Nader to Make "Last Stand" Before Maine Supreme Court

[Freddie Stubbs]

Source: WABI-TV

Augusta - Ralph Nader's legal team is making what could be its last stand before Maine's supreme court seven years after losing his presidential bid.

Nader wants to sue the Democratic Party and its allies for tactics used to try to keep him off the ballot in Maine and more than a dozen other states. Last November, a Superior Court justice granted a motion by the Democratic National Committee and others to toss his lawsuit.

Maine's supreme court will hear his appeal Wednesday.

The lawsuit contended Democratic leaders conspired to use courts to sabotage Nader and his 2004 running mate, the late Peter Camejo.

Read more: http://www.wabi.tv/news/23510/nader-to-make-last-stand-before-maine-supreme-court

[cleanhippie]

1. Ralph who? Oh, the guy that pretty much handed Bush an election?

The guy who knew that he would take away Democratic/Liberal votes and ran anyway, resulting in Bush getting elected and all the shit that followed? THAT GUY?

Fuck him.

[David Sky]

2. Yeah, THAT Guy! I agree nt

[frylock]

5. why do you hate democracy?

[cleanhippie]

8. Why do you hate reality?

[No Elephants]

13. On the bright side, Lieberman never became President.

[cleanhippie]

14. Well, there is that.

[kayakjohnny]

18. Did you say, "Bush getting elected"?

That's not what I remember happening.

Either time.

[cleanhippie]

19. Semantics.

Had he not been in the race, the vote would not have been close enough to steal.

[kayakjohnny]

20. K, gotcha!

Just wanted to clean up that one little detail.

:)

[cleanhippie]

24. No problem. I am picking up what you are putting down.

:fistbump:

[24601]

47. You must not have tuned in when the real vote - the electoral vote-

was counted. Some guy named Gore presided and certified that he lost.

[harmonicon]

21. Thankfully he's already in prison...

for violently forcing people to vote for him. So, that parts been sorted out.

[No Elephants]

29. Took me a bit of time to realize you were joking/

Not a long time, but a bit.


That's a reflection of how unsurprised I would be if someone managed to get Nader jailed.

Furious, but unsurprised.

[KurtNYC]

25. So you think Ralph Nader had a seat on the 2000 Supreme Court

that handed the election to Bush?

Or do you mean 2004 when John Kerry refused to join the suit against Ohio where THAT election was stolen?

[cleanhippie]

37. Is that what you think I think?

Really?

[Le Taz Hot]

34. LOL!

It's difficult to comprehend how certain individuals can, 11 years later and after mounds and mounds of evidence to the contrary, completely ignore every other element that went into the coup of 2000 and, instead, blame it on one man. And can we please note, these are the "practical" Democrats. The ones who are always admonishing us to "face reality" when, as it turns out, "reality" seems so somewhat, shall we say, subjective.

[JackRiddler]

40. Still busy rationalizing the Coup d'Etat of 2000?

Gore won, Bush stole it, the Supreme Court suspended constitutional process to hand it to Bush, and Gore eventually folded in a coup d'etat; and in the midst of this crime you want to blame some third party candidate for legally pursuing his right to run?

I guess the truth hurts too much!

Just beat up on a small target.

[Xithras]

44. It's funny that some people still believe that.

It's been demonstrated over and over again that only a small percentage of the Liberals who went for Nader would have gone Gore if the Greens hadn't been on the ticket. The Clinton/Gore White House had alienated a huge chunk of the left (remember the massive trade protests in 99 and 2000 against their trade policies), and Gore himself had disavowed his environmental street cred and had openly promised to continue the policies of the Clinton administration.

He was the enemy. He wasn't getting those votes.


Gore learned a lesson that todays Democrats still haven't learned. Quite a few of us on the left vote our conscience. Personally, I'd rather vote for a good candidate and lose, than vote for a mediocre one and win. "Not as bad as the other guy" isn't good enough.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

45. HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

46. dupe Ha!

[digitaln3rd]

3. Good luck!

The Democratic Party was wrong to try and keep him off the ballot.

[24601]

26. Agree - when you work to deny ballot access to anyone, you are

just as bad as anyone who fights you. Why would anybody feel any sympathy for Democrats suffering at the hands of the Republicans when they resort to such tactics?

[karynnj]

42. He failed to meet the legal requirements to get on the ballot

The problem was mostly that there were a lot of obviously fake signatures on his petitions and when eliminated, he did not have enough.

[onehandle]

4. Fine. Can the 300 million of us (in the U.S alone) sue him for his 'sabotage' of Gore in Florida? nt

[No Elephants]

30. Running as a candidate in democracy is sabotage?

Or did you mean that Nader did something illegal?

[FreeBillClinton]

6. These days Nader is looking like a prophet

I use to criticize him too. But he saw the corruption and uselessness of the democratic party before most of us.

[russspeakeasy]

7. I think you meant "profit".

:spank:

[Vidar]

9. I agree, but that's not a popular position here.

[krabigirl]

11. Yep. I never really criticized him, but I didn't vote for him. But he was right.

[No Elephants]

16. I was flat out furious with him. But, yes, he had a point.

[harun]

12. Agree, won't get much support here though. When you look back

at the pro-Corporate agenda Gore and Lieberman both supported whole heartily, I don't feel the negativity towards Nader is appropriate.

[No Elephants]

31. He wanted to sound an alarm and we got furious at him instead of

actually trying to process what he was trying to tell us. At least I did. And I was WRONG.

[karynnj]

43. True, but he himself admitted that Kerry was different than Bush

He then said he was running "to help Kerry" by hitting Bush harder than Kerry would.

Here is the article on the Kerry/Nader meeting - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/glenn-hurowitz/what-kerry-did-right-enga_b_88317.html?

If Nader's 2000 reason were his genuine reason, then after that meeting if his comments were sincere, he should have dropped out in 2004.

[LiberalLovinLug]

17. I agree. Seems like a lot of DUers just enjoy trashing the messenger

IF the Democratic Party actually acted on traditional Democratic principles and not slowly slid off the mountain into the muck and mire of corporate servitude, Ralph would not have nearly the pull he has had.

I don't see how one can fault his positions, or fault conscientious voters to vote for him.

[mac56]

10. The middle aged guy on a barstool, banging on and on about

how he coulda scored the winning touchdown in 1974 if only the coach had given him the ball.

[No Elephants]

15. No, it's the guy saying its wrong to keep candidates away from voters, just

because you have more money.

[former9thward]

22. I know a lot of people hate Nader.

He is responsible for global warming, Bush, all the wars, etc. But I hope his suit is successful because the stranglehold of the two parties on the ballot is unhealthy for democracy. The two parties will never respond to the people without a strong and viable third or fourth party.

[No Elephants]

32. Nader is responsible for global warming and all the wars? LOL!

How about the people who chose the Gore Lieberman ticket? For that matter, how about Gore and Lieberman? Their campaign manager? The idiot who designed the confusing butterfly ballot? The fool who thought chads were a good way to figure out what a voter intended? The Supreme Court? Bushco? Osama Bin Laden? Mohammed Atta?

See also Reply 21.

The Republican Party has had other RW parties running against it for years, including at the Presidential level. Libertarians, Constitutional Party, etc.

Don't know why Democrats think they have a God-given right to no competition for the the left.

[former9thward]

39. I guess I should have put in the sarcasm thing.

I don't believe he is responsible for any of that but many on DU like to blame him for every ill in the world. I think he is a good guy and has every right to run for whatever office he wants to. People have the right to vote for anyone they want.

[BigD_95]

23. I used to blame Ralph Nader also

then I got educated.

I wish Gore would have won and Im still a big fan of Gore but the Democratic Party stopped acting like the Democratic Party of the past and it gave Nader a lot of support. I have since become a big fan of Nader. This hate and blaming him is just dumb.

Heck if Nader ran in 2012 I would give serious thought to voting for him over Obama.

[bluestateguy]

27. 2004?

I think this would be one case in which saying "you lost, get over it", would be appropriate.

Seriously, does he expect people to remember conversations and actions taken over such a trivial matter 7 years ago?

[No Elephants]

35. This suit has less than zero to do with Nader's losing the election.

[MurrayDelph]

28. Or do you mean the guy who on the night Obama was elected said

"it's up to him to prove whether he will be Uncle Sam or an Uncle Tom"?

[Le Taz Hot]

33. Controlling the debates is just one way

in which the two major political parties control the election process. I'm glad to see Nader take a stand -- something which he has never been afraid to do. Obama should try it, just for something different if nothing else.

[Freddie Stubbs]

41. This lawsuit is about ballot access, not participation in debates

[beac]

36. Hey Nader, GO CHENEY YOURSELF, you attention-seeking

pathetic has-been. Any good you did in the past has been THOROUGHLY wiped out by your rampant egomania and desperate attempts to stay in the spotlight.

[hunter]

38. A last stand? Like Custer with arrows?

Cool.

Ralph Nader is sort of like John Edwards, his message crushed beneath his vanity.