Barack Obama costs Ralph Nader the election

I came across this because the San Francisco Examiner has a piece online ridiculing it. If anyone thinks the Examiner is correct in so doing, go ahead, just ask me why I think it's great...or look at my previous posts. In any case, this text is quoted from The Blog for Peace and Freedom (from a member of the Peace and Freedom Party whose nomination Ralph Nader received in California):

Obama Costs Nader the Election

By Bob Maschi

Election results are in and they clearly indicate that Democrat Barack Obama has cost Peace and Freedom’s candidate, Ralph Nader, the presidency. Simple math proves that had Obama not run, and had all of his support gone to Nader, that Nader would have easily won the majority of Electoral College votes and, therefore, the presidency.

A similar electoral flaw occurred in the 2000 presidential election when Al Gore cost Ralph Nader the presidency.

And I'll end with another reminder, regardless of who you voted for, if you want a better country, Obama and Congress won't do it on their own. Sign up to put the pressure on Congress here, and then go tell all your friends about it:

http://november5.org

Read More...

The November 5th Movement

For this post, I'm just going to copy the e-mail I received from the Nader/Gonzalez Campaign earlier today encouraging you to sign up to pressure Congress after Nov 4 (http://november5.org):

Shift Gears and Keep Going

NEWS FLASH: Ralph has a cameo appearance on Conan O'Brien tonight. Check the Late Night website or your local listings for air time information.

Now, the latest developments:

"When you come to a fork in the road, take it."
-- Yogi Berra

In this case, at the end of the road that is the presidential election, we do actually come to a fork. It's called Congress -- the House and the Senate. And we should follow Mr. Berra's famous advice and take that fork.

Whomever President-elect Obama chooses for his various cabinet posts, chief of staff, and so on, he is now pretty much out of reach of the American people. To sway a vote to Nader/Gonzalez, one could speculate on Obama's potential appointees, given his campaign contributors, and the thick phalanx of former Clinton advisers and hawkish military types around him. Now is the time to rapidly shift the focus to Congress.

Bringing our efforts to bear on Congress is the only way we can achieve a single-payer system of health care, a living wage comparable to that at the end of the 1960s -- $10 -- and a less belligerent foreign policy. In each Congressional district we need to start organizing ourselves -- and quickly. Ralph Nader showed how much could be done in just a single day in Massachusetts with the marathon he did there of 21 campaign stops in 24 hours. And that was done with the tough goal of trying to convince voters to support his candidacy, which was overwhelmingly ignored by the news media.

Imagine a campaign for results that a majority of Americans already support before you start campaigning! We figure that it will take about 60 days to solidify this new effort.

But, clearly, it won't be easy, and we don't want to underestimate the task. Here's the thing: with your generous donations to the Nader/Gonzalez campaign, you helped us design systems of organizing (that's how you get on 45 state ballots) that lend themselves perfectly toward the idea of organizing around Congress to pass the major laws that we want, laws that respond to people's needs.

Though some of us are now involved with the new effort at November5.org, it's not part of the Nader/Gonzalez campaign. Please visit that website and sign up today. Let your friends and family know about it. We're all shifting direction, and the faster we go about it the better.

Regrouping Fast to Continue Onward,

The Nader Team

Read More...

After Nov. 4 -- Put the Pressure on Congress

[Since I published this post, I received an e-mail the Nader/Gonzalez Campaign sent out directing people interested in working on putting pressure on Congress after November 4th, to this website: http://november5.org]

Back at the beginning of the year, when Ralph Nader launched his presidential exploratory committee, he said he wanted to build from the campaign after November--to start Congressional Watchdog groups in each congressional district. (If you don't remember, I pasted their announcement in this post.) Well, now's the time to sign up to make it happen.

Here's an excerpt of a facebook message about it:

Here's the Nader blogspot. This is an easy place to sign up (or have your friends sign up) to form an ongoing citizen movement that will continue on past the election. We'll be keeping an eye on congress and the new president--no matter who is elected.
http://votenader2008.blogspot.com

The campaign has this new video out about it as well:

As Ralph Nader says at the end of the video:

This is just the end of the beginning. The Nader/Gonzalez third political force is going to roar through November 4th and into 2009 to build a progressive politics in America that enlists the human values and the practical needs of the American people.

Whoever is elected, we're going to have to put pressure on Congress to stand for us and our rights instead of corporations, bailouts, and war. So sign up at the website above and at votenader.org -- and get involved!

Read More...

Ralph Nader -- Imagine Democracy

Tomorrow is Election Day... Don't Forget to Vote!

Vote for the Best Candidate. For months I have asked anyone to find me a candidate Better Than Nader but to no avail.

No one has even bothered trying to convince me otherwise. That's because Ralph Nader IS the best candidate in this presidential election.

I think I've already explained why it's important to vote for someone who will represent our interests rather than betray and oppose them, and why Ralph Nader is such a candidate, but if you think you've got someone better, I'm still willing to hear you--you have 24 hours. Until then, I feel confident in giving my endorsement to the man who's worked tirelessly on our behalf for several decades... Mr. Ralph Nader.

So get out there and Vote for Ralph Nader!

If you have questions about how or where to vote, check out the Voter Resources page on the votenader.org website.

Read More...