"WASHINGTON (AP) - Ralph Nader said Sunday he will run for president as a third-party candidate, criticizing the top White House contenders as too close to big business and pledging to repeat a bid that will 'shift the power from the few to the many.'"They shouldn't count him out so soon....that's what they did to Jesse Ventura.
We had what everyone thought were two fairly good (eh) candidates in Skip Humprey and Norm Coleman (and until recently we have loved Coleman as our senator)....then came Jesse.
No one thought he would make a dent....no one thought he would matter.....they kept saying all he was going to do was split the dem vote but nothing too badly....he might take a few of the disinfranchised reps but not too much.....
Then at 2am or so on election night they finally found who the winner was and they couldn't believe it....
this guy who no one thought would make a difference--actually WON....and no one was more surprised than him!
Yup he ran with no real expectations of winning but he said just enough of the right things at the right time to the right people to get his butt into office.
He came out of the chute swinging too--he did great! but then the media got to him...they fed off his personality and started to make him look like a real dick-head...touching on subjects they knew would piss him off and make him walk out of interviews....asking questions that they knew were sore points with him just to get a rise on tape for broadcasting....it was really bad.
It was no wonder that by the end of his term he wanted nothing to do with it---even to the point where he threatened to leave the governors mansion and live back on his farm where things were more private.
That may be the same situation here with Nader. He may come in as the dark horse picking up enough voters who don't want to vote for Obama, but can't bring themselves to vote for McCain; Reps who don't like McCain but just can't swallow voting for Obama....and it might be just enough to get him the popular vote!
Now as we learned with Gore...popular vote don't mean shit when it comes to Presidential elections. But Nader may actually pick up some electrol votes this time.....he may even surprise himself.
The funny thing is when you read Nader's comments it sounds like he doesn't really want to win...and it sounds like he is doing it just so McCain doesn't win
..."If the Democrats can't landslide the Republicans this year, they ought to just wrap up, close down, emerge in a different form," Nader said.If this is the case then why doesn't he just throw his support behind whoever the dem candidate is and be done with it? He says he is doing it because he feels that both dem candidates are so pro-business....well, duh....that's where the jobs come from....he says he wants to point out that neither candidate for the dems is supporting medicare for all americans....well, duh, its broken thank you....and because no one seems to cutting down on "Pentagon waste"...I'd like to know what he calls waste...
I know that there have been claims of $500 toilet seats on submarines, hammers that cost $100...etc. But until tv's 'West Wing' showed exactly what this was about, it looked like waste--after the show it really explained where it all went.
Christian Slater (8 on the cutey meter) was guest star as a naval officer assigned to the White House and he was discussing...okay he was getting a brow beating from the character Halley (currently playing on CSI:Miami) for the military having spent $200 on ash trays {back when they had the personal right to smoke} and so he took a hammer and smashed the ash tray he brought with him from his carrier.
He explained that the reason that they cost so much is because of the way they are made....they are not the run of the mill ash tray that you can pick up at the dollar store...they were made to crackle/shatter without sending shards---which was very important if you are in rough seas or in a battle scenerio...the less shrapnel that's flying the better.
It made lots of sense. Those toilet seats? made to weight less but no break on impact....those hammers? made to last 5 times longer than those you can get at your local hardware store. While yes there is probably some waste going on---everywhere has some waste going on---I don't think the safety of our troops can be put into that same bag just because someone doesn't want to take the time to get into all the math about why its necessary (or in this case the reason why not)
Some people may remember Nader from his work in the 1960's pointing out safetly issues with cars. He did make a lasting impact on how they design cars.
Most people do not realize that before 1965 or so, seat belts no only were optional, but effective ones didn't start getting produced until the 70's!! And that was all due to him.
He pointed out issues with breaking systems, especially on the Ford Mustang; he did a lot to change the industry...and soon became a household name. And for many years was held in high regard.
He should have rode the wave then to get into the White House, but he didn't. Instead he waited until 1992 and has since came across as a bit of a nut to many people.
Click to join MonthlyDishcloths
No comments:
Post a Comment