Reply #24: Randi Rhodes vs. Ralph Nader - March 31 (Part 1)

[derby378]

If anyone wants to see more, let me know and I'll try to transcribe it for you. Thanks!

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<Audioclip from JIMMY CARTER>

RANDI RHODES: Okay, uhm, that's a heavy-duty statement, Ralph Nader, and that came from the former President of the United States, Jimmy Carter, who relied upon you, uh, for advice. So what do you make of that?

RALPH NADER: Well, I just, uh, respond with his motto in 1976, when he ran for President; his motto throughout the country, and the title of his book, was "Why Not The Best?" Why not the best policies?

RHODES: <Laughs> Oh, we like ourselves, do we?

NADER: Why not the best policies? Why not the, why not the best way to, uh, to involve the American people? Why not give more voices choices in our Presidential election instead of having them locked up by the two parties who, uh, increasingly are dialing for the same corporate dollars?

RHODES: But we have the Green Party and your candidacy, and now they don't want you, so you're an independent. They don't think you’re the best.

NADER: No, the Green Party just hasn't made the decision until June as to whether they want a candidate and under what conditions, and that's too late for the ballot access deadline.

RHODES: And...

NADER: One out of every three Americans call themselves independent, and they've never really had an independent candidate for a long time.

RHODES: And, you know what? Er, another day, another time, I'm, you know, fine, good, let's do it. Let's put the best ideas on the table, whether they be Green, Reform, Independent. I don't...this time, we can't afford it, and you know it, so I'm thinking, now, just hear me out – as a very open-minded liberal, I'm thinking - maybe, Ralph does have this huge ego, and he lives in Connecticut, and lives small, and he’s really not into the, uh, you know, whole thing except for the power part of life - or, maybe Ralph wants to be a kingmaker. Do you know what I mean? Maybe you're going to make a deal with the Democrats and turn over any voters you might have out there to the Democrats in exchange for, I don't know, Trade Commissioner or something that you're interested in.

NADER: Well, you, you should know me better than that. There's no deal. Uhm, when you run for President, you run in all 50 states, you...

RHODES: But you said yesterday on CROSSFIRE that you were going to talk to Kerry.

NADER: Of course! Talking, talking to him, how to defeat George W. Bush. Do you really think the Democrats know how to defeat the Republicans? They've been losing for 10 years to, uh, the worst part of the Republican Party, losing the...

RHODES: Well, we've...

NADER: ...House and the Senate...

RHODES: ...we've, we've won for two elections, and then we lost the last one because the fix was in, and you know it was a dirty election...

NADER: Right...

RHODES: I know how it was in Florida.

NADER: You're right there. The Democrats won...

RHODES: So what do you mean "10 years?"

NADER: ...the election in 2000, but, but they weren't – they blundered, they didn’t know how to keep what they won. Now the Democrats are very similar on military policy, foreign policy, Federal Reserve policy, Food and Drug policy...

RHODES: No, they’re not...

NADER: ...agriculture, sure!

RHODES: The Democrats' policy, you know, and when the Republicans talk about "regime change," it was…

NADER: Yeah...

RHODES: ...the Clinton administration's policy, but it was regime change from within, it was never military action on our part on Iraq. That was not the policy. Policy was to get those people to forgive us for slaughtering them when the Republican President Bush (the First) told them "Rise up, and we'll get you back," and then they saw American helicopters that we sold to Saddam come and slaughter them; those are the people in the mass graves, and everybody knows it, or they need to know. But, but, we can’t afford you this year, Ralph.