calling nader. ralph nader. anyone. nader.
Submitted by bryan on Fri, 06/23/2006 - 8:52am.
Governor's Race
hmmm. thinking back to the distant past. 2000, i think it was. the "green" party decided that the only sitting vp to actually author a book on core enviro issues wasn't, ahem, green enough. egomaniac ralph nader glommed onto the "greens" and handed the election to george w. bush.
fast-forward to 2006.
our state faces arguably the most crucial decision of this young century -- do we go the way of kansas a la ken blackwell or do we forge a new direction with ted strickland. and who pops up, but bob fitrakis (talking primarily of issues that are the purview of the sec't of state, mind you).
granted, no one in their right mind thinks fitrakis will pull the vote percentage nader did in 00. after all, the green party isn't even recognized as a minority party in ohio. they have not elected a single statewide official in their history. they dont have a single house or senate district, mayoral mansion, or, to my knowledge, any other similar elected position in ohio.
the "greens" will claim that fitrakis is simply fighting for the issues. using his candidacy as a spotlight. guess they haven't visited his website. like nader, he is actually playing to win -- not playing to show.
but, in a race that may be decided by a vote a precinct. in a race with a democratic candidate who is a little conservative for my taste but clearly a committed, life-long democrat. in a race for our future as a state. perhaps mr. fitrakis might want to reconsider what is best for progressives in ohio.
or perhaps we might just start shopping for a nice red corvair for his "victory" parade on election night.
no problem
Submitted by bryan on Fri, 06/23/2006 - 1:33pm.
have to remind myself, too, esp. with such a bruising general election upon us.
Why Bob ?
Submitted by staff on Fri, 06/23/2006 - 2:27pm.
I am told the reason Bob is running is so he can more effectively challenge any election irregularities - and i don't think that is such a bad idea myself.
pretty straightforward
Submitted by bryan on Sat, 06/24/2006 - 7:53pm.
1. he wont have the $$$ to challenge the results after HB3. his standing will be irrelevant.
2. he says he's running to win. and sounds just like ralph did in the process. whole party duopoly, tweedle-dee/tweedle-dum crap. wasnt true then, isnt true now.
3. unfortunately bob has claimed that every election in ohio since 00 was stolen. not exactly the face of the challenge i would hope to see.
the more the merrier
Submitted by JeanLR on Tue, 06/27/2006 - 7:32am.
this is still a semi-free country, and most important is that everyone with something to say gets to be listened to~ btw, to all the nader bashers, it wasn't nader's fault that al gore couldn't out-debate that idiot.  gore has since demonstrated what could have been, oh well, the past is the past...
Maybe..
Submitted by Ryan on Tue, 06/27/2006 - 8:38am.
Maybe it was the morons who pulled the lever for Ralph Nader on election day '00. In such a closely contested race you don't throw your vote away on some idiot who offered NO solutions to any problems and ran simply on the premise that Al Gore and George Bush were exactly the same (remember the Nader ads that ran?) Do you honestly believe now that Al Gore is the same as George Bush. I have a pretty good feeling that Gore wouldn't have screwed the country as badly.
If Fitrakis tosses this election to Blackwell or does anything in injure Strickland's chances to defeat him there will be massive consequences for the entire state.  Sure, there may be some things about a candidate that I don't agree with but if I wanted to agree with everything a candidate stood for I would run for office myself.  Since I am not doing that (ever) I will find the candidates that match my general issue supports and vote for that candidate. 
As an aside...The election fraud thing in Ohio is somewhat insane.  Frankly, our government (and the people in it) can't keep any story from leaking to the press in some manner or another.  I hardly believe that a coordinated effort was put out there to officially "steal" the vote in Ohio.  I think the major problem is as Democrats we allow the GOP to define us and the issues before we do it for ourselves.  Hell, when we as Democrats are able to show the American people what we stand for we are unstoppable.  Look at all of the wonderfully successful programs Democrats have championed over the last 60 years.  In fact some (if not all) of the most successful social programs in this country's history have been Democratic ideas:  Social Security, Headstart, Medicare, Medicaid, The Great Society programs of Lyndon Johnson...the list goes on and on.  When we take control of the message we can win over and over again.
So...in conclusion...No Blackwell.  No Fitrakis.  Yes Strickland.
Thank you and good night.
Nader
Submitted by Paul (not verified) on Tue, 06/27/2006 - 9:03am.
There is a special level of hell reserved for Ralph Nader since he gave us George Bush for the last 6 years.
Bob Fitrakis has every right to run for Governor just as Ryan does or I do. However, he doesn't have the right to run from the responsibility of his potential actions.
If his run gives us Ken Blackwell, then he will have to live with the consequences.
sorry, not Nader's fault
Submitted by JeanLR on Tue, 06/27/2006 - 10:16am.
you guys need to read, what I said was very simple, you guys sound like you've been shot out of a cannon.
There is a "special level of hell"?  "morons"? yeah, that's very helpful. 
I won't launch into a history lesson here, but I will say it's high time that honest people took responsibility for what they did and what they left undone.  It wasn't Nader that made what should have been a run-away win by Al Gore into a fiasco; and it wasn't Nader's fault that Al Gore's lawyers couldn't argue thier way out of a wet paper bag.  Read Vincent Bugliosi's book "The Betrayal of America" for a concise critique of the very sad case brought by Al Gore's team in front of that Supreme Court.  At the very least History would have recorded a dignified stand against this coup, instead we have the whitewash of "the system worked" bullsht.  The prosecutors in the OJ Simpson trial presented the only worse case. 
It is not Nader's fault that so many democrats rolled over and voted in favor of the very Supreme court justices that brought us Bush!!!  It's not Nader's fault that all those democrats rolled over time and again voting for the "Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism" Act of 2001', and to approve sweeping war powers to this dubiously elected president.
It wasn't Nader that put Bush in power, it wasn't Nader that gave him those powers, abrogating thier own duties as a Congress to declare war and uphold the Constituion.
OK? so time to move on.  This Fritakis guy, more power to him, the more freedom of expression the better.  This is about our country and our heritage and our values and our ideals, not about politics.  It's about principles~ the sooner democrats learn to speak from the heart~ with passion, not with the ususal pandering, intelligence-insulting bullsht~ the better. 
Thank you.
We all need to remember this.  I certainly don't agree with Strickland on all issues, but he is a decent, committed, honest Democrat.  We all need to vote for him and get at least one other person to vote for him.  This is going to be won, precinct by precinct, and we don't need green's taking votes away.  We might as well shoot ourselves in the foot......again.
By the way, I saw "An Inconvenient Truth" Tuesday night.  If you haven't seen it, go see it.  Make your friends go see it.  Take your children to see it.  Walk instead of drive.  Use less AC.  Eat locally.  You can be green and not be "Green."