Ralph Nader just posted the lowest energy tweet of all time

[Fuzzy Bear]

Nader is remembered very much as the guy that elected George W. Bush.  Liberals turned against him when his candidacy siphoned off votes in more than one state that could have gone to Al Gore.

This is kind of unfair.  Nader was never a Democratic hack; he considered Democrats as people who gave lip service to what he believed in while compromising to special interests.  And he hasn't been entirely wrong; the Democratic Party of today is where social liberalism meets Wall Street.

[Fuzzy Bear]

Nader is remembered very much as the guy that elected George W. Bush.  Liberals turned against him when his candidacy siphoned off votes in more than one state that could have gone to Al Gore.

This is kind of unfair.  Nader was never a Democratic hack; he considered Democrats as people who gave lip service to what he believed in while compromising to special interests.  And he hasn't been entirely wrong; the Democratic Party of today is where social liberalism meets Wall Street.

Woke Fuzzy.

I'm old enough to remember when Unsafe At Any Speed came out.  I'm old enough to remember learning about Ralph Nader in My Weekly Reader in 6th grade.

Ralph Nader is a man that has brought about more corporate accountability than all of the elected officials combined.  He is to consumer protection what MLK was to Civil Rights.  He's not without flaws, and he's gone off on tangents, but Ralph Nader is a person who has made MY life better and YOUR life better.

If he hadn't run for President in 2000, siphoning votes from Gore, he'd be lionized today.

I personally believe that if we're going to jettison Columbus Day as a holiday, we should replace it with Ralph Nader Day, or Consumer Protection Day.  That is about the only reframing of a holiday I would consider supporting.  Ralph Nader's work made life better for all.  Few people in American History can say that.

[Fuzzy Bear]

I don't think it's unfair or irrational to balance an appreciation for Nader's consumer advocacy with disappointment that he got too ambitious for his own good by at least partially helping Gore lose in 2000 and usher in the disastrous Bush era.

It's not unfair or irrational, but in the long arc of history, Nader's good far outweighs this perceived negative, and by an utterly ridiculous margin.

Much of what you enjoy today in terms of Consumer Safety and Consumer Protection is due to the efforts of Ralph Nader.  Because the foundation for all of these protections was laid by Nader decades ago, we take this for granted.  That automobiles are safer today, that people walk away from crashes today that once would have produced multiple fatalities is due to Ralph Nader.  He was a man who stood alone and was willing to be considered a crank (and I was alive to see that).  

Is Nader an egomaniac?  Quite possibly, yes!  How strong an ego is required to do the positive things Ralph Nader has done in the political  environments he has done them in?

[Fuzzy Bear]

Gore should have dropped out and endorsed Nader, but he selfishly decided to stay in the race and play the spoiler. If all the Gore voters had simply voted for Nader, he would've won the election and probably not started the Iraq War.

Lieberman didn't leave the Democratic Party; he's still a Democrat.  He's voting for Biden this year, and he voted for Hillary.

Lieberman was primaried, lost, and prevailed as an Independent (while running with a good deal of Republican support).  Lieberman's support of the Iraq War was unfortunate, but that was not a reason to primary him, and he would have been on the team in 2008 if he had not been primaried.  Lieberman was hardly a DINO, given the totality of his record.

Nader was not and was never a Democrat. Unlike Joe Lieberman, who strongly advocated the Iraq War, left the party, and helped gut Obamacare to satisfy his corporate donors.

May I remind you that Lieberman left the Democratic party over these issues?

Exactly. But he was a Democrat at one point, which makes his decisions much more unforgivable than Nader's.