>>We may assume that 10% of repentant Nader voters are of the sort
>>who have gotten browbeaten into repentance by "the establishment
>>progressive media," but such fainthearted voters are a tiny
>>minority among the supporters of Nader in particular and the Green
>>Party in general. In the meantime, Nader and the Green Party have
>>attracted many new supporters to outweigh the loss.
>
>What is it with these Greenies? John Halle thinks Doug has stricken
>him a near-mortal blow by daring to criticize the party, and now
>Yoshie assumes that Nader voters in 2000 who change their minds
>about the wisdom of their votes are not capable of making up their
>own minds, but must have been "browbeaten into repentance" by
>"establishment progressive media," and succumb to this browbeating
>because they are "fainthearted."
I don't agree with John Halle, in that, given the small circulations, "the establishment progressive media" can hardly be expected to have a big influence on the Green Party or any other thing, so Ralph Nader is right to ignore their counsel against challenging John Kerry, and so should Greens.
Presumably, though, "the establishment progressive media," as well as writers who publish their ideas in them and advertisers who take out ads in them, hope to have an influence on the minds of their audience, a small audience as they are. So, it is reasonable to hypothesize that "the establishment progressive media" make a marginal difference, e.g. on "1 in 10 Nader voters [who] say they wish they could change their vote after knowing how close the election was" ("Minor Parties in the 2000 Presidential Election," p. 4, <http://psweb.sbs.ohio-state.edu/faculty/hweisberg/conference/burdosu.pdf>). Of course, it is possible that "the establishment progressive media" don't have even such a tiny impact and change anyone's minds, and those who write for them and advertise in them may be simply wasting their time or money. It may be even the case that a large minority or even the majority of their audience are those who really enjoy getting outraged by "the establishment progressive media," rather than those whose opinions are close to their editorial lines :-> -- Yoshie
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