Nader Smiles

Ralph Nader gives everybody hell in this piece over at CommonDreams.

In the U.S. politics is as much about charisma and popularity as it is about issues, unfortunately. Nader is not flashy but rather more of a dry intellectual, an obviously brilliant man, one the mainstream has difficulties understanding. He doesn't have the goofy smile of the "everyman" candidate like George W. Bush, who had a down home elasticity and actor's touch that tea-party conservatives find attractive.

Liberals prefer Obama-like wit and articulation to Nader's radicalism because the biggest fear liberals have is losing the right to remain outlandishly hypocritical. I tend to favor honestly stupid conservatism, which is rampant in America, to the two-faced greed of liberalism. Stupid conservatives will give you an argument that is laughable. Liberals in their quest to create a Utopia will murder you.

Bush to me always seemed like the kind of guy I'd want to smash in the mouth with my devastating right hand, but millions dug the stupid grin and bumbling rhetoric. One of the great mysteries, I guess.

Nader has always been marginalized by corporatism, of course. That started long ago when he went after General Motors for making unsafe cars.

I like Nader. I think he might have made a good president. It would have been interesting to see how things played out in such a fantasy.


TS