Ralph Nader on Conservative Democrats, Corporate Power

[CHIMO]

AMY GOODMAN: It's good to have you with us. What is your assessment of Election Day and the results?

RALPH NADER: Well, the assessment is that to the extent the Democrats gained the majority in the House, it was on the backs of some very rightwing Democrats who won the election against rightwing Republican incumbents. And so, there was no mandate for any progressive agenda. For example, in 1974, when the Democrats swarmed over the Republicans, it was on the backs of many very progressive Democratic challengers who were elected. And the same is true in the ’60s, when some very progressive senators like Gaylord Nelson from Wisconsin was elected. But not this time. They're going to have to deal with a lot of Blue Dog Democrats, and that's going to give Pelosi great pause as she tries to maneuver a few things through the Congress.

The other thing that is good, though, is that there's some very good veteran chairmen who are coming in: George Miller, Henry Waxman, Ed Markey and, of course, John Conyers. But to counter that, both John Conyers and Nancy Pelosi have taken the impeachment issue right off the table, before the election, and that means there's going to be no Bush accountability for his war crimes and his inflation of unlawful presidential authority.

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/11/08/1457249

[apnu]

1. Piss off Ralph! (eom)

[comradebillyboy]

2. thank you Saint Ralph

please show us the way to true enlightenment.

[DaveinMD]

3. Ralph can go f himself

this country wouldn't be in such horrible shape if it weren't for him.

[gully]

4. In other words RALPH, YOU'RE WRONG - AGAIN!

Why anyone gives the idiot/narcissist any time or credibility anymore is beyond me.

Guess why we won Ralph? It's because we realize that government is about representing ones constituents and constituents in Virgina are different than constituents in Massachusetts. Did it ever occur to Ralph that A'hnold won CA. because he's a "moderate" Republican?

[skipos]

5. Brown, Whitehouse, Tester, etc are "very rightwing?"

Then what are Burns, Allen, Santorum etc? :shrug:

[4bucksagallon]

6. I've heard enough from Ralph the spoiler, thank you very much.....................

[Jim Sagle]

7. Gotcher mandate right here, ralf.

[NYCGirl]

8. The very LAST person on earth I want to hear from right now is Nader. NT

[Dukkha]

9. Ralph Who?

Ralph Nada is so 2000 :eyes:

GET.OVER.YOURSELF!

[LoZoccolo]

10. Don't talk about Dems gaining the House on the backs of anyone...

...when Bush* entered the White House on YOUR BACK, Nader. :grr:

Is this guy just deficient? Does cause and effect elude him?

[messiah]

11. Thanks for posting truth

although some can't see it. :P

[Norquist Nemesis]

12. Nader is such a brilliant analyzer of politics!

Just look at the wonderful job he did in 2004!

[beaconess]

13. Thanks for your opinion, Ralph. Now go crawl back under the rock you've been hiding under

for the last several months when the rest of us were working for change.

[Pragmatic Pilgrim]

14. He's just another messenger. The message is accurate.

I'm still pissed off at Ralph, too but what did he say that isn't true? Nancy WILL be saddled with Blue Dog Dems she'll have to deal with to maintain a working majority. We DO have some "good veteran chairmen" coming in. They HAVE taken impeachment off the table.

I hope we're all prepared--unlike Bush in his brainless screwup of Iraq--to accept those (relatively minor) battlefield realities, and work out sensible, hardheaded strategies for nudging our nation onto a new and better path.