Comparative Election Analysis: Ralph Nader vs. The Guy From That Show Wings

So Ralph Nader has lost it. I admire the man's advocacy work in the 70's. I don't even mind his Presidential races every 4 years, even if they split the progressive 3rd Party vote during a year when the Green Party actually had a good candidate in McKinney. Although you would think being so environmentally conscious, he wouldn't make his supporters buy new campaign swag every 4 years, I'm imagining a reusable bumper sticker that would say "Nader - Interchangeable Ethnic Name Vice Presidential Candidate" and Nader would ship out new year stickers like the DMV mails me license plate stickers. Just imagine the joy in Nader-fans when they would get the new stickers, "The '12s have arrived. Crunchy."

But Nader really showed me how crazy he is with what he had to say about Obama on Fox News:
"To put it very simply, he [Barack Obama] is our first African American president, or he will be. And we wish him well. But his choice, basically, is whether he is going to be Uncle Sam for the people of this country or Uncle Tom for the giant corporations."

Yeah, Nader called Obama a potential Uncle Tom. Really, The Dallas Morning News has the transcript and the video. After this, Shepard Smith was taken aback (Note: when you are too racist for Fox News you might have a problem) and gave Nader an opportunity to clarify which he declined to do and Nader has also refused to apologize in the two days after this. By the way, between his reaction to Joe the Plumber's "Obama=Death To Israel" comment and his shock at Ralph Nader's hate speech, I'm kinda starting to like Shepard Smith.

Nader has gone so far off the deep end that 70's safety advocate Nader would close down the pool that current Nader is in for allowing such ridiculous depths.

Shortly after realizing that Nader is quickly becoming the national equivalent of Madison's Will Sandstrom, I went over to Huffington Post where I came upon some of the most poetic and clear descriptions of what this election means in the greater context of America.

"Obama's speech echoed the rhythms of Lincoln, Kennedy and King, summoning the essences of their greatest speeches while adding the ebullient urgency of his own amazing ascension to this place, in this time. While to his detractors his intellect and grace was derided as elitist arrogance, as seen and heard tonight it is rather inescapably clear that he has emerged in order to carry out a mission: to lead us back to the path upon which America must tread in order to fulfill its destiny, not as a massive, seething, commercial venture but as a progressive land of freedom.

"Even in this day of consumerist overkill there is more to life than making money. There is a need for inspiration, for belonging, for hope, for everyone of us to feel connected and secure to a spirit that supersedes the pervasive and omnipresent materialism that has come to embody America. Eight years of spiritual drift has made us thirst for real leadership. The Bush straw man is banished for the moment (who knows for how long?); the oligarchs in their mincing approximations of folksiness having successfully assured the working classes that they should be trusted are now unmasked."

This post-consumerist rant, that goes into the need for both individual freedom and collective belonging in America was written by none other than Steven Weber, the guy from that 90's sitcom, Wings. (Quick aside: YouTube has far more Wings fanmade music videos than you would expect.)

In summation, comparing talks about the impact of massive corporations on this election and what an Obama Presidency means for working Americans, Ralph Nader has had his ass handed to him by a guy from Wings. The only way this could be more embarrassing is if it was a guy from Paul McCartney's Wings. Nader has done his time, now his fans need to pick some other figurehead to rally around before Nader fans become the next Lyndon LaRouche-ies. Nader fans, may I suggest Steven Weber? If he could last 8 years on Wings, he could handle 8 in the White House.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go spend the next few days reading the thesaurus as I'm still humbled by Steven Weber's command of the English language.