Can we note that Ralph Nader's great accomplishments were 1) some time ago, and 2) not from public office? The latter is especially important. He had standing to attack all monied interests, since he stood to gain nothing except respect (not that respect is nothing).

If Nader stood a chance in hell of getting elected we would already see him in the race. He's only trying to stay in the headlines.

Nader needs to retire from the public sphere. He is nothing more than a running joke and it amazes me that people would be willing to vote for this clown yet again. What is he offering? Stomping his feet and threatening to play spoiler again? Pay attention to me or else you'll get St. McCain? I'm guessing 8 years of GWB didn't sate his thirst for regressive policies and illegal wars. Nader and his followers can go to hell.

While Nader's main accomplishments may have been long ago, that by itself is no disqualifier, and the fact he did the things he did without power associated with political office makes them all the more impressive. How many members of Congress can boast of a legislative agenda that impressive? Certainly neither of the two Dem frontrunners. He has my respect and admiration for having fought the good fight for many years, no matter how many enemies that made him. Can you say that of your chosen candidate? Will they be that principled and unbending?

And why exactly is Nader supposed to go away? To make senior Democrats less ashamed of having allowed their party to become a tool of corporate interests, abandoning the working class, and colluding in illegal wars, torture, infringements of civil liberties? Nader is about the only person on Earth for whom the old cliche "I did not abandon the Democratic Party, the Party abandoned me" holds true. May we live long enough to see the day folks like Nader represent Democratic Party mainstream, and are not ridiculed outcasts. Given the extent to which the Democratic Party acted as Bush's enablers, displacing your dissatisfaction onto Nader is highly ill-advised. Had they done their job as the party of opposition they are supposed to be, Bush would have been marginalized. But instead they chose to vote for the AUMF, confirm Alito and Roberts, continue funding the Iraq war, look the other way on torture, and so on. So don't you go around blaming Nader.

Make no mistake about it, I am about as committed a Democrat as they come. I'm an elected member of my county's Dem Party committee and a precinct captain. I voted for Gore in 2000, for Kerry in 2004. However, if Nader runs and Obama (or whoever holds the Dem banner come November) disrespects him, plays politics to keep him out of the debates, or engages in any other such shenanigans, I WILL VOTE FOR NADER even if I have to write his name onto the ballot with my own blood. I'd rather lose with the right candidate than win with the wrong one.