Reply #14: Hard to believe somebody with an Abbie Hoffman sigline [View All]

[no name no slogan]

would talk like this.

If you're not afraid of Naderites, then why are you so gung-ho to silence them? Is John Kerry really that weak a candidate that the likes of Nader will cause him damage?

Like I said, all we need are one-tenth to one-fifth of those who didn't vote in 2000. That's not very many-- and people are more pissed off with Dubya now than they were then.

This should be a cakewalk for us, and all this talk about Nader wastes our valuable energy and time. And talk of "destroying" Nader doesn't make us more attractive-- it makes us look like we're so insecure about our candidate that we have to resort to attacking somebody who probably won't be on the ballot in most states.

I just spent eight months working on a campaign that brought scads of new voters and eager activists into my state party-- most of whom didn't even VOTE in 2000. These people are NOT leaving now, since they're now in positions of power within the party. We didn't steal any Repubs from anywhere, we just found Democrats who hadn't participated yet.

We CAN do it. It's a matter of priorities, and using our energy efficiently. Wasting our anger on Nader is not worth it. We'll alienate more potential voters than we'll attract.

Use the energy you use to stifle Naderites to bring a new Democrat into the party. It's much easier, and worth much more in the long run.