It has come to this: Ralph Nader has officially become America's Crank. He has effectively lost the mantra of fighter for the country's consumers against the automakers and other polluters of the environment.
That was long ago.
Nader is fully responsible for eight years of George W. Bush. His going-nowhere candidacy in 2000 destroyed Al Gore's chances. He was only a spoiler and looked ridiculous.
In Florida alone, Nader's 97,000 votes spelled ultimate defeat for the Democratic candidate. There would have been no need for a recount and ultimate decision by the Supreme Court without Nader's folly. Gore would have drawn about 80 percent of that thrown-away vote.
Now Nader is threatening to run in 2008. He has targeted Sen. Hillary Clinton as lacking "intestinal fortitude" in the Senate on Iraq.
Nader has apparently convinced himself that he is the only person around with any guts. He is pitifully wrong.
One wonders whether he has seen Gore's movie An Inconvenient Truth, about the world's desperate environmental state. Nader would probably find some fault with it despite widespread acclaim by the critics.
What makes Nader tick?
His ego wouldn't let him stay out of the 2000 race to leave it a purely Bush-Gore contest. Or he's mad because he thinks he has not gotten enough credit for his creditable work for consumers.
One would think Nader's views would be closer to Democrats'. But he delights in attacking Senator Clinton. Go figure.
Nader may get a surprise this time if he decides to be a spoiler again. He may find few are listening to his rants.
Let's hope so. This man has lost his political compass and deserves to be ignored.
John W. Mashek covered politics in Washington for four decades with U.S. News & World Report, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and the Boston Globe. His primary beats were Congress, the White House, and national politics. He covered every presidential election from 1960 to 1996. He was a panelist in three televised presidential debates in 1984, 1988, and 1992.
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