SlowpokeBlog

I've received some rather lengthy, impassioned e-mails about my criticism of Ralph Nader, and I expect to receive some more, so I figured I would issue a reply here. First, I appreciate the letters; I'm flattered that you care enough to write. Secondly, I realize that by and large, you Naderphiles are intelligent, well-meaning, and well-informed people who don't typically skip around wearing dippy beanie hats with propellors, as depicted in my cartoons. I admit, I'm being harsh. Alas, that's the nature of political cartooning, and comedy in general.

I've seen Ralph Nader speak live, and I know how motivating he can be. He's brilliant. He speaks more eloquently about our American plutocracy than anyone else I can think of. He is saying things that desperately need to be said.

I also share your frustration with many Democrats' weakness in standing up to the Radical Right these past four years, though the injection of Howard Dean seems to have helped somewhat recently.

Why does Nader get my goat, then? Here's what I wrote to one reader:

I am deeply resentful of the fact that Nader takes my right to choose abortion so lightly that he doesn't really care whether Kerry or Bush wins (I'm beginning to think he actively wants the Dems to lose).

Bush's Global Gag Rule -- his first act in office, I believe -- forbids financial aid to reproductive health clinics in poor countries that so much as mention abortion. As a result, thousands of women are dying due to childbirth-related complications. No one talks about them. In short, this election is a matter of life and death, and Nader doesn't seem too concerned about that.

Mercury pollution is now so bad that as a woman of childbearing age I can't eat fish anymore. The Bushies are undoing a Clinton plan to dramatically reduce mercury emissions. The destruction of our environment -- and hence our health -- that will occur under four more years of Bush is unthinkable. Again, it's a matter of life and death. I could go on.

It has been suggested to me that there will be riots in the streets if Bush tries to pull anything extreme. Given what has happened so far, I don't think so. There should have been a massive uprising when the Supreme Court denied a fair and perfectly legal vote recount in Florida and installed Bush. There was not. Given the level of apathy and lack of attention to real news in this country, I'm not counting on a revolution to save us.

My cartoon simply spells out the facts: that Republican operatives are petitioning to get Nader on the ballot in several states, and funding his campaign. If Nader's not hurting the Dems, as he claims, then why are Republicans working so hard to support him?

I should add, I've received more compliments on the cartoon than complaints, and not from mainstream Dems, but genuine progressives. I'm with Howard Dean, Michael Moore, and Dennis Kucinich in concluding there's simply too much at stake. Good company, don't you think?