filed under Election 2008 | News | Politics
Left of the Left Says No to Nader
6:29PM ON
02/26/2008
BY
Will Emmons
That left-wing nutjob David Segal gave us his two cents about Nader a couple days ago. Looks like Chris Maisano of the Young Democratic Socialists (a fine organization of wonderful left-wing nutjobs) is basically in agreement.
Nader represents nobody but himself at this point in his career trajectory. He is not attached to any third party, and is not the main spokesperson for any kind of existing social and political movement. All of the social forces that brought some substance to his 2000 campaign, namely students and youth, for better or worse are clearly in Barack Obama’s camp. They will not be going anywhere else, even if Obama makes no attempt to stake out a more progressive position before the November election, assuming he is the nominee (a possibility that looks more likely every day). Nader simply does not appear to have any substantive reservoir of electoral support to draw from, rendering his effort little more than a vanity candidacy. In this context, support for the Nader campaign represents a withdrawal from actual politics and an empty moral gesture. Where the hell were you the past four years, Ralph?
Ralph, in case you didn’t notice, that was the sound of your base running out the door.
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