The meritocracy hates Ralph Nader. He’s getting trashed all over Huffington today. That’s because Ralph is a true revolutionary. He changed the auto industry, despises capitalism, has always worked outside the system, is Lebanese and understands the plight of the Palestinians. And yes, he helped to deprive the meritocrats’ best hope, Al Gore, of the glittering prize he deserved, and Gore had to go do something meaningful with his life, and Bush had to invade Iraq.
Today on NPR Cokie Roberts, a queen of the information age meritocracy, said that Nader says that his run for the Presidency is "all about ballot access, but there’s a lot of evidence that it’s all about ego."
This is pure character assassination. Yes, many people believe that it’s about Nader’s "ego." The charge was made four years ago, and a lot of people who don’t like Ralph say it about him. But what is the "evidence"? There’s no evidence, this is an interpretation. Roberts saying there’s "evidence" is some sort of journalistic figleaf. She doesn’t like him, why doesn’t she just say, "I think it’s about ego."
As if Obama’s run isn’t about ego, or Hillary’s, or Bill Clinton’s. They all have egos, and don’t get character-assassinated for that. Ralph is actually a true man of accomplishment, brilliant and half crazy. He has always cared deeply about issues in a tunnel-vision way. What maddens the meritocracy is that in spite of all his peculiarities, Ralph will always command respect.
