Mr Chuck(Zero?):
If one runs a candidate, one expects the electorate to accept as legitimate one's candidate if he wins. By participating in electoral politics, one ipso facto not only accepts but also strengthens the legitimacy of the system.
In this way, Ms. Ehrenreich cuts out from under herself and her followers the right to dismiss as illegitimate any candidate who emerges victorious in this system.
She could have made a case for abstention.
But she did not. She made a case for participating in the electoral system and thus further legitimizing its results; and since she was persuading potential Gore voters to defect to Nader, she was in practical terms contributing to Bush's victory the legitimacy of which she has strengthened by encouraging the participation in the system: "we have to live with Bush now because we want people to live with Nader when our man wins."
She has done great harm, and should never again be allowed top billing in a leftist publication. Her leftism is truly infantile of the drama queen sort.
With warm greeings, Jan
_________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com.
Share information about yourself, create your own public profile at http://profiles.msn.com.