who said what
what others are saying
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NADER
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CHOMSKY
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SOLOMON
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PARENTI
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HIGHTOWER
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LEE
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MOORE
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COBB
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BENJAMIN
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GLICK
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GUTMANN
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McCHESNEY
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KOVEL
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SEGAL
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COHEN
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JOHNSON
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KUCINICH
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LESSING
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HERMAN
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SANDERS
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SCHAEFFER
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LEON
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GRISCOM
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CALLAHAN
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NIXON
RALPH NADER
"Things are getting so bad in this country you look back on Richard Nixon with nostalgia."
"I'm going to say 'Look, we have one thing in common. We want to send the Bush corporation back to Crawford,Texas.'"
NOAM CHOMSKY
"The people around Bush are deeply committed to dismantling the achievements of popular struggle through thepast century no matter what the cost to the general population."
"Since US elections are pretty much bought, he (Bush) will therefore win, unless there is a very powerfulpopular mobilization to overcome these enormous and usually decisive advantages. That leaves us with a choice:help elect Bush, or do something to try to prevent it."
"We have several choices to make. The first is whether we want to pay attention to the real world, or prefer tokeep to abstract discussions suitable to some seminar. Suppose we adopt the first alternative. Then there isanother choice: electing Bush or seeking to prevent his election."
"...there are differences (between Kerry and Bush). In a system of immense power, smalldifferences can translate into large outcomes."
"Anyone who says 'I don't care if Bush gets elected' is basically telling poor and working people in the country, 'Idon't care if your lives are destroyed. I don't care whether you are going to have a little money to help your disabledmother. I just don't care, because from my elevated point of view I don't see much difference between them.' That's away of saying, 'Pay no attention to me, because I don't care about you.' Apart from its being wrong, it's a recipe fordisaster if you're hoping to ever develop a popular movement and a political alternative."
"My feeling has been that Nader should not run in swing states, or should assign his electors tothe Democrats, along lines suggested by Yale University Law Professor Bruce Ackerman. I also think that he and hissupporters should think seriously about whether their efforts in the political arena should be spent in participationin the quadrennial electoral extravaganzas or devoted more to creating an enduring and growing political alternative."
NORMAN SOLOMON
"A 2004 strategy that focuses on voting Bush out should not mean the left folds into the Democratic Party.Progressives ought to be clear about what's wrong with the party's nominee and platform while acting on thedire need to rid the world of President Bush."
"Like it or not, in 2004 the only candidate who can serve as an electoral tool for ousting Bush from the WhiteHouse will be the Democratic nominee. The imperative of dislodging him requires that we build a broad coalitionto vote Bush out."
MICHAEL PARENTI
"I believe we are at a pivotal point...and there are times when you have to pursue coalition politics againstthe forces like the kind we're facing in the White House today."
"These guys (Bush administration) are playing for keeps. They're breaking every rule in the book. They carryout role call votes where they'll hold a vote open for 15 hours to shift it over to their way. They're redoingcensus and gerrymandering in states at any time they want. They're stealing elections. So, we're really facinga...very dangerous enemy. And I think Ralph's presence...is not what we need right now."
JIM HIGHTOWER
"But all of that aside, now we face the reality of an Administration that is absolutely nutty. There's that oldcountry song, "It felt so good when it stopped hurting." So we've got to stop the pain. But in doing so, weshould not fool ourselves that we have gained some progressive victory. What we will have done is to get usback to a ground level where we can build again for a progressive victory that is several years down the road."
BARBARA LEE
"As a progressive, I have frequently agreed with Ralph Nader'sagenda. But all Americans, and especially communities of color, stand to lose too much under fourmore years of the right wing Bush administration..."
MICHAEL MOORE
"There are times to vote to make a statement, there are times tovote for the underdog and there are times to vote to save the country fromcatastrophe. This time we can and must do all three."
GREEN PARTY LEADERS
DAVID COBB
"(I will) honestly tell the American people that George W. Bush is even more dangerous than John Kerry."
MEDEA BENJAMIN
"I love and appreciate him [Ralph Nader], but I definitely want to get Bush out of office, so I won't vote forhim, which would be a first for me."
TED GLICK
"By running this kind of campaign in the 25-35 or so almost-certain 'safe states,' the Greens cannot beaccused, at least accused in good faith, of just being spoilers out to deny the Democrats the Presidency.Indeed, by running such a campaign, the Greens and their Presidential candidate are saying in no uncertainterms that although both the Republicans and Democrats are problematic, the Bushites represent such aparticular danger right now that we have modified our campaign accordingly."
ABE GUTMANN
"Many Democrats strive for the same issues we do: environmental responsibility through conversion to non-polluting alternative fuels, a living wage, universal healthcare, and fair trade. They, like us, aren't satisfied with mushy policies designed to appease a small swing vote demographic. Therefore, our goals are beating Bush, growing the Green Party, and creating a progressive agenda and unified movement to implement it once he's out and Kerry's in."
ROBERT MCCHESNEY
"Running a presidential candidate in 2004 for the Greens is probably a quantum leap off a cliff. It is theGreens' Jonestown."
JOEL KOVEL
"To the extent that Nader succeeds, so does Bush. And in any case, the left will emerge weaker and more dividedfrom this Quixotic escapade. Once again the left has become its own worst enemy."
"Tens of millions of people,including a lot of radicals, believe that Bush's men are moving to rip up the Constitution and fundamentallyrestructure the American republic to destroy the slim chance of democratic renewal upon which green electoralpolitics, along with much else, rests."
DAVID SEGAL
"As an elected official in an urban center, I feel an obligation to ensure Bush's defeat because his domestic agenda is so terribly destructive. I owe that to my constituents."
OTHER PROGRESSIVE LEADERS
JEFF COHEN
"Kerry vs. Bush is not Coke vs. Pepsi. It's more like Coke vs. Arsenic. The Bush/Rumsfeld/Ashcroft regime ismore dangerous than the regimes of Nixon/Kissinger/Mitchell or Reagan/Weinberger/Meese. Despite dissatisfactionwith some of Kerry's rhetoric and platform, progressives should mobilize to defeat Bush in '04 and staymobilized in '05 and after to ensure that our agenda is heard and addressed by the Kerry administration that wehelp elect."
CHALMERS JOHNSON
"I intend to vote for Kerry because I believe he is the only electable politician in America who might, likeZapatero in Spain, pay attention to public opinion. If we can demonstrate that a majority of the Americanpeople want peace, I believe that John Kerry will heed the call."
"For those even slightly interested in human rights, a Kerry victory is indispensable."
DENNIS J. KUCINICH
"The time has come to unite in a common effort for change which is essential not only for America but for the world."
"I will let them [Kerry-Edwards] know that the time has come to unite in a common effort for change which is essential not only for America but for the world.""Unity is essential to bring change in November. Unity is essential to repair America. Unity is essential to set America on a new path."
"If there is room for me in the party and the Kerry-Edwards campaign, there is certainly room for Ralph and for his supporters.Let's unite to create a new government, a new direction, a new opportunity, and new progress."
LAWRENCE LESSING
"This is obviously depressing to folks like me who, while admirers of the good that Nader did in the world, andadmirers of more of his policies than the other candidates in the race, believe the consequence of his being inthis race will simple be to increase the probability that President Bush will have a second term."
EDWARD HERMAN
"The view that we should purposely allow Bush to win so that the coming disaster will fall on his head is notdefensible. The disaster is not inevitable if he is ousted, but a nasty one is pretty well assured with fourmore years of the cabal. Some of them really want what we would consider a disaster (including a de factotermination of constitutional government in this country)."
BERNIE SANDERS
"But at this particular moment, a moderate Democrat is a far better alternative thanan extreme right-wing Bush administration."
JOHN SCHAEFFER
"Bush is so bad. The political landscape has changed. It's just not the same game anymore."
DOUG HENWOOD
"After 1,200 days of the George W. Bush presidency, it's difficult to say there's not a dime's worth ofdifference between the two parties."
MICHAEL LEON
"I voted for a socialist for president in 1992 and for Ralph Nader in 1996 and 2000. But Bush simply needs tobe gone."
AMANDA GRISCOM
"Rifle through the archives of the League of Conservation Voters, and you'll find he gets an A+ - literally.Kerry has a 96-percent lifetime voting record, outscoring all of the other candidates. Despite concerns thatKerry is a limousine liberal, there seem to be few contradictions between his environmental image and his trackrecord."
DEB CALLAHAN
"John Kerry is the candidate to defeat President Bush, who hascompiled the worst environmental record in the history of our nation."
NIXON WHITE HOUSE TARGETS KERRY
A secret memo to President Nixon in 1971 from Charles Colson (Nixon's Council) in response to Kerry's anti-warspeech before the Senate Foreign Relations Committeeto read:
"Destroy the young demagogue before he becomes another Ralph Nader."
"The concern about Kerry was that he had great credibility as a decorated Vietnam veteran...I don't everremember finding anything negative about Kerry or hearing anything negative about him. If we had foundanything, I'm sure we would have used it to discredit him."
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