Make way for Ralphie!

Here he comes again. As always, he manages to reinforce every Republican talking point against the Democrats in his "crusade against the corporations." There is simply no slimier person on the political scene today, anywhere, than Ralph Nader. He exists to attack Democrats and enable Republicans -- that's all he does, and outside of whatever consumer work he did, all he ever has done.

The fascinating thing is that the media are always eager to give this crackpot copious amounts of coverage. No other marginal third party candidate gets anywhere near the attention he gets. In this case, he gets to announce on Meet The Press, and his announcement is spread on every news outlet in America. Despite all this attention, and despite outspending him 4-1, in 2004 he barely outpolled the Libertarian candidate, Mike Bednarik, .38% - .32%. I'm willing to bet that not one person in 100 could tell you anything about Badnarik, and yet, as Ron Paul's campaign this year demonstrates, there is a vibrant Libertarian movement out there, which is, however, virtually ignored. Nader, now, a foolish old man who has done more to hurt the cause he claims to support than anyone outside of the Beltway, is big news.