Nader may pass on '04 run if Dean is nominee

[Epoch]

I hope this is still LBN. If not, get rid of it.

From www.politics1.com (and the Wall Street Journal I guess?)

NADER MAY PASS ON '02 RUN IF DEAN IS DEM NOMINEE. Former Green Party Presidential nominee Ralph Nader continues his on-and-off flirtation with making a fourth run for the White House in 2004. Nader has yet to decide if he'll run next year and yet to decide if he'd run as a Green or an Independent if does make the race. However -- in what must be good news to the Democrats -- Nader told the Wall Street Journal on Friday that he would probably not run if Howard Dean is the Democratic nominee. "Reading his position papers sounds eerily similar to what we've been saying. He speaks clearly … not in Senate-ese … and projects vigor. We need a macho Democrat," said Nader. Nader has previously expressed strong support for Dennis Kucinich's Presidential campaign, but this is the first time he's praised Dean. Don't think, however, that Nader is a total Dean cheerleader: "Dean's record as Governor is nothing to shout about," explained Nader.

THis is on paragraph so I'm assuming it follows copyright laws...
Just covering all my bases :)

This is great news. I was worried that nader would run if Dean was the nominee. Maybe nader is coming to his senses. This definitly increases our chances in some swing states.

Yaron
home for the holidays

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. I wonder how many DON'T RUN he

got on his website and is now looking for a way out

[jpgray]

2. Ding ding ding

Howard Dean is in *direct* opposition to many of Nader's planks.

[UrbScotty]

3. <breathes sigh of relief> (nt)

[Just Me]

22. It's a "sign",...

,...of change. :toast:
Not a bad thing at all,...matter of fact, a very, very good sign. We have to pull ourselves together now, :hug: I sincerely believe that Ralph and liberals and activists and democrats and others recognize that fact. Makes me very happy :7

[Gman]

4. Sorry SOB

Sorry bastard.

[FlemingsGhost]

6. Must you say something offensive?

Must you bash Nader and the Greens? What does it accomplish other than to make you feel good?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=276678&mesg_id=277050&page=

[neuvocat]

7. I'm a Green and I happen to agree with that post.

A number of Greens and myself all got together and wrote up a letter to encourage Nader to speak out on the problems with the voting machines-citing his background as a consumer advocate.

We never got a response and Nader has never said a single thing about it.

[Gman]

25. Yes, I must bash Nader and the Greens. They are the enemy

The enemy is anyone that wants to beat my Democratic candidate from the court house to the White House. We are at war with the right wing and we don't have time to waste on sorry bastards like Nader.

And don't forget the Pope his self told Bush if he goes to war with Iraq he "goes without God".

[depakid]

39. You'd bash ANYONE who disagrees with your narrow ideology

you've demonstrated that over and over in your posts... not a very effective strategy for doing anything other than venting, which seems to be your main focus here.

[Skittles]

28. I agree with Gman

Nader is an egotistical sorry bastard and a f***ing a**hole. He needs to SHUT THE F*** UP AND GO AWAY.

[diamondsoul]

47. You know, 2 week ago

I defended him. Today, I agree. He's as bad as any other partison politician and can get stuffed.

[Colin Ex]

36. "Making friends.. the AMERICAN way." nt

[dolstein]

5. Gee, this makes me dislike Dean even more

Sorry, but hearing Ralph Nader -- who did everything he could to keep Al Gore out of the House -- complement Howard Dean doesn't exactly earn Dean any points in my book.

Oh, and Ralph -- if you want to influence who gets the Democratic nomination, do the same thing the rest of us are doing -- register Democrat and vote in a f******* primary! Don't hold a gun to our head threaning to run as a third party candidate if we don't pick the person you want.

[ulysses]

8. damn, and Dean was counting on you, too.

:eyes:

I do have to say that I'm amused at how the spectacle of a moderate/centrist with a good amount of leftist support has Dem centrists like yourself up in arms. What're you going to do if Nader *endorses* Dean? Vote for Bush?

[Sterling]

9. I lean Green and will vote for Dean

I know a lot of people like me. Maybe that is why Nader thinks a Dean run negates the reason he would run?

[ulysses]

14. I'm wary of speculating on Nader's reasons for doing/not doing

whatever he does. That said, I think his view of Dean is intriguing. This could all be very interesting, especially for folks like ourselves.

[Sterling]

24. To me it makes perfect sense.

We need to get rid of Bush and Dean seems like a resonable comprimise at this point. He was anti war and hit Bush hard early which appealed to lefties and he does not offend so called "moderates".

In a perfect world I would not be for Dean but this is an emergency. I think it is the right wingers of the party who are blowing it. The need to realize they have to field someone the party base can live with not just someone that won't make the dittoheads angry.

As we learned even given them the best Republican President ever (Clinton) was not enough of a comprimise for them.

[ulysses]

40. completely agreed n/t

[LiberalFighter]

30. Could also be that Colorado Green Party are NOT endorsing

A day or two ago there was a news item regarding them not endorsing Nader for President on the Green Party ticket.

[w4rma]

38. It's wierd. It's like there are members of our party who just don't *want*

support from the Democratic base. They seem to believe that if the candidate they support is getting enthusiastic support from the Democratic base, also, then they are doing something wrong. :crazy:

[ulysses]

41. it's not *like* that, Rick, it's *exactly* that.

If Dean hadn't drawn the support he has from the left, he'd be the darling of the conservative wing of the party. Remember the DLC's dire warnings against exciting the base? All the handwringing about how "angry" he is falls out of that, methinks.

[IndianaGreen]

10. And Al From and his DLC friends pulled the rug from under Gore in 2002

They hated Gore for turning populist on them and for speaking out against Bush's rush to war against Iraq, and against the PATRIOT Act.

[dolstein]

32. Yeah, and Dean held their coats and mopped up the blood

Who are you kidding? Howard Dean may have Al Gore's endorsement, but he obviously think any more highly than Al From did of a Gore run in 2004.

[MGKrebs]

11. That's twisted.

If Nader is the enemy, and the way to keep Nader out of the picture is to vote for Dean, you are going to....

not vote for Dean?

[BootinUp]

16. A very sensible post there! n/t

[LiberalFighter]

29. Me thinks that Nader is just using it as an excuse

Make him look better to those that use to be his friends.

[robbedvoter]

12. I thought Kuchinich was the only one with the "no run" guarantee

I'd like to see a group hug: Ralph, Karl, Al - all throwing rice on *D!
Of course the joke is on Ralph: Gore got headlines, he only gets...politics1.com?

[twilight]

42. The Green Party has already endorsed Kucinich!

If Kucinich doesn't win, then the Green Party will go with Dean if he is the nominee! Otherwise Nadar may very well run again.

How I'd love to see DK win! Now THAT would really make my day!

Signed, a former Green Party member that supports Dennis Kucinich 1000% in 2004!!!!! :D

[bobthedrummer]

43. And Dennis is a loyal Democrat, a populist with a vision, not far-left.

Not farout at all. He taught when he sat out of politics for many years. My dad and his dad were both truck drivers. My dad was a Teamster all his life. I ran an informational picketline for the UFCW for 14 months once. I'll take a Department of Peace over Homeland Security and live safer, yet some freeper type Democrats laugh at the idea and then use the unelectable card.

Sad, Dennis certainly isn't far left, he comes from where I come from, working class, and he is merely a traditional Democratic populist not a Socialist lefty at all.

Weird that Howard Dean has always been my second choice, maybe it's the intelligence factor in realpolitik or something, but Dean will beat Bush if he's the nominee is this independent voter's feeling.

Yet I'm voting for Kucinich in the 2-17-2004 WI. primary. A lot of people are. The Greens and the independents that voted for Nader in 2000 include me, I didn't steal the election in Florida by doing that, Bush did it BTW.

Bush has got to go though, that is the primary goal, a Democrat elected President in 2004 regardless therefore what Nader does will not get my vote next year.

What Democrat thinks Kucinich is far left???????????

[WilliamPitt]

13. So weird

Dean is not a liberal. Period.

[ulysses]

15. and perhaps

that fact could lead a few folks to reevaluate what they think progressives want from the party.

[BootinUp]

17. Will are you

going to write a book about this election when its all over? Could be a top seller....

[burrowowl]

23. I think it is weird too.

Dean is not a liberal, he has rather libertarian tendencies.

[JohnKleeb]

18. This is good

Serious, thats good. I don't want Nader running anymore than anyone else.

[corporatewhore]

19. wasnt there a post about howif dean was the nominee he would run

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=875834
http://www.politicsnh.com/archives/pindell/2003/November/12_9Ralph.shtml
I really dont want to vote for a death penalty nra endorsed cannidate like dean.I am lucky enough to live in a safe state so no one can pick on me for voting who i want to vote for I wouldnt want a dean presidency could you imangine the state of the union adresses!he is sooo angry sure its directed at bush but i like someone who lifts me up not brings me down any way maybe not nader but Jello if dean gets the ticket straight punk party ticke!!!

[ozone_man]

20. I find this very interesting.

Nader finds Dean worth staying out of the race, an underhanded endorsement of sorts. I have to say that I see things pretty much the same, but think much more highly of Dean. I did vote for Nader in 2000. There are times to compromise and Dean is a pretty darn good one IMO. It really is time to take back the Democratic party and Dean is the one to do it. I suspect that Nader sees this.

"Reading his position papers sounds eerily similar to what we've been saying. He speaks clearly … not in Senate-ese … and projects vigor. We need a macho Democrat,"

[deminflorida]

21. He won't run because all of his former supporters are supporting

Dean...They think they influenced the election of 2000, and they see Howard Dean as a fast moving activist train that they can jump on and highjack the democratic party with. Well they're wrong, influencing the vote in Iowa and New Hampshire is not the whole primary. It might be if Dean would have come to fame as a mainstream candidate but he didn't his support was mainly grass roots. They failed in 2000 and they'll fail in 2004, Clark is raising enough money now to stay in the race as it progresses thru the southern and heartland states. The other moderate candidate supporters will logically go to Clark's camp as they fold after early Feb. (That's if Clark wins big on Feb. 3) Gore thought he'd ride that train until it met disaster against Bush and then he'd be able to build on that 8 million dollar campaign fund he's sitting on then run in 2008 utilizing Dean's former base.

Wrong...won't happen....

Votes will be counted...people are working hard right now to see that it happens.

[Sterling]

26. Yes you are right, we are taking back the party this time.

It has been a long time coming. Hey you guys demanded we work "within the party". Be careful what you ask for. I would like to think Clark would want to represent the people who voted for Nader last time as well. But according to you he does not need them.

I wonder if that is why Dean is taking the prize this time? Wes would be better served by people who don't try to allienate a large part of the primary base. He was impressing lefties at the start but it became clear his base was full of right wingers which turned off the people who will be deciding this primary.

I look forward to seeing Clark stump for Dean in the general, I really like him and think he will be a contender after 8 years of president Dean. In the meantime he will have a chance to earn his stripes as a dem.

[pinto]

33. Repugs did a good job becoming a minority party in the past

by incessant internal warfare. There's a lesson there, imho.

[deminflorida]

45. Thank you for being honest and making my point, welcome to

Clinton's democratic party. Try and change it if you want but we'll look forward to Dean as well stumping for Clark in the general.

[Terwilliger]

51. Kucinich

most of his former supporters are supporting Kucinich

[UTUSN]

27. Alrighty Now, How Epochal n/t

[Triana]

31. nader also said...

...he would pull out of the race in 2000 in states where the race was tight between gore and bush.

HE LIED...and did not do so.

[Voltaire99]

34. Nader's putting timid center-right Democrats on notice

Nominate an appeaser like Lieberman or Gephardt, and all bets are off.

However, do the right thing by nominating a Dem who has some awareness of (if not exactly devotion to) progressive values, and maybe that candidate will be worthy of support from the left.

If not, well... It's a free country. Anyone can run. :-)

(P.S. Do the right thing. You know you want to!)

[mikehiggins]

35. WOW! Another authoritative voice anointing Dean as our candidate

Be still my heart.

I wonder why anyone even insists on voting at all, considering how many important people think Dean should be the candidate.

The nerve of those other candidates.

Who will we hear from next?

[whirlygigspin]

37. the Pope endorses Dean

just kidding :)

Just the facts ma'am: Clark is a nice guy but he has never been elected to anything, and that is a big minus. I hope Nader is doing the right thing, and he does represent a lot of people, no matter how much you dislike him, so it does matter.

We need everyone to push the congress back from the cliff of far right ideology and back to fiscal sanity and social progress; if Nader can help in that, I say more power to him.

Give e'm hell Howard!

[SOS]

44. Who cares

as long as the Dem nominee picks up Naders 3 million votes.

[deminflorida]

46. Nader might want to think about getting his name on the ballot,

after Feb. 3, 2004.

[amber dog democrat]

48. May he pass out out sight.

I can't forgive him for his egotistical vanity contributing towards the coronation of The Chimp. Sometimes ifs better if one does NOT make a difference.

[Terwilliger]

49. Is this where people develop all these misunderstandings?

[Terwilliger]

50. nowhere in rthis blurb does Nader suggest he won't run if Dean is the nom

The writer of the blurb claims that conclusion, but provides NO quote to back it up.

I've seen this thing before from the whole "Nader wants to destroy the Democratic party" crap.

[David Zephyr]

52. Good for Ralph!

:thumbsup: