On not voting for John Kerry

March 31

At the M20 antiwar march one of the speakers was screaming about how we're not going to let ourselves be hornswoggled into supporting a corporate candidate like John Kerry. Meanwhile, on the Dennis Kucinich email list, despite the fact that Kucinich has yet to endorse Kerry, a few vocal people are complaining that he will, and telling us that we're selling out if we don't vote for Nader.

I voted for Nader in 2000. I voted for Kucinich in the Illinois primary, along with about 20,000 other people. His Illinois campaign was a shambles.

When I hear stuff like this, I can't help but think "Grow up!" Stop acting like teenagers who are so self-involved that they can't get over their disappointment -- disappointment that the single-minded devotion they felt for the candidate who seemed to mirror their own idealism has been dashed. It's like the product of an unholy alliance between American evangelical fervor and celebrity culture. ONLY Dennis will save us. ONLY Ralph will save us. Guess what? Neither of them will save us. The odds are stacked against progressive voices until the whole progressive movement gets over its teenage infatuations with single issues and individual messiahs and recognizes the need to dig in for the long haul.

And vote, Nicole.





OK, one more thing. Top campaign contributors so far:

Good to know (though not a surprise) that Citibank, UBS, Goldman Sachs et al. are keeping their bases covered. I love "International Profit Association." Isn't that all of them?

Kerry's contributors reflect the usual trial lawyer bias toward Democrats; and some of them are from Massachusetts. Bush's contributions are on a different scale. They also seem to include more money from people who make their money on keeping us all in debt...

GEORGE W. BUSH (R)
Top Contributors
Merrill Lynch $458,204
PriceWaterhouseCoopers $431,800
UBS Americas $358,850
MBNA Corp $337,750
Lehman Brothers $288,559
Goldman Sachs $282,725
Credit Suisse First Boston $257,750
Bear Stearns $240,250
Ernst & Young $234,655
Blank Rome LLP $207,400
Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu $207,050
Citigroup Inc $196,000
Southern Co $182,247
Morgan Stanley $177,075
Microsoft Corp $160,850
Union Pacific Corp $160,000
Haynes & Boone $157,650
Winston & Strawn $156,450
Ameriquest Capital $152,800
SBC Communications $150,350
-----------------


JOHN KERRY (D)
Top Contributors
Skadden, Arps et al $105,650
Robins, Kaplan et al $91,750
Citigroup Inc $82,900
Piper Rudnick LLP $77,050
Mintz, Levin et al $72,050
Goldman Sachs $68,750
Harvard University $55,600
Hill, Holliday et al $53,750
Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance $50,250
Akin, Gump et al $45,550
International Profit Assoc $44,250
Time Warner $41,950
Clifford Law Offices $41,850
Morgan Stanley $40,000
Bain Capital $38,500
Hale & Dorr $37,750
UBS Americas $36,800
Holland & Knight $36,200
Latham & Watkins $32,500
FleetBoston Financial $32,500


source: Center for Responsive Politics