Ralph Nader, cranky and California-bound

Presidential candidate Ralph Nader -- yes, he's still running -- is unhappy that he's been denied a voice at Friday's first presidential debate at the University of Mississippi. So starting hours before the match-up, he and vice presidential running mate Matt Gonzalez will campaign in Los Angeles and along the California coast to decry "the unjust, restrictive, and undemocratic Commission on Presidential Debates."

According to the California Peace and Freedom Party nominee, who expects to be on the ballot in at least 45 states:

"The CPD, a corporation headed since its inception by two former chairs of the Democratic and Republican parties, shuts third-party candidates away from public view, maintaining a stranglehold on the two-party system and stifling the political conversation in this country."

For the record, Bob Barr's people aren't happy with the CPD either.

The Nader/Gonzalez ticket's popularity in the polls is paltry. But some surveys show it pulling potentially significant numbers in battleground states -- deja vu for Democrats who still blame Nader for Al Gore's loss to President Bush in 2000.

Perhaps an indication of their hopes of drawing support from young adults, Nader and Gonzalez will hold a rally at USC on Friday, the day of the debate between John McCain and Barack Obama, and then head to UC San Diego and Encinitas on Saturday, UC Santa Barbara and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo on Sunday, Monterey Peninsula College on Monday and San Francisco State on Tuesday.

-- Seema Mehta

Photo credit: Dave Allocca / Reuters

Comments

[David J. Barboza]

I find the tone of the main post extremely condescending. If you described Obama or McCain as "cranky" I'm sure you'd turn some heads.

I spent an hour or two today passing out flyers for Nader's speech at USC Friday at 2PM, in the Davidson building (corner of Figueroa and Jefferson).

Listen to him talk if you want to hear a candidate who hasn't sold out to corporate control (unlike McBama).

[JS]

Nader has done a lot to earn my vote. He will make a difference in this country if elected. The two corporate parties of course will do everything to shut the voice of the people up while they make their laws that make the people bail out their black hole greed on wall street to fight their wars based on lies. But a vote for nader is a protest against the corrupt corporations. And it's time the Americans put their foot down and voted for the candidate who represents them. Obama and McCain do NOT. They represent their corporate sponsors. And they don't even make an effort to try to hide it. SUPPORT NADER - GET HIM IN THE DEBATES!

[Tim Matthews]

We are at a point in society that demands OUR PARTICIPATION!
I believe in the ideals that Ralph Nader champions, the belief that we are all “The People”, and that when corporate funds are accepted, strings ARE attached. I can only hope that our divided, distracted, diverted populace does something other than electing one of the corporate shills running, we’ve had 200 years to have a representative government, and still have a corporate power structure that has run us into the ditch YET AGAIN! Lets do something different this time,
Vote Sanity, Vote Nader.
Let him in, the worst that can happen is public embarrassment of McPalin and O'Biden.

[hawk]

They should just have a extra debate with everyone included. Invite them all or maybe all the third parties can get together and the networks cover it. let democracy work if not for entertainment purposes.

here is Naders latest video calling for three way debate
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5WiE6MnmCM

[Justin Jeffre]

Listen to the cranky tone from anoter one of the "pundits" that knows so little about so much. Nader has done more for this country than McCain, Obama or any other living person, especially than the politically bigoted writer.

I'm unhappy that we have fradulent debates and elections and a pathetic excuse for a media. The fourth estate is for the corporate state.

[Ryan M. Henige]

I think you'd be cranky too if you were bright enough to realize the two corporate parties are running the country into the ground. check out this video and let me know how cranky you feel:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5WiE6MnmCM&eurl=http://www.votenader.org/

[Jessica V. Cortez]

Such a snarky undertone in this post, Seema Mehta.

What gives?

Were you up late and consequently didn't devote much preparatory research time to this piece? Is that why you fail to offer statistics illustrating how a majority of Americans want both Barr (55%) and Nader (46%) in the debates? How about addressing how sick and utterly exhausted millions of us are with the same crap day in and day out that we hear from the corporate media and the two corporate candidates?

We're over it.

I support Nader 2008.

[Alfonso]

Great article on Nader. Thanks for writing it David A.

[keith]

Is that why you fail to offer statistics illustrating how a majority of Americans want both Barr (55%) and Nader (46%) in the debates?

LOL!
maybe because they don't exist?

[lyle w]

i'm another person who's voting for nader/gonzalez!

and all of my family members in NEW MEXICO are voting for them too!

word!

[anon]

Vote Nader!

[David Larson]

I always appreciate well-written, fair, and informative journalism.

This is not such a piece.

[Jen C.]

I guess that I am part of that "paltry" number of Nader supporters. . Nader's pollng number is actually very high, considering the constant blackout of his campaign from mainstream corporate media. And when it's not blacked out, it's marginalized and belittled case in point. But, in all honesty, Naders' supporters are some of the the least "paltry" voters out there. By the way, Nader, along with many other Americans, isn't "unhappy", he is rightfully indignant. These fake, fraudulent debates are nothing more than commercials for corporatist politicians, the same ones who are running our country into the ground. I have come to believe that these "debates" exist precisely to limit the dialogue. In other words, these "debates" are a way to prevent voters from really understanding all their options and interests as voters.

[Michelle]

Well name calling is used when there's no basis of facts: Its also used for undermining as opposed to acting out for equality.

[Jessica V. Cortez]

Really, Keith? Based on your reaction, looks like you are a mainstream-media subscriber. I'll hook you up here with the August Zogby poll:

http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/zogby_poll_nader_barr/2008/08/15/122502.html

Geez, people need to be spoon-fed these days.

[steve conn]

Will Ralph. Nader’s Warning be Acknowledged in the Presidential Debates?

By Steve Conn, retired Professor of Justice, University of Alaska

There was a time when a good citizen, who blew the whistle on an impending crime, or a crime in progress, would get a bit of public praise and recognition, perhaps, a picture in the paper or an interview, a handshake from a public official, and a chance to say why he or she had seen a crime coming which others had missed and had been impelled to speak out. Last July 2nd, in Counterpunch, Ralph Nader described a robbery about to happen and blew the whistle. In “Economic Domino Theory, Greed without Accountability,” Nader warned readers that Americans were about to be robbed of the future value of their dollars by financial institutions, corporations, both unregulated and out of control. Here is an excerpt:

“Today, there is no real momentum in a frozen Washington, D.C. to bring regulation up to date. To the contrary, in 1999, Congress led by Senator McCain’s Advisor, former Senator Phil Gramm and the Clinton Administration led by Robert Rubin, Secretary of the Treasury, and soon to join Citibank,(ed note: and, later, the Obama campaign as its financial advisor) de-regulated and ended the wall between investment banks and commercial banking known as the Glass-Steagall Act.
Clinton and Congress opened the floodgates to rampant speculation without even requiring necessary and timely disclosures for the benefit of institutional and individual investors.
Now the entire U.S. economy is at risk. The domino theory is getting less theoretical daily. Without investors obtaining more legal authority as owners over their out of control company officers and Boards of Directors, and without strong regulation, corporate capitalism cannot be saved from its toxic combination of endless greed and maximum power—without responsibility.
Uncle Sam, the deeply deficit ridden bailout man, may have another taxpayers-to-the-rescue operation for Wall Street. But don’t count on stretching the American dollar much more without devastating consequences to and from global financial markets in full panic.
Consider the U.S. dollar like an elastic band. You can keep stretching this rubber band but suddenly it BREAKS. Our country needs action NOW from Washington, D.C.” http://www.counterpunch.org/nader07022008.html
As you read Ralph Nader’s July 2nd warning, perhaps for the first time, the terms of the largest bankers’ robbery of America’s wealth are being hammered out by the bankers and those who neglected to regulate them. Nader’s call to action was not picked up by major media. Censorship of Nader is not too strong a word. But that the crime is occurring before our eyes and that its impact will be massive and long-lasting is now certain.
In their public statements, the two major party Presidential candidates and their corporate advisors scramble to avoid blame. On Friday next, these two candidates will debate. The good citizen who warned of the impending crime, (who is also a Presidential candidate), has not been invited. According to the debate commission, funded by the two major parties, the rules don’t allow it. But, given his uniquely prescient warning to America, shouldn’t he be allowed to say a few words about the crime?
Perhaps Nader could explain how he saw the crime unfolding and leave it to candidates Obama and McCain to explain why they didn’t. Or, more importantly, Obama and McCain could explain how each proposes to deal with its aftermath. While they missed predicting the crime, as Nader did not, they can now predict its impact on us and on future generations of Americans. This small involvement for Nader in the scheduled national debates would amount to a small reward for Nader and, perhaps, an incentive for other citizens to speak up when they see crimes about to happen, be they street crimes or corporate. What a pleasant return to the civil habits of yesteryear when citizen whistleblowers were admired and not ignored?

[Girl with the bushy armpits]

I think all goodwill and true democrats owe it to this country to vote Nader who is the only real democrat on
the ballot.Biden and his cohort Obame are 2 imposters
fit for latrine duty in a North Korean jail.One raised a son
who lobbys his chairman senator father to favour the
largest credit card company,while the other worshiped a
racist and hate monger preacher for TWENTY years and
is closely tied to the sleazy Chicago political mob and was a tool for the criminal Rezco and Ayers for the best
part of his adult life. How could the democratic rank and
file go for such an antithesis of their party ?

[AJ]

Cranky? I guess with financial cutbacks at the LA Times comes also cutbacks of professionalism as well.

[Karen]

Why is it every time I glance at the L.A. Times there is a barrage of negative propagada against Ralph Nader? Nader a draft of regulatory bill provisions for the $700 billion dollar swindle that's about to pass so the Senate can run home to campaign. Why don't I see a blog about that, and the lack of definitive resolution from both mainstream candidates...who seem not to even want to debate each other, let alone 3rd parties.

By the way, your lack of respect towards one of the greatest Americans of the 20th century, really showcases your ignorance and insults your audience.

[True Debates]

The 1992 Presidential Debates with Ross Perot were not dull. His warnings have now come true. Replace John McCain with Ron Paul. Add Ralph Nader and Cynthia McKinney. Barack Obama must earn his victory, not win by default.

[Ed Stamm]

I definitely think third party candidates should participate in the debate, I was also upset when Dennis Kucinich was barred from the later Democratic party debates. As far as Nader being a spoiler, I think Obama can thank Nader for helping him get the Democratic presidential nomination. Hopefully the Democratic Party learned that running "centrist" candidates like the Clintons incurs the risk of the party losing progressive voters. The question is, are progressives who support Obama being taken for a ride? And is Nader a "good guy", or is he a slick operator who has engaged in ethically questionable and high-handed behavior while leading his consumer movement? There are no easy choices.....