Analogy Check: Beware of (Third) Party Crashers | Newsweek Scope

The Mutiny on the Left
Raina Kelley 9/24/2009 12:00:00 AM
Anybody remember the 2000 election? Al Gore won the popular vote, but lost the election to George W. Bush after the Supreme Court's decision to stop the recount in Florida with Bush ahead by a mere 537 votes. But what people may not remember (or may want to forget) are the 97,488 votes that went to third-party candidate Ralph Nader in Florida. If less than 1 percent of those votes had gone to Gore, there would have been no need for those Bush countdown clocks, Bill Maher would still be on ABC, and who knows who would be president now—but I bet not Barack Obama. Now, I know there is quite a bit of controversy over whether Nader actually lost the race for Gore (who also lost his home state of Tennessee and tight races in other states), but it's fair to say that Nader was a significant factor in Bush's victory. I remember my liberal friends were planning to vote for Nader with the rejoinder, "There's no real difference betweens Dems and Repubs. They're all part of the same rotten system. I'm going to vote for a real progressive who breaks the hegemony of the two-party system." Back then, liberals at the far end of the political spectrum were feeling stung by Clintonian compromises—"don't ask, don't tell" and welfare reform come to mind—and were disgusted by his personal foibles. Gore, they thought, would just be more of the same and really no better than Bush. A third way, Nader, seemed like the best idea at the time. Of course, it didn't really work out that way. Rather than "teaching our democracy a lesson," the third way contributed to Bush's eight-year sojourn in the White House. And, from the perspective of liberals (and most other people if approval numbers are to be trusted), Bush was one of the worst presidents we've ever had. From logging and drilling in national parks to limiting stem-cell research and botching Katrina, the Bush years were a nightmare for progessives. And that's not even counting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan or Guantánamo or "freedom fries." Meanwhile, Al Gore rebounded with An Inconvenient Truth, and was not only anointed a saint and honored with a Nobel, but even begged by those old Nader voters to lead the Democratic ticket in 2008. How's that for irony?
Unsafe at Any Read
Seth Colter Walls 9/17/2009 12:00:00 AM
Liberalism has long held a reputation for hoarding the influential celebrity talent: Redford, Streisand, etc. Consider last fall, when candidate Obama received an aesthetic donation from rapper will.i.am, whose "Yes We Can" video featured Scarlett Johansson, while GOP admen resorted to piping in old Jackson Browne—who promptly sued. But when it comes to art that has swayed power brokers instead of voters, the free-market fundamentalism of Ayn Rand tilts the balance rightward. Federal Reserve icon Alan Greenspan wrote in his memoir that Rand was a "stabilizing force" in his life. Congressman John Campbell told The Washington Independent that Atlas Shrugged—in which John Galt organizes an industrialists' strike against a socialist state—is his "instruction manual."
Bipartisan Hackery, Literary Division
Seth Colter Walls 9/17/2009 12:00:00 AM
When it comes to politicos abandoning policy proposals for the art of fiction, Ralph Nader's puzzlingly bad new novel is hardly alone in coming up short. Other boldface Beltway names and Manhattan bloviators have face-planted their entrances to the literary world, too. While these efforts usually don't snag rave reviews, some have won a little respect from critics. Here's a sampling of the highs, lows, and mehs:
THE DIGNITY INDEX
Nobody Likes a Sore Loser. Even in Washington.
11/15/2008 12:00:00 AM
FACTCHECK.ORG
2008 FactCheck Awards
Jess Henig 11/4/2008 12:00:00 AM
Rep. Mark Udall, who is running for Senate in Colorado, did support a 2003 bill establishing a Cabinet-level Department of Peace, proposed by Rep. Dennis Kucinich. In fact, he cosponsored the bill at one time, though he withdrew that support in March 2003. The department was described as focusing on disarmament, human rights, nonviolent conflict resolution strategies, and education on communication and peaceful intervention. Crystals and transcendental meditation were not mentioned.
A Libertarian Surge?
George F. Will
Compact and Feisty Bob Barr, 59, probably will seek and get the presidential nomination of the Libertarian Party, which convenes in Denver on Memorial Day weekend. Given the recent fund-raising prowess of a kindred spirit—Ron Paul's campaign for the Republican nomination siphoned up $35 million, mostly off the Internet—libertarians are feeling their oats. Come November, Barr conceivably could be to John McCain what Ralph Nader was to Al Gore in 2000—ruinous. Nader was a weak third-party candidate but was the most consequential in American history. He won only 2,882,955 popular votes nationwide (2.7 percent), but 97,488 of them were in Florida, where, because of Nader, George W. Bush won by 537 votes.