----- Original Message ----- From: "Nathan Newman" <nathanne at nathannewman.org> To: <lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org> Sent: Tuesday, June 22, 2004 12:57 PM Subject: Re: Nader Goes Buchananite (Re: [lbo-talk] Vote Nader/Camejo 2004!
\Now we enter the reductio aburdem of third party advocacy:
Says Carrol Cox
>Nader-baiting is at least a first cousin of (or
>temporary stand-in for) red-baiting. And one of the central planks of
>the red-baiter's creed is that communists (or even liberals who have
>wandered from the narrow path of liberal virtue) are motivated by a lust
>for "purity."
\What the hell are you talking about, Carroll? The last thing the CPUSA was \known for was "purity;" they were tactical in the extreme, making alliances \as needed, switching issue positions to fit geopolitical changes, and \generally seen as subversive precisely because they "impurely" burrowed \into other institutions in order to dominate them.
\Explaining "Nader-Hating", as you call it, is pretty simple. He's opposing \our candidate, just as George Bush is. He's an opponent, so we oppose him.
nathan, please. even you know better than that. your party began its passion of nader bashing in 2000 when it scapegoated him for its own mistakes in cowardly throwing the 2000 presidential election. transparent attempts like yours to minimize your party's irrational foibles simply don't wash.
\The weird thing about third party folks is that they run against the \Democratic Party, and then whine and sob that Democrats are being mean to \them.
nothing weird here, nathan, and you know it. many nader supporters are the liberals alienated by the right wing obsessed democratic party, who they sadly learned couldn't care less about them. there was hardly a republican idea that clinton and gore didn't like -- NAFTA and welfare "reform" being prime examples.
as kerry's advisors propell him more and more to the right, and more and more in line with shrub's cruel and militaristic stands, the left/liberal will either seek some kind of third party candidate or -- what will truly damage your fantasies -- a lot of young, idealistic voters will sit out the November, 2004, election en masse. people are sick and tired of the republican lite candidate the democrats insist on running for president. as harry truman said, paraphrasing, if they wanted a republican, they'd vote for one.
isn't "whine and sob" rather condescending? or are you looking for an emotional response that mirrors your own frustration with events you don't understand?
\If Nader is a real opponent to the strategy of those working within \the Democratic Party, then he will be treated as their opponent, and they \will seek to defeat him, just as they seek to defeat George Bush.
hip, hip, hurrah? gee, talk about "reductio aburdem"
\Such Nader supporters may try to couch their opposition in ways that reach \out to Nader's supporters, just as Dems may try to reach out to supporters \of Bush, but as for the candidates Bush and Nader, the goal is defeat.
oh, i see. nader supporters "couch," whereas dems simply "reach out." with this kind of manipulation of language, are you sure you're not a closet republican?
"...the goal is defeat." and that's about it, for it surely will not be a victory for the nation or the american people. just a coin toss between two super rich, well connect, self centered members of skull and bones, who will ultimately be selected by the electoral college.
\So what's to explain about Nader Hating, other than that?
let me make it as simple for you as i can: the democrats treat nader exactly the same way the far right treats clinton, passionately and irrationally; obsessively and viciously. this is called prejudice, nathan, in case you're not familiar with the phenomenon.
R
\Nathan
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