Nader denounces Kerry, Bush

By Jim Brunner
Seattle Times staff reporter

JAMES BRANAMAN / THE SEATTLE TIMES Brendan Cassidy, right, of Seattle, holds a sign reading "Thanks for Voting Nader! W" and hands out fake money before Ralph Nader's speech yesterday. Behind Cassidy is Mike Yossarian of Seattle.

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Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader brought his unabashed spoiler campaign to Seattle yesterday, attacking Democrats as "sniveling political cowards" who offer no strong alternative to the Bush administration.

In a speech to hundreds of supporters at Seattle Center, Nader spoke in contemptuous tones about John Kerry and those liberals and anti-war activists who believe they have no choice but to vote for the Democrat.

"How they are about to behave on November 2nd has no logic to it," Nader said. "A vote for Kerry is now a vote for war."

Nader drew cheers and applause from the rapt crowd of nodding supporters with his denunciations of a Democratic Party he said was no better than the "messianic militarist" in the White House. He said neither the Republican Party nor the Democratic Party were serious about protecting the environment, aiding the poor or cracking down on corporate corruption.

"The liberals are creating their own nightmare" by supporting Kerry without demanding that he swing to the left on issues important to them, Nader said.

	JAMES BRANAMAN / THE SEATTLE TIMES Ralph Nader waits to go on stage yesterday in the Rainier Room at Seattle Center. The independent presidential candidate has strong support in Seattle but less so than during the 2000 campaign.

Outside the hall, supporters bought black T-shirts with the word "spoiler" over images of the cracked Liberty Bell.

While Democrats and some former Nader supporters in the Green Party have fretted that Nader's candidacy will hand a second term to President Bush, that sounded like nonsense to the Nader fans who showed up yesterday.

David McDonald, a Seattle photographer at the event, views Bush and Kerry as two sides of the same tarnished coin.

Especially on the central question of the war with Iraq, McDonald argued that Kerry offers no real alternative. For example, McDonald said he watched the recent presidential debates in which Kerry made it clear he would keep U.S. troops in Iraq until the country is stable.

"It's silly to think that the same forces who destroyed the country are going to fix it," McDonald said.

Nader wants to pull U.S. troops and contractors out of Iraq immediately and replace them with a United Nations peacekeeping force.

While the crowd at Seattle Center was enthusiastic, it was clear that Nader's support, even in this liberal bastion, is not what it was four years ago when he drew 10,000 to a rally at KeyArena. Only a few hundred were on hand for yesterday's event.

Washington is one of 34 states where Nader has qualified for the ballot, including Florida, where his candidacy four years ago is blamed by some Democrats for costing Al Gore the presidency. Nader is in the midst of court fights over ballot access in several other states.

In Washington, Nader received 4 percent of the vote in 2000. Al Gore carried the state with 50 percent, while Bush got 45 percent.

During a press conference before his speech, Nader yesterday came out against Washington's Initiative 872. I-872 would replace the current primary-election system with a "top two" alternative, in which only the top two vote-getters in the primary would advance to the general election. Nader said that system would reduce voter choices and deny minor-party candidates access to the general-election ballot.

A handful of anti-Nader protesters were on hand yesterday to argue that voting for him would aid Bush.

Brendan Cassidy, dressed in a suit and a Bush mask, held fake money in one hand and a sign in the other that read, "Thanks for Voting Nader! W."

Cassidy, who lives in Seattle, said he wanted "to explain to Nader supporters that their support is indirectly supporting Bush."

Others carried signs reading "Swift Boat Veterans for ... Nader?" — a reference to recent reports that some donors to the anti-Kerry group also have given money to Nader's campaign.

Citing campaign records, the anti-Nader group United Progressives for Victory reported recently that five donors who gave money to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth to air attack ads on Kerry's Vietnam military service also gave $8,000 to Nader.

Sally Soriano, a Seattle School Board member who is Nader's state campaign coordinator, said protesters were "nitpicking" compared with the millions of dollars in corporate contributions accepted routinely by Democrats and Republicans.

"I don't know what the fuss is," she said.

Seattle Times staff reporter Blanca Torres contributed to this report. Jim Brunner: 206-515-5628 or jbrunner@seattletimes.com

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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