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From: "John Murphy"
Subject: THE DEMOCRATS AND THE END OF DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA
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"I know of no country in which there is so little independence of mind an=
d real freedom of discussion as in America." - Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-=
59)
Hi Everyone,
The Nader campaign for which I am proud to be a volu=
nteer submitted close to 50,000 signatures in Pennsylvania in order to meet=
the required 26,000. Both the conservative Constitution Party and the con=
servative Libertarian party also submitted in excess of 35,000 signatures i=
n order to gain ballot access for their candidates.
While the Constituti=
on party and Libertarian party will draw Republican voters away from George=
Bush, the Republican Party is making no challenge to their efforts in gain=
ing ballot access for their candidates. The Democrats on the other hand ar=
e not only challenging Mr. Nader but suggesting that close to 50% of his si=
gnatures are invalid! Moreover they have engaged five separate law firms t=
o force Mr. Nader to fight their claims in five separate courtrooms in Penn=
sylvania simultaneously! The Democrats have nearly unlimited funds while t=
he Nader campaign is being drained of precious campaign finances simply to =
meet the bogus legal challenges forged by the Democratic Party.
Of cours=
e the Democrats could have stopped Mr. Nader four months ago before he even=
began. All they had to do was to promise to end the occupation of Iraq im=
mediately. Liberals would then have sacrificed everything else they hold v=
aluable and voted for John Kerry in order to save the lives of the innocent=
men, women and children dying in Iraq as a result of our savage military o=
ccupation of their country.
Za Americans are even more foolish zan I s=
ought! Ve tell zem zat Nader vas za reason for Herr Gore's loss und zey be=
lieff it! Zere ist no proof at all for zis! I love zem! Dumkopfs! Zis va=
s eaizer zan za lies about Iraq mit vich ve helped Herr Bush.
- DLC Propa=
ganda minister Joseph Goebbels
It is astonishing to find that Americans=
who call themselves "liberals" are furiously working to abort the democrat=
ic process in America. The Bush administration and its supporters in the D=
emocratic Leadership Council (DLC) grievously lied to the American people a=
bout the reasons for going to war with Iraq. Now the same people in the DL=
C are trying to abort the efforts of the only liberal antiwar candidate run=
ning against George Bush.
Just as any 12-year-old with a modem could ha=
ve told you there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, that Iraq ha=
d nothing to do with 911 and that Saddam Hussein had no relationship with A=
l Qaeda similarly any 12-year-old with a modem can tell you that Ralph Nade=
r had absolutely nothing to do with the victory of George Bush in 2000.
=
"It is enough that the people know there was an election. The people who =
cast the votes decide nothing."
- Democratic Party Advisor Joseph Stalin
=
The Democrats are unwilling or unable to face the fact that Al Gore was=
positioned too far to the right by the DLC to have been acceptable to the =
250,000 registered Democrats in Florida who voted for George Bush. The rea=
son Al Gore lost Florida and hence the presidency was simply because a quar=
ter of a million registered Democrats voted for Bush! If that weren't bad =
enough, Jeb Bush and Katherine Harris removed 80,000 eligible Democratic vo=
ters from the list in Florida. To add insult to this grievous injury, Gore=
still would have won if the Democrats had demanded a statewide recount! Bu=
t they did not!
The Democrats did nothing but whine about what happened=
in Florida but took no legal action. They said absolutely nothing about J=
eb Bush even though investigative journalists from the UK had all the evide=
nce necessary to demonstrate what took place in Florida.
So here's what=
we have: Gore lost in Florida because 250,000 registered Democrats voted f=
or Bush. Gore lost in Florida because 80,000 eligible Democrats were remov=
ed from the Florida lists by Jeb Bush and Katherine Harris. Gore lost in F=
lorida because he did not request a statewide recount. No one took votes a=
way from Gore. Votes cannot be taken, they must be earned.
Democrats =
in Florida also voted for the Reform Party candidate, the Natural Law Party=
candidate and even the Libertarian Party candidate. Moreover, a Democrati=
c exit poll showed that Ralph's votes came 25% from Republicans, 38% from D=
emocrats, and the rest were nonvoters who would have only voted for Ralph. =
"It's all Nader's fault. I am not a crook.."
-Democratic Party ad=
viser Richard Nixon
In other words, more than sixty percent of Ralph's =
voters would NOT have voted for Gore. Furthermore CNN's polling data said t=
hat if neither Nader nor Buchanan had run, Bush would have beat Gore 48 to =
47 percent, with 4 percent who voted not voting.
Yet with all of this, =
the Democrats (DLC) are still trying to blame Ralph Nader for Gore's loss! =
With the help of the corporate owned newspapers, television stations and =
radio talk shows they have been able to put this lie over on the American p=
eople as effectively as the lies about Iraq. We can also thank the empty h=
eads and hollow voices of the neoliberal intelligentsia like Arianna Huffin=
gton, Paul Begala, James Carville and Al Franken as well as the cacophony =
from "The Nation", "Mother Jones" and "Salon.com".
These people are s=
o clueless that if they dressed in clue skins, doused themselves in clue mu=
sk, and did the clue dance in the middle of a field of horny clues at the h=
eight of clue mating season, they still would not have a clue.
The singl=
e most important idea to remember is that if Nader had actually been the ca=
use of Al Gore's loss in Florida the Democrats would have certainly institu=
ted IRV in order to prevent it from happening again. They did not institut=
e IRV because Nader had nothing to do with Gore's loss in 2000!
Instead=
of concentrating their efforts on Bush and his neoconservative policies th=
e Democrats are trying to crush Nader along with the real liberals and Prog=
ressives. Instead of concentrating on their own candidate, or lack thereof=
and his policies or lack thereof, the Democratic Party is focusing its eff=
orts on ending all serious opposition to the corporate elite that supports =
the Democratic Leadership Council and the neoconservatives of the Republica=
n Party. By following this strategy they are also necessarily working to a=
bolish the democratic process in America. Instead of expanding our choices=
, they are seeking to limit them. Instead of giving voters the opportunity=
to accept or reject the candidacy of Ralph Nader, they seek to dictate who=
our candidates can and cannot be. Like Vladimir Lenin, the Democrats are =
now espousing the totalitarian concept "if you are not for us, you are agai=
nst us" (a vote for Nader is a vote for Bush).
"Why of course Mr. Nade=
r caused Mr. Gore's loss in 2000. By the way, tell General Washington he c=
an count on me at West Point."
- Democratic Party adviser General Benedic=
t Arnold
Veteran elections lawyer to help Nader get on ballot
A=
ssociated Press
PHILADELPHIA - A veteran elections-law attorney from Ph=
iladelphia will help independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader in his =
bid to get on the ballot in Pennsylvania.
The hiring of Samuel C. Stret=
ton suggests that Nader plans to aggressively fight a legal challenge to hi=
s signature petition.
"I told them I might not vote for your man, but I=
think everybody is entitled to a choice," said Stretton, who said he will =
discount his usual rate for Nader.
Stretton has previously represented =
unsuccessful state Senate candidate James Tayoun and former Philadelphia Ci=
ty Council contender Julie Welker.
Lawyers challenging Nader's petition=
, with backing from the state Democratic Party, charge that thousands of th=
e 47,000 signatures submitted by Nader supporters were forged, fake or othe=
rwise unacceptable.
If those signatures are thrown out, Nader would fal=
l short of the 25,697 signatures from registered voters that he needs to ge=
t on the ballot, they say.
Stretton, a solo practitioner, faces a tough=
logistical challenge: Commonwealth Court plans to hold five simultaneous h=
earings on the issue in five courtrooms across the state. Nader's campaign =
has promised to bring in other lawyers to help out, Stretton said.
Many=
Democrats fear that Nader votes will come from people who would otherwise =
support their presidential candidate, John Kerry.
http://www.mercurynews.c=
om/mld/mercurynews/news/politics/9409743.htm?ERIGHTS=3D-3080849661436670368=
mercurynews::johnamurphy@...&KRD_RM=3D7oupstqutvstwvtoownnnnnnnn|Jo=
hn|Y
Nader petitions challenged to keep him off Pennsylvania ballo=
t
Democrats say thousands of names signed to put third party candidate =
on ballot not valid
Tuesday, August 10, 2004
By Tom Barnes, Post-Gaze=
tte Harrisburg Bureau
HARRISBURG -- A group of voters from Pittsburgh and =
Philadelphia filed a lawsuit here yesterday challenging the petition signat=
ures of third-party candidate Ralph Nader in an effort to kick him off the =
Nov. 2 presidential ballot in Pennsylvania. http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/=
04223/359282.stm
"I love everything Mr. Nader stands for; this is j=
ust not his time."
-Democratic party adviser Judas Iscariot
Democrats e=
ager to defeat Bush vent their wrath on Nader camp
Many ex-Naderites shift=
stances, or are cowed into silence
THE NEW YORK TIMES
Sunday, August 15,=
2004
LOS ANGELES - Only four years ago, Robin Taylor was among the tho=
usands clapping and cheering at a Ralph Nader "super rally" in Long Beach j=
ust days before the presidential election. Phil Donahue spoke, Jackson Brow=
ne performed and Taylor wore a button that just said "Ralph."
"I found it =
uplifting," she said. "There was momentum for an alternative. There was res=
pect for the ground that Nader was gaining."
This year, the Green Party ha=
s disowned Nader, celebrities are nowhere to be found on the campaign trail=
, and Michael Moore, the documentary filmmaker formerly known as a Naderite=
, dropped to his knees on cable television recently, begging Nader to bow o=
ut of the race.
Taylor said, "I've been asked, 'Don't you feel responsible=
for all the lives lost in Iraq?'"
The answer is no, but Taylor and others=
among the Nader faithful say that in this election year, to be out and pro=
ud is to invite scorn and vitriol like never before. Opponents call your ca=
ndidate - the one you consider not beholden to corporate interests and a ch=
ampion of American consumers, workers and children - "an idiot," "an egoman=
iac" and "a spoiler."
Many, like Taylor and her husband, Jeff Lyons, 47, a=
graphic designer in the music industry, are standing their ground and stil=
l wear their allegiance on their sleeves like a badge of honor. Some Nader =
supporters blame the Democratic Party's efforts to squash the Nader campaig=
n for a poisonous atmosphere.
But many Nader supporters nationwide have al=
so been cowed into silence. Jim Musselman, the president and founder of App=
leseed Recordings in West Chester, Pa., an independent label that releases =
political and folk music, said that after the last election, he had avoided=
any political discussions and politely changed the subject so as not to gi=
ve people a chance to vent their anger at him. In 2000 he had helped line u=
p entertainers for Nader's rallies but, after Bush won, he said, some artis=
ts refused to work with him.
But Musselman said that his plan to stay on t=
he sidelines went by the wayside when he learned of the Democrats' legal ef=
forts to keep Nader off the ballot in Pennsylvania. Last week he e-mailed a=
letter to 200 people in the music industry, alerting them to what he regar=
ds as undemocratic harassment.
"I just said enough is enough," he said. "W=
e get to choose from seven different types of Coca-Colas in the supermarket=
but we should only have two choices for president?"
http://www.journalnow=
.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=3DWSJ%2FMGArticle%2FWSJ_BasicArticle&c=3DMG=
Article&cid=3D1031777313711&path=3D!nationworld&s=3D1037645509161
"A =
vote for Nader is a vote for me! Oh Christ; I got these freakin' Dummycrap=
s pissin' in their pants with fear! These freakin' people will believe anyt=
hing you tell 'em!"
-Democratic Party adviser G. W. Bush
Why is t=
he Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) lying to the American people with th=
e worn-out clich=E9 "a vote for Nader is a vote for Bush"?
Bush will wi=
n by a landslide in the following "safe states":
Alabama
Alaska
Idaho=
Indiana
Kansas
Mississippi
Nebraska
North Carolina
North Dakota
Okl=
ahoma
South Dakota
Texas
Utah
Virginia
Wyoming
In these states a v=
ote for Kerry is wasted! and a vote for Nader is certainly not a vote for =
Bush!!! If you are a liberal and want to send the Democratic Party a messag=
e and want to actually own the courage of your convictions, you must vote f=
or Nader if you live in one of those states.
John Kerry will win by =
a landslide in the following "safe states":
California
Connecticut
DC=
Delaware
Hawaii
Illinois
Maryland
Massachusetts
New Jersey
New York=
Rhode Island
Vermont
Washington
If you live in any of these states,=
clearly a vote for Nader is not a vote for Bush!!! If Al Gore won in Mass=
achusetts by 800,000 votes, Kerry will probably win by twice as many. Why =
not hold him to a more narrow victory and send the Democrats a strong messa=
ge that we are tired of the bullshit? The same holds true for every one of=
these other "safe states". Al Gore won in New York by 2 million votes, Ke=
rry is expected to do at least that well. Why not hold him to a one millio=
n vote margin?
A vote for Nader is simply not a vote for Bush. Don't f=
orget, there are 51 separate elections. The votes in New York have no effe=
ct on the votes in Pennsylvania.
Seventy to seventy-five percent of the=
American people live in what are called the "safe states" listed above. T=
here is absolutely no reason on earth not to vote for Ralph Nader and tell =
Kerry and the DLC to "shove it".
"Ralph Nader's campaign is a vital =
element in keeping alive the public debate about the Iraq War. Senator Kerr=
y's reluctance to engage in this debate, and his support for the broad outl=
ines of President Bush's disastrous war policies threatens to deprive the A=
merican people of the deep, thoughtful, and vigorous debate that should be =
the centerpiece of the presidential campaign."
"I urge voters of all state=
s - regardless of whichever candidate you may decide to vote for on electio=
n day - to attend Nader conventions, sign petitions, and do all in your pow=
er to assure that Nader achieves ballot access."
The critical part of=
this message is that three fourths of Americans live in the "safe states".=
Voters casting a ballot for Kerry in those states, regardless of the mess=
age they intend to send, will be perceived by the Democratic National Commi=
ttee as endorsing the Kerry platform of war and moving the Democrats to the=
right. Meanwhile, voters in safe states have the opportunity to send a mes=
sage that Kerry's platform is unacceptable, without risking throwing the el=
ection to Bush.
"A vote for Nader is a vote for Bush."
The next ti=
me you hear some unibrowed gargoyle tell you that "a vote for Nader is a vo=
te for Bush" just yawn, say "ho-hum" and remind them that it is generally a=
ll right to have nothing worthwhile to say unless you insist on saying it. =
Please try to avoid telling them that they remind you of drool and are the=
moral equivalent of a leech. Just smile pleasantly and tell them that wh=
en they go home you hope their mother runs out from under the porch and bit=
es them.
John A. Murphy
Voting for the lesser of two evils won't save t=
his country; it will only hasten a total collapse. If we are so afraid that=
voting for the candidate that best represents our values will put the grea=
ter of two evils in office, then we have already lost the right to be free =
and many will be ashamed to call us their fellow countrymen.
Join Ralph's =
Revolution: www.votenader.org
------=_NextPart_001_024D_01C483CB.2507E290
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X-Yahoo-Groups-Content-Truncated: true
=
"I
know of no country in which there is so little independence of mind an=
d real
freedom of discussion as in <=
SPAN
style=3D"COLOR: red; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS'">America
." - Alexis de Tocqueville
(1805-59)
Hi
Everyon=
e,
The
Nader camp=
aign for which I am proud to be a volunteer submitted close to 50,000
sign=
atures in Pennsylvania<=
/st1:place>
in order to meet the required 26,0=
00.
Both the conservative C=
onstitution Party and the conservative Libertarian
party also submitted in=
excess of 35,000 signatures inorder to gain ballot
access for their=
candidates.
While=
the Constitution party and Libertarian party will draw Republican voters =
away
from George Bush, the Republican Party is making no challenge to thei=
r efforts
in gaining ballot access for their candidates. The Democrats on the other hand are not
onl=
y challenging Mr. Nader but suggesting that close to 50% of his signatures =
are invalid! Moreover they =
have
engaged five separate law firms to force Mr. Nader to fight their cla=
ims in five
separate courtrooms in Pennsylvania
simultan=
eously! The Democrats have
=
nearly unlimited funds while the Nader campaign is being drained of preciou=
s
campaign finances simply to meet the bogus legal challenges forged by th=
e
Democratic Party.
Of cours=
e the Democrats
could have stopped Mr. Nader four months ago before he eve=
n began. All they had to do=
was to promise to end
the occupation of Iraq immediately.&nbs=
p; Liberals would then have sacrificed
everything else they hold va=
luable and voted for John Kerry in order to save the
lives of the innocent=
men, women and children dying in Iraq as a result of our
savage military =
occupation of their country.
<=
/SPAN>
Za
A=
mericans are even more foolish zan I sought! Ve tell zem zat Nader vas za reason for
Herr Gore=92s lo=
ss und zey belieff it!
Zere=
ist no proof at all for zis!
I love zem! Dumkopfs! Zis=
vas eaizer zan za lies about Iraq mit vich ve helped
Herr Bush.
- DLC
Propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels=
It
is astonishing to find that Americans who call themselves =
"liberals" are
furiously working to abort the democratic process in
America=
.&n=
bsp; The Bush administration and its
supporters in the Democratic L=
eadership Council (DLC) grievously lied to the
American people about the r=
easons for going to war with
Iraq. Now the same people in the DLC =
are
trying to abort the efforts of the only liberal antiwar candidate runn=
ing
against George Bush.
<=
/FONT>
=
Just as any 12-year-old with a modem could =
have told you there were no
weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, that Iraq=
had nothing to do with 911 and
that Saddam Hussein had no relationship wi=
th Al Qaeda similarly any 12-year-old
with a modem can tell you that Ralph=
Nader had absolutely nothing to do with the
victory of George Bush in 200=
0.
=
=93It
is en=
ough that the people know there was an election. The people who cast the
v=
otes decide nothing.=94
<=
SPAN
class=3Dbody1>
<=
FONT
face=3DVerdana>- Democratic Party Advisor
=
SPAN>Joseph
Stalin
The
D=
emocrats are unwilling or unable to face the fact that Al Gore was position=
ed
too far to the right by the DLC to have been acceptable to the 250,000 =
registered Democrats in Flori=
da
who voted for George Bus=
h. The
reason Al Gore lost =
Florida
and hence the presidency was simply because a qua=
rter of a million registered
Democrats voted for Bush! If that
weren't bad enough, Jeb Bush and Kathe=
rine Harris removed 80,000 eligible
Democratic voters from the list in Flo=
rida. To add insult to this=
grievous injury,
Gore still would have won ifthe Democrats had dema=
nded a statewide
recount! But they did not!
<=
P class=3DMsoNormal style=3D"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">
The
Democrats did nothin=
g but whine about what happened in
Florida
but took no l=
egal action. They said
abso=
lutely nothing about Jeb Bush even though investigative journalists from th=
e
UK
had all the evidence necessary to=
demonstrate what took place in
Florida.
So
here's=
what we have: Gore lost in Fl=
orida
because 250,000 regis=
tered Democrats voted for Bush. =
SPAN>Gore lost in
Florida
because 80,000 eligible Democr=
ats were removed from the
Flo=
rida
lists by Jeb Bush and =
Katherine Harris.
Gore lost=
in Florida=
because he did not request a statewide recoun=
t. No one took votes away f=
rom Gore. Votes cannot be t=
aken, they must be
earned.
Democrat=
s in
Florida also voted for the Reform
=
Party candidate, the Natural Law Party candidate and even the Libertarian P=
arty
candidate. Moreover, a=
Democratic
exit poll showed that Ralph=92s votes came 25% from Republican=
s, 38% from
Democrats, and the rest were nonvoters who would have only vot=
ed for
Ralph.
=93It's all Nader's
fault. =
SPAN>I am not a crook..=94
-=
Democratic Party
adviser Richard Nixon
In other
words, more than sixty percent of Ralph=92s voters wou=
ld NOT have voted for Gore.
Furthermore CNN=92s polling data said that if =
neither Nader nor Buchanan had run,
Bush would have beat Gore 48 to 47 per=
cent, with 4 percent who voted not
voting.
Yet with=
all of this, the
Democrats (DLC) are still trying to blame Ralph Nader fo=
r Gore's loss! With the help=
of the corporate owned
newspapers, television stations and radio talk sho=
ws they have been able to put
this lie over on the American people as effe=
ctively as the lies about Iraq.
We
can also t=
hank theempty heads and hollow voices of theneoliberal
intelli=
gentsia like Arianna Huffington, Paul Begala, James Carville and Al
Franken as well asthe cacophony from "The Nation", "Mother J=
ones"and
"Salon.com".
=
These people are so clueless that if they dressed in clue skin=
s,
doused themselves in clue musk, and did the clue dance in the middle of=
a field
of horny clues at the height of clue mating season, they still wo=
uld not have a
clue.
=
SPAN>
The single most important idea to remember is
that if Nader had actual=
ly been the cause of Al Gore's loss in
Florida the Democrats would have
certainly instituted IRV in order to preve=
nt it from happening again. They did not institute IRV because Nader
had nothing to do with Gore's lo=
ss in 2000!
Instead of concentrating
their efforts on Bush and =
his neoconservative policies the Democrats are trying
to crush Nader along=
with the real liberals and Progressives. Instead of concentrating on their own
candidate, or lack th=
ereof and his policies or lack thereof, the Democratic
Party is focusing i=
ts efforts on ending all serious opposition to the corporate
elite that su=
pports the Democratic Leadership Counciland the
neoconservatives of =
the Republican Party.
By fo=
llowing this strategy they are also necessarily working to abolish
the dem=
ocratic process in America By
t=
he way, tell General Washington he can count on me at
West
Po=
int."
- Democratic Party adviser General
Benedict
Arnold
=
B>
Veteran elections lawyer to help N=
ader get on
ballot
=
Associated
Press
&nb=
sp;
P=
HILADELPHIA - A veteran elections-law attorney from
<=
st1:place>Philadelphia=
will help independent presidential
candidate Ralph Nader in his bid to ge=
t on the ballot in
Pennsylvania.
The hir=
ing of Samuel C. Stretton
suggests that Nader plans to aggressively fight =
a legal challenge to his
signature petition.
"=
I told them I might not vote for your
man, but I think everybody is entitl=
ed to a choice," said Stretton, who said he
will discount his usual rate f=
or Nader.
<=
/SPAN>
Stretton has previously represented
u=
nsuccessful state Senate candidate James Tayoun and former Philadelphia Cit=
y
Council contender Julie Welker.
Lawyers challe=
nging Nader's petition,
with backing from the state Democratic Party, char=
ge that thousands of the
47,000 signatures submitted by Nader supporters w=
ere forged, fake or otherwise
unacceptable.
If t=
hose signatures are thrown out,
Nader would fall short of the 25,697 signa=
tures from registered voters that he
needs to get on the ballot, they say.=
<=
SPAN
style=3D"COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">
Stretton, a solo practitioner, faces a
tough lo=
gistical challenge: Commonwealth
Court plans to hold five si=
multaneous
hearings on the issue in five courtrooms across the state. Nade=
r's campaign has
promised to bring in other lawyers to help out, Stretton =
said.
Many Democrats fear that Nader votes
will=
come from people who would otherwise support their presidential candidate,=
John Kerry.
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/po=
litics/9409743.htm?ERIGHTS=3D-3080849661436670368mercurynews::johnamurphy@c=
omcast.net&KRD_RM=3D7oupstqutvstwvtoownnnnnnnn|John|Y =
=
o:p>
Nader
petitions c=
hallenged to keep him off Pennsylvania
ballot
Democrats say thousands of
names signed to put third p=
arty candidate on ballot not valid
Tuesday, August 10,
=
2004
By Tom Barnes,=
Post-Gazette
Harrisburg Bureau
HARRISBURG=
SPAN>Pittsburgh and Philadelphia filed=
a lawsuit here yesterday
challenging the petition signatures of third-par=
ty candidate Ralph Nader in an
effort to kick him off the Nov. 2 president=
ial ballot in
Pennsylvania. http:/=
/www.post-gazette.com/pg/04223/359282.stm<=
/FONT>
=
"I love everything Mr. Nader stands for; this is just not his
time=
."
-Democratic
partyadviser Judas Iscariot
Democrats
eager to defeat Bush vent their wrath o=
n Nader camp
Many ex-Naderites shift stances, o=
r are cowed into
silence
THE NEW YORK
TIMES
Sunday, August 15,
2004
L=
OS ANGELES -
Only four years ago, Robin Taylor was among the thousands cla=
pping and cheering
at a Ralph Nader "super rally" in Lo=
ng
Beach just days before the
presidential election.=
Phil Donahue spoke, Jackson Browne performed and
Taylo=
r wore a button that
just said "Ralph."
This year, the
Green Party has disowned Nader, celebrities are nowhere to=
be found on the
campaign trail, and Michael Moore, the documentary filmma=
ker formerly known as a
Naderite, dropped to his knees on cable television=
recently, begging Nader to
bow out of the race.
=
Taylor said, "I've been
asked, 'Don't you=
feel responsible for all the lives lost in
I=
raq?'"
The answer is
no, bu=
t Taylor and others among the Nader faithful say that in this election
yea=
r, to be out and proud is to invite scorn and vitriol like never before.
O=
pponents call your candidate - the one you consider not beholden to corpora=
te
interests and a champion of American consumers, workers and children - =
"an
idiot," "an egomaniac" and "a spoiler."
Many, like
Tay=
lor and her husband, Jeff Lyons, 47, a graphic designer in the music
indus=
try, are standing their ground and still wear their allegiance on their
sl=
eeves like a badge of honor. Some Nader supporters blame the Democratic
Pa=
rty's efforts to squash the Nader campaign for a poisonous
atmosphere.
But many Nader
sup=
porters nationwide have also been cowed into silence. Jim Musselman, the
p=
resident and founder of Appleseed Recordings in West Chester, Pa., an
inde=
pendent label that releases political and folk music, said that after the
=
last election, he had avoided any political discussions and politely change=
d the
subject so as not to give people a chance to vent their anger at him=
. In 2000 he
had helped line up entertainers for Nader's rallies but, afte=
r Bush won, he
said, some artists refused to work with him.
But Musselman said =
that his plan to
stay on the sidelines went by the wayside when he learned=
of the Democrats'
legal efforts to keep Nader off the ballot in
<=
/B>Pennsylvania. Last week he e-mailed a letter to
20=
0 people in the music industry, alerting them to what he regards as
undemo=
cratic harassment.
"I just said enough i=
s
enough," he said. "We get to choose from seven different types of Coca-C=
olas in
the supermarket but we should only have two choices for
president=
?"
http://www.journalnow.com/servlet/Satellite?p=
agename=3DWSJ%2FMGArticle%2FWSJ_BasicArticle&c=3DMGArticle&cid=3D10=
31777313711&path=3D!nationworld&s=3D1037645509161
<=
/FONT>