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Ralph Nader decided to make an ass of himself yet again and run for the presidency this year. Gee, thanks Ralph..:(
In Florida and N.H. back in '00, you can pretty much say Nader cost Gore the election. Granted it was hard to tell the candidates apart that time, but there's really no need for Nader to get mixed up in this again. 
He's sent by Bush. Ignore him please! John Kerry is the only hope, not only for America, but for the whole world. His views about the environment and the foreign policy are very important to everyone everywhere.
since i'm a member of the greens, i'll only go with kerry if it means a nader vote will give bush florida. no repeat of 2000!
Fair play to naider for standing.
Dean, kerry , all the democrats (possibly except sharpton) are 95% as neo con as bush.
The democrats cant expect to
and then come along and claim the vote that w doesn't get.
Lots of people hate w, some rightly because of his policies, others because of his monkey-features and general apparant stupidity.
the kerry alternative is another corporate funded right winger. Its no alternative. What did the demo catz do for the environment / world peace when they were in power? a lot of talking.
Its pretty rich of the democrats to say naider is fucking up their campaign.Maybe their version of democracy involves two people running for one position.
Naider is showing a clear alternative- and is the only person in the race who can rightly call himself a democrat.
C
Originally posted by Mick Aneworderfan He's sent by Bush. Ignore him please! John Kerry is the only hope, not only for America, but for the whole world. His views about the environment and the foreign policy are very important to everyone everywhere.
You'd better listen to 
Jimmy Hoffa ....
Greens Fret: Hoffa Says Kerry Vows to 'Drill Like Never Before' Robert B. Bluey, CNSNews.com
Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2004
Teamsters union chief Jimmy Hoffa has confused environmentalists and free-market advocates after saying that Democrat front-runner John Kerry, if elected president, would "drill like never before" across the United States.
Hoffa made the comments Feb. 17 during a segment on "Hardball" with Chris Matthews. Matthews had asked Hoffa why the union chose to endorse the U.S. senator even though Kerry opposed drilling for oil in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
"Well, we talked about that," Hoffa responded. "He says, look, I am against ANWR, but I am going to put that pipeline in, and we're going to drill like never before."
The union supports drilling in ANWR and the creation of a natural-gas pipeline that could stretch from Alaska to Chicago. Neither plan draws support from Kerry's environmentalist base, however.
When Matthews pressed Hoffa for details on the promises Kerry made, the Teamsters president offered a vague response.
"Well, they are going to drill all over, according to him," Hoffa said. "And he says, we're going to be drilling all over the United States. And he says that is going to create more jobs."
After the exit of Rep. Dick Gephardt of Missouri from the Democrats' presidential race, Kerry courted unions, including the Teamsters, to support his candidacy. He secured AFL-CIO's endorsement last week.
But Hoffa's comments have left Kerry's largest environmental backer confused about what the union chief meant by Kerry's intentions to "drill like never before."
By the way, did you know that Kerry speaks french very well and that he doesn't want to show that to the american people in fear he might be seen as "too cultivated" or "too elite" or just "friendly with the French" ?
Originally posted by nearly there
Naider is showing a clear alternative- and is the only person in the race who can rightly call himself a democrat.
*Look, the vote is not a statement of principles, it's the choice of the president, right? Just see the facts:
Under a proportional election system you could vote who you want, and then the elected members of the congress would choose the president. There was this system here in Italy until a decade ago, and it was much better. Even small parties could count and influence the election of the president, which happened after the vote, once it was clear the actual weight of the parties. For example the results could be: Republicans 40% Democrats 35% Green 20% The Democrats and the Green party could make an alliance and choose a president together, the Green would have a major influence on policies, since they're necessary to the coalition.
Unfortunately this is not the system we have. Under the current system, with the above results, Bush is elected and that's all, understand? In the last election here the Communists stayed out of the Centre-Left coalition and the result is we have Berlusconi at the government. If the Green supporters don't vote Kerry, it'll end the same, you'll have Bush again at the White House. I know that the Green party has better politics, but if you don't want Bush there's only one choice, and that's Kerry. If you don't want him, you want Bush. All the other votes are votes for Bush. With this system, the only way to change the direction of the Democrats, would have been to change the party from the inside, to vote the most left-field candidates at the primary election, for example Kuchinic or how it's spelled... But if it's Kerry going against Bush, the only one to vote is him.
Originally posted by Michael McDermott > Originally posted by Mick Aneworderfan He's sent by Bush. Ignore him please! John Kerry is the only hope, not only for America, but for the whole world. His views about the environment and the foreign policy are very important to everyone everywhere.
You'd better listen to Jimmy Hoffa ....
Greens Fret: Hoffa Says Kerry Vows to 'Drill Like Never Before' Robert B. Bluey, CNSNews.com
Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2004
Teamsters union chief Jimmy Hoffa has confused environmentalists and free-market advocates after saying that Democrat front-runner John Kerry, if elected president, would "drill like never before" across the United States.
Hoffa made the comments Feb. 17 during a segment on "Hardball" with Chris Matthews. Matthews had asked Hoffa why the union chose to endorse the U.S. senator even though Kerry opposed drilling for oil in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
"Well, we talked about that," Hoffa responded. "He says, look, I am against ANWR, but I am going to put that pipeline in, and we're going to drill like never before."
The union supports drilling in ANWR and the creation of a natural-gas pipeline that could stretch from Alaska to Chicago. Neither plan draws support from Kerry's environmentalist base, however.
When Matthews pressed Hoffa for details on the promises Kerry made, the Teamsters president offered a vague response.
"Well, they are going to drill all over, according to him," Hoffa said. "And he says, we're going to be drilling all over the United States. And he says that is going to create more jobs."
After the exit of Rep. Dick Gephardt of Missouri from the Democrats' presidential race, Kerry courted unions, including the Teamsters, to support his candidacy. He secured AFL-CIO's endorsement last week.
But Hoffa's comments have left Kerry's largest environmental backer confused about what the union chief meant by Kerry's intentions to "drill like never before."
Nice to see Hoffa's still making grand pronouncements from beyond the 50-yard line at Giants Stadium :p
Originally posted by Taboo # 7 **> Originally posted by Michael McDermott> > > > Originally posted by Mick Anewo>**rderfan He's sent by Bush. Ignore him please! John Kerry is the only hope, not only for America, but for the whole world. His views about the environment and the foreign policy are very important to everyone everywhere.
You'd better listen to Jimmy Hoffa ....
Greens Fret: Hoffa Says Kerry Vows to 'Drill Like Never Before' Robert B. Bluey, CNSNews.com
Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2004
Teamsters union chief Jimmy Hoffa has confused environmentalists and free-market advocates after saying that Democrat front-runner John Kerry, if elected president, would "drill like never before" across the United States.
Hoffa made the comments Feb. 17 during a segment on "Hardball" with Chris Matthews. Matthews had asked Hoffa why the union chose to endorse the U.S. senator even though Kerry opposed drilling for oil in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
"Well, we talked about that," Hoffa responded. "He says, look, I am against ANWR, but I am going to put that pipeline in, and we're going to drill like never before."
The union supports drilling in ANWR and the creation of a natural-gas pipeline that could stretch from Alaska to Chicago. Neither plan draws support from Kerry's environmentalist base, however.
When Matthews pressed Hoffa for details on the promises Kerry made, the Teamsters president offered a vague response.
"Well, they are going to drill all over, according to him," Hoffa said. "And he says, we're going to be drilling all over the United States. And he says that is going to create more jobs."
After the exit of Rep. Dick Gephardt of Missouri from the Democrats' presidential race, Kerry courted unions, including the Teamsters, to support his candidacy. He secured AFL-CIO's endorsement last week.
But Hoffa's comments have left Kerry's largest environmental backer confused about what the union chief meant by Kerry's intentions to "drill like never before."
Nice to see Hoffa's still making grand pronouncements from beyond the 50-yard line at Giants Stadium :p
Yeah, he seems to "channel" really well from the Meadowlands to his son. :D
Back to topic (after all, I did start this thread :D )
I think Nader is a bit more pathetic this time around, that in some way he's yearning to be "important" again like he arguably was last time around. But at least on the surface, there's more of a divide between Kerry and Bush (under the surface, they're probably both assholes, but I prefer to think Bush is the bigger jackass as he's proven time and time again). Nader has the William Jennings Bryan syndrome (Bryant? 
), where he's gotten so used to running that with each time, he becomes less and less of a potent candidate. The guy would never win the Presidency anyway, but at least in '00 he was bringing something important to the table (the fact that Gore and Bush weren't far removed). Now he's just an embarassment. 
From A college publication myself and a few lads are involved in :)
This year’s American presidential election will doubtless attract as much attention as any in the country’s history. George W. has done such an astonishing job of antagonising the rest of the planet (not to mention a large chunk of his own people) that most of us are desperate to see the monkey driven from the White House with his tail between his legs.
In order to facilitate this, many would argue that everyone should rally round whatever Democrat has the best chance of winning (first it was Howard Dean, now it seems to be John Kerry). The left should certainly not consider running its own independent candidate (this would most likely be Ralph Nader, who took 3% of the vote last time round); this would risk handing victory to the Republicans.
This is a seductive argument, and it’s only fair to say that defeating Bush is a very worthwhile goal. But it doesn’t justify subordinating the American left to Democrat leadership. Bush would not be in such a strong position today if the Democrats hadn’t done such a lousy job of opposing him. Al Gore accepted the blatant electoral fix of 2000 without complaint; he resisted pressure from his own supporters to challenge the legitimacy of Bush’s election and take to the streets, for fear of mobilising forces he couldn’t control. Thereafter, Democrats responded to Bush’s extremism with complicity, not opposition. Especially after 9/11, they followed the Commander-in-Thief with barely a word of criticism.
Having squandered every opportunity to challenge Bush over the last three years, it’s a bit rich for the DP to claim leadership of the anti-Bush coalition now, at the last minute. They have the nerve to blame Nader for Gore’s defeat in 2000 by "stealing" his votes. But it was Gore and Bill Clinton who drove those voters away from the Democrats by moving so far to the right; chances are if Nader hadn’t run, his voters would have stayed at home rather than vote Democrat.
Even if John Kerry (or whoever it might be) defeats Bush, the American left will still have a mountain to climb. Why do people hate Bush so much? Is it because of his dumb Texan rich-kid style? Or is it because of his policies? He may be in favour of the death penalty and tax cuts for the rich, and opposed to the International Criminal Court and the Kyoto treaty. But so was Clinton, and so any Democrat likely to win the nomination will be too (Kerry didn’t oppose Bush’s invasion of Iraq, either).
Getting rid of Bush would be a good first step. But the day after his ejection from office, it will still be necessary to oppose the new White House incumbent on a whole range of issues. A left-wing Presidential campaign that helped establish a network of labour, environmental and civil rights activists ready for this fight would be far more useful than victory for a right-wing Democrat. And if Bush does buy his way back into power, the independent left should be ready to oppose him with the passion and determination the Democrats obviously lack. Americans have been accepting the lesser of two evils for too long; it’s this bankrupt logic that allowed a crook like Bush to take power in the first place.
As I said, given your election system, the only way to change the opposition to the Republicans is to fight inside the Democrat party. Doing another party just does Bush the biggest favour. If you aren't strong enough to change the Democrats, you certainly aren't seriously strong enough to run for the White House! By the way Edwards has retired too so it's just Kerry who can fight Bush, like it or not. You can just support him. I've seen him again speaking tonight. He's different from Clinton (he said interesting things about workers and yes, even Iraq), and he may have done some mistakes and he'll do more in the future, but there's no doubt seeing him in place of Bush would be already a relief. Don't fool yourself, Kerry is the man!
