Presidential hopeful Nader blasts two-party debates

• By JORDAN BLUM
• Advocate Capitol News Bureau
• Published: Sep 18, 2008 - Page: 10A - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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Consumer advocate Ralph Nader is again running for president and pushing hard for open debates. He spoke at a rally Wednesday night at LSU.

The presidential debates are a two-party “mockery” being controlled by corporations and the television networks, said Nader, who is running as an independent instead of as the Green Party candidate.

“The Democrats became more like the Republicans and the Republicans became more like the big corporations,” said Nader, who is running on a ticket with Matt Gonzalez, of San Francisco.

Nader received less than 3 percent of the popular vote in 2000, but many critics alleged he peeled away enough votes to cost former Vice President Al Gore the election. Nader received less than 1 percent of the popular vote when he ran again in 2004.

Despite the criticism, Nader said he is unwilling to endorse Democratic candidate and Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill.

“Until they endorse our platform, why should we give them the time of day,” Nader said, referring to both Obama and Republican nominee and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. “They’re endorsing a corporate platform.”

Having spoken at Tulane University earlier in the day, Nader said he has focused on college forums to help energize the youth. He said he remains very popular with college-age voters even though many are caught up in “Obamania.”

Now that Obama has secured the Democratic nomination, the party is moving further to the middle and “blurring the lines between Democrats and Republicans and losing again and again,” Nader said.

The U.S. is “mired in wars abroad,” he said, while allowing the “swindlers” on Wall Street to control far too much. Nader, for example, has successfully fought the auto industry for greater safety and emissions standards.

But corporations just respond with even more lobbyists and political control, he said.

“Right across the board what you’re seeing is a failure of the political system,” Nader said, noting the need for more corporate regulation. “It’s been many decades of failure.

“We’re known as a military superpower instead of a humanitarian superpower,” he said, adding that peace is much cheaper than war.

Nader, who opposes offshore oil drilling and nuclear proliferation, said the oil companies have far too much influence. All the while, solar and wind energy are readily available.