[statecom-discuss] Another report that Mr. Nader will not be pursuing the Green Party's nomination

[Mike Heichman]

Hi State Comm:

FYI:

Matt Thike is from the Green Party of New Jersey and is a supporter of 
Mr. Nader.
This was sent on March 8. I just received it in my e-mail messages from 
yesterday.


Mike Heichman

>
>
> *From:* *On Behalf Of *Matt Thieke
> *Sent:* Saturday, March 08, 2008 11:50

>
> I went to see Ralph Nader speak at Princeton Univ. today. It was a 
> great talk, there were a few hundred people in the auditorium -- the 
> vast majority were students -- and he got a few standing ovations.
>
>
>
> Anyway, afterward he took some questions and was signing autographs. I 
> went over and asked him directly if the Green party nominates him at 
> the convention, would he accept it?  First he said "it's not gonna 
> happen". So I said what if it did "hypothetically"?  *_He said "it 
> wouldn't be fair to the other candidates" for him to take it. So he 
> won't accept it.
> _*
>
>
> I wasn't able to get into a conversation with him at that moment, so I 
> don't know whether he would've /liked/ to have had the nomination, or 
> if he wished he had announced his candidacy earlier, or what he 
> thought about the GP. But *it was clear he has no intention of taking 
> it,* *even if it's offered*. Maybe someone who went to the fundraiser 
> afterward can add more to this.  
>
>
>
> I think Nader is an honorable guy. Of course, I can't read minds, but 
> my guess is that he respects Cynthia McKinney and since she announced 
> first and he's only recently announced his own independent campaign, 
> he would feel guilty about taking our nomination at this point in the 
> game, (i.e. "it wouldn't be fair").  Maybe he doesn't want to compete 
> against McKinney for the nomination in order to spare our party a 
> protracted fight (witness Obama and Clinton fighting all the way to 
> their convention). I don't know. It is true that he's always prided 
> himself on being independent and non-partisan. That's why he's never 
> joined the party or gotten involved in party business.   
>
>
>
> I wish he had said "yes", and that he wanted to be our candidate. I 
> would've voted for him in our upcoming "primary". But I see no point 
> in voting to give him a share of our delegates if he won't take the 
> nomination anyway. I'll vote for McKinney.
>
>
>
> My hope in saying all this is that the Nader supporters among us won't 
> scream "foul!" when McKinney is probably nominated. Even if the 
> convention nominates Nader (which would prove that it wasn't "rigged" 
> against him by 'demogreens'), he doesn't want it anyway!!  It's all a 
> moot point.
>
>
>
> I hope our Nader supporters will stay with the GP and support whoever 
> our party nominates. Great leaders can build movements (M.L.K., 
> Gandhi, Nader), but movements or groups can't survive if they're built 
> AROUND a leader to the point that they are ABOUT the leader. Look what 
> happened to the Reform party after Ross Perot left. The civil rights 
> movement wasn't "about" M.L.K.  It had to continue on after he was 
> killed. Leaders come and go. The early Republican party kept on after 
> Lincoln's death because it wasn't centered on him, it was centered on 
> the ideology.
>
>
>
> An independent Nader campaign that doesn't build a party (or some kind 
> of organization that will continue after Election day), won't help to 
> break open the political system. We need to build and strengthen our 
> organization so it lasts -- 'cause this struggle is gonna take years.
>
>
>
> peace,
>
> Matt Thieke   
>
> __,_._,___
> **