The back in the day Liberal icon weigh’s in…..
(Green Third Party guy)
No endorsement….
Just a reluctant crawl TO Biden….
“We are stuck with Biden now,” Nader says in his cantankerous way. “In a two-party duopoly, if one should be defeated ferociously, the logic is that the other one prevails.”
Former president Donald Trump is, of course, the one deserving ferocious defeat in that calculation, and for the moment Nader wants everyone to know that this has become his overriding political mission.
“I know the difference between fascism and autocracy, and I’ll take autocracy any time,” Nader said in a recent telephone interview. “Fascism is what the GOP is the architecture of, and autocracy is what the Democrats are practitioners of. But autocracy leaves an opening. They don’t suppress votes. They don’t suppress free speech.”
If the pivot matters, it is likely to land hardest among the dissident parts of the liberal coalition, who like him have been fed up for years with the state of Democratic politics and could once again play a major role if they stay home or vote third-party in a close general election. Nader is dismissive of the chances of the Green Party in 2024, despite personal praise for Cornel West, the party’s likely candidate. He speaks of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a Democratic challenger to Biden who campaigns on some of Nader’s issues, as a wayward talent unable to get out of his own way.
Nader says no formal Biden endorsement will be forthcoming, and he still supports the idea of third parties in principle. “Biden is better than he has ever been but he is still terrible on empire and Wall Street,” is about as close as he will come to complimenting the president. But the cover boy for Newsweek in 1968 and Time in 1969 has devoted himself as he approaches his tenth decade of life to, in his view, making Democrats better at being Democrats…..
Those with very long beards, like mine, may recall (or if interested could research) the lively debate within the American left and among fervent American liberals about whether to support LBJ over Barry Goldwater in 1964.
For some the choice was clear: either third-party (Socialist Workers Party, etc.) because of Johnson’s war in Viet-Nam (“Hey, hey, LBJ, how many kids didja kill today”) or for the Johnson over Goldwater because Madman Goldwater’s extreme hawkishness seemed likely to push the world over the nuclear precipice and because he had voted against the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (for which Johnson deserves a great deal of credit). “Half the Way with L.B.J. !”
But many were torn and engaged in the twisted, corkscrew, grudging acquiescence that Ralph Nader expresses about autocrat Biden over fascist Trump. (Gee, do I really, really have to choose between these two warmongers?)
Goldwater had NO chance….
Fuck Ralph Nader, the narcissistic asshole.
He gave us the second worst President of my lifetime, an affable fool who helped create Donald Trump.
Most of today’s problems with climate and budget go right back to Bush.
Ouch Keith on Ralph and his third party mojo!
I give Nader credit. He’s one of the very few clear eyed third party(especially Green Party, now a bastion of nuttiness) observers around today. He sees the role he played in 2000 and doesn’t want a repeat.
I hope he is successful at dragging D’s to the left, and embracing the issues real voters care about.
Honestly, Ralph is irrelevant…I think less than 1/3 of 1 percent (.33) of anyone cares about what he says now and that is way over generous…stick to seat belts and ruining the 2000 election (though we know that had double cause Nader getting votes in Florida and well, yeah you know Jeb Bush Governor of Florida, no coincidence there)
Ok
I agree Bdog
Just a throw back from back in the day!