[lbo-talk] Nader and His Detractors

Michael Pugliese michael098762001 at earthlink.net
Tue Oct 12 22:07:15 PDT 2004


http://www.thenation.com/outrage/index.mhtml?bid=13&pid=1886 ===================================== 10/07/2004 @ 10:27am

Swift Boat Veterans for Nader by Ari Berman

We almost feel pity for Ralph Nader, he's stooped so low in

attempting to claim the "progressive" mantle this election. Now the

news comes out - according to the Federal Election Commission and

United Progressives for Victory - that Nader's accepting money from

the same donors who funded the demonstrably false smear campaign

propagated by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.

Travis Anderson, Brian Pilcher, Donald Burns, Rex Martin and Oliver

Grace, who contributed $13,500 to air the baseless Swift Boat attack

ads derailing John Kerry's war record in August have given $8,000 to

Nader over the past few months. That's on top of the $6,000 Nader

took from donors who gave $217,000 to the right-wing antitax

extremists at the Club for Growth. Nader's now accepted $100,000

total from GOP donors and consultants. A record to run away from, in

campaign parlance.

In addition, the Newt Gingrich and Dick Armey-backed Citizens for a

Sound Economy has urged its members to help Nader get on the ballot

in battleground states. The antigay Oregon Family Council made

hundreds of phone calls on Nader's behalf, while the Republican Party

of Michigan gathered ninety percent of Nader's signatures in their

state. There are dozens of these kinds of shenanigans elsewhere.

Instead of selling his soul to corporations, Nader's making a

Faustian pact with homophobic government-hating warmongers. If Nader

wants to retain any credibility as a genuine progressive, he should

immediately reject contributions from these right-wing groups.

"We're not afraid of being spoilers," Nader spokesman Kevin Zeese

told PBS's Gwen Ifill last month. But are they concerned about

accepting ammo from the forces that want to roll back the gains of

the twentieth century?

********** -- Michael Pugliese



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