Nader really is a crank, a tool, a fool. and arrogant as hell.

[cali]

Look, I don't blame him for Gore's loss. FL would have been stolen without him, so this has nothing to do with that, but his string of idiotic pronouncements and his habit of taking money from repubs who use him for their own ends, really does relegate him to the class of tool and crank.

His pronouncement that Palin isn't a coporatist is just idiotic.

[orpupilofnature57]

1. I blame him for Shrub! and the misery we've enjoyed since 2000 !

Misanthrope!

[HappyMe]

2. You pretty much nailed it.

He keeps coming back like a bad penny.

[we can do it]

3. I Blame the Narcissistic Kook and the Idiots Who Voted for Him

[bluestate10]

27. I second your view. nt

[AndyTiedye]

4. Senility is a Terrible Thing

[Warren DeMontague]

5. He's sticking up for Palin, now?

Typical. :rofl:

[asjr]

6. Nader became stage struck a long time

ago. He just can't say goodbye.

[Champion Jack]

7. Nader jumped the shark long ago

[elocs]

8. Here is a good link about Nader (well, not if you're a Nader fan):

http://www.realchange.org/nader.htm#antiunion

Busted a union among his workers:

Ralph talks big about democracy and even unions. But when his own workers at one of his magazines, Multinational Monitor, got fed up with cruel working conditions and started agitating for a union of their own, Nader busted the union with all of the hardball techniques used by corporate owners across America. Workers at Public Citizen, another Nader group, also tried to form a union because of 60 to 80 hour work weeks, salaries that ranged from $13,000 down, and other difficult working conditions and were blocked by Nader, who remains unapologetic to this day.
Nader says "I don't think there is a role for unions in small nonprofit 'cause' organizations any more than ... within a monastery or within a union."

When ringleader Tim Shorrock filed the union recognition papers, Nader immediately transferred ownership in the Multinational Monitor to close friends who ran an organization ("Essential Information") that Nader had set up. When Shorrock showed up for work the next day, he had been fired, the locks were changed, and management called the police to charge him with theft (of his own work papers.) That charge was thrown out of court, but management fired the two supportive editors and sued the three of them for $1.2 million, agreeing to drop the intimidation suit only when they dropped their NLRB complaint. All of these action are straight from the hardball anti-union playbook, and Nader makes no apology.

Here is another: http://www.hereinstead.com/DARK-SIDE-OF-RALPH.htm

The dark side of Ralph Nader:

In 2000, again with the Green Party, he ran a full-fledged campaign, raising and spending money to get on the ballot in all 50 states. He drew huge crowds at places like Madison Square Garden in New York and Key Arena in Seattle. While he assured Democrats that he wouldn't campaign late in the election season in key battleground states, he reneged on that promise, zeroing in on Florida, Oregon and New Hampshire in the last few weeks before the election.

Few analysts predicted just how close the election would be, but a number of people who had worked with Nader over the years feared that his run for president would be disastrous. "When he announced at a big gathering in Washington, I was the first person to stand up and say, 'How can you say there's no difference between Democrats and Republicans?'" says Gary Sellers, who was one of the original Raiders. "There was a big hush in the room. He had no response." Nader was the best man at Sellers' wedding; they no longer speak to each other.

Nader's share of the votes was the margin that threw New Hampshire into Bush's column and accounted for the difference in Florida that cast the state into the post-election turmoil that ended only with the 5-to-4 Supreme Court decision in Bush vs. Gore. Nader nearly cost Gore other states as well, especially New Mexico. Every study after the election determined that almost all of Nader's votes would have gone to Gore if Nader hadn't run, but Nader continues to insist that he bore no responsibility.

Nader is a worthless, hypocritical POS.

[cali]

9. yikes. he really is a vile piece of shit. you really should post that article

as an op. I'd love to the Nader fawners here defend that.

[elocs]

33. You know, I did think about doing that this past weekend.

You'd be hard pressed to find any ex Nader worker or employee who had much to do with him that has anything good to say about him.

The good thing about the first article (http://www.realchange.org/nader.htm#antiunion) is that all the points made come with sources, they are not just opinion.

[tblue37]

23. One reason the right is so successful is that it is willing to PAY

bright young people to become part of their policy and propaganda mchine, while the left expects them to starve and volunteer the best years of their lives for free.

[Capitalocracy]

32. Totally agree, we need more professional leftists

Unfortunately, we just don't have as much money available.

[tblue37]

34. And those who do have money tend not to spread it around as

willingly to promote their own ideology as the right wing rich guys like Richard Mellon Scaife, the Koch brothers, and Rupert Murdoch do.

Maybe that's because the RW rich guys are spending money to make it easier for them to make more money in the future, while the left wing rich guys don't have as powerful a motivator for spending money to set up ongoing liberal institutions.

[leftstreet]

10. So you think Palin is a threat?

:shrug:

All I ever hear on DU is what a joke she is

[cali]

11. uh, no, but I don't think what he said has any truth to it. or do you just not care about

facts?

[leftstreet]

12. All he did was say she's talking 'conservative populism.' He's right n/t

[cali]

14. uh, no. that's not all he said. duh.

[leftstreet]

15. What did he say that has you so worried?

:shrug:

[Warren DeMontague]

40. I'm not worried, but then I never voted for that GOP-shilling fuckwad.

'Course, he could do just about anything (short of endorse a Democrat for President) and some people here would still fall over themselves to defend him.

[Arkana]

20. Palin's brand of idiocy is not populism.

It's astroturfed "populism" fed to us by people who feel a need to control us through fear and intimidation.

Bryan was a populist. Debs was a populist. Long was a populist. Palin is a stain upon this country's honor and reputation.

[Name removed]

13. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Xithras]

16. I've been a fan of Nader for decades, but it really was an incredibly stupid statement.

The man is 77 years old, so senility isn't beyond the realm of possibility. It's certainly a pretty insane statement for any openly socialist politician to make.

[digitaln3rd]

17. He's still more progressive then our current President, though.

At least Nader doesn't shelf liberal policies in favour of bipartisanship with tea-party Republicans.

[cali]

18. silly comparison. what do you think about his union busting?

[begin_within]

19. Palin isn't a corporatist, because

she doesn't know what a corporation is.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

21. Cisco Turns Ralph Nader into a Republican.

Has Ralph Nader, the consumer advocate who has made Cisco’s cash stockpile his latest crusade, turned — gasp! — into a conservative?

In a CNBC interview, Nader said he was making the same analogy about Cisco that conservatives make about tax dollars.

“It’s not the government’s money, it’s our money,” Nader said in the interview, purposefully echoing the conservative line. With Cisco, “it’s our money as owner/shareholders,” Nader said.

http://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2011/06/27/ralph-nader-turns-rightest-on-cisco/

[CBHagman]

22. Well, I know he doesn't necessarily walk the walk.

In fact there are quite a few examples of that -- sort of the shoemaker's kids going barefoot sort of thing.

[JVS]

24. We could use a lot more cranks, tools, and fools like him.

An he has a right to be arrogant.

[WinkyDink]

25. You left out the key descriptor: "REPUBLICAN." If it walks like a.........

[Cerridwen]

26. You know, cali, I remember Ralph Nader as the guy who fought for consumer rights.

Yep, that's the way I remember him. I think we have seat-belts because of him. I'm sure there's more on that list. I'm also sure there are many here who will happily correct me.

When I think of arrogant, I think "cock-'o-the-walk" who hasn't earned it. The lucky sperm club; the frat-boy who never had to think/work club; the women who marry in order to claim same. Ralph Nader...not so much.

palin isn't anti-corporatist, nor is she corporatist; she's cheering for the end-times.

Nader was right, though I'd correct his choice of words. She has played her base well; I don't call that smart; I call that sly.

That Nader doesn't see that, would be just another example of how insulated he's become while fighting that which he would not become.

Look up Sun Tsu for that last sentence to make sense.

[bluestate10]

29. The Nader you remember went away a long time ago. To be replaced by an arrogant fool. nt

[Cerridwen]

30. Too bad we don't honor our "arrogant, old fools." We might have generational

memory and a political memory of what has gone before.

As it is, with each generation, we must remind those who come after us, what was fought for on our behalf, by whom, and at what price.

[bluestate10]

36. Spare me the distortion of what I wrote and the added uncertainty of response.

Nader is an arrogant fool, plain and simple, his best days were decades ago.

[Cerridwen]

38. Thank you for putting words in my mind that were not there in the first place.

I could snark. I don't care to.

Have a wondrous evening.

Nader is not the enemy. The fact that we are still having this conversation shows me how far we've digressed.

Had we listened to, and honored those, who came before us rather than re-creating each generation, we might not now have the obstacles we have.

[Warren DeMontague]

39. Yes, it's the fault of the vulgarian whippersnappers who don't defer properly to their elders.

Prithee, wouldst thoust be that they mightest remove themselves forthwith from mine lawn.



Just please, leave the Cock o' The Walk out of it.

[H2O Man]

28. Agreed.

Long ago, he was a person that I had great respect for. But he has become bitter, and hostile to people with different views than his own.

[lib2DaBone]

31. Oh Puhleeze. I love all you DU Guys/Gals.. but let's get off the Ralph Nader thing already...

It just doesn't matter any more... we have bigger problems.. MUCH bigger.

[Bobbie Jo]

35. Let's see....

Crank - check
Tool - check
Fool - check
Arrogant - check

I'd say you just about summed it up.

He should have channeled his energy into something he actually does (did) well....consumer protection. Sadly, his ego consumed him.

[Major Hogwash]

37. That one-eyed freak could guest host on Spooky Theater anyday and it wouldn't cause any concern

Face it, he is the Boris Karloff of politics.

[Raine]

41. Nader has no credability with me. Not after

what he did to Gore, and I do blame him. I know they stole it but if it wasn't for Nader I don't think it would've been close enough for them to steal. :mad:

[bvar22]

42. Woo-Hoo...That was fun.

DU is really getting good with the two minutes of hate.
:party:



Solidarity!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[sfpcjock]

43. You're telling me?

Of course, and I do blame him for the moran, Bush. Florida ended up lost by 500+ votes, and Jeb, Kathrine Harris and Choicepoint only managed to cage 57,700 votes with their felons project in 2000.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ChoicePoint

[ZombieHorde]

44. That is pretty funny. nt