Nader Makes It Official

Ralph Nader announced he is making his fourth straight White House bid -- fifth if his 1992 write-in campaign is included.

As I said in January, maybe this time Ralph won't have to sue the Democratic Party "contending officials conspired to keep him from taking votes away from the Democratic nominee." But, Nader will still have to put up with his volunteers being cursed, scolded, threatened and called "naïve" and "stupid" by Democrats who still blame Nader for Al Gore's failure to win the White House in 2000.

Nevertheless Obama is already attacking Nader:

On Sunday, Sen. Barack Obama criticized him. "My sense is that Mr. Nader is somebody who, if you don't listen and adopt all of his policies, thinks you're not substantive," Obama told reporters when asked about Nader's possible candidacy.

"He seems to have a pretty high opinion of his own work."

Obama said Nader "is a singular figure in American politics and has done as much as just about anyone for consumers."

"I don't mean to diminish that," he said. "There's a sense now that if someone's not hewing to the Ralph Nader agenda, he says they're lacking in some way."

In reply Nader called Obama a "liberal evangelist."