Ralph was born to immigrant parents and his sister, Laura Nader Milleron, has stated, "We lived between two cultures -- in my family there were Lebanese traditions and at school there were American traditions." Sending a message to the world that America is changing with a new president? Ralph is Lebanese-American. Matt Gonzalez, his running mate, is Latino.
Strategy, with very little attention from the media, the campaign continues progressing. Last week, the announcement came that the plan for being on the ballot in ten states was reached. And as the campaign fights for ballot access, it makes strides for all and uncovers a great deal. In 2004, Nader was not allowed on the Arizona ballot. Though he is already on the ballot there for the 2008 race, last week's verdict by the Ninth Circuit should make it easier for others to gain ballot access. Meanwhile, all those denials that the Democratic Party wasn't playing dirty in 2004? 12 Democrats indicted in Pennsylvania last week for the efforts to keep Nader off the ballot in 2004. Thursday, the campaign filed the paperwork to be on the ballot in Washington.
The Nader campaign is on the move. Anthony Schinella (Massachusetts' Belmont Citizen-Herald) reported last week on his paper's online poll and Nader got 7%. (Barack 28%, McCain 60%, Bob Barr 4% and Cynthia McKinney 1%. Mike notes, "Barack is unpopular in my state when we held our primary, that's only increased.") This month, Ralph Nader became the first presidential candidate to campaign in Hawaii since 1960. Forty-eight years and the Democrats and Republicans couldn't get their candidate to the Aloha state. Are they scared of beautiful landscapes? Do they wilt in tropical climates? What's the deal? Nader's taking his campaign to the people.
Ralph's going to the people because you can't count on the media. Did anyone bother to listen to KPFA last week? Did your mouth drop open in shock? Oh, look, it's a book author interview. Oh wait, no, it's a plug for the Barack Obama campaign. And what about those morning "news" breaks? Is their a law that Alieen Alfandary can only mention Democratic and Republican candidates? You might have thought the trip to Hawaii would be news. You'd be wrong. Alfandary offered up a special kind of 'news': Rescue Barack on the hour and half-hour. For example, in one of her more comical bits of stand up, she spoke of how Barack is pushing for exceptions in the bankruptcy law for veterans and people whose entire life savings were wiped out by medial bills. Alfandary was really jazzed on that and we had to wonder, "She does know there's a housing crisis going on, right?" That thought quickly vanished as Alfandary rushed to inform that Barack was Superman, Batman and Spiderman combined. He was taking on the law that the Bully Boy of the United States passed when there was a Republican controlled Congress! Are your sides aching? Are you howling with laughter? What Alieen Alfandary forgot (or probably didn't know) was that Barack voted for that legislation. Guess that makes him Lex Luther, the Penguin and the Green Goblin combined.
But without fail, you can count on Alfandary to deliver Barack spin repeatedly, several times, each day. And you can count on Amy Goodman to never let a day slip by without mentioning in headlines and usually in segments. Ralph doesn't get that. (Nor do Cynthia McKinney and Bob Barr.) What's going on is marketing passed off as 'news' and 'public affairs.' This from a Panhandle Media that repeatedly likes to say, "We need the Fairness Doctrine brought back!"? To be really honest about it, neither John McCain nor Barack Obama is a candidate for president. They have yet to receive their party's nomination. If you're covering the candidates for president, seems to us you'd be noting Ralph, Cynthia McKinney and Bob Barr.
But that would be news and repetition is the key to mind control which is all advertising is. And as allgedely 'independent' media blocks out the news on any candidate not in the two-party system, it becomes more and more obvious that they are advertising, not news and information providers. (On a good day, they're actually gossip columnists -- though they lack Rona's flair.)
How are people supposed to know who to connect with when so many are shut out of the coverage?
Issues?
What do you mean issues? Ralph's just a pretty face in a snazzy suit. Did you miss the reporters on the campaign plane going ga-ga over Ralph modeling blue jeans? Oh, wait, that's the Democratic Party's presumed nominee.
Ralph actually has plans.
There's no caving on Iraq for Nader. He outlined his plan in an online chat at The Washington Post last Thursday:
The Nader/Gonzalez plan for the military and corporate withdrawl from Iraq would be on a six-month timetable. During that period, we urge UN-sponsored elections, continuation of humanitarian aid, since we owe it to the devestated Iraqi people, and negotiations with the three groups: Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds regarding a level of autonomy within the overall framework of a unified Iraq. All three groups want a unified Iraq but they want some autonomy. By returning Iraq and the oil back to the Iraqis, the bottom will fall out of the insurgency since its only objective is to evict the invader/occupier.
Last week, Barack Obama caved on the spying of Americans and broke yet another campaign promise. Nader called out the Senate vote noting, "We were taught as young children that in our democracy, under our system of justice, nobody is above the law -- nobody. But this bill puts the President and the telecom companies above the law." Who's looking out for you? Not John Stossel, it's Ralph Nader (as he's done his entire adult life). To listen to Nader's statement on that vote, click here. To read it in text form, click here.
How well do you know your candidate?
If Ralph Nader's not your candidate, don't you think it's time you examined what he's offering?
He picked up a Barack supporter last week. Brian (Memoirs of a Godless Heathen) explained the FISA vote was the last straw: "Thus, I can no longer throw in my support for Obama. He can no longer count on my vote (the very first one I will ever cast) in November. I am now supporting Ralph Nader for President. Mr. Nader is the most compatible with my sensibilites. His unyielding advocacy for freedom of the American people make him the most desirable of all the candidates. So am I wasting my vote? I don't think so. I realize that Nader will not win, but voting for the winner is not what a voter should strive for. I am voting for the person who I believe can best do the job. This November, I will have the satisfaction of voting for someone I like, rather than the lesser of the two evils. I may be just one vote, but breaking the hold of this two-party system requires people like me to make the choice to do so. Will I be helping John McCain's campaign? No, because I will not be voting for John McCain. If Ralph Nader was not my choice, I would not vote, plain and simple. Thus, I am not taking a vote away from Obama, since I wouldn't have voted for him anyway."
We disagree that Ralph can't win. We think if he can continue building support and make it into the debates, he has his best shot in 2008.
We also think that, before getting in bed with someone, you find out something about their sexual history. With politics, before hopping on a campaign, you should find out something about their corporatist ties.
Ralph's clean. He's corporation-free. The tests came back negative and he's not going to infect the White House the way so many have before. If your candidate isn't Nader, it's time to ask, "Has my candidate been tested?"