SF Chronicle Catches Nader Lying About GOP Donations

[Beloved Citizen]

SF Chronicle article detailing Nader's Republican financial backing plus his now very public split with Peter Camejo on whether that money should be returned. Nader, not surprisingly, being the fellow that wants to keep the cash.

Here's the Nader lie:

But Camejo's views differ with Nader's recent defense of the (GOP) contributions.

"We have no indication that the Republicans are trying to maneuver support for us", (Nader) said at a recent press conference. "There are three or four major Republican donors who have contributed to my campaign. But that's because I worked with them on a number of issues...It's all very small, relatively small, contributions. And we like it that way."

But the financial records show that $23,000 in checks of $1,000 or more have come from loyal Republicans. Among those who have given recently to nader are Houston businessman Najid I. Fares, who donated $200,000 to President Bush's 2000 inaugural committee; Richard J. Egan, the former ambassador to Ireland, and his wife pamela, who have raisewd more than $300,000 for Bush; Michigan developer Ghassan Saab, who has given $30,000 to the RNC since 2001; and frozen food magnate Jeno Paulucci, and his wife Lois, who have donated $150,000 to GOP causes since 2000 alone.

All have donated the maximum $2,000 to Nader's campaign since April, records show.


It is becoming more and more obvious that Ralph Nader has become a willing accomplice to the cause of neo-conservatism and the GOP.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/07/09/NADER.TMP

Liar

[Somawas]

1. Nader's

a tool and a corporate shill.

[Robb]

2. Can anyone explain Nader to me?

I mean, I really, really, really, really used to like and respect this guy. Until recently I would reiterate his past to explain his current actions... but then he went off the freakin' deep end, and I gave up.

Did he get replaced with a zombie sometime over the past few years? What the heck happened?!?

[AlCzervik]

3. I think his ego overtook his common sense

He's got a chip on his shoulder.

[WoodrowFan]

7. he's a cult leader

He's nothing more than a cult leader now who wants a constant feeding of his ego. Some "Progressives" will continue to give it to him but for most of us he'll just become another Reverand Moon or Jim Jones.

[KFC]

48. Exactly

L Ron Nader

[toddzilla]

4. money grubbing whore..

let the floodgates open!! it's pouring in and he has become everything he supposedly stood against.

[wyethwire]

5. anything that get's him attention

that's all he cares about

[Skittles]

8. I notice the Nader defenders are becoming more scarce in the DU

it's about freaking time

[messiah]

10. Nope

we just sit in the background as this forum becomes more rightward leaning.

[Skittles]

11. LOL

please

[chefgirl]

12. Rightward leaning??

I don't believe I've heard of any Democrats taking Repub money.
Old Ralph can claim to be in opposition to the Repubs all he wants, but the minute he took their money it was plainly obvious which way he was leaning.

-chef-

[messiah]

23. No I just see them agreeing with right-wing, racist,militaristic, policies

[Beloved Citizen]

24. Laughable.

In other words, exactly the same kind of people Nader accepts campaign donations from.

Your search for political purity has now officially ended. Please clean yourself before egressing the stall...

[messiah]

26. Just like the democrats search

for "any" left party and then using the courts to get them off the ballot.
The democrats only want to purify the voters from democracy:
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2004/jul2004/illi-j03.shtml

[Beloved Citizen]

30. Let's all sing like the birdies sing!

Tweet! Tweet tweet! Tweet tweet!:crazy:

[WoodrowFan]

27. BOL

Nadar excepts repub money, repub help, the endorsement of the now-racist Reform Party and esposes anti-immigrant racist policies and it's the DU that's moving rightward!?!?! BOL. When PT Barnum said "there's one born every minute" he must have foreseen Nadar's hardcore fans...

[neuvocat]

17. Why bother?

Why waste your time watching this forum "becomes more rightward leaning" while neglecting the causes you supposedly believe in?

[messiah]

25. I like to examine fear

and the way democrats have destoyed the left. I am witnessing the death of democracy and "left thinking" in America. It's just fascinating to watch the destruction in realtime.

[TeacherCreature]

37. No one is helping the death march like Ralph Nader

and his supporters.

[calico1]

31. Your statement makes no sense

You are supporting Nader. I presume voting for him. The only candidate he is pulling votes from is Kerry. That is an established fact. If its a close race, Nader could be a spoiler and you will have helped elect Bush, the most right leaning, extremeist President in the history of our country. You are willing to be a part of this. And you say Democrats are right leaning? Please. Nader cares about Nader. He couldn't care less about you, me or anyone else. You and his other followers are being used by him. You are terribly misguided and I hope you will come to realize that.

[Forkboy]

21. I still defend him in regards to 2000

I dont like him,but I'll keep doing so,even if it risks getting my ass kicked by you :)

As for this stuff here,Nader is an egotistical bozo.

[TeacherCreature]

38. he was the same person in 2000

Perhaps you are just stubbornly defensive about your part in putting bush in office?

[Forkboy]

46. Perhaps you're clueless

I voted for Gore.

[Veggie Meathead]

18. Even when he was the leading consumer advocate in the 60's

his focus was always on himself.On almost all the issues that animated Americans,Nader was absent.He had very little interest in the Civil Rights Movement,the Vietnam War, Martin Luther King's call for equal rights,the fight against segregation and on and on.

What I suspect happened was Nader found the perfect cover to hide behind so that he can make claims about a moral crusader when he was anything but.

Nader is another in a long line of American con men.In this case, the con man arrived in a defective automobile.

[Beloved Citizen]

20. His burning hatred of the Democratic Party...

...has completely consumed him.

[TeacherCreature]

36. He is the same guy he has always been.

You are finally waking up to the facts. There are plenty of former Naders Raiders who have told their story. You can probably find their stories with a quick google search.

[drumwolf]

6. is it just me

or do other people here get the sense that Nader is actually doing more damage to his own credibility and legacy than to Kerry's chances of winning the election?

[Skittles]

9. Nader now has as much credibility as does Colin Powell

absolutely none

[AP]

13. To be fair, my impression was that Nader says that he doesn't check

the party affiliation of every donation. He was saying the Republicans he knows have donated small amounts and he knows why they were donating (because they agree with him philosophically and politically).

In the debate he said he had no idea why Egan donated because he doesn't know Egan. Now, of course, if you get a $2,000 donation, you're probably going to want to know how you got it so you can do more of what it took to get it.

Nonetheless, I really don't think the case has been made by the article and the debate that Nader is lying. I'm inclined to believe that when he gets a $2,000 donation, he probably doesn't look at what motivated it because he doesn't want to confront the truth, thus allowing him to say what he said in the debate about Egan. I'm inclined to believe that he only knows the reasons for getting donations from his friends and colleauges who hand him checks in person and who tell him why they're donating.

[jmags]

14. He doesn't check because he knows exactly what he'd find if he

did - lots of GOP supporters bankrolling his campaign.

I think we should just forget about Nader, and instead work on getting Camejo to drop off the ticket - as it appears he actually wants to do the right thing. As it becomes more and more apparent how much the Nader campaign is wholely reliant on GOP help, perhaps we could get Camejo to drop out since Nader doesn't seem to mind.

If that happens, perhaps a good chunk of the Nader fans will wake up too.

[AP]

15. That's what I said.

He's not a liar. We's willfully ignorant about the nature of his support.

[neuvocat]

16. How much is that Haliburton stock right now?

Well no matter, it still isn't worth the value of one's soul.

[Ducks In A Row]

19. It's sad...

to see a good man crumble in front of our eyes.

[Athletic Grrl]

22. Nader is anything but a good man.

He's a corporate whore pretending to be a maverick. I don't know how to link articles on this board, but today's SFGate update to yesterday's article clearly states that Nader has no intention of giving that money back.

10% of his top donors are people who also donated to re-reelct Bush and other Republicans.

If Camejo knew the nature of the donors and he's been on the ticket for just a month, it should be a reasonable assumption that Nader also knows. Camejo is right. In the name of integrity, that money should be returned and those people should be told where to get off.

Nader is a hypcrite, plain and simple. This man has no shame.

(edit: clarity)

[proud patriot]

28. I hope Camejo is a man of Honor and Drops off the ticket

:think:

[oasis]

32. Prediction: Camejo will drop out before long. He has a future in politics

if he does not allow himself to be stygmatized by empowering Bush for 4 more years.

[RetroLounge]

29. Hey Ralph, hop in, go for a ride. Faster. Faster. Faster!

RL

[tewl]

33. so typical.

[pschoeb]

34. Who Cares? This whole witch hunt is stupid, have you now or at any time

known or possibly taken money from a Rebuplican.

NO offence, I really could care less about Nader. So were supposed to be upset because the guy took 23,000 from various individul Republicans. Oh no, with that kind of cash Nader could take over the world!!!.

One Guy listed, Najid I. Fares is Lebanese, so his support for Nader might be premised on the fact that he likes to see a Lebanese American runnning for OFfice. By the way this same guy gave 2,000 to Democrat Jim Moran. Does this mean Democrats are taking Republican money? Or is it more likely that Fares is giving money to those with strong crticisms of Israel. Also Fares has given to Democrat Marcy Kaptur 4,000 (2,000 from him and 2,000 from his wife) thats 2,000 more than he gave Nader. Maybe because he likes populist politicians?

Onto Ghassan Saab, who probably again is interested in supporting any Arab American in running for office, Also Saab gave Gephardt 2,000 during the primaries. Is Gephardt really a Republican stooge(sarcasm)? By the way Ghassan's wife and son also gave 2,000 a piece to Gephardt.

Onto Jeno Paulucci and wife, they gave Democrat Bob Graham 2,000 dollars. Does this mean Democratic primaries are mere shams, being run behind the scenes by Republican contributions?(sarcasm)

Are these Democrats going to be investigated? should they return all this ill gotten cash? who side are they on? (sarcasm)

The only bundled contributer is Peter Tannous, which at least the SFC admitted this guy gave 500 to Pelosi, but he also gave 250 to Jim Moran, and 250 to Democrat Nick Rahall, and 500 to Democrat John Chris. Why couldn't the SFC figure any of this out?

[Beloved Citizen]

35. It ain't the act, it's the cover-up that gets you.

People can attempt to explain away Nader's sudden adoration for corporate rightwing political cash all they want (Dean did it, Kerry does it, blah blah blah). But what they can't explain away is Ralphie's denying that he took it.

Like they say, it ain't the act, it's the cover-up that gets you.

[pschoeb]

40. Where does Nader deny he took money from people who are Republicans?

He say he did, but that he knows most of them for various reasons before this campaign, and that Republicans are not steering his campaign. Since less than 5% of Naders donations come from Republicans, this seems to be born out. Especially when it seems that many Republican contributers have other reasons for their donations.

If you look at Fares and Saab they both know Nader well before this campaign and have clear reasons for giving to him, as these reasons seem to be mirrored in the Democrats they give to.

by the way I missed the fact that Fares also gave 4,000 between him and his wife, to Democrat John Chris.

Najid Fares in an opinion peice in The Detroit News Dec. 16, 1996.

"Arab-Americans must substantially increase contributions to political candidates,"he wrote. "Even modest contributions help ensure that Members of Congress and their staffs take phone calls and are more responsive to requests. Furthermore, the contributor must make explicit an interest in Middle East-related issues."

Considering he knows Ralph Nader, and their both Lebanese Americans I think the reasons for him giving money are abundantly clear.

Saab is again Lebanese, knows Nader from before this Campaign and is also intersted in raising Lebanese and Arab voices in the political spectrum.

These men both know Nader from the "American Task Force for Lebanon Policy"

Once you know that Democrat Rick Nahall and John Chris have also attended many events for the American Task Force for Lebanon Policy, some of their other donation start to make more sense.

Who is Peter Tanous?, why yes he is another Lebanese American, who again has known Nader for along time, and is, suprise suprise, also a member of the American Task Force for Lebanon Policy.

Too bad the SFC journalist couldn't do a little fact checking.

[FredScuttle]

39. But I thought St. Ralph the Pure was supposed to be better?

I'm glad Dean exposed that fraud during their debate. St. Ralph is a $2 whore pretending to be a duchess.

[pschoeb]

41. As my first post pointed out, I don't care about Ralph Nader

I wouldn't vote for him, and it would probably be impossible to convince me otherwise.

I do care however, about what the Democratic Party is becoming. My personal opinion is that Democrats, in their blind vengence against Nader, are actually giving the guy more prominence and air time than he would have ever got otherwise. Also i find the tactics being used disheartening, and also often wastefull of lower level Dem staff. Some might argue, Ends justify Means, but I say Means make the Ends, irregardless what your original goal was.

[FredScuttle]

44. You do know that St. Ralph wants to destroy the Democratic Party, right?

His stated goal is the systematic demolition of our party and this umpteenth run is his sick, delusional method of carrying out this objective.

My party may lie down and capitulate on too many things for my taste, but I am damn proud that they're taking on this maniac.

[Norquist Nemesis]

42. Nader's only goal

is to sell his book.

[Swamp Rat]

43. Saw him doing just that on "The Daily Show."

Ralph Nader = unsafe at any speed!

[Norquist Nemesis]

45. He's doing it every time

from what I've seen of him in the last couple of months. I made a point of trying to tune and catch him to see what he was saying that seems to be attracting a following. After the third or fourth time, it struck me that each and every appearance he's following up his 'two parties are no different' speech with "If you read my book..." then he holds it prominately up for the camera next to his face.

Granted, he has a valid point about the Democrats and Republicans holding the power making it an insurmountable task for third parties. That is a debate that should be examined. But when his consistent self-promotion...of his book, not his "campaign"...shows him as a disingenuous individual seeking to validate his ego rather than fighting for the good of the people.

It's sad. He used to do that.

[NNN0LHI]

47. Why would he lie about that? n/t