Don't forget about Ralph!

When GW announced Hillary Clinton would be giving a foreign policy speech in SMPA last week, the Hatchet sent out a 'breaking news' email alerting the GW community.

When Ralph Nader came to campus later in the week to hold his first rally with his new running mate, I had to find out in the print version of the Hatchet. The 'story' was on the front page, albeit demoted to a small corner.

I actually don't really care that I didn't get a breaking news email about Nader's visit... I would have been disappointed if I had missed it though. Too often I find out about events like this after the fact.

The rally was held in an auditorium in the Elliot School. I think I had a poli sci class in it last year. Anyway, above is a crapy pic I took during the event with my phone.

As you can see, the room wasn't entirely full. But to be fair, the empty seats you see were directly behind the cameras, which blocked the view.

I really enjoyed hearing Nader speak. I think he gets a bad rap in the media. Every time I see someone interview him on TV, he is asked about being a spoiler, costing the dems elections, etc. Nader should only agree to do interviews if he is not asked about the 2000 election, because when you hear him unfiltered, like at the rally, he is actually inspiring and makes you care about issues you didn't think you cared about.

I wrote a Dailykos dairy this week pointing out that a link on Nader's website takes you too a funny but not very flattering political cartoon, in which a disheveled Nader asks his cats which one wants to be his running mates.

I thought it was a funny mistake and thought other people might enjoy it as well. Not the Dailykos community, however. I'm finding the place extremely frustrating for someone who considers himself unaligned in this election. Comments to the blog included "Nader... is a Republican whore who is running to feed his own massive ego," "Ralph Nader can kiss my ass," and "who the hell cares?". My post was not the least bit political, but people attacked me like I had personally handed Bush the WH.

To sum up my post, I am a Nader sympathizer, not a supporter. I think everyone should listen to what all of the candidates have to say and make an informed decision. Nader has many good ideas for the country, as does Obama and Hillary and McCain and Huckabee. So please, if only for a minute, go to votenader.org and see for yourself what he has to say.