Nader's nadir

David Roberts titles his post about a possible Nader candidacy “Just when the anger was fading,” which is odd, because I don’t think I know a single liberal who’s ready to let bygones be bygones with that antiquated, boring, dour-faced, in-kind-Republican dinosaur. See? Look at all the anger!

But just for the weekend I’m going to put on my counterintuitive face and suggest that, just through the primary season, the threat of a Nader candidacy might be a good thing. 2000 should be fresh enough on everybody’s mind—voters and candidates alike—that they get scared to the left. After all, Nader’s argument about the indistinguishability of the two parties really only has merit when Democrats tilt too far right. And an Edwards (or maybe Obama) candidacy sort of obviates the need for a harder-left insurgent candidacy like Nader’s.

Then again, I also heard a story recently about a visit Nader made to Howard Dean’s campaign headquarters in 2004. He came with an offer: make me your vice presidential nominee and I won’t run against you. Well, Dean lost, and so did Kerry…by margins too great to blame on a spoiler. And good as it is that Nader didn’t screw over the country twice in four years, it still means Democrats need to inspire a (by modern standards) fairly substantial electoral swing to defang a possible Nader candidacy.