Ralph Is Back

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the voting booth . . . the legend continues.

Ralph Nader has indicated that he will run for President - this time as an independent - this year against George W. Bush and prospective Democrtaic nominee John Kerry. Liberals everywhere are urging Nader not to, thinking he'll be a spoiler and help Bush by splitting the anti-Bush vote.

I could be wrong, but I don't think that will happen, and for quite a few reasons. First, Nader won't be running as the Green Party candidate this time. The whole point of voting for Nader in 2000 was to help the Greens get five percent of the vote and thus qualify for federal election matching funds, both Nader only got about three percent, and so they failed to meet the threshold. Nobody, least of all Nader himself, I'm sure, actually expected him to win. Secondly, Nader was not a spoiler in the 2000 election. He was expected to tilt the popular vote in favor of Bush and give the Republicans the electoral votes of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Washington state, and Oregon. Albert Gore won those states anyway. Also, Nader did not cause Gore to lose Florida. As everyone knows, Gore carried Florida, and several votes were discarded and several voters - most of them black - were bullied. A recount would have shown a Gore win, but the Republicans sent goon squads to Miami and Fort Lauderdale to stop recounts from proceeding. Finally, there were all those liberal, mainly Jewish voters in Palm Beach County who mistakenly voted for Pat Buchanan, running on the Reform Party ticket, when they thought they were voting for Gore. Even Buchanan thought he wasn't supposed to get those votes. And then there's another reason why Nader will be less of a spoiler, and maybe not a spoiler at all, this year. Most people who voted for him four years ago now regret it, because they think they helped cost Gore the election, and they don't want to make the same mistake twice.

Don't get me wrong. Ralph Nader is a good man, and he's made ordinary people's lives much better with his activism. But his place is in lobbying Congress and going after corporations in the courts, not running for President.

Also, Howard Dean should just quit the Democratic race. He's going to lose Wisconsin, his attacks on John Kerry are only giving the Bush campaign extra ammunition for the fall, and he's running out of money. And I don't care how much his Iowa rant was overplayed and overblown. No one wants as their President a man who mounts the stump and acts like he's auditioning to be the lead singer for Nazareth.

Angry men can't get elected President. Speaker of the House, maybe, not President. Just look at, well, Ralph Nader.