B. P-J $Sr w oh My OODflf I c-f Ufa. 4U f:u o-f 35 mij Illustration by Darren Joe of the Peak at SFU FftEE FONJrl 10 Departures October 2004 J. Does support for President President? Ralph Nader Bush A Vote for Nader "V wtjffllir " 1 -Ljta Mas is a Vote for Bush y -Sean Siddals This November Americans return to the polls to elect their new leader. Republicans and Democrats are once again neck and neck in the fight for the White House. It is very possible that victory may once again come down to a super thin margin. In the state of Florida four years ago, the Democrats "lost" the election by a mere 537 votes. Unfortunately for Al Gore, wayward independent Ralph Nader was busy scraping together over 97, 000 Florida votes that would prove to be the deciding factor in the election. Ralph Nader helped George W. Bush take Florida by dividing the left in an attempt to prove some sick point about America's traditional two-party system. After four years of Dubbya, has Ralph Nader finally learned the error of his ways? Surely this time around, America's champion of the extreme left will do whatever it takes to make sure Bush doesn't win. Certainly he would never accept Republican signatures in a dishonest attempt to get on the ballot in some swing states. Nor would he accept tens of thousands of dollars in campaign donations from Bush supporters. Or would he? Ralph Nader is doing exactly these things and worse. He is muddying the political waters once again in a race he will never win. Ralph Nader has to go, and his former followers in the Green Party agree. One Green Party official and former mayor classifies Nader's bid for the presidency as "an ego-centered exercise in futility.. .that detracts from its message, its long-term goals and current accomplishments". Ralph Nader has lost his own party's support and is now running with the Reform Party; the same Reform Party once led by billionaire Ross Perot. Nader is desperately trying to get on the ballot in every state and an army of crafty Republicans are more than happy to offer up their services. In Oregon, former Republican majority leader Dick Armey is heading up a program designed to help. Autodialers call fellow Republicans reminding them that "Nader could peel away a lot of Kerry support in Oregon... Liberals are trying to unite, but we could divide this base of support". ' It gets even worse in Michigan as Nader has formally accepted Republican signatures to qualify to run, even after initially refusing them. Democratic Executive Chairman Mark Brewer said, 'This clearly shows that a vote for Ralph Nader is a vote to re-elect George Bush. They know that, and that's why they are desperate to have Nader on the Michigan ballot." In fact, according to an audit done by The San Francisco Chronicle, one in ten of his contributions over $1,000 are from Republican donors. I'll admit that in times past I supported Nader. I secretly cheered him on as he rallied college students everywhere in his fight for the environment. I even felt sorry for the guy as time after time he was turned away from the debates. Mr. Nader has had a lot of good ideas in his day; however, running for president in 2004 is not one of them. Nader can't win. He should drop out now, or face being remembered as the great political spoiler of our time. :''ofe m