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Former presidential candidate Ralph Nader has left the door open for another possible White House bid in 2008 and criticised Democratic front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton as "a panderer and a flatterer".
Asked on CNN's Late Edition news programme if he would run in 2008, the lawyer and consumer activist said, "It's really too early to say. ... I'll consider it later in the year."
Nader, 72, said he did not plan to vote for Clinton, a Democratic senator from New York and former first lady.
"I don't think she has the fortitude. Actually she's really a panderer and a flatterer. As she goes around the country, you'll see more of that," Nader said.
On whether he would be encouraged to run if Clinton gets the Democratic nomination, Nader said, "It would make it more important that that be the case."
He added that Clinton may face a challenge in her own state from wealthy Republican New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
"I think her main problem may well be right in New York City, Michael Bloomberg. They're talking in the Bloomberg camp of a possible run. I'm saying he'll give more diversity, for sure, and he'll focus on urban problems. But I might say, he's got the money to do it," Nader said.
Democratic candidates Nader likes include former Alaska Sen. Mike Gravel and Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich, he said.
"These people have records, not just rhetoric," he said.
He also criticised focusing on campaign fund-raising to judge candidates' prospects. "The press and the polls are gravitating on cash-register politics ... who's going to raise the $100 (million) or $200 million, McCain or Obama or Hillary. That's very unhealthy. That's rancid politics," he said.
Nader ran for president as an independent in 2004 and as the Green Party candidate in 2000, when some Democrats said he siphoned away votes from former Democratic Vice President Al Gore, helping Republican George Bush to win.
Asked on CNN's Late Edition news programme if he would run in 2008, the lawyer and consumer activist said, "It's really too early to say. ... I'll consider it later in the year."
Nader, 72, said he did not plan to vote for Clinton, a Democratic senator from New York and former first lady.
"I don't think she has the fortitude. Actually she's really a panderer and a flatterer. As she goes around the country, you'll see more of that," Nader said.
On whether he would be encouraged to run if Clinton gets the Democratic nomination, Nader said, "It would make it more important that that be the case."
He added that Clinton may face a challenge in her own state from wealthy Republican New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
"I think her main problem may well be right in New York City, Michael Bloomberg. They're talking in the Bloomberg camp of a possible run. I'm saying he'll give more diversity, for sure, and he'll focus on urban problems. But I might say, he's got the money to do it," Nader said.
Democratic candidates Nader likes include former Alaska Sen. Mike Gravel and Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich, he said.
"These people have records, not just rhetoric," he said.
He also criticised focusing on campaign fund-raising to judge candidates' prospects. "The press and the polls are gravitating on cash-register politics ... who's going to raise the $100 (million) or $200 million, McCain or Obama or Hillary. That's very unhealthy. That's rancid politics," he said.
Nader ran for president as an independent in 2004 and as the Green Party candidate in 2000, when some Democrats said he siphoned away votes from former Democratic Vice President Al Gore, helping Republican George Bush to win.
http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/411319/979389
This is one of the things that really erks me. I remember the election of 2004 where the Democrats were begging Nader not to run. There were so many individuals on campus that were actually convinced that Nader was going to win the election and that is why the Democrats were asking for Nader to not go through with it.
Yes, I voted for Kerry, looking back now I feel like it was a bad decision, but I was voting for the "lesser of two evils", but now when I look at kerry and peer back to his campaign I think that I may have voted for the person that was more evil. Bush may be "dumb", but Kerry seemed very very sneaky, maybe somewhat two-faced when I look back on it. However, I did not vote for Kerry entirely just because I had a distaste for Bush, I agreed with various things on Kerry's platform.
With Nader, I got into so many arguments on campus about it, because there were so many people that were 100% convinced that Nader was going to win and be the "perfect" president. I'll go on record and say if I had a choice between Bush or Nader, I would choose Bush cause you think we have problems now in the states? Just imagine what things would be like here if Nader was president.
I'll never forget arguing with this one guy in class when he said, "The democrats doesn't want Nader to run because hes going to win and bring this country back to its glory"
Thats when I tried to educate him that Naders ballot only helped the republicans, not to mention the fact that the GOP was wanting Nader to run, because they looked at him as more of a helper than a threat. Of course the dumbass I was telling this to didn't get it, because he was fucking stoned out of his mind and only cared about the legalization of marijuana. Then I had to try to make it simple for him by saying something that made people laugh, "Okay you pot head, Bush + Kerry + Nader = Bush to win, because those votes for Nader are just wasted pretty much"
All in all, I would like to say that I hope and pray that Nader gets it through his thick fucking skull that hes never going to win the election and needs to stay the fuck out of it, because all he does is fuck up the election...period!
Not to mention that the 2006 election pissed me off a little, because people of this nation mainly voted strictly for Democrats because of Bush, which I think was entirely unfair mainly because I believe that there are very good Republican politicians out there. Some people just need to realize that there is this thing called a political platform and that they need to fucking read it.
