Everyone's weighing in on Ralph Nader's announcement that he is going to run as an independent candidate for Prez. And I just know that you're dying to hear my thoughts on the matter.
So here goes. I agree with other assessments that this is all about Nader's ego. In 2000, there was a large movement supporting his involvement, and on paper, there seemed to be few differences between Gore and Bush, so one could make the case that it didn't matter who ended up in office. But 2004 is clearly different from 2000. pResident Bush has turned out to be far more extreme than candidate Bush, and there is a distinct difference between Shrub, Kerry, and Edwards. Plus, the Supreme Court is likely to have a couple of positions open up in the next four years, and it would be dangerous to have Shrub in charge of nominating the next justice.
I agree with much of what Nader says, and I agree that we need to do away with the two-party system. But now is not the time. Given all this, I really don't think that Nader will make much of a difference because so many people are laser-like focused on the singular goal of getting Shrub out of office, and fewer people will be inclined to throw-away a vote on Nader. And so I'm not having apopleptic fits over Nader. I'm more concerned with who "The Littlest Groom" is going to choose tonight.