Ding Dong's In

Utterly irrelevant Ralph Nader has put himself (because nobody asked him to) in the 2008 race. As Pam notes, his percentage in 2000 was 2.7% of the vote and in 2004 it was 0.3%.

I'm not ranting because I'm afraid of Nader the spoiler (As he very well was in 2000, and despite the cute pic above). I'm pointing out that he's not going to be the one to expose the hypocrisies in the Democrats' platforms (e.g., promising health insurance for everyone while clearly bedding with a bloated insurance industry.). Anyone who thinks he's going to be taken seriously enough to effect change in dialog or frames is as delusional as Ron Paul believers ("but Dr. Paul makes soooo much sense, it's so simple if you'd just listen... butterflies, and opportunity for everyone, yaaaay!") or even Nader himself.

The press shouldn't have bothered with a whisper on this. Be sure though, Tim Russert, Chris Matthews, and their rest of their ilk will claim a "Nader movement" despite the fact that any celebrity could enter the race at this point and catch as many votes as Nader. The great political thinkers that make up our media are never ones to deny the hubris of a crazy white guy with hate for the Dems.