Gore.'
Whoop-De-Doo. More critical. Such foresight.

[WorkingClass]

You say you supported Nader in 2000. Why? I gather that you no longer support Nader because he is a has-been and does not understand the internet. You say - "The rationale for his candidacy--that there were no serious differences between John Kerry and George Bush--made sense to few" Did Nader ever actually say that. Is there a quote. Anybody? In 2000 did Nader ever actually say there was no difference between George Bush and Al Gore? Anybody?

[RuthAlice]

Yes, MightBeSane. If Nader were serious about progressive policy he would have helped Edwards campaign. But he's not serious about it, he's seeking face time on TV. I swear, after his years of good work, this new Nader seems bent on destroying his legacy.

[Savanarola]

Nader is an analog guy in a digital world...his ideas resonate but his transmitter
lacks bandwith and reach. He should voluntarily obsolesce...RIP.

[mightbesane]

To paraphrase Ronnie: There he goes again.

Ralph's run in 2000 was a valiant if misguided attempt to highlight the similarity of the political parties and their dependence on big money. His run in 2004 was less valiant, more misguided. His current run can only be put down to pure ego.

Many of us respect Ralph - at least, we used to. If he were serious about anything other than face time in the media, he would have spent the last few years recruiting a credible, viable candidate to represent his concerns. But running again, in basically the same way (My Space aside) and for the same reasons defines, as the saying goes, insanity. Sorry, Ralph, but there it is.

[SamThornton]

Am I the only one that finds it amusing Mr. Nader's campaign website is located in Vancouver, British Columbia and was registered by a company located in France? http://tinyurl.com/3avf66

[fivecard]

Only further proof of how Nader is politically tone deaf....

[strifeknot]

So?