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hpyocrote er hipnicat er hippocraz er sorry can't help you. LOL JonR

he also wrote a book called "unsafe at any speed" that described the inherent problems with the corvair which had a problem with weight distribution which would cause the car to flip during a routine turn.

we have seat belts and crash bags also because of him.

"Information is the currency of democracy. It's denial must always be suspect." -- Ralph Nader what is wrong with that statement?

"Big business never pays a nickel in taxes, according to Ralph Nader, who represents a big consumer organization that never pays a nickel in taxes." -- Dave Barry. and?

vibey, who was your previous obsession?

Sorry to rain on your parade...

"Nader is as ravenous as a Nixon or a Kennedy, and the abstract principles he espouses he does not live by." -- Charles McCarry, "Citizen Nader"

Ralph's image is built on the idea that he is somehow pure, not motivated by power, fame or money like those nasty politicians. But he is in fact just another Washington lawyer and lifelong Beltway pol who has built a powerful organization, lobbies Congress, raises millions through direct mail and $1,000 a plate dinners, gets paid tens of thousands by interest groups for his speeches, manipulates the press and overworks a lot of earnest young staffers.

Even his presidential ambitions are old news. He claims to be running just to send a message, but Nader also ran for president in 1992 (running a write-in campaign in the New Hampshire primary, with little success). As far back as 1976, his media supporters (including Nicholas Van Hoffman and Mary McGrory) were plugging a draft Nader movement in their columns.

It's fine for him to want power, fame and even money -- everyone else in Washington does -- but he ought to cut the holier-than-thou crap and take responsibility for his ambitions.

No one doubts that Ross Perot -- who spent $60 million out of pocket on his last campaign -- has huge personal ambitions, whatever good he may accomplish as a candidate. Why should we think more of Ralph Nader, who has built a career flush with power, fame and money out of nothing else but his political actions in Washington?

Nader is no better and no different than Jerry Falwell or Ralph Reed -- nimble but unelected politicians who've made successful careers as self-appointed moralists.

...Those weren't my words! It's rally all about perception isn't it.

Duck! Black helicopter landing pad...

Ralph exhibits a driven secrecy and paranoia reminiscent of no one so much as Richard Nixon, his old enemy. The man who said "information is the currency of democracy; its denial must always be suspect" routinely refuses to release even basic information about himself or his organizations. Granted, he has enemies, but this trait goes back to when no one knew of him. In the mid-1960s, before "Unsafe At Any Speed" made him famous, Nader wrote for the New Republic Magazine and often gave the secretary there a false name (Mr. Wilson) when he called or visited. Even then, he made some of his phone calls in whispers or in code to thwart possible wiretappers.
Another Nixonian trait of Nader's is a tendency to cover-up. When pressed or challenged, he has lied, shunted responsibility onto his staff members, made them reconstruct documents, hidden his control over his own organizations, attacked the press or critics involved, or simply refused to release information with lame excuses.

There are many examples:
-- Ralph refuses to release his tax returns (as Clinton and Dole have)
-- He even says he will spend less than $5,000 in this presidential campaign so he won't have to file the minimal financial disclosure all other candidates have filed.
-- Two of his top aides even refused to give the address of Nader's office to two Congressman who requested it at a Congressional Hearing.
-- His main group, Public Citizen, has actively fought disclosure laws that would inform the public of the role that special interest groups -- such as his -- play in lobbying on legislation. (e.g. H.R. 81 in the 96th Congress)
-- Public Citizen refused to give information to the Better Business Bureau or the similar NIB when requested.
-- He runs a network of organizations, which he claims are independent -- but his brother, sister and cousins hold major leadership positions with several, Nader heads advisory boards for others, and he is the only or major financial donor to 3 groups. Many other groups are funded in whole or in part by other groups in the network that Ralph does directly control.
-- Ralph even incorporated one of his groups -- the Public Safety Research Institute -- in Delaware, because of its notoriously lax corporate laws,
-- As of 1982, his groups disregarded the charitable solicitation laws of 25 by not filing legally required registrations. At least 1 state (New York) had to pursue Public Citizen, Inc. and the Center for the Study of Responsive Law (Nader's 2 biggest groups) legally to try and force them to obey the law.
-- After the first attacks on him for being owned by trial lawyers, he distorted facts, attacked the press and forced am employee to create a false history to cover up the scandal. The employee, Lowell Dodge, later fell out with Nader and revealed this cover-up.

...That's what's wrong with his statement Rick! Smell the coffee...Wake up!

That's what I thought...

Nothing good to say, so you say nothing at all!

I gotta admit I like it like this.

True. True.

Just like your "hero", Ralphie Boy...you're not there!