Fuck you, Howard Dean

Typically FUD. I h8 the DNC.  -- David


For Ralph Nader, but Not for President

By HOWARD DEAN

BURLINGTON, Vt.

     Everyone expects this year's presidential election to be decided by 
razor-thin margins in a few battleground states. Everyone also expects
the candidacy of Ralph Nader to make the race between John Kerry and George 
Bush even closer. As I know from experience, however, voters have
a way of proving everyone wrong.

Democrats are motivated to defeat the president this year. They've seen 
firsthand what three years of Bush administration policies have done to
America. And they want to stop his policies from inflicting any more damage on 
working-class Americans, the environment, our international
standing or a woman's right to choose.

Many Democrats also admire Ralph Nader's achievements, as I do. But if they 
truly want George Bush out of the White House, they won't vote for
Ralph Nader in November.

Ralph Nader has built a remarkable legacy as a consumer advocate. Because of 
his tireless work, we have federal consumer protection laws and a
federal department dedicated to the protection of our environment, and 
millions of defective motor vehicles are off the roads. And I campaigned
against the very same corporate special interests that he has been criticizing 
longer than almost anyone else.

But I don't believe that the best way to do justice to Ralph Nader's legacy is 
to vote for him for president. Re-electing George Bush would undo
everything Ralph Nader has worked for through his entire career and, in fact, 
could lead to the dismantling of many of his accomplishments.

Voting for Ralph Nader, or for any third-party candidate for president, means 
a vote for a candidate who has no realistic shot of winning the White
House. To underscore the danger of voting for any third-party candidate in 
elections this close, a statistic from the 2000 campaign may prove useful:
a total of eight third-party candidates won more votes than the difference 
between Al Gore and George Bush nationwide.

When I ended my bid for the presidency, I asked my supporters to continue our 
quest for change in America. Our group, Democracy for America, is
committed to exposing the ways in which the Bush administration's policies are 
designed to prop up the privileged and please right-wing
ideologues. Our agenda is rooted in hope and real American values - 
opportunity, integrity, honesty. This is the way to defeat George Bush.

Ralph Nader once said that your best teacher is your last mistake. Too many of 
us learned the consequences of not standing together four years ago.
This November, we can elect a president who fights for average Americans. But 
we can achieve this goal only if we join together - and don't repeat
our last mistake.
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