Now
Available!
Dime's
Worth of Difference:
Beyond the
Lesser of Two Evils
Order Here!
Today's
Stories
September 25,
2004
Alexander Cockburn
C'mon
Ralph, You've Got Nothing to Lose
September 24,
2004
Dr. Teresa
Whitehurst
The
Value of One Life: Keeping Up Appearances and Leaving Hostages
to the Wolves
William S.
Lind
Destroying
the National Guard
Mike Whitney
The Bush Tent Show
Nancy Welch
What's
at Stake for Women in 2004?
Niranjan Ramakrishnan
Logical Limbo
Joshua Frank
Fear Mongering 101
Victor Kattan
An Interview with Afif Safieh
Ben Terrall
Kerry and Haiti: Will He Stand Up?
Kathleen and
Bill Christison
"Finally
It Broke My Heart": Random Impressions from Palestine
September 23,
2004
Patrick Cockburn
Why
Are They Still Holding "Mrs. Anthrax?"
Christopher Brauchli
Ashcroft's "Distressing Lack of Care": Hamdi and the
Phony War on Terrorism
Derek Seidman
Fighting for a Union at Starbucks: an Interview with Daniel Gross
Michael Neumann
Three
Years and Counting? How Time Flies
September 22,
2004
Patrick Cockburn
Zarqawi's
War: the Mysterious Sadist from Jordan
Neve Gordon
The
Wall, the Court and Sharon
Joshua Frank
History Repeating: New York, 1832 and Now
Ron Jacobs
Stormy Seas on the Citizen Ship
Jack Random
Defending Dan? Rather Not
Tarif Abboushi
Kerry's Final Straw: Confessions of a Despairing Voter
Mickey Z
Stupid White Guy Quiz
John L. Hess
Faking the Difference: a Serious Debate?
Jeffrey St.
Clair
High
Plains Grifter: The House Rules
September 21,
2004
Gary Leupp
"We
Are Not Secure": Kerry's "Unwavering Commitment"
to Securing a Middle East Realm
Robert Jensen
Large
Dams in India: Temples or Burial Grounds?
Elaine Cassel
Fourth Circuit to Moussouai: Ask Your Questions; Prepare to Die
Stanley Heller
Reagan and the Killing Fields of Lebanon
Adam Federman
America Will Disappoint the World, Again
David Whitehouse
What's Behind the Horror in Darfur?
M. Junaid Alam
How to Avoid Becoming an Anti-American
Paul Craig
Roberts
Attention
Deficit America
Website of the Day
True American War Heroes: the Iraq Refuseniks
Sex,
Drugs & the Blues!
Serpents in the Garden
CounterPunch's
Sizzling New Book on Culture and Sex is Now Available
Click here to purchase
September 20,
2004
Cockburn /
Buncombe
Get
Fallujah
David Price
Relying
on Phonies: What If The Problem with Phone Polls is That They
Are Phone Polls
Dave Lindorff
How
Dems Fight: Tigers Against Nader, Pussycats Against Bush
Harry Browne
Pre-Nup at Leeds: Talked Out, But Does IRA Give Up?
Mark Wesibrot
Bush's
Ownership Society: No Taxes for Owners, Only Workers
Karyn Strickler
The Keys to the White House v. the Shrum Curse?
Uri Avnery
The Temple Mount Bombers
September 18
/ 19, 2004
Alexander Cockburn
Forgeries,
Fingerprints and Forensic Fakery
Jeffrey St. Clair
High Plains Grifter: Bush's Mask of Anarchy
Patrick Cockburn
Into the Abyss: the Week Iraq's Dream of Peace Fell Apart
Fred Gardner
Pot Shots: Financial Torture (Asset Forfeiture)
Joe Allen
The Comrades Kerry Abandoned: the Real Story of Vietnam Vets
Against the War
George Corsetti
Poletown Revisited: Finally, Some Vindication
Scott Handleman
The Knock-Knock of a Sledgehammer: Sequestered in Nablus
Richard Ward
Two Weeks in Beit Arabiya
Conn Hallinan
Ashcroft and Indonesia
Lori Smith
Health Care in America: And Then I Got Sick...
Dave Zirin
Hold the Booyah!: SportsCenter Out of the Middle East
John L. Hess
Rather Will Take the Heat, As Bush's War Deteriorates
Brian J. Foley
W is for Wimp: So Why do Manly Men Love Him?
Mickey Z.
Pat Tillman and Osama bin Laden: Odd Juxtapositions
Poets' Basement
Vest, Landau & Albert
Website of the Weekend
Eye on the NYTs
Septemeber
17, 2004
Ray McGovern
Gossing
Over the Record
Patrick Cockburn
The New Iraqi Economy: Baghdad's Thriving Kidnapping Industry
Lee Sustar
The State of Working America: an Autopsy of the American Dream
Mike Whitney
John Kerry: 195 Lbs. of Political Helium, Not an Ounce of Sincerity
Victor Kattan
Black September
Ray Hanania
Israel's Demographics
Greg Bates
Nader's Victories: a Mid-Campaign Assessment
Website of
the Day
The Road to Hell
September 16,
2004
Landau / Hassen
Meet
the New Villain: Syria
Joanne Mariner
Inside
Darfur: a Photo Essay
Patrick Cockburn
US
Offers Conflicting Accounts of Baghdad Bloodbath
Greg Moses
Four Million Children Might Be News
Joshua Frank
Nader in the Battleground States
Christopher Brauchli
The Bush Drug Lottery Flops
David Himmelstein
Folke Bernadotte: a Rosh Hashonah Remembrance
Website of the Day
The Abu Ghraib Index
September 15,
2004
Patrick Cockburn
Hell
on Haifa Street
Ron Jacobs
Oppose War, Not Just Bush
David Lindorff
Blanking Out Dissent
Joanne Mariner
Talking About Darfur: Is Genocide Just a Word?
Angela Godfrey-Goldstein
An Open Letter to Madonna: Please Don't Support Israeli Apartheid
Dave Zirin
Is the NFL Ready for Us?
Yigal Bronner
"They
Are Building Walls Around Us"
September 14,
2004
Gary Leupp
The
Problem of Chechnya
Jennifer van
Bergen
What's
Wrong with Torture?
Stan Goff
Wake Up and Smell the Jungle Rot
Patrick Cockburn
The
Punishment of Fallujah: US Precision Strickes...on Ambulances
Anis Memon
Nader
in Michigan
Michael Donnelly
The Nuance Comes Off: Former Naderites Beg for Kerry Votes
Werther
Zell Miller: the Peckerwood Pericles
Website of
the Day
Osama Bin Forgotten?
September 13,
2004
Gabriel Kolko
Elections,
Alliances and the American Empire
Phillip Cryan
How Do You Say "Death Squad?": Language in Colombia's
War
Patrick Cockburn
One of Baghdad's Bloodiest Days: "I'm a Journalist! I'm
Dying! I'm Dying"
Noah Leavitt
The War on Civil Liberties
Robert Jensen
Highjacking Catastrophe: Bush, the Neo-Cons and 9/11
Mike Whitney
Alan Greenspan: Fed-Master to the Wealthy
John Chuckman
Stop Talking About the "Election"
Mike Burke
Kerry/Edwards Website Censors Discussion of Israel/Palestine
Issues
CounterPunch
Wire
The Quotations of David Cobb: "I Don't Care How Many Votes
I Get"
Website of the Day
Keep It In Your Pants: the Bush Plan to Combat Teen Promiscuity
September 11
/ 12, 2004
Alexander Cockburn
Swatting
at Flies
Fred Gardner
Yet Another Prozac Scandal
Saul Landau
When Our Assassins Go Free
Jennifer Van Bergen
How to Beat Bush: a Simple Strategy for the Average American
Roger Burbach
/ Jim Tarbell
The Real Dead Enders: Iraq and the Crisis of Empire
Christopher Reed
9/11 in an Historical Context: a Minor Event When Compared to
Worldwide War Casualties
Francisc Catalin
An ABC of American Interventions
Carl Estabrook
Big Science and Government Terror
Bernard Chazelle
Anti-Americanism: a Clinical Study
Sharon Smith
Third Party Blues
Dave Lindorff
Perhaps This Time We're the Silent Majority
Mike Whitney
Fallujah: an Iraqi Beslan?
Frederick B.
Hudson
Their Sons Perished in the Flames, But Not Their Faith
Mickey Z.
Round Up the Usual Suspects: a Look Back at 9/11
Ron Jacobs
Redneck Music for the New Century
Greg Moses
Soap Opera Moments in Texas School Funding Trial
Benjamin Dangl
/ Andrew Kennis
An Interview with Leslie Cagan
Poets Basement
Del Papa, Albert, Gelman
September 10,
2004
Patrick Cockburn
Disappointment
at Samarrah?
Michael Donnelly
Democrats v. Democracy
Alan Farago
Mosquitoes in a Hurricane
Doug Giebel
Karl Rove's Terror Playbook
Mike Whitney
Bob Graham's Political Tsunami
David Domke
God's
Will, According to the Bush Administration
September 9,
2004
Joe Bageant
Karaoke
Night in Bush's America
Ed Kinane
Abducted in Baghdad
Peter Bohmer
The Cuban Revolution: Present and Future
Todd May
The Emerging Case for a Single-State Solution
Jeremy Scahill
The New York Model: Indymedia and the Text Message Jihad
Joshua Frank
Green House Party Gasses
Fran Shor
The Crisis in Public Dissent: When Protest is Considered a Terrorist
Act
Patrick Cockburn
Welcome
to the Dirtiest City in the World: Despair in Baghdad
Website of
the Day
Liberty Street Protest: No to War at Ground Zero
September 8,
2004
Patrick Cockburn
This
Doesn't Smell Like Victory: A War on Two Fronts in Iraq
Dave Lindorff
Bush Confuses; Kerry Mute: Spinning 1000 Dead
Bulent Gokay
Russian and Chechnia After Beslan
Lisa Viscidi
Land Reform and Conflict in Guatemala
Niranjan Ramakrishnan
Byrd's Eye View
Mike Whitney
Afghanistan: American's Drug Colony
Stan Goff
Body
Count: 1001
Website of
the Day
Bush and the Love Doctors
September 7,
2004
Diane Christian
Hostage Tactics: a Game of Mortal Poker
Joshua Frank
Greens
Unravel from Within
Patrick Cockburn
Fallujah
Erupts Again: US Death Toll in Iraq Nears 1000
Ron Jacobs
Bush and Putin: "We're Not Girlie Men"
Chris Floyd
Cry Havoc: Bush's Own Personal Janjaweed
Dr. Carol Wolman
No Blood for Oil at Paul Bunyan Day Parade
John Ross
The
Politics of Darkness North / South
September 6,
2004
Alexander Cockburn
An
Anti-Labor Day That Lives in Infamy: How Many Democrats Voted
For Taft-Hartley?
Ralph Nader
The
Cruel Legacy of Taft-Hartley: a Labor Day Call for Rights for
Working People
Lee Sustar
What's Driving the Attack on Pensions?
Kathleen and
Bill Christison
Dual
Loyalties: the Bush Necons and Israel
September 4-5,
2004
Alexander Cockburn
Elephants
and Gramsci
Ted Honderich
The
Way Things Are
Sasan Fayazmanesh
The
Holy Empire: Who We Are and What We Do
Douglas Valentine
What the World Should Know About Guantanamo
Patrick Cockburn
New Iraqi Police State Flexes Its Muscles
Gary Leupp
Neo Cons Under Fire
Fred Gardner
Pot Shots: the Hempstead T-Shirt
William A.
Cook
The
Day of the Lemming
Dave Zirin
Kobe Bryant and the Price of Freedom
John Chuckman
The Day the World Ended
Karyn Strickler
God Save the Endangered Species Act
Vanessa Jones
Bad Day with an Ikea Cup
Mike Whitney
Kerry: the "Better" War Candidate
Mark Donham
Dear John (Kerry): Start Explaining and Fast
Mickey Z.
McBypass Nation: Feeling Clinton's Pain
Alan Farago
Can the Everglades be Fixed?
Poets' Basement
Landau and Albert
September 3,
2004
Jeffrey St.
Clair
High
Plains Grifter: Jesus Told Him Where to Bomb
Rahul Mahajan
Bush's RNC Speech: an Annotated Response
Carl Estabrook
The
Book of Slaughter and Forgetting
Joshua Frank
The Florida of the Northwest: Oregon Dems Sabotage Nader Again
Gary Leupp
Music to My Ears: Sunday's March
James Hollander
Deja Vu in Manhattan: Assisted Political Suicide?
Mark Engler
Republicans
Among Us: a Week at the RNC, Inside and Out
Jesse Sharkey
Making Students and Teachers Pay for the Crisis in Education
Jane Stillwater
Calling the Cops on Your Own Kid
Stephen Green
Serving
Two Flags: the Bush Neo-Cons and Israel
September 2,
2004
Jeffrey St.
Clair
High
Plains Grifter: Part 3: More Pricks Than Kicks
Max Gimble
Et Tu, Menchu? Extrajudicial Killings and Clandestine Graves
in Guatemala
James Petras
President Chavez and the Referendum: Myths and Realities
Christopher
Brauchli
Bush and the Afghan Electoral Model: "If They Want to Vote
Twice, Let Them"
Todd Chretien & Jessie
Muldoon
Will the Democrats Expel Zell Miller?
Jack Random
Spite and Venom Day: the Turncoat and the Profiteer
Alan Maass
The Real Vietnam
Christa Allen
Contre Bush
Website of
the Day
[Redacted]
September 1,
2004
Alexander Cockburn
The
Stench of Doom
Kathleen and Bill Christison
Poor Larry Franklin
Dave Lindorff
Kerry's Litmus Test
Josh Frank
Protest in White: Not All of New York Rises Up
John L. Hess
Moles, Scoops and Flip Flops
Mike Whitney
Deconstructing Arnold
Jack Random
Kindergarten Night at the RNC
Andrew Wilson
War on the Pachyderms: Why Do Elephants Hate Us?
Jeffrey St.
Clair
High
Plains Grifter: Part Two: Mark His Words
August 31,
2004
Joseph Nevins
Escapism
and Global Apartheid: The Dominican Republic & the NYTs
Matt Vidal
Beyond
Bush's Rhetoric on the Economy
Neve Gordon
Kerry and the Middle East
Dave Lindorff
Bush
the Peace Candidate?
Mike Whitney
NPR Leads the Charge for War Against Iran
Jack Random
Opening Night: Playing the War Card
Jeffrey St.
Clair
High
Plains Grifter: the Life and Crimes of George W. Bush (Part One)
CounterPunch Photo of the Day
Pete Seeger in NYC
August 30,
2004
Justin Podhur
The
Disappeared Mayor
Shaun Joseph
The
Hypocrites at TheNaderbasher.com
Mike Whitney
Israeli Moles in the Pentagon: What More Could They Possibly
Want?
Ron Jacobs
Live, From New York: the Majority of Protesters Claimed No Candidate
David Lindorff
Sunday in Manhattan: the Sound of Marchin', Chargin' Feet, Boy
Dave Zirin
USA Basketball: The Team White America Loved to Hate
Sam Husseini
Israeli Spying on the US: a Long History
August 28 /
29, 2004
Alexander Cockburn
Zombies
for Kerry
Patrick Cockburn
Najaf Ceasefire Good for Iraq, But Weakens Allawi and US
Ray McGovern
Blowing Smoke on Intelligence
Dr. Juan Romagoza
From El Salvador to Abu Ghraib: Reflections of Torture Survivor
Ray Hanania
An Israeli Spy in the Pentagon? Ridiculous!
Fred Gardner
Eddie Lepp Busted by DEA: Facing Life for Growing Medical Pot
Diane Christian
Big Men: the Better Leader Lets You Live
William S. Lind
The Desert Fox
Paul D'Amato
The Left Takes a Dive for Kerry
Joshua Frank
Greens at the Crossroads
Mickey Z.
Media Declares War on Anti-War Protests
Winslow T. Wheeler
Sen. McCain's Pork Chops: an Exchange
Justin E.H.
Smith
The New Age Racket and the Left
Thomas St. John
Burning Slaves at the Stake: On "Sinners in the Hands of
an Angry God"
Ali Tonak
Help the NYPD?
Mark Engler
New York Says "No"
Justin Felux
Haiti: the Attica of the Americas
Poets' Basement
Gelman, Albert, Ford and Hamod
August 27,
2004
Gary Leupp
Neocon
Musings
Robin Cook
The
Ghosts of Abu Ghraib
Diane Christian
Disarming
Michael Donnelly
Situational Democracy: the Show Me the Green Party?
Jack Random
4F and Other Heroes: an Army of War Resisters
Mike Ferner
"To the Swift Boats!"
Mazin Qumsiyeh
7000 Palestinian Political Prisoners
Veronza Bowers, Jr.
"You Won't Be Leaving Tomorrow"
August 26,
2004
M. Shahid Alam
The
Clash Thesis: a Failing Ideology?
Diane Christian
War
Rules: Bush is No Sun Tzu
Derek Seidman
"They're As Bad As Wal-Mart:" Starbucks Workers Get
Organized
David Lindorff
Court to RNC Protesters: Drop the Rally
Christopher
Brauchli
Signs of Dissent: the Bush in the Bubble
Stew Albert
Reporting Suspicious Activity
Mark Donham
Judgement in Athens: Give the Koreans Their Day in Court
Saul Landau
Pinochet:
the Al Capone of the Southern Cone
Website of
the Day
The Kerry 527 Ad You'll Never See
August 25,
2004
Amelia Peltz
Can
I Have 9.8 Seconds of Your Time?
Noah Leavitt
Defining and Redefining Torture
Ron Jacobs
Takin' It to the Streets: It's Not About the Election, It's About
Democracy
James Brooks
Coronado Crosses the Jordan
Akiva Eldar
How to Win the Jewish Vote: Turn Gaza into a "Mini-Afghanistan"
Gemma Araneta
Chavez's New Brand of Populism
Philip Cryan
Uribe's Boys: the Death Squads of Colombia
CounterPunch Wire
Cheney Opens the Closet Door
August 24,
2004
Jeremy Scahill
John
Kerry: the Warchurian Candidate
Gary Leupp
"We
Want Them to Go Away"
David Domke
God
Willing: an Echoing Press and Political Fundamentalism
William Loren Katz
The Meaning of Hugo Chávez: Black and Indian Power in
Venezuela
Jonah Gindin
With Chavez? Reading the International Private Media
Fran Schor
Denying Atrocities: From Vietnam to Fallujah
Joe Bageant
Driving
on the Bones of God
Website of the Day
The Great America Lockdown: a Primer for the RNC
August 23,
2004
Winslow Wheeler
Don't
Mind If I Do: Porkbarrel and the War on Terror
John Pilger
Bush
May Be the Lesser Evil
Stan Goff
Swift
Boat Dogfight
Bill and Kathleen
Christison
Notes
from the West Bank: Build, Demolish, Rebuild
Mike Whitney
The Unraveling of Afghanistan
William Blum
Brave
New World of Iraqi Sovereignty
Ralph Nader
A Letter to the Washington Post: a Shameful and Unsavory Editorial
August 21 /
22, 2004
Cockburn /
St. Clair
"They
Want Blood:" The Bi-Partisan Origins of the Total War on
Drugs
Landau / Hassen
Failing
the Mission? Form a Commission
Brian Cloughley
The
Bush Team in Iraq: Moral Cowardice, as Practiced by Experts
Josh Frank
Nader as David Duke? The ADL Wants You to Think So
Mike Whitney
Reincarnating Mengele: the Torture Doctors of Abu Ghraib
Ron Jacobs
Day Labor Blues
Mickey Z.
Shooting at Whales: 40 Years After Tonkin
Fred Gardner
Dr. Wolman Comes Out: The Cannabis Consultants
Dave Zirin
Uprising in Athens: Iraqi Soccer Team Gives Bush the Boot
Josh Saxe
Witnessing Police Brutality in LA
Yanar Mohammed
Letter from Baghdad: a Democracy of Killings and Bombings
Helen Williams
Ali's Story: a Taste of Reality from Baghdad
Michael Donnelly
Elemental and NaturalForests, Fire and Recovery
Elizabeth Schulte
The Crisis in Affordable Housing
Poets' Basement
Adler, Albert, Virgil, Ford and Krieger
Hot Stories
Alexander Cockburn
Behold,
the Head of a Neo-Con!
Subcomandante
Marcos
The
Death Train of the WTO
Norman Finkelstein
Hitchens
as Model Apostate
Steve Niva
Israel's
Assassination Policy: the Trigger for Suicide Bombings?
Dardagan,
Slobodo and Williams
CounterPunch Exclusive:
20,000 Wounded Iraqi Civilians
Steve
J.B.
Prison Bitch
Sheldon
Rampton and John Stauber
True Lies: the Use of Propaganda
in the Iraq War
Wendell
Berry
Small Destructions Add Up
CounterPunch
Wire
WMD: Who Said What When
Cindy
Corrie
A Mother's Day Talk: the Daughter
I Can't Hear From
Gore Vidal
The
Erosion of the American Dream
Francis Boyle
Impeach
Bush: A Draft Resolution
Click
Here for More Stories.
|
Weekend Edition
September 25 / 6, 2004
Access of Evil?
The
Politics of Nader's Republican Support
By
GREG BATES
What a zoo. Republicans who oppose Nader's
principles and platform have sued to get Nader on the ballot
in the key swing state of Michigan. And Nader's Republican support
is a national phenomenon concentrated in swing states. Their
goal is to split liberal voters from Kerry and, so the logic
goes, swing the election to Bush. Meanwhile, progressives who
agree with Nader's principles and platform, and who think he
would make a wonderful president, have denounced him for not
rejecting his Republican support strongly enough.
I argue that the best stance
is to welcome the Republican support with open arms.
But first, it's worth detailing
that the support of Republicans for Nader's efforts extends well
beyond gathering signatures on petitions. Well-known backers
of George W. Bush such as billionaire Dick Egan, who has raised
money for Bush, have given money to the Nader campaign. Citizens
for a Sound Economy, co-chaired by Dick Armey, the former Republican
Majority Leader in the House, and C. Boyden Gray, former White
House counsel to George H.W. Bush, organized to get Nader on
the ballot in Oregon, making phone calls to people to turn out
for a meeting. The CSE agenda includes flat tax, making Bush's
tax cuts permanent, and favoring "free markets and limited
government," positions antithetical to Nader's political
efforts over the span of 40 years. As Factcheck.org relates,
Another Oregon group, the Oregon
Family Council, also said it made calls for Nader. Mike White,
the group's director, told the Associated Press :
White: We aren't bashful about doing it. We are a
conservative, pro-family organization, and Bush is our guy on
virtually every issue.
Wrath from the progressive
side has been downright righteous. As Norman Solomon told The
Socialist Worker, July 23,
"In Oregon, right-wing
groups--including a notorious antigay organization--have worked
to get Nader on the ballot. The Oregonian (June 25) reported
that the head of the Nader campaign in Oregon "said he saw
nothing wrong with the Republican outreach efforts. 'It's a free
country,' he said. 'People do things in their own interest.'"
Building "a political alternative" while accepting
tactical alliances with xenophobic and antigay forces? I'll pass."
Huh? Here Solomon argues against
working with those whose values we detest. Yet he is a forceful
advocate for voting for John Kerry, whose values Solomon detests.
Solomon has been scrupulous in pointing out exactly why it is
that in Kerry, "hope is not on the way." The criticism
of Kerry is well deserved: Kerry's advisors include men like
Rand Beers, who was profiled by Sean Donahue of the Massachusetts
Anti-Corporate Clearinghouse. As Laura Flanders, author of Bush
Women: Tales of a Cynical Species points out:
"[Beers is] the public face of Clinton's deadly crop-fumigation
program in Colombia. He once said under oath that Colombian terrorists
had received training in Al Qaeda camps in Afghanistan. (A claim
he later had to withdraw.) "If John Kerry lets Rand Beers
continue to guide his foreign policy, a Kerry administration
will be no better for rural Colombians than a Bush administration,"
wrote Donahue. Voters who want Sen. Kerry to offer a humane alternative
to Bush should demand that the senator pledge now not to make
Beers secretary of state."
Beers was aiding the Colombian
government, which has the worst human rights record in the hemisphere.
Given that, I'm not sure if one can make a convincing argument
that the scumbags backing Nader are worse than the scumbags backing
the man Solomon wants us to vote for. A pissing match that is
best not engaged in.
Solomon's reasoning for backing
Kerry, of course, is that electing the lesser evil is a goal
worth pursuing, even when we don't like whom we are voting for.
The presence of Beers doesn't necessarily invalidate Solomon's
argument that Kerry is the lesser evil. But by the same token,
the presence of help from Nader's enemies doesn't necessarily
invalidate Nader's strategy of building a political alternative
by being on the ballot in swing states. His goal in being on
the ballot is both to give voters a choice and to pressure Kerry
to move toward the progressive end of the spectrum.
We will review the crucial
question of what it means to have Nader on the ballot in states
where the contest between the major parties is close, as is the
case in Florida, which is the largest and therefore most important
swing state.
But first, what happened to
diversity? Isn't working with people who are different from us
a cherished value of progressives? I thought the meaning was
broader than: work with people who are different from you as
long as they share your values. I thought it also meant working
and talking with those whose values were antithetical to ours
whenever their short-term tactical objectives were aligned with
ours.
An example shows why the more
inclusive stance is pragmatic-and critical. Deciding to shun
xenophobes and homophobes might work in metropolitan areas where
you have lots of choices about who you connect with. But in the
rural county I live in, that just isn't feasible. As parents
who homeschool our children, my partner and I regularly work
with other homeschooling parents who run the spectrum from "schools
are too confining" (my end) to "schools are too liberal
and anti-Christian." The fundamentalists do a great job
of organizing-and our family has tagged along on several of their
innumerable field trips.
I rarely get the chance to
talk politics with fundamentalists; there's kind of an unwritten
code between us parents: focus on the kids and stay clear of
the controversies. But if one of them had been collecting signatures
for Nader in my local town in Maine, I would have jumped at the
chance to rub shoulders and chat. How else is social change going
to happen-simply by ostracizing and vilifying them? That has
its place, and I've published plenty of finger pointing literature
over the years. But dialog during the rare opportunities is also
valuable. Because diversity and dialog are important, I disagree
with Solomon that we should "pass" on the chance to
work with them just because we are repulsed by their beliefs.
But rightwing support for Nader
is about more than just signing petitions to get him on the ballot-they're
giving him cash. As Jeff Cohen, a consultant with the Progressive
Unity Voter Fund put it July 20,
"Besides activists, Republicans
are deploying money behind Nader.
"As a progressive, I've
admired Ralph Nader for as many years as I've disliked the corporate
centrism of Democrats like John Kerry. But compared to the corporate
and religious rightwing forces behind Nader, Kerry is a paragon
of progressive virtue."
But what Cohen doesn't tell
you is that his own organization doesn't screen donors for political
affiliation any more than Nader's does. I sent an email inquiring
about this to John Pearce, who runs the anti-Nader Progressive
Unity Voter Fund website. He emailed me back to say, "Like
Ralph, we take contributions without litmus tests"
What is the meaning of trying
to destroy someone's integrity for forming short-term coalitions
with enemies, when the critic himself advocates doing just that,
as Solomon is doing when he argues we should vote Kerry? What
does a similar attack for not using litmus tests to screen money,
say about the critic when his own organization doesn't adhere
to that standard either, as is the case with Cohen? I leave that
for the reader to ponder.
The whole issue of integrity
regarding forming coalitions with enemies or accepting cash from
them seems to me to be a red herring. Sure, stories of people
altering their political agendas to suit their funders' agendas
are legion, and the question of the origin of support deserves
a look. And the  whole
idea that some people are especially inured to that force, that
in this case we can trust an individual, even Nader, to withstand
such wooing is probably bunk. The work of Nader and so many others
on campaign reform rests on that premise: we can't just look
for principled individuals in politics; we have to structure
the campaign finance regulations so that cash doesn't become
king. Or more accurately, so cash doesn't remain king
Has Nader's rage at Democrats
this fall been skewed by Republican support? I can't tell, but
a much more plausible answer is that his focus is what he says
it is about: the party of the people has been trying to deny
him a place on the ballot. No wonder Nader is pissed. Democrats'
shenanigans extend to contesting Nader's place on the Florida
ballot while not contesting the Republican spot. As Dave Lindorff
has reported, the Republicans filed to get on the Florida ballot
after the deadline had passed, surely grounds for Democrats to
contest putting them on. Oddly, while fighting a much weaker
foe tooth and nail, Democrats let the technical disqualification
of their much stronger Republican rivals go unchallenged. Nader's
beef with the Democrats, however different they may be from Republicans,
is genuine.
In any case, as is clear to
anyone who thinks about it, Republicans backing Nader aren't
doing so in order to convert him into a pro-corporate homophobic
racist fundamentalist. In fact if rightwing support did convert
Nader, pro-Bush Republicans might not be so thrilled-in their
eyes such a switch could increase his appeal to would be Bush
voters. Republicans are counting on Nader's integrity to help
split the vote, not trying to undermine it.
And that is the real issue.
Regardless of how he (or other candidates) gets on the ballot
in swing states, will his presence split the liberal/progressive
vote and help lead to a Bush victory?
The answer to that question
is clouded by our own fear of Republican power. If what is arguably
the most powerful political group in America believes that Nader's
presence on the ballot will help them, then it is all to easy
to leap to two conclusions: First, Republicans must be doing
the wrong thing-they always do the wrong thing. Second, they
must be right: Nader's presence will help them; why else would
they deploy the resources that they have?
A closer look reveals a more
complex picture. I believe Republicans are doing the right thing
for the wrong reasons. They are promoting candidate access and
voter choice-a fundamental precept of democracy-for what we consider
the wrong reasons, to try and split our vote. But if we really
believe voter choice is paramount, as I do, and that efforts
at persuasion should be a dialog between voters, not an attempt
to limit voter choice, then it doesn't matter who helps someone
get on the ballot. The principle of voter choice rules.
This isn't the first time Republicans
have done the right thing for the wrong reasons. President Abraham
Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation not to free the
slaves-as he made clear in correspondence that survives to this
day. He did it to save the Union. Today we look back on that
decision and credit him for doing the right thing-even while
acknowledging that his motives were not pure. One day we may
similarly look back at today's Republicans and applaud their
stand for getting Nader on the ballot, even though their motives
were entirely self-serving.
But so what? Isn't it just
plain too risky to have Nader on those swing state ballots, principles
be damned? Don't Republican efforts constitute proof that his
presence will cost Kerry the election? It's important not to
be blinded by the actions of a gigantically powerful enemy into
believing the fallacy that whatever that group does works in
their favor. Republicans, like the rest of us, make miscalculations
that backfire. Republican assessment of resistance to our occupation
in Iraq prior to the invasion is a spectacular example of miscalculation.
To cite another wrong step
closer to home, in early spring 2004, the Republicans began running
what they considered to be killer campaign ads featuring President
Bush with images of 911, in an effort to portray him as a strong
leader. These were going to define the issues and win the election.
But then the New York Fire Department and others weighed in,
saying you cannot use a national tragedy for political ends.
The ads backfired and instantly went from indispensable tool
to a scandal.
Similarly, in backing Nader's
ballot access, Republicans have helped give a national platform
to his agenda of opposing the war and many progressive causes.
This too could backfire if it then invigorates the left to drag
the spectrum of debate toward the progressive end.
But at the heart of all this
is a fundamental confusion: candidates do not decide elections,
voters do. Nader's presence on the ballot is a separate question
from whether voters should vote for him. The two issues are hopelessly
conflated. There is an example of this confusion at the end of
Cohen's article on Nader's rightwing support for ballot access,
cited earlier. Cohen ends it with:
"For many of us inspired
by Nader's 2000 campaign, it was easy four years ago to dismiss
the charge that "a vote for Nader is a vote for Bush"
as a Democratic defense of the corrupt status quo. Today, the
sad reality on the ground is that a vote for Nader in these swing
states is a vote for Bush's money, his organization, his rightwing
activists."
Leaving aside for the moment
whether a vote for Nader is a vote for Bush, it is just not true
that Nader's presence on the ballot-or that of any other candidate-constitutes
a win for Republicans. It is a win for voters only, because they
are given choice. It's up to the voters to decide who wins, not
the candidates. If Nader voters split the vote, the fault lies
with the voter, not with Nader. We cannot have a democracy in
which voters are prevented from exercising choice because we
know what is best for them.
Of course, having Nader on
the ballot constitutes a risk-people may not see the landscape
the way those seeking to elect Kerry do, and the only choice
is to convince them of the wisdom of the position. But that's
the essence of democracy: let the voters, in their wisdom and
dialog with each other decide.
This is perhaps the core of
the misconception: candidates should run on platforms, voters
should vote their strategy. Solomon and Cohen, among many others,
would have the candidates decide strategy for the voters by,
in Nader's case, pulling out of the race and limiting voter choice.
That weakens rather than strengthens democracy.
I view the money that people
like billionaire Dick Egan and his family have given Nader as
a boost to our progressive cause. With that money, Nader is acting
as a billboard for progressive politics. I cannot think of a
better use of rightwing funds than to argue against their corporate
agenda, and I hope Nader makes the most of this odd opportunity.
I can't predict whether progressive
swing state voters will do as the Republicans hope, vote for
Nader and thereby become a factor in electing Bush. But the whole
tone of the progressive attack on Nader is that the choice is
"blindingly obvious," as the Nation put it.
If it is so patently obvious, then why spend so much time knocking
Nader off the ballot, as the Democratic Party has tried to do
relentlessly, and engaging in specious efforts to damage his
reputation, as Cohen and Solomon have done? If it's that obvious,
why are there still about as many people saying they will vote
Nader as did in 2000?
There are many answers to that
question, as anyone who talks to would be Nader voters quickly
discovers. Some are unconvinced of the difference between Kerry
and Bush. Others live in safe states and realize they are free
to vote how they please. Still others say it's a matter of conscience.
And I say that while ousting Bush is imperative, so is putting
pressure on Kerry and building alternatives by voting for independent
and third party candidates. I have detailed some of these issues
in my book, and hope to make them the subject of a future column.
In any case, for a large number
of would be Nader voters, the choice is more complex than his
detractors make it out to be, and persuasion to vote Kerry will
require real dialog. Simplistic urgings in petitions signed by
luminaries don't address these issues.
In the meantime, the whole
phase of Nader fighting for ballot access is drawing to a close.
Having secured his place on at least some swing states, he has
strengthened democracy by putting the voters, not arcane ballot
access laws designed to limit choice, in the driver's seat. I
am glad to see Nader's progressive opponents reduced to having
to get their hands dirty and convince the voters, not the candidate,
about what our choices will mean for the future of the country.
Next time: What if Nader's
Critics Get What They Ask For?
Greg Bates is the founding publisher at Common
Courage Press and author of Ralph's
Revolt: The Case For Joining Nader's Rebellion. He can be
reached at: gbates@commoncouragepress.com
Weekend
Edition Features for August 7 / 8, 2004
James Petras
The
Anatomy of "Terror Experts": Meet the Mandarins of
Abu Ghraib
Fred Gardner
Run
Ricky Run: Football, Pot and Pain
Justin Delacour
Anti-Chavez Pollsters Panic: Fix Numbers; Reinvent Venezuela
Brian Cloughley
Persecuted by All; Supported by None: Who Would Be A Kurd?
Joshua Frank
The
Outsider: a Talk with Ralph Nader
Iain A. Boal
On "Shame": Warmed-Over Orientalism and Racist Projection
Chris Floyd
All About Eve: Open Season on Women in DC and Rome
Andrew Fenton
Fighting for Democracy and Justice in Haiti
Aseem Shrivastava
Saga of an Anguished Afghan
Neil Corbett
See Cuba: Sometimes a Cigar is Just a Cigar, Mr. Bush
Carol Miller
/ Forrest Hill
Rigged Convention; Divided Party: How David Cobb Won with Only
12% of the Vote
Tarek Milleron
Breaking the Principled Voter
Donald Macintyre
The
Battle of Najaf
Ron Jacobs
Spirits of The Dead: Why I Love My Petty Bourgeois Tendencies
Mickey Z.
Kid
Gavilan's Grave: Propaganda Scores a TKO
Poets' Basement
Adler, Ford and Albert
/
|