Running Down Ralph.

AuthorRothschild, Matthew
PositionRalph Nader

My wife and I were holding a little fundraiser for Ralph Nader at our home a few months ago, and John B. Judis, a senior editor of The New Republic, came along.

Judis used to be a senior editor at In These Times, and he wrote occasionally for The Progressive, as well as serving on our editorial advisory board for more than a decade. But since moving to Washington and working for The New Republic, his views have steadily drifted rightward, and he has taken it upon himself to attack prominent figures on the left. I remember one savage attack on Ramsey Clark. Now he's gone after Nader, who threatens Al Gore, the darling of The New Republic.

Judis's story, flagged as "Ralph Nader's Betrayal" on the cover of the May 29 issue, contends that by running as a Green, Nader is undermining his life's work "as a champion of workers and consumers."

Judis invents an old Nader to contrast with the new one.

The old Nader: "Unlike so many other radicals, he has not merely ranted about the system. He's actually tried to fix it."

The new Nader: "His campaign bears the mark of the Manichaean left. He doesn't merely criticize corporate power; he turns it into a bogeyman and elevates the struggle with corporations into an apocalyptic conflict between good and evil."

The old Nader: "He seemed to understand that the competitive market and the corporate form of business organization, which facilitates investment, have helped fuel America's spectacular economic growth."

The new Nader: "He has adopted the radical left's demonology, describing corporations as `operationally evil' or as `monsters.'"

Funny, in the two decades I've known Ralph, I've never known him to sing the praises of large corporations. When I worked for him at Multinational Monitor, he'd use variations of the word "corporate" as a pejorative about six times every sentence.

Fact is, there is no old Nader or new Nader. Ralph is Ralph.

Judis says Nader has now fallen into the clutches of "the sectarian left." Odd that Judis is playing these games, since In These Times, while he was there, was an avowedly socialist magazine. Now Judis uses the S-word as a branding iron.

Judis is not alone. The New York Times, in its to[, editorial of...

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