Hey Bart. I am not only a Nader voter, but I also
live in Florida. In the context of the 2000 election I had major problems
with the Gush/Bore tandem, so i voted a protest
vote, to my eternal shame and regret.
It's ABB this time for me,
although I have problems with Kerry (large corporate donors) and Clark
(Military industrial complex taint) and Kucinich (some great ideas, not
a snowball's chance) and Dean was a little off kilter, any one of these
guys will get my vote come november. I wish they would listen to someone
like you, and challenge Bush on his current record...call his ass out and
make him explain why he sent 550 brave Americans, many of them children,
to their deaths. Or why he allows the raping and pillaging of our country
and the world while proclaiming a divine inspiration from God.
He dismisses scientists
who speak their mind on the environment, he fires cabinet officials who
dare to disagree, he allows CIA agents to be identified (a WMD specialist
no less) he is vengeful and arrogant. He has no idea what life is like
when money and influence are not always there to bail your ass out when
you screw up and get arrested or go AWOL or are unable to find oil in Texas
or cannot pass the pilots test, or play golf while terrorists learn to
fly (but not land) jets. Shit, he even used Saddam to take the heat off
of his inability to act to prevent the acts he had been warned against,
or catch the persons responsible.
When i voted in 2000, I thought
it made no difference which asshole got to be President. I was wrong. Ralph
Nader has a right to run if he chooses. There are many former supporters
who would not ever make that mistake again.
I read your page every day it is available.
I sent you a small donation yesterday....maybe
enough for a shot of Chinaco. I hope things keep picking up for you.
Michael
The dems didn’t have a prayer in 2000 in Colorado, so I voted for Nader hoping he could get 5 percent and federal funding. If I didn’t live in Colorado I would have voted for Gore, but Gore had no prayer in this state. The city of Boulder is the only liberal outpost in Colorado (in fact, its the only real liberal city anywhere for a thousand miles), but, sadly, I live in Colorado Springs, one of the most conservative cities in the country, and BY FAR, the most religiously insane (Focus on the Family lives here, they employee my mother-in-law I’m sad to say).
People in Florida and other states where the vote was close did a disservice to the country voting for Nader. But I have come to realize, we, who voted for Nader in the extreme red states, also screwed up. By giving him any votes at all, we legitimized him. If he had gotten less than 1 percent of the vote, he might not be inclined to bother running again.
There was another screw up Nader voters committed (myself included). Getting a third party federal funding is all well and good, but in hindsight, I would prefer it be a party like the Reform Party (I believe that was the name of Perot’s party). That way the conservatives can fight with each other about their ideals, and democrats can sit back, watch, and enjoy. The only way I want to see a party like the Green Party get Federal Funding is if a similar right-leaning party also gets federal funding.
In closing, Kerry in 2004 is the ONLY vote that makes any sense. Keep swinging Bart, my subscription has proven enjoyable.
Dave
I'm sorry. I'll never do it again.
Jeffrey R
I’ll be voting for Kerry.
I live in Texas so I voted for Nader in 2000
because I knew Gore would not win Texas.
In the future, a third party would be great but
not this year.
MEB
I voted for Nader in 2000, several years prior
to his onset of Alzheimers.
But W has taken the wop out of the doo-wop-wopaly,
now we need to stash
the old man away someplace where he can’t hurt
himself or anyone else, ‘cause
there is some serious trouble to be undone.
Maybe if everyone pitches in their $.25, we can
present Nader with the keys
to a shiny new Corvair as a token of our appreciation
for another party spoiled.
R Mann
ha ha
I'm so old, I remember Unsafe at Any Speed
I voted for My Man Ralph in 2000 because he was
the only candidate telling the truth
about how the criminals in the suites were more
dangerous than the criminals on the streets.
Since then: Enron, WorldCom, Arthur Anderson,
Qwest, Halliburton, etc etc etc.
Ralph Nader did not cost Al Gore the presidency in 2000. Al Gore won the election.
I won't vote for Nader in 2004 because he is not
running on the Green Party ticket.
I wanted the Greens to get their 5% in 2000 so
they could qualify for federal matching funds,
which would help get the very much needed Green
message out to a wider audience.
Bush had Colorado's 8 electoral college votes
locked up the day he announced, so Nader
was a safe vote in Colorado in 2000. Similarly,
it doesn't matter who I vote for in 2004
(I may write in Bartcop) because Bush will carry
Colorado easily. We vie with Oklahoma
for redness in the neck area.
If the polls show Bush support lagging here, and
the gap closing, I will vote for whomever
the Democrats nominate. John Kerry's hair would
make a better president than George W. Bush.
Thanks for listening and keep on kicking ass,
*** mike ryder
No way this time!
M Richardson
I voted for Nader in 2000 but there's no way I'd
vote for him this time.
And I'm certainly not voting for Bush.
BTW, I'm voting "absentee ballot". With
computer voting machines in their
current state, I'm urging everyone I know to
do the same.
Steve R
Hi Bart,
As a staunch member of the Green Party of Rhode
Island I proudly voted
for Ralph Nader in election 2000.
Why?
Because he was the only rational, articulate and
intelligent alternative
to the two sides of the same coin (R&D).
If you really examine Kerry/Bush the similarities
are so close as to be
laughable/cryable. The only dissimilarities are
the military service
records all others especially Kerry's are documented
as totally agreeing
with the current monkey business now being handed
to us. Not that I want
the BFEE in overt power for the next four years.
But!
I being dedicated to growing a vital third party
in this country (which
by the way is a world wide party JOIN US!) will
vote for our Green
candidate for President who will be chosen at
our convention!
Thanks,
Jimmy R
Jimmy, if Kerry loses by one vote, we're going to blame you.
First off let me say I DO NOT REGRET voting for
Nader.
If I could go back in time, knowing what I know
now, I
wouldn't vote for him. But I don't regret voting
for him.
I had to let Gore know that I didn't like being
taken for granted.
Which is what happens when candidates race to
the center.
I can understand all the hand wringing and blaming
Nader because it's easier than saying Gore choked.
-atm
ps - I was born a yellow dog Democrat and have
taken years of grief
from my father and brothers and sisters for voting
for Nader.
pps - I live in Virginia that hasn't gone
for a Democrat for President for
nearly 40 years. Here Nader got less than 1%
of the popular vote.
Would I vote for Nader again? I certainly
think he would make a better president than John Kerry,
(not to mention the disaster we now have).
It depends on a number of things.
#1 - Is there the slightest chance that Kerry
can beat Bush in Indiana? Probably not, but if it looks like it,
then a vote for Nader is out of the question.
#2 - What Nader stresses and how he approaches
this next election is an important factor. I am hoping his
campaign is full of truthful and enlightening
statements showing those who are unaware, that Bush's presidency
is one of the biggest mistakes this country has
made. If he attacks Kerry, then I will lose all respect for his
sense of pragmatism and never vote for him again.
After the last election, it was apparent that
Nader's candidacy cost Gore the election. It has also subsequently
been made apparent to me, that this happened
because many voters, like me, took put too much value in the
mainstream media's commentary.
I don't think Nader will get 1/10 of the votes
he got last election,
and I look forward to Bush leaving the White
House next year.
Pat
Dear Bart,
I agreed with everything Ralph Nader said and
stood for in 2000.
I still agree with everything he says and stands
for. BUT, I will never again
vote for a third party candidate until this country
has an instant run off provision in its election laws.
Having seen what this unelected fraud has done
in these few years I would vote
for any Democratic candidate. Even one hand picked
by the DLC.
I will vote for Kerry and try to work for change
in the party to make it more responsive
to its core principles. Perhaps Howard Dean will
create an interest group within the party
to contend with the DLC and other corporatist
Democrats.
Jacob in Oregon
This one
almost looks human
Dear Bart:
I'm a little different than other Nader 2000
voters. I voted for him in 2000 because I knew Gore
would win my state (CA) and I truly felt Ralph
most closely represented my views. Had I observed
W polling higher in California I would have certainly
voted Gore and done my part for the left.
This time around I plan not to be so self indulgent
even though Kerry looks to do the same if not better than Gore.
But the election is 8 months away and Roves Great
White Lie Machine is just starting up on Kerry.
Keep swinging the hammer, "F" the GOP, fight the
power,
Greg K.
Hey Bart,
I love the page, the work, the writing.
I voted and campaigned for Nader in Florida in
2000. I even helped set up the Univ. of South Florida Campus Greens.
BTW, that was just after I discovered your page.
Even you couldn't prevent me from voting for Nader,
as I assumed that Gore would win anyway.
I'll be voting for the Democratic nominee this
year. But I shall remain a registered Green.
At least we don't wear pink tutus.
-Brother Fire
88.5 WMNF, Tampa
Hey Bart,
I voted for Nader last time around, and I'll probably
do it again. Special case, though: in Texas, where I have
the misfortune to live, even if every Nader voter
had switched to Gore - AND convinced three Bush voters to
switch to Gore too - the monkey still would have
won the state in 2000.
Only an idiot would say there's no difference
between Kerry and Bush. But there's not as much difference as
I'd like between the major parties, and I think
you'd agree with me on that. I think my vote for Nader says more
about where I want the Democratic party to go
than a wasted vote for the Democrat who's not going to win
Texas anyway. If by some miracle it gets close
in this god-forsaken state, I'll go for Kerry; otherwise, Nader
says a lot of things I agree with, so I'm stickin'
with him.
Good work with the hammer - keep it up!
You're a light in the darkness.
Peter S.
Bart:
I am am member of the County Council
of the Fresno (CA) County Green Party. I am also active with the
California Green Party. I voted for Nader in 2000.
This year, I will support Green
Party presidential candidate David Cobb who intends to run a "safe states"
strategy where he will compete only in those seats where it is already
a foregone conclusion that one of the major parties will win.
I will not be supporting Nader in
his independent candidacy.
(withheld)
I voted for Nader in 2000. I did so because
there was a decent
chance of the Green Party receiving sufficient
votes to achieve
Real Party status in my state, and because I
felt that Al "I
Agree With Governor Bush" Gore had committed
too many betrayals
of traditional Democratic values. Given
the same circumstances,
I would vote for Nader and the Green Party again.
However, in 2004, the circumstances are not the
same. John
Kerry is a better Democrat than Al Gore and will
probably do
more to include liberal themes in his campaign,
especially if he
picks Wesley Clark as his running mate.
Ralph Nader has no new
message and no national organization behind him.
The Green
Party has done nothing to extend its little momentum
from
Campaign 2000 and now looks less like a serious
national
political party and more like a bunch of self-absorbed
graduate
students.
I'm voting for Kerry in 2004.
Eric S
Hey BC,
I admit to voting for Nader in the 2000 election,
but I am not to blame for the demise of Western Civilization as we know
it.
Why not? Simple. I voted in Nebraska,
besides Idaho, quite possibly the Reddest state in the union! Farmers
don't like to
pay their taxes (but seem to like to complain
when their subsidy checks get smaller, yet they don't blame the GOP for
cutting them)
so the think that the republicans will save the
family farm from bankruptcy (I guess the Reagan years taught them nothing).
I knew that Al didn't have a shot there in '00,
so I tried to help establish the Greens on the ballot.
This year is a different story...I reside in Missouri,
It's about 50/50 here, and I'll be damned if I vote for the googly-eyed
egomaniac again.
Swear to Koresh, i'll do anything to send the
wannabe cowboy and Pickles riding off into that Crawford, TX sunset they
so deserve.
Keep on Swinging,
Corey M.
Voted for Nader in 2000. I've always voted
for 3rd party candidates because
it's clear that Democrats & Repulicans have
been bought & paid for. I will
vote for the Democratic nominee this time around,
but can't escape the
feeling that I'm voting for the lesser of 2 evils.
The only reason I'm
doing so is that I feel Bush is so dangerous
to the world that anything is
better than another term for him. I'm scared
of what he's going to do when
he doesn't have to worry about re-election.
I still think our system is
broken & amounts to the best democracy that
money can buy. Barring another
disaster like Bush, after this election I'll
go back to voting for the 3rd
party candidate I like the best. That is,
unless Democrats get behind
Kucinich. He is by far the most honest
candidate. Too bad that makes him
unelectable. What does that say about our
Democracy?
None of this matters if they get the computer
voting w/no paper trail.
Beau in Memphis
I voted for Nader in 2000 and am not repentant.
I live in state where Gore was a shoo-in, so my vote was more of a party vote for the Greens. Because Nader got over 5% of the vote in my state, it elevated the Green Party to major party status here. This is a HUGE deal. It meant state funding in elections, matching funds, all sorts of important stuff. Several Greens have since been elected to local office here. That's the main reason I voted Nader.
Will I vote for Nader in 2004? No, because he isn't running as a Green, so a vote for him would be a throwaway, not a protest or a "party supporting" vote. Kerry has his problems, sure, but he's got my vote.
Chris in MN
Are you kidding me? I won't even utter that
man's name any more. The only reason I voted for him in 2000 is
because Gore had Pennsylvania locked up and I
knew Bush had no chance here. He won't even be a blip on
the radar this year. Hell, he won't get
on most ballots.
Scott S
There are a lot of these.
I'll post more tomorrow.