>When Manning Marable spoke, he was interesting as he always is, but
>he came to the end saying that he'd voted for Nader last time but would
>vote for Kerry this time because of what Bush means for people of
>color. Suddenly, quite a few boos, very loud ones, were heard -- more
>than I'd expected, actually. And not just from the NY Greens entourage
>which was sitting a few rows behind me.
>
>At first Manning was amused, but as the booing grew, he clearly was
>rattled. His case was very weak, and he could have just as easily said
>"And therefore I am voting for Nader again," with just as much logic.
>
>I talked to him afterwards and he tried to smooth it over. When I said,
>"You have the right to tell people whom you think they should vote for,
>but you do not have the right to narrow their choices by saying that
>Nader should not run." Manning said: "Well, we don't really disagree
>then." And I said, "Yes we do. You've caved in to the pressure."
>
>Meanwhile, Manning's wife, Leith Mullens, went over to the group of NY
>Greens and yelled at them that they were a bunch of racists!!!!! Just for
>booing Manning's public exhortation to reject Nader.
During the 2000 campaign, list alum Rakesh Bhandari passed along a critique of Nader supporters from his companion, Donna Jones, who's African American. I can't remember the exact words, but it was something like, "Black people look at Republicans and see a bunch of Klansmen. White leftists who are going to vote for Nader just don't get this." It gave me pause at the time, but not enough to stop me voting for Ralph. I kept thinking about it, and I've been thinking about it a lot this time around. It must have something to do with the fact that Nader has about zero black support.
Doug