At a Denver café on July 27, Ralph Nader plans an issues oriented debate. The issues are many—nuclear disarmament, same-sex unions, healthcare, Iraq and so on. A debate involves more than one, and Nader has a surprise opponent. Obama? McCain? Barr? No, none of these candidates. They are too verbose for Nader. No, Nader’s opponent is…a dummy.

Questions will be asked, Nader will answer and the dummy will signify the silence of the major parties on the issues. Yep, Nader and a dummy. He should be able to win this one.

(For more foolish stories visit Foolocracy.com)

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In a long interview with the Rocky Mountain News, Ralph Nader accused Barack Obama of downplaying issues of poverty, “talking white” to win votes and appealing to “white guilt.”

Now, I’m not going to write the usual “oh my God, he’s so racist!” post because in no way is Nader implying Obama is inferior because of his skin color. Nor is he delivering some kind of coded message meant to scare off non-black voters. But Nader is being foolish.

Leaving aside whether or not Obama is adequately addressing issues of poverty, a candidate’s skin color in no way obligates him or her to address any specific issue. We don’t expect John McCain to focus more on Appalachian issues just because McCain is of Irish ancestry and so are many Appalachian residents. Why should Obama be expected to base his campaign on inner city issues? Single issue candidates don’t win presidential elections. That’s a truth of which Nader should be well aware.

Yet again, Nader is revealing the kind of narrow view that has led him to mount increasingly frivolous and arrogant campaigns. In 2000, his voice served a purpose. In 2008, he’s become a mosquito. I like Obama’s response:

It’s a shame, because if you look at his legacy in terms of consumer protection, it’s an extraordinary one. But at this point, he’s somebody who’s trying to get attention.”

That about sums it up.

• Politically irrelevant (and justifiably so) candidate, Daniel Imperato draws the ire of a librarian. Apparently, Imperato has been placing press releases framed as news stories in foreign news release services that are subsequently getting pick up by Google News and Yahoo News and making their way into readers mailboxes. Some headlines from Imperato’s stealth stories (I do not suggest reading them):
  • Imperato on the Road to Recovery after Surgery – An article about Imperato’s “major eye surgery”
  • 2008 US Presidential Candidate and Papal Knight D. Imperato Named as Grand Prior of Orden Bonaria for the US and Canada, & Wife Jan Deborah
  • Media Alert: The G8 Summit: Subject Africa; Presidential Hopeful Dan Imperato Comments on the G8 Summit and Their Dealings with Africa
  • Leading 2008 Presidential Candidate Imperato Speaks on Corporate America
• Some guy’s been fasting for 3 weeks in hopes of persuading Nader to drop his bid for the presidency. Thus far, this effort has been unsuccessful and will likely remain so, especially given that in the recent Zogby poll, Nader’s polling between 5-6% nationally (caveat emptor: it’s Zobgy). Also, Nader’s picked a running mate – Matt Gonzalez.
• Libertarian George Phillies leads his rivals in individual contributions, which will no doubt be one of his arguments at the Libertarian Party’s Convention (they choose their nominee at the convention). At a recent Libertarian candidates debate, Phillies argued that he had the strongest organization (or one of the strongest organizations) of all the candidates (video of the debate available here). For what it’s worth, Phillies’ claim is probably true. Of all the Libertarian candidates, he’s certainly the most active based on my experience/research/reading.
• In a bold move demonstrating what can only be characterized as confidence, Democratic contender Mike Gravel (yes he’s still in the race despite what you may have heard) has expressed support for Green party hopeful Jesse Johnson. I guess this means the pain train is headed for one of Johnson’s Green Party nomination rivals, Cynthia McKinney?
• Behind, Behind The Scenes: Sam Nunn’s been mentioned as a potential running mate for Mike Bloomberg, when talk of a Bloomberg run was in vogue (but that’s soo yesterday) and there was also talk of him running as an independent a while back. Last month, an article Newsweek named Nunn as a suggested Secretary of State for Obama. Recently, George Will upped the ante by suggesting that Obama pick Nunn as his running mate. Historical note: Nunn was also mentioned as a potential running mate for Kerry in 2004. It’s highly unlikely that Nunn would make Obama’s short list, even with Nunn’s respect as an independent person. Moreover, even if Nunn was on that VP list, it’s also unlikely that he’d accept. But, at least George Will is trying, right?

Without Big Daddy Nader.

Discuss…