Will the shell-of-a-man-formerly-known-as-Ralph-Nader
redeem himself and salvage his legacy -- before it is
too late? The LNS hopes so, but doubts it. Meanwhile,
here is another name for the John O'Neill Wall of
Heroes: Denise Giardina, founder of West Virginia's
Mountain Party. Like Noam Chomsky (yes, Noam Chomsky),
she understands what another four years of the Bush
cabal would mean...The difference between Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mekong Delta) and the incredible shrinking _resident begins with the tens of thousands if not millions of deaths and goes on from there...The shell-of-man-formerly-known-as-Ralph-Nader got 22K votes in New Hampsire in 2000, Gore lost New Hampshire to Bush by 7K votes, the electoral college votes from New Hampshire would have cancelled out the winning edge give to Bush with Fraudida's stolen electoral college votes. In Fraudida, BTW, where the shell-of-man-formerly-known-as-Ralph-Nader spent the final days of the 2000 campaign, Gore allegedly lost by approx. 500 votes (although many thousands were thrown out), while the shell-of-man-formerly-known-as-Ralph-Nader got 90K+ votes. If even one third of those who voted for the shell-of-man-formerly-known-as-Ralph-Nader in either New Hampshire or Fraudida have voted for Gore, we would not be where we are today...We would not have abandoned the Kyoto Accords, we would not have trashed the Middle East peace process, we would not have invaded Iraq, we would not have torn up the ABM treaty, we would not have trashed the opportunity for peace and disarmament on the Korean pennisula, the EPA would not have been prostituted, we would not have gutted the Federal surplus and plunged the US into debt, we would not have suffered a phoney "energy crisis" in California and Conan the Deceiver would not be Governor of California, and oh yes, 9/11 itself might not have happened...
Paul Nyden, Charleston Sunday Gazette-Mail: Last
week, Giardina called Nader’s 2000 campaign “extremely
unfortunate. But I am in a state of shock that Nader
is running again. It worries me that something I did
might make it possible for him to get on the ballot
this year.” In a letter she plans to send to Mountain
Party supporters, Giar-dina wrote, “Nothing could
better illustrate the need for a local alternative
than the 2004 governor’s race. A Mountain Party
candidate will provide an alternative to Republicrat
Coal candidates. “Having said that, I am appalled at
the attempt to add Ralph Nader as a presidential
candidate on the Mountain Party ballot,” her letter
states. Vince George, Giardina’s campaign manager in
2000, is working to get Nader’s name on the ballot
this year. “I would feel horrible if this happened. I
also think it would be a real mistake for the Mountain
Party. There would not be a Mountain Party on the
ballot today if we had not run that gubernatorial
campaign. “I have not regretted that until now,”
Giardina added. “The Bush administration is such a
dangerous administration. We’ve got to get this guy
out. Then we can get back to normal. “Because of the shallowness of the media, especially television, there are a lot of uninformed people who are going to vote for Bush. If a small percentage of people are not practical and vote for Nader, it could be enough to throw the election.”
Restore the Timeline, Show Up for Democracy in 2004:
Defeat Bush (again!)
http://sundaygazettemail.com/news/Other+News/2004041713/
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Mountain Party’s Giardina doesn’t back Nader
Sunday April 18, 2004
By Paul J. Nyden
STAFF WRITER
Third-party candidate Ralph Nader has asked West
Virginia’s Mountain Party to nominate him for the
presidency. But the party’s former gubernatorial
candidate doesn’t want that to happen. Author Denise
Giardina helped found the Mountain Party in 2000 and
ran for governor that year. Her novels include
“Storming Heaven” and “The Unquiet Earth” about the
struggles of miners in the southern coalfields. “I
decided to run as a third-party candidate to establish
a statewide independent party so people discouraged
about the political process would have a place on the
ballot. But I did not see national politics as part of
that,” she said last week. Giardina received 10,228
votes for governor, about 2 percent of the vote, in
2000. Any party winning at least 1 percent of the vote
gets an automatic place on the state ballot in the
next election. Today, some Mountain Party members hope
delegates to their upcoming convention — to be held
May 1 at Jackson’s Mill near Weston — will nominate
Nader for president. If the party does not, Nader will
have to collect about 14,000 valid signatures to win a
place on this fall’s ballot. To guarantee 14,000 valid
signatures, a typical petition drive would try to
collect at least 18,000 signatures. The Mountain Party
Constitution sets up 17 voting districts — one in each
State Senate district. Each district can have up to
four voting delegates at the Jackson’s Mill
convention. A majority vote of delegates determines
who gets the party’s statewide nominations on the
November ballot. Last week, Giardina called Nader’s
2000 campaign “extremely unfortunate. But I am in a
state of shock that Nader is running again. It worries
me that something I did might make it possible for him
to get on the ballot this year.” In a letter she plans
to send to Mountain Party supporters, Giar-dina wrote,
“Nothing could better illustrate the need for a local
alternative than the 2004 governor’s race. A Mountain
Party candidate will provide an alternative to
Republicrat Coal candidates. “Having said that, I am
appalled at the attempt to add Ralph Nader as a
presidential candidate on the Mountain Party ballot,”
her letter states. Vince George, Giardina’s campaign
manager in 2000, is working to get Nader’s name on the
ballot this year. “I would feel horrible if this
happened. I also think it would be a real mistake for
the Mountain Party. There would not be a Mountain
Party on the ballot today if we had not run that
gubernatorial campaign. “I have not regretted that
until now,” Giardina added. “The Bush administration
is such a dangerous administration. We’ve got to get
this guy out. Then we can get back to normal. “Because
of the shallowness of the media, especially
television, there are a lot of uninformed people who
are going to vote for Bush. If a small percentage of
people are not practical and vote for Nader, it could
be enough to throw the election.” To contact staff
writer Paul J. Nyden, use e-mail or call 348-5164.
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Posted by richard at April 21, 2004 12:56 PM