Nader "Obama a con man needs a primary challenger"

[littlewolf]

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20025168-503544.html?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed

December 9, 2010 12:31 PM
Ralph Nader: Obama is a "Con Man"
Posted by Lucy Madison
Two-time third-party presidential candidate Ralph Nader (Credit: AP)
Ralph Nader, liberal activist and two-time third-party presidential candidate, lambasted President Obama in a Wednesday interview, and called for a liberal alternative to challenge in him in the 2012 presidential campaign.

"He has no fixed principles," Nader said, of Mr. Obama. "He's opportunistic -- he goes for expedience, like Clinton. Some call him temperamentally conflict-averse. If you want to be harsher, you say he has no principles and he's opportunistic."
"He's a con man," Nader continued. "I have no use for him."

Nader urged a progressive candidate to challenge Mr. Obama for the presidency in 2012, and said that while he wasn't altogether disallowing the possibility of running himself, it was time for a new progressive leader to step forward.
"Obama's position has been that the liberal, progressive wing has nowhere to go, therefore they can't turn their back on the administration. But a challenge will hold his feet to the fire and signal that we do have somewhere to go," Nader said.

"I'm not foreclosing the possibility ... There are just other things to do," he continued. "And it's time for someone else to continue. I've done it so many times. When I go around the country, I'm telling people they need to find somebody."
In a Tuesday letter to Mr. Obama, Nader expressed his discontent with the president's decision to compromise with Republicans on tax cuts for America's highest earners - an issue that has inspired a firestorm of criticism from many liberals.



edited to 4 paras ... more at the link

[NYCGirl]

1. Nader is calling someone "opportunistic"? "No fixed principles?"

[littlewolf]

6. so stealing that pot/kettle ... lol

[ProSense]

2. Fuck Ralph Nader. He isn't a Democrat. n/t

[Name removed]

18. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[upi402]

3. I think that's absolutely valid

A strong opposition party opposing corporatism is the only hope. Americans will not take to the streets.

The Democratic Party left me as it moved toward the Republican side. Nader is a Democrat, I am a Democrat, but the Democratic Party is not behaving like an opposition party against the powerful elites. It's a face-licking lapdog.

[polichick]

7. Agreed. nt

[elocs]

4. Well, Ralph, tell us how you really feel about Obama. n/t

[bluestateguy]

5. That stupid little weasel

Mr. "There's no difference between Bush and Gore" helped get us into this mess by draining a precious 2.74% of the vote in 2000.

[MedicalAdmin]

15. Gee. I could have also been a SCOTUS stacked by the repubs.

But hey, never let reality get in the way of your pet theory.

[bigdarryl]

8. if he hadn't taken votes from Gore in Florida in 2000 we wouldn't be in this mess

he's an ASS a rich one in fact

[Occam Bandage]

9. If there's a serious 2012 primary challenge, it would be from the right, not the left.

For the most part, Obama still has the liberal electorate locked up; they support him almost as much as they did in the first year, and they voted in '10 at the same rate they did in '06. His biggest problem at the polls is that moderates have deserted him.

[polichick]

10. Wait until the new polls come out - post giant sellout...

He may get back the mushy middle but it won't make up for what he loses.

Sure, some will still vote for the lesser of two evils, but not as many as usual.

[Occam Bandage]

11. Polls have pretty consistently shown that Obama's biggest weakness is among centrists.

His appeal to centrists was a key part of his rise to power in '08. Through shitty messaging he's managed to convince them that: A) He's been a super-liberal, and B) His super-liberal policies haven't worked. I agree that he needs to embrace rather than reject progressivism, but there simply isn't any indication that there's more than Kucinich-level support for a primary challenger on the left. There is, however, plenty of indication that a Conservadem might be able to make some noise.

[polichick]

13. I'm just saying that what's happening among liberals is a sea-change...

If someone like me - who has been an activist since the Carter years, never missing a vote - for the first time doubts whether a vote for Obama is possible, things have really changed.

As you know, the definition of insanity is to keep doing the same thing expecting something different.

[Occam Bandage]

22. The blogosphere has been making similar claims since before his inauguration.

It's possible that this time they're correct and that Obama has suddenly lost the left. It's also possible that he hasn't. I suppose we have to wait until new polling data comes out.

[polichick]

24. True, and things can change yet again - but I want to be part of a movement...

...away from a corporate Democratic party.

[bushisanidiot]

12. Fuck You, RALPH!

go back to obscurity and STFU.

I will never forgive you for AWOL Bush being crowned king. ASSHOLE!

[MedicalAdmin]

16. So the SCOTUS had nothing to do with it?

Or do you also blame any factor that could have shifted the vote? Like Katherine Harris and vote caging?

Or do you just hate liberals?

[bushisanidiot]

19. Nader should have never been on the ballot in FL.

he could have pulled out of states where the polls were showing a tie. and there were several states like that.

his ego, fed by big money from republican donors, is why he stayed in. he's an asshole, and as a result, we were stuck WITH THE WORST PRESIDENT IN THE HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES!!

[Occam Bandage]

23. There were multiple necessary conditions, the lack of any one of which would have meant Pres. Gore.

Nader's insistence on running in FL despite polling showing a close race in is certainly one.

[Phx_Dem]

14. Why are you still talking, Raph? We have you and your ignorant supporters to thank

for the Iraq war and every other hideous thing brought to us by George Bush.

Go fuck yourself.

[geek tragedy]

17. At least he's not calling him an Uncle Tom again. Yet. nt

[CakeGrrl]

20. Yeah...take the advice of the enabler who made FL close enough to steal.

[Ikonoklast]

21. Says the man that took Republican money. FUCK HIM.

Nader is what he is, and what he will always remain, a political gadfly with an ego the size of a small planet.

[Arkana]

25. Ahahahaha. And who's gonna do it, Ralph? You?

Take your fucking planet-sized ego that gave us George Bush and SHOVE it.

[AtomicKitten]

26. Step into the breach, Wonder Wizard.

[zulchzulu]

27. Who?

Is that the two-time loser who ran for President and got his ass kicked? Bitter much, Ralph?

[tweeternik]

28. Ralph ... time to take your medicine!

Now take it and shut the fuck up!

[jefferson_dem]

29. Go away Ralphie.

Now you just look stupid.

[denem]

30. Nader endorsed John Edwards

... enough said.

[Aramchek]

31. Nader gave Bush 8 years. His words are worth less than W's.

Go ahead, Ralph.
Run again and enlarge the legendary embarrassment that is your political career.

[BklnDem75]

32. Nader's the worst con man of all

Comes out once every 4 years acting like he wants to fight the power, then disappears for 3 years and does absolutely nothing. He's a real life urban legend.