Would someone give Mr. Nader a nice bowl of pudding and show him where he can take a nap?

Good grief. Is he still here? It really is sad to watch someone who did so much good work that helped so many people slip into deranged, haranguing obsolescence.

Like Nader, I fell in love with the government that we learned about in Civics class and think we ought to give it a whirl - but my education was well rounded. I learned about futility in literature and drama when we read Don Quixote and put on a high-school production of Man of La Mancha.

That well-rounded education and pragmatic world view is why I wince when Ralph Nader speaks these days.


Especially when he says things like this:

"There's only one thing different about Barack Obama when it comes to being a Democratic presidential candidate. He's half African-American," Nader said. "Whether that will make any difference, I don't know. I haven't heard him have a strong crackdown on economic exploitation in the ghettos. Payday loans, predatory lending, asbestos, lead. What's keeping him from doing that? Is it because he wants to talk white? He doesn't want to appear like Jesse Jackson? We'll see all that play out in the next few months and if he gets elected afterwards."

The Obama campaign had only a brief response, calling the remarks disappointing.

Asked to clarify whether he thought Obama does try to "talk white," Nader said: "Of course.

"I mean, first of all, the number one thing that a black American politician aspiring to the presidency should be is to candidly describe the plight of the poor, especially in the inner cities and the rural areas, and have a very detailed platform about how the poor is going to be defended by the law, is going to be protected by the law, and is going to be liberated by the law," Nader said. "Haven't heard a thing."

"We are obviously disappointed with these very backward-looking remarks," Obama campaign spokeswoman Shannon Gilson said.

Can we move beyond this crap please? I like to think that I am fairly typical - I am a middle-aged white woman with a diverse background. I have worked with, supervised and been supervised by people of every race. Please believe me when I say I don't even think about race unless someone forces me to.

To hear someone like Nader say something like that is sickening. Standard American English is white English. That is simply how it is, and that a Harvard graduate speaks Standard American English should not be construed as pandering to white people, no matter how Mr. Nader tries to couch it to his lunatic fringe supporters.

Bitches Get Stuff Done

Here's delusion for you, in a nutshell:

[Ralph] NADER: Let me put it in context, to make it a little more palatable to people who have closed minds. 24% of the American people are satisfied with the state of the country, according to Gallup. That’s about the lowest ranking ever. 61% think both major parties are failing. And according to Frank Luntz’s poll, the Republican, 80% will consider voting for an independent this year. Now you take that framework, of people feeling locked out, shut out, marginalized, disrespected and you go from Iraq to Palestine to Israel. From Enron to Wall Street. From Katrina to the bungling of the Bush administration to the complicity of the Democrats in not stopping him on the war, stopping him on the tax cuts, getting a decent energy bill through and you have to ask yourself, as a citizen, should we elaborate the issues that the two are not talking about? And the…all the candidates, McCain, Obama and Clinton, are against single-payer health insurance. Full Medicare for all. I’m for it. As well as millions of Americans and 59% of physicians in a forthcoming poll this April. People don’t like Pentagon waste, the bloated military budget, all of the reports in the press and the GAO reports. A wasteful defense is a weak defense. It takes away taxpayer money that can go to the necessities of the American people. That’s off the table, to Obama and Clinton and McCain. The issue of labor law reform: repealing the notorious Taft-Hartley act, that keeps workers who are now more defenseless than ever against corporate globalization from organizing to defend their interests. Cracking down on corporate crime. The media—the mainstream media—repeatedly indicated how trillions of dollars have been drained and fleeced and looted from millions of workers and investors who don’t have many rights these days.

That's a wonderful laundry list of things that are wrong. And Ralph Nader thinks he is someone who can do something about those problems?

Please. Ralph Nader has absolutely no chance to do anything this year except siphon off some critical votes that a Democrat might need in a few key states. Granted, 90% of the people who will vote for Nader just want to throw their vote away because they're pissy about something and won't get behind a candidate because said candidate is not 100% perfectly in line with the single issue they are obsessed with. You're never going to find someone who's perfectly in line with the way you think and who is going to do exactly what you want them to do. Be an adult--and quit being a spoiled fucking child--and get used to being mildly disappointed about serious subjects.

You want to do ANYTHING about the issues Nader lists above? See what voting for McCain gets you.

Nader has no legacy now. He's a tired act. And I guarantee you--more Republicans give to his campaign than any other constituency because he takes votes from Democrats. Plain and simple.

Tina Fey has the best line of the year--bitches get stuff done.