Arrived at my usual Barnes and Noble café to find more than the usual hubbub; Ralph Nader is speaking here in 2.5 hours, and already the sidewalk is sprouting police and local news trucks.
My being here is pretty much coincidence, which is also how I saw Michael Moore and met Terry McAuliffe a few years ago. Ralph picked a really inconvenient day to show, as I’m here with a stack of research and work I wanted to knock out tonight. He really should have checked with me first. That being said, I’m likely to wander downstairs, because it seems wrong not to.
Either way, this is the closest I’ve been to Nader since 1992, when our proximity was documented by the Daily Pennsylvanian. Front page photo, that crowd? That left arm and ear in the lower right hand corner? Mine.
Update, 7:04 pm: I can think of at least one loyal reader who’s going to get a kick out of this. Check out where in Barnes and Noble we’ve been seated for Nader’s talk.
Winnie the Pooh, Babar the Elephant, and the Cat in the Hat are here too, in the clouds on the walls, but were unfortunately cropped out of the shot.
Call me a bit surprised there are still seats available with 20 minutes to go. Nader got 12,485 votes in this county in 2000.
Update, 7:13 pm: I just burst out laughing really loudly, and I’m getting strange looks from the people sitting in front of me. An employee just came over the PA with: “And what goes great with free DVDs and Ralph Nader? An orange mocha cappuccino from our café.” She had trouble keeping the giggle out of her voice, too.
Update, 9:05 pm: Wow, wow, wow. Damn, I’m glad I showed up for that speech. One of the best public speakers I’ve ever heard. Several blog posts to follow from my notes. Disregard my comment about the empty chairs; they brought more and it was SRO before he started.
Hi everyone, loyal reader who is amused by Nader’s placement near the children section here…
I look forward to reading the future blog posts. I agree that Nader is an excellent public speaker. It is his greatest strength. He also tends to make a whole lot of sense when he speaks.
His problem, historically, is that very little of what he says (at least politically) is practical in the real world. His response to this is typically some version of “the real world isn’t fair and should be changed.” Which is all well and good, but doesn’t help anyone since that has yet to happen…
How is that not helpful? Nader’s whole point is to encourage people to get out there and make those changes rather than sit back and watch. Your pronouncement that his ideas “aren’t practical” is exactly what he’s arguing against—the dormancy that’s caused because it’s “impractical” to try to change it.
I’m simply looking at empirical results. The man’s been running for President since 1992, and he’s accomplished almost nothing. You know what Einstein said about doing the same thing over & over again and expecting a different result, right?
Like I said, I like a lot of what Nader says. But he often has no way of getting from “here to there,” and masks that with talk of “thinking outside of the box” or “breaking the status quo in Washington.” Again, all good sentiments, but if you can’t get through the door, eventually you have to try the window.
IMHO, If he keeps waiting for change to come to him, he might as well give it up.
Yeah, see, this is the reason why you need to watch the film. Hell, just watch the preview. As to your point that his runs for president have been less effective, well, yes, this is debated in the film.
IMHO, If he keeps waiting for change to come to him, he might as well give it up.
Whoa. Talk about pretty much the last guy on the planet who should have this applied to him.