So today on Meet The Press, one Ralph Nader said, “I have decided to run for president.” The question is, will anyone vote for him this time around? Can any of the liberals who voted for him in 2000 now look back on their vote with pride, knowing what it has cost the United States, knowing what it has ultimately cost Iraq, knowing what that vote has ultimately cost the world? I have long believed that 9/11 would not have happened under a Gore presidency, if only for the fact that the Clinton administration was already paying attention to Osama Bin Laden — something the Bush administration decided it would not do, if only because Bush wanted to do the opposite of anything anyone associated with Clinton was suggesting. Besides, Rumsfeld was too busy restarting the Strategic Defense Initiative to be worried about small-time stuff like domestic terrorism.
But I digress…
So here we are eight years later, and Nader decides he’s going to run for president again. I have to ask myself, just what does Nader think he will accomplish this time around, other than once again to siphon votes away from either Obama or Clinton? Nader said today he will ‘not be deterred’ in his run for the White House. Why not? It would seem to me if he wanted to make his point — that the Democrats and Republicans are in the pocket of big business (hello, of course they are — what do you think you can do about it?) — he would’ve run for president, and then dropped out at the last minute so that he wouldn’t be handing the election to the one party that is SO MUCH MORE in the pocket of big business?
If you think about it, that’s exactly what he did through his utter selfishness in 2000. When else in American history have we seen so much stealing by corporations from the treasury? Have we ever seen the kind of money pouring out of government into the private sector — mostly to defense contractors and private security firms — that we are currently seeing? It would seem that Nader’s 2000 run did exactly the OPPOSITE of what he had hoped it would. Is he such a forward-thinking revolutionary that he could predict that this would happen, and therefore prompt the American public to really see (gotta be careful with that word really) just how much corporations are stealing and thus get everyone so riled up that they would do something about it? Was that his plan? If it was, perhaps he didn’t account for the fact that the resulting debt spending and recession would make it impossible for the ordinary citizen to think about anything else other than trying to keep his job, save his house, and put food on his family. Things would have to get really really terrible before oppressed citizens would rise up against the corporations. Hell, if $4 per gallon fuel won’t do it, what will? $4 per gallon fuel when the fuel companies are raking in record profits? Nope.
So just what does Nader hope to accomplish this time around? Especially when he states he will not be deterred? For one thing, we liberals should have no false hope that he will drop out at the last minute. We also know that he is likely to siphon off votes from the only possible party that might possibly agree with him on some issues. So what is the point? Why is he running? My guess is that he’s just insane. Totally insane. He’s a giant train wreck of ego, selfishness, and ignorance that Tim Russert had to let everyone get a nice close look at.
“I am announcing I am running for president.” Well good for you, you fucking asswipe. I hope you lose millions, I hope you lose everything you have in the world, because you are an unindicted co-conspirator in the 9/11 attack. You are at least partially responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, and the refugee status of hundreds of thousands (and possibly millions) more. You are responsible for the deaths of 7000 Americans — 3000 in the 9/11 attacks, and 4000 in Iraq and Afghanistan. You. Ralph Nader. Consumer advocate. Total asshole. If I saw you today, I would spit in your face, and I encourage everyone to do the same.
Selfish bastard.