Here's an interesting exercise

Take a couple of the quotes from today's story announcing that Nader's going to run again:

"This country has more problems and injustices than it deserves"

"challenge this two-party duopoly"

"There's too much power and wealth in too few hands, they have taken over Washington."

"There is now a for-sale sign on most agencies and departments"

"Basically, it's question of both parties flunking"

Now, take those quotes and re-attribute them - to Lyndon LaRouche. The paranoid tone of his comments fits either of these two candidates equally, as far as I can tell.

Do they still sound like they fit? Nader has let his experience from 2000 push him over the deep end. He still clings to the notion that his previous candidacy didn't put Bush in power, and if it did (which he insists it didn't), then they deserved it, anyways. There's a huge gap between the modern Republican and Democratic parties, but Nader's too far down the path to senility to understand it. To him, anything short of ideological purity is unacceptable, so he'd just as soon as take everything down with him.

The difference is that this time, even most of his previous backers want no part of him. Public Citizen (the group he founded) is taking his name off their letterhead. The Greens have told him to go away. He'll make the ballot in fewer states, get less press coverage, and not be invited into the process at all. Good.

When he passes on someday, perhaps his brain should be examined for signs of BSE.