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