February 22, 2004 [LINK]

Nader to run for president

Ralph Nader just announced on Meet the Press that he is going to run for president this year, as an independent. Frankly, I was a bit surprised by this, since I figured he was among those for whom defeating Bush is the Top Priority. I always used to give Nader credit for being an honest, if often misguided, policy activist (for example, see his League of Fans Web site), but I'm starting to wonder. After hearing his stale rants to Tim Russert today, I'm inclined to agree with those who think that Ralph is mostly on an ego trip, looking forward to playing the role of electoral spoiler once again. Even the Green Party has disowned him, apparently. True, as he says, John Kerry is more closely tied to entrenched financial interests than any other candidate today, but Nader's contention that American voters haven't been given an adequate range of choices in terms of presidential candidates this year is just absurd. Dennis Kucinich? Al Sharpton?? What more do you want? Vive la différence!