In this very important piece, Jeff Cohen, someone with excellent bona fides as founder of FAIR and recently communications director for Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), makes the case very strongly. Share it with any friends and colleagues who still live in La La Land...Remember, even Noam Chomsk has endorsed Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mekong Delta), remarking that even though from his perspective the differences between JFK and the incredible shrinking _resident are only degrees, degees when dealing with such magnitude of military power translates into many thousands (if not millions)
of lives...Where is the shell-of-a-man-formerly-known-as-Ralph-Nader draw his
resources?
Jeff Cohen, www.commondreams.org: But I'm also distressed by the deception coming from the Nader campaign. We keep being told that Nader will draw votes away from the Evildoer-in-Chief, George W. Bush; yet poll after poll shows the Nader vote depleting Kerry and helping Bush, and tipping swing states and their electoral votes to Bush.
In my view, Kerry vs. Bush is not Coke vs. Pepsi. It's
more like Coke vs. Arsenic (quite literally, in the
environmental sense). The Bush/Rumsfeld/Ashcroft
regime is far more dangerous than the regimes of
Nixon/Kissinger/Mitchell or Reagan/Weinberger/Meese.
There can be no greater imperative for progressives
this year than to Vote Bush Out. In the 17 or so
competitive states, that means building the Kerry vote
to defeat Bush.
Save the US Constitution, Save the Environment,
Restore the Timeline, Repudiate the 9/11 over-Up and
the Iraq War Lies, Support Our Troops, Thwart the
Theft of a Second Presidential Election, Break the
Bush Cabal Stranglehold on the "US Mainstream News
Media," Clease the White House of the Chickenhawk
Coup, Show Up for Democracy in 2004: Defeat Bush
(again!)
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0507-15.htm
Published on Friday, May 7, 2004 by CommonDreams.org
A Progressive Response to the Nader Campaign
by Jeff Cohen
I am ideologically aligned with Ralph Nader, not John
Kerry. I agree with Nader on virtually every issue,
while agreeing with only about half of Kerry's
positions (or what can be deciphered as Kerry's
positions). Like other peace and justice activists, I
am distressed that Kerry -- who spoke so eloquently
decades ago against a war based on racism and lies --
has given support to the current war that is based on
racism and lies.
But I'm also distressed by the deception coming from
the Nader campaign. We keep being told that Nader will
draw votes away from the Evildoer-in-Chief, George W.
Bush; yet poll after poll shows the Nader vote
depleting Kerry and helping Bush, and tipping swing
states and their electoral votes to Bush.
In my view, Kerry vs. Bush is not Coke vs. Pepsi. It's
more like Coke vs. Arsenic (quite literally, in the
environmental sense). The Bush/Rumsfeld/Ashcroft
regime is far more dangerous than the regimes of
Nixon/Kissinger/Mitchell or Reagan/Weinberger/Meese.
There can be no greater imperative for progressives
this year than to Vote Bush Out. In the 17 or so
competitive states, that means building the Kerry vote
to defeat Bush.
But our work doesn't end on Nov. 2. After we mobilize
to oust Bush in '04, progressives must stay mobilized
in '05 to ensure that our agenda is heard by the Kerry
White House. If the Iraq war drags on under the Kerry
administration, I'll be in the frontlines of peace
protests.
Progressives seemed to demobilize in 1993 after Bill
Clinton ended 12 years of Republican rule. In the
absence of powerful and independent networks of
activists, we saw that a Democratic White House was
capable of enacting pro-corporate Republican-oriented
policies. We won't be fooled again. Thanks to the
Internet and the youth-infused antiwar and global
justice movements of recent years, it will be easier
to sustain progressive activism in '05 and after to
hold a Democratic White House accountable.
Progressives need to understand that Franklin
Roosevelt was elected president in 1932 on a
wishy-washy platform no bolder than the Kerry
platform. But powerful social movements, especially
militant unions, propelled the New Deal agenda and
pushed FDR to being the most progressive president of
the last century.
2004 is a crucial juncture in our country's history,
with millions of people in our evenly divided country
-- especially people of color, labor, feminists,
enviros -- yearning for a path to end the national
nightmare of George Bush. Progressives need to be a
bridge forward, not an obstruction. Noam Chomsky has
described the choice we face: "Help elect Bush, or do
something to try to prevent it."
Ralph Nader has long set a standard for public
integrity: speaking truth to power no matter what the
consequences. But in recent months, he's sounding more
like a politician, making promises that he must know
he can't deliver on -- like his claim that he will
help defeat Bush by pulling "more votes away from Bush
than the Democrats." And Nader is being ridiculed as
just another politician: "Conservatives for Nader,"
scoffed Comedy Central's Jon Stewart. "Not a large
group. About the same size as 'Retarded Death Row
Texans for Bush.'"
This election is not about Kerry. Nor Nader. It's
about putting Bush out to pasture before he does any
more damage.
Jeff Cohen (jeffco@ulster.net) founded the media watch
group FAIR and was communications director of Kucinich
for President. The views expressed here are his own.
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