Rallying around Nader

Re “Raider without a cause,” Opinion, July 22

In his premature political obituary for Ralph Nader, Todd Gitlin claims that Democrats enlarged their tent to include leftist activists. That comes as news to many of us in that category. The touchstone for Gitlin’s thesis would have to be the war in Iraq, the No. 1 issue on the minds of the American people. Democrats were elected to Congress in 2006 on the expectation that they would end the war in Iraq. They have not. MoveOn.org is disgraced among knowledgeable activists for its timid, late and partial opposition to the war. None of the leading Democratic candidates are calling for prompt and complete withdrawal from Iraq if you read the fine print of their statements. These are all positions where the Democratic establishment disagrees with its base -- and not just the “leftist activists.” What the Democrat apologists fear above all is that their alienated base will go for a principled, intelligent, charismatic, energetic candidate like Nader supported by the infrastructure that the Greens have been patiently putting in place over the years.

John V. Walsh

Worcester, Mass.

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Gitlin’s nebulous arguments as to why Nader should not run again are much more clearly demonstrated by his hilariously vituperative comments in the motion picture, “An Unreasonable Man.” He simply has an irrational hatred of Nader.

Nader is right -- both sides are corrupt, and that is why this Democrat will again vote for him in 2008.

James L. Hardeman

Fullerton