http://www.votenader.org/blog/2008/11/11/what-we-accomplished-together/

What We Accomplished Together

Posted by Ralph Nader on Tuesday, November 11, 2008 at 12:52:00 PM

(snipit)
What follows is a summary of what we achieved together through the Presidential campaign of 2008, despite being obstructed by the Democrats’ and Republicans’ ballot access hurdles and traps, despite being excluded from speaking to tens of millions of Americans through the Presidential debates (polls repeatedly showed the people wanted us — by name — included), and despite being willfully ignored by the national television and national newspaper/magazine media. These achievements represent persistence, stamina, and the willpower to penetrate this political bigotry so as to give choice to those voters who knew we were running.
.................

Ribbie perhaps this might help you to understand what Nader was about. Go check it out and read what he has to say.

Ribbie - he didn’t give Bush the election. Why are you convinced that that is the case? Because people told you so? Most of Nader’s supporters in Florida would not have voted for Gore. Why not blame other third party candidates who campaigned in Florida? Why not blame the millions who ACTUALLY voted for Bush? Why not blame Gore’s campaign for not doing a good enough job at convincing people how obviously incompetent Bush is. Why not blame Gore HIMSELF for neglecting to fight for something that was rightfully his - after all, it was the supreme court that decided Bush would be president - totally illegal - AND Gore had the popular vote.

What has Nader given us - every year he runs more and more people listen to what he has to say and they like it. I think he’s very aware that he’s not going to win the election. The point isn’t to win. The point is to reveal the duopoly in Washington for what it is and to offer another alternative if only to have one for democracy’s sake. Why should ANYONE hassle anybody about exercising their constitutionally given right to run for president???

That URL is correct for November 5.org—probably you need to allow Java for that site.

Someone please explain to me what Ralph Nader has accomplished by running for president other than giving the 2000 election to Bush.  I’m waiting…..

Wow, I’ll have to agree with Nannie here.
Mr. Jeremy Keith Hammond, my ‘proverbial hat’ is off to you and your eloquent ways. I am just a young whippersnapper still, and yet I yearn for those days when I will similarly be sage and insightful. I know therefore I should mostly listen for now, and yet a part of me can’t hold back and wants to rant!

I admit to coming off a bit uncivil during such times in which I feel that I’m being unfairly targeted, & blamed for something if you will, for something that is truly preposterous to me. But, I make no apologies. I do very much wish to become more and more patient, more open-minded, but then, I hear such simpleton logic. OVER AND OVER AGAIN for nigh almost 8 years now…

...That I flushed my vote down the toilet, that I ‘spoiled’ the election, that I ‘elected’ and murdered, that I am merely the victim of a Republican scheme and so on and so forth….

Simply because I reject this hypocritical, phony two-party duopoly that merely serves itself (a few) and doesn’t in any actuality give a rats A** about you and I that they are supposedly running (by spending ever more obscene amounts of money) to ‘serve.’

And (while we’re at it) why is the ” $3 Tax Checkoff “
still TO THIS DAY so obscure and poorly understood, and yet it ought to be acknowledged and explained to the legions of new voters and tax payers who don’t have a clue, let alone all the elderly voters who also think it’s coming out of their own refund?? I just DON’T get it.

In other developed nations, you can’t quite run ridiculous T.V. campaign ads like you can here. (And we need these like we need a thorn in the Tuchus, just check out Chris Hedge’s new America the Illiterate, wow… ) And voting day is a HOLIDAY in many ‘industrialized’ places too and they use pen and PAPER to vote RRRRRRRRR It makes me SO MAD !!!
-pant pant-
~ WHEW ..Sorry!
Oh, and Mr. Doug Tarnopol by the way, I’m very curious about this http://november5.org  , but it doesn’t seem to be working, Please elaborate, thank you.
peace,
L

Whoops—sorry, the links didn’t carry over.

“Evidence” is supposed to point here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2 007/01/11/AR2007011101575.html

“More here” is http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/171335/david_swanson_w ill_iraq_become_the_democrats_war

and the subsequent “here” is http://www.accuracy.org/newsrelease.php?articleId=1859

[continued from below]

Gee, I don’t know, refusing to defund the war in order to gain power seems rather worse to me than using “Uncle Tom” accurately. I really couldn’t care less about Nader the person—as little as I care about Obama, Bush, you name it. Politics is not about marketed personas, not for adults. It’s about power, and we all need to organize to force the change we need, not sit back and wait for Handsome Daddy Leader (Bush, Obama, whomever) to Make It All Better.

Part I:

I think Malcolm X would have understood and appreciated Nader’s use of the term to describe a possible future for Obama:

  Just as the slavemaster of that day used Tom, the house Negro, to keep the field Negroes in check, the same old slavemaster today has Negroes who are nothing but modern Uncle Toms, 20th century Uncle Toms, to keep you and me in check, keep us under control, keep us passive and peaceful and nonviolent. That’s Tom making you nonviolent. It’s like when you go to the dentist, and the man’s going to take your tooth. You’re going to fight him when he starts pulling. So he squirts some stuff in your jaw called novocaine, to make you think they’re not doing anything to you. So you sit there and ‘cause you’ve got all of that novocaine in your jaw, you suffer peacefully. Blood running all down your jaw, and you don’t know what’s happening. ‘Cause someone has taught you to suffer—peacefully.
  ...

  The slavemaster took Tom and dressed him well, and fed him well, and even gave him a little education—a little education; gave him a long coat and a top hat and made all the other slaves look up to him. Then he used Tom to control them. The same strategy that was used in those days is used today, by the same white man. He takes a Negro, a so-called Negro, and make [sic] him prominent, build [sic] him up, publicize [sic] him, make [sic] him a celebrity. And then he becomes a spokesman for Negroes—and a Negro leader.

  I would like to just mention just one other thing else quickly, and that is the method that the white man uses, how the white man uses these “big guns,” or Negro leaders, against the black revolution. They are not a part of the black revolution. They’re used against the black revolution.—Malcolm X, Message To The Grass Roots, November 10, 1963.

That’s for all of you, whatever your age, who seem to have forgotten what was actually happening in the ‘sixties in black America, what Obama has specifically claimed to have “transcended,” and finally how postmodern identity politics have replaced any realistic sense of struggle in this country.

Isn’t it interesting how applicable Malcolm X’s picture is to Obama? Nader knows that, if Obama’s followers don’t. Malcolm X has been accused of being a racist toward whites; he’s yet to be accused of being a racist toward blacks.

We are all slaves to this fiction of Obama’s progressiveness. It’s wish-projection, and Obama was nice enough to let us know that he knows that he is a screen upon which people project their hopes.

Do something a little more worthwhile than bashing Nader: join http://november5.org.

Furthermore, what’s amazing to me is that Nader’s accurate use of “Uncle Tom” causes more outrage than Obama’s lightning-quick appointment of Rahm Emanuel as CoS. Of Emanuel’s many sins, including running conservative Democrats against progressives (the change we need?), consider that he, along with the rest of the Democratic Party leadership, purposely refused to cut off funding for the Iraq war in order to use discontent with “Bush’s War” to take over. Which they have, and the body count for that was, what, again? I mean, y’all are oh-so-moral anti-war types, right?

Evidence. Key point here:

  The secret for the Democrats, says Emanuel, is to remain the party of reform and change. The country is angry, and it will only get more so as the problems in Iraq deepen. Don’t look to Emanuel’s Democrats for solutions on Iraq. It’s Bush’s war, and as it splinters the structure of GOP power, the Democrats are waiting to pick up the pieces.

More evidence here and here. And I’m sure you can find more on your own, if you care to look.

[continued above]

I’m sorry Mendez - but killing people is quite plainly wrong. I have no objection to bringing these criminals to trial and sending them to jail - but torture and murder is a bit much.

There are plenty of historical examples of people abusing their power and later being slaughtered by those below to “make an example” - how many examples do we need? No more. It clearly hasn’t worked.

What we need is a total shift in paradigm to throw out a flawed system so that it’s harder for people like the W’s to take power. Preventative measures are needed - not reactionary ones. Killing them wont end the wars abroad and put food and clean water in people’s bellies around the world. It will only prove that we really are the barbarians that the current administration has portrayed us to be around the world.

After thousands of years of supposed progress - you’d think we’d be beyond the eye-for-an-eye mentality. It doesn’t work. Never has. So put that righteous energy to good use elsewhere!

.... and Pat Henry - those arguments about Nader fail time and time again. The Democratic party just can’t live with the fact that they failed to elect someone better than Bush - and actually - Gore expressed agreement with the idea to go to Iraq so I’m not really sure why people think we wouldn’t be there if he had been elected.

It’s The American People who have blood on their hands - how many of us stood up to oppose the war? How many of us had elected officials who voted against it? How many of us marched on Washington to demand that it end? Not enough.

I agree with ribbie’s note, a couple of postings ago.  Nader willfully spoiled the election of 2000 and pig-headedly still refuses to acknowledge his pivotal role in casting the last disastrous eight years of our history.

Nader is a smart dude, but his hubris is no less than that of the neo-cons, GW, Cheney, Rumsfeld and the host of others who’ve brought us so low.  Nader *does* have blood on his hands.

I hope never again to see Ralph Nader’s name on a ballot.

Well Jer, a fair trial and execution is not becoming them, it is what we are about.  Bush and Cheney and the like are worse than the sum of their parts because now people, like you, will not be able to demand the justice needed to insure it doesn’t happen again.  Holding them accountable is a paradigm shift but accepting this as flaccid pathetic drones will only insure that more will follow.  Hang em, and hang em high and burn the images into the psyche of everyone.  Our nation is failing, regardless of what anyone thinks.

Great posts, Jeremy Keith Hammond.

If more posters like Jeffery state their opinions on these threads this will be a better place to visit.

Mendez - I agree that the thought of their demise is somewhat entertaining but I’d like to caution you. Why would anyone want to become the monster they removed?

I don’t think we should point fingers at anybody. We live in a system (centuries old in the making) that enables, encourages and even rewards profiteering and corruption. Dick Cheney has made billions from the wars abroad. Should we be angry at him - maybe a little - but the fact is it’s the system - a system supported by enough people to keep it going - that allowed him and if it wasn’t him (and others) then it would have been someone else.

We shouldn’t cage and murder the powers that be as they did at Versailles. We need to collectively realize that the issue isn’t the people who have taken advantage of the system but rather the system itself.  A global system based on competition for resources which only appear scarce - is wrong. The world requires a shift in paradigm - one that probably includes cooperation and unconditional love at the fundamental levels.

Ralph was simply saying what many think. Obama is no savior but we can hope he does the right thing.  Personally, I hope he holds onto some of the power Bush had and simply use it without asking for permission.  For example, I’d like to see him use extraordinary rendition on everyone who works for Fox and Bush’s entire family and administration and their families.  Just get them on a plane, and you never see them again.  Nice.  I’d like to see him simply arrest Ruppert Murdoch and Roger Ailes and send them maybe to Cuba, perfect.  Close Gitmo but send in the clowns like Murdoch, O’Reilly et al and give the keys to the joint to Raul Castro.  Hey Raul, we won’t be needing this anymore, but you might want to talk to these dudes to find out what they’ve done to Cuba.  Really nice.

I really wish people would find out WHY they think Uncle Tom is a racially charged term before they say it is. Because if you look at the historical significance of the word you will find out that it is NOT. Look up the Reconstruction period. Everyone knows the book “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” but most people don’t know that the true definition of Uncle Tom didn’t take shape until after the Civil War where there was a movement by the KKK to try to make the south a one party state because the Republicans at the time were trying to give black people rights. The KKK thought the way to destroy that movement was to make the south a one party state, the Democratic Party. So when black men were seen quitting the republican party, outspoken black women called them Uncle Tom’s - Black people didn’t like the way they were portrayed in Uncle Tom’s Cabin. White people apparently though blacks were passive and weak. Even though the book was a pro anti-slavery one the actual representation of blacks was incorrect and black people saw that. So the idea of “Black Betrayal” is not a white person’s idea, therefore not racist. If you are going to say it is a racially charged term than you might as well stop calling black people, black people and white people, white people.

“Geeze…I just really wish we weren’t wasting time talking about Ralph Nader, who only wants what he wants, when he wants it, and on his own terms.” By cyrena, November 10 at 1:44 am

Polls consistently indicate that citizens of the US want universal health care, and end to the wars abroad, justice brought upon the corrupt corporations at fault for the economy and on and on and Nader’s agenda aligns with it perfectly.

A majority of the people in our world agree on what they want, when they want it, and on their own terms. They want food, water, warmth, and freedom from the corporate empire that keeps them enslaved. That’s democracy and that’s what Nader stands for.

If you think that the differences between the Republicans and Democrats out way the similarities - it just goes to show how affective corporate sponsored propaganda has been. They highlight the minute differences and pit the American people on left and right sides of the fence and ignore (or hide - if you’re the conspiracy theorist) the fact that this is now (and probably always has been) a top bottom conflict. 1% of the world population owns 40% of the resources (probably quite a lot more if you consider the amount of resources that they neglect to acquire) and they starve the bottom 50% to get it. Nader recognizes this.

Yes there are differences between the two major parties but when you ask the BILLIONS of people living in poverty around the world (millions in our own country) what the differences are - they probably can’t tell you. It’s not out of ignorance - they’re just aware that the both Dems, the GOP and a majority of Americans subscribe to the corporate agenda - profits before people.

You can argue about marriage rights, beverage taxes, fuel efficiencies, pot holes, border fences, abortion, and the like - but what matters most to BILLIONS of people around the world is access to food, water, warmth and a job or other form of security to easily acquire them.

Until we reach a point where a majority of the world has the basic necessities to live the life of a human being and not an animal (no offense to our fuzzy friends) I will continue to vote for candidates who can consider the global impact of our habits recognizing the corruption and putting in an effort to end it. THEN and only then will I consider the needs (or rather the desires) of the affluent and vote for a President who supports them.

Geeze…I just really wish we weren’t wasting time talking about Ralph Nader, who only wants what he wants, when he wants it, and on his own terms. If the 7 year old can’t get away with that, (because his elders wanna make sure that he doesn’t waste his intelligence on egomania) then why would anyone put up with it from Ralph Nader or anybody else? We’ve had 8 flippin’ years of it for Christ’s sake!!

Meantime, I agree with Ribbie, except that I don’t think we can technically say that Nader alone was the reason that Dick Cheney and Karl Rove were able to steal the election. We have to keep in mind that the Supreme Court had already been stacked in advance of exactly this, to put the thing where the rethugs of the Dynasty (Bush-Cheney-Clinton) wanted it to be. Bush I appointed Clarence Thomas to the USSC, and Clarence returned the favor. If the citizens of the US didn’t wanna ‘rise up’ against that Coup in 2000, then we just need to accept that as our own dilemma, and hope to hell we’ve learned something from it. We should have been hollering impeachment from day one, (including Nader) but not many of us were. (I was).

So, I’m not blaming Nader for that, (even though I’m sure it helped) but I’m damn sure blaming him for saying in 2000, and again in 2004, and again in 2008, that there was no difference between the candidates. That he said it only tells me that he is indeed an egomaniac, and he’s pretty much proven that with most of his other comments, or that he’s suffering from some sort of dementia, and can’t get with the 21st Century program.

I don’t see how any of us can NOT be insulted by his Nader’s insistence that there is no difference between the parties, or that there was no difference between Bush II and Al Gore. The Uncle Tom crack didn’t help him either. One should know that it’s a bit difficult to gain support of any population of people when your agenda is to consistently insult them with radical ideology.

So I’m with ya Ribbie. I wouldn’t give Ralph Nader a dime for any of his multiple PRIVATE organizations.

Maybe he should consider PUBLIC service other than the POTUS job only.

The ideology that Nader handily appointed Bush is among the most malignant and oft-regurgitated lies that have been spread around in recent years by the Democratic Party. Ribbie, you are showing your intelligence here ... and it is sorely lacking. Your inability to reason is demonstrative of the ass-backwards group mentality that has typified liberals of late. It is to be either A or B, but NO other. Imbeciles.

Nader does make tasteless comments. SO DO they ALL! Get over it. I vote for him twice already and I’m quite sure that I would do it again. Your assertion that I in effect voted for Bush, or McCain is completely asinine. THINK before you type.

Joe the plumber-republican-tax evader-liar-cheat-all of the above!!!!!!.........Would you buy a used car from this man??????

Ralph Nader is as responsible for George Bush becoming president and its consequences (Iraq War, etc. ad nauseum) as any man on the planet. His refusal to drop out of the 2000 presidential campaign directly resulted in the election of the worst president since 1900. The man who said “there was no difference in the candidates” in 2000 will never get my support for any organization with his name on it, regardless of how good the work they do.  He continues to run meaningless campaigns instead of throwing his support to candidates who can actually effect change.  The Nobel Prize and Academy Award Committees saw the difference between Al Gore and George Bush and acted accordingly. 

Ralph Nader has the blood of 4300 men and women on his hands.  Nader used to serve the public.  Now he serves himself and his bloated ego.