Nader is in

It's official - Ralph Nader has declared his candidacy for president in '08. I'm a little torn this time - normally, I used to trash him because he severely hurt the Democratic nominee's chances of winning a close election. It's no stretch to say that because of him, we are preparing to bid farewell to Our National Embarrassment, W, instead of President Gore after eight years. (Okay, the Supreme Court and Bush's '00 and '04 election day treachery aside.)

However, this time around, I have to say I don't mind Nader running - people should have a choice of candidates, and I like that fact that he'll be available as a protest vote. I'm a liberal, but that doesn't mean the Democratic Nominee automatically gets my vote. I like having choices, and Nader offers one. Will I vote for him? Almost certainly not, but if I became very unhappy with the Democratic Nominee, I'd consider it.

From today's Meet the Press...

RUSSERT: Will you run for president as an Independent in 2008?

NADER: Let me put it in context, to make it a little more palatable to people who have closed minds. Twenty four percent of the American people are satisfied with the state of the country, according to Gallup. That's about the lowest ranking ever. Sixty-one percent think both major parties are failing. And according to Frank Luntz's poll, the Republican, 80 percent will consider voting for an independent this year. Now you take that framework, of people feeling locked out, shut out, marginalized, disrespected and you go from Iraq to Palestine to Israel. From Enron to Wall Street. From Katrina to the bungling of the Bush administration to the complicity of the Democrats in not stopping him on the war, stopping him on the tax cuts, getting a decent energy bill through and you have to ask yourself, as a citizen, should we elaborate the issues that the two are not talking about? And the...all the candidates, McCain, Obama and Clinton, are against single-payer health insurance. Full Medicare for all. I'm for it. As well as millions of Americans and 59 percent of physicians in a forthcoming poll this April. People don't like Pentagon waste, the bloated military budget, all of the reports in the press and the GAO reports. A wasteful defense is a weak defense. It takes away taxpayer money that can go to the necessities of the American people. That's off the table, to Obama and Clinton and McCain. The issue of labor law reform: repealing the notorious Taft-Hartley act, that keeps workers who are now more defenseless than ever against corporate globalization from organizing to defend their interests. Cracking down on corporate crime. The media—the mainstream media—repeatedly indicated how trillions of dollars have been drained and fleeced and looted from millions of workers and investors who don't have many rights these days.

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Other than the Frank Luntz reference, much of what Nader says makes total sense to me. I hope his voice raises many issues in the campaign that otherwise may not have been raised.