At this time eight years ago, Ralph Nader was a hot topic. The margin between George W. Bush and Al Gore was thin, and Nader's presence in the race seemed to make a significant impact.
This year, it's a different story. Nader's third -- or, depending on how you count it -- fourth consecutive presidential campaign isn't really getting any attention, in part because it doesn't seem like he's taking any significant chunk out of Barack Obama's support.
But they've just sent around a new Web video that seems like a plea for attention. The video itself is almost 11 minutes long; you can watch it below. But I can't do any better at describing it than the accompanying press release does:
The video features 22 year-old Nick Bygone (sic) searching in vain for 'Obama nuts,' a new entry into the lexicon of Slate's Encyclopedia Baracktannica, a list of words that have been Obamafied.
The video opens with remarks by Rev. Jesse Jackson suggesting that he would like to perform a surgical alteration to Senator Obama's organs of manhood.
Bygon then sets out on an ultimately successful quest to track down the 'Obama nuts.' He visits Greenpeace, but apparently their promised supply of Obama nuts have not arrived. He is directed to visit the Nuclear Energy Institute, but the institute hands them a brochure showing that Obama and McCain support nuclear power, and the Obama nuts remain elusive. After visiting a hospital in search of single payer health care, a check cashing outlet in search of a fair deal for the 100 million low income Americans, and a mosque, Bygon finally finds the Obama nuts in the most unlikely of places, but their price tag is a little steep.
An ironic note to add here: my father just found a bunch of his old issues of Esquire and gave them to me, so I just happen to have the June 1971 issue sitting next to me as I write this. Here's a photo I took of it:
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