Since this column was written it was reported on December 18, 2003 by John Whitesides, Political Correspondent for Reuters that Nader wants to run again for president in 2004. "Nader has started an exploratory presidential committee to begin raising money for a campaign. He said he was uncertain whether he would run again for the Green Party, which has been split on his possible candidacy, or mount an independent bid."

While we applaud the work of Ralph Nader and his plethora of organizations on behalf of consumers and certainly don't want to discourage alternative parties, in this next election we need to all rally around the chosen Democratic candidate to defeat Bush and that must be our sole mission if we are to save this country. To beat Bush in 2004 we cannot afford to have Ralph Nader running again for President regardless of how we might feel about him otherwise. Or any other third party candidate who would draw votes away from the Democratic nominee.

Topplebush.com wanted to set up another viewer email campaign urging Ralph Nader NOT to run again for president in 2004 as either an Independent or Green Party candidate but we were not able to locate a personal email address for him. We then chose not to bombard his organizations with emails for him. These are good organizations that we support. Flooding their mailboxes with protest letters is not what we are about. Instead we decided to write this commentary urging our viewers to do whatever you can to make your feelings known about this issue so collectively we might discourage Nader from seeking the presidency in 2004. We urge you to try any number of the following to accomplish this: Post messages to politically active online newsgroups, write letters to the editors of magazines and newspapers, or contact your local Green Party organization expressing your feelings on this matter. Most definitely do not offer to work for Nader's presidential campaign or donate money to his campaign. Besides, Nader is a millionaire several times over and can use his own money to satisfy his bloated ego. If Nader discovers enough organized opposition to his candidacy, maybe he will reconsider and not run again in 2004.

Why has this effort become necessary?

Writing in the November 24, 2003 issue of The Nation (Ralph Redux? Not Only Democrats but Many Greens Oppose a Nader Run in 2004, p. 16), Micah L. Sifry states that "Ralph Nader is quietly gearing up for his second serious bid for the presidency." And that "any day now he will announce the formation of a presidential exploratory committee, which will allow him to start raising money and hiring staff." To us at topplebush.com this is a very troubling piece of information. It is our firm belief that the reason our country is in such a mess both domestically and abroad is because Ralph Nader helped to secure the Presidency for George Bush by running for President in 2000 at the top of the Green Party ticket. Nader had absolutely no chance of winning in 2000 but what he did accomplish was to take enough votes away from Al Gore to cost Gore the election.

Nader has argued that it was Gore who lost the election himself for a variety of reasons. We would personally like to hear Nader admit his culpability in helping to elect Bush because that in fact is the reality. Gore won the plurality of the votes nationwide by a margin of almost 540,000 and won Florida too under the vast majority of scenarios when all of the ballots were scrutinized and re-counted by various groups after the election had already been decided. There's no doubt Gore made some serious campaign blunders. But if you look at the numbers from Florida, the state that swung the election for Bush with its electoral votes, Nader got 97,419 votes in that state alone, way more than enough to affect a vote margin of 537 -- the Bush certified margin over Gore in Florida. In other words, if it hadn't been for Nader, Gore would have easily won Florida, despite Jeb Bush - Katherine Harris illegally purging 80,000 mostly Democratic voters from the rolls, despite the 19,000 votes Gore lost to Buchanon because of the Palm Beach Co. confusing butterfly ballot, despite the counting of unlawful military ballots, and despite the fixing of absentee ballots by Republican Party operatives in two Florida Counties.
Read our excellent articles on the Florida election.

We can't allow this to happen again in 2004. That's why topplebush.com exists! We can't even allow Nader to compete in so-called "Safe States" because we don't need Nader campaigning against nor taking much needed money away from the Democratic candidate, regardless of whom it might be. All Nader can do in the next election is help Bush.

According to Sifry's article, many active members of the Green Party understand quite well the implications of Nader running again for President on their ticket, and for that reason, they are also against a Nader campaign for President. It's hard for us to imagine who wants Nader to run except Nader himself -- and of course, George Bush, which means Nader's ego has taken control of his senses.

The 2004 election should be about beating Bush and we need to stay extremely and narrowly focused to accomplish this. Bush will have at least $200 million to spend and Governor Jeb in Florida to help him again. The Democratic nominee shouldn't have to battle Ralph Nader for money or votes.

Our message on this issue is now a new t-shirt design we sell that says: "ABBA/Anybody But Bush Again." And we mean it!

© 2003 Topplebush.com
Posted: November 15, 2003