Over at myDD, I learned about Dear Ralph, a very misguided attempt to get Nader to drop out of the raise by dangling money in front of Nader-founded organizations.
So I wrote them an e-mail:
I write as a recovering Nader supporter (from 2000) who is totally opposed to his 2004 candidacy. I very much appreciate your message about the importance of Nader's legacy, but am very concerned that your chosen tactic is unfair to the organizations he has founded, many of whom have no ongoing relationship with him. Public Citizen in particular has suffered in the past few years (donations dropping significantly) thanks to people angry with Nader, despite the fact that he's had nothing to do with the organization since 1980. Your site can only contribute to such misunderstanding. At the very least, I suggest that you add a prominent disclaimer reminding people not to punish these important organizations for the crimes of their founder.
I just got a response:
Thank you so much for your e-mail. I share your concerns about how Nader's candidacy is affecting the wonderful organizations he's helped to found: the whole point of the site is to draw attention to how Nader's candidacy is undermining his legacy, not only in terms of the effect on donations (as you observed) but also in what it would mean for all of Nader's achievements if Bush is reelected.
Way to miss the point. dearralph@dearralph.com if you want to share your thoughts as well.
Posted by Michael at August 12, 2004 12:59 PM | TrackBack