A rift is apparently developing within the Nader-Camejo camp over what do with GOP donations. It’s not a good sign for a team that doesn’t have a message anyway.
At the outset, let’s acknowledge that the Nader campaign is clearly enjoying support from Bush loyalists.
Newsweek reported that one in 10 of Nader’s biggest donors — those who have given more than $1,000 — are longtime Republican donors.
The donors include several of Bush’s so-called Rangers and Pioneers, the nickname given to contributors who have lassoed $200,000 and $100,000, respectively, for the president’s campaign.
It’s also fair to assume that these Republicans aren’t writing checks for Nader because they approve of his single-payer health care plan.
To his credit, Peter Camejo, Nader’s running mate, seems to recognize the game the GOP is playing — and he doesn’t like it.
“If there has been a wave of these (donations), then that’s something Ralph and I will have to talk about — and about returning their money,” he said Thursday in an interview with The Chronicle. “If you oppose the war, if you’re against the Patriot Act, your money is welcome.
“But if your purpose is because you think this is going to have an electoral effect, we don’t want that money. I take no money from people who disagree with us,” Camejo said. “We’re not interested in that.”
Good for him — that’s a principled, defensible position. Too bad his running mate disagrees.
At the Howard Dean-Ralph Nader showdown last week, the former Vermont governor noted that Nader is benefiting from generous donations offered by a major GOP fundraiser.
Then, thrusting again at Nader’s soft underbelly, Dean asked him to return the money his campaign had received from Richard Egan, a Bush fundraiser from Massachusetts who served as Bush’s ambassador to Ireland.
“I wasn’t aware he was a corporate criminal,” Nader said in defense of Egan. “He’s an American citizen. He might be a Republican, but he just happens to believe in civil liberties, maybe. I don’t even know the man. But Republicans are human beings, too.”
The Salon report on the debate noted that Nader’s supporters on hand for the event “applauded vigorously” after this remark.
What a strange route Nader has traveled of late. He’s running for the third consecutive cycle because he doesn’t see a significant enough difference between Dems and Republicans, but now he’s reveling in GOP donations while his strongest supporters cheer the notion that “Republicans are human beings, too.”
To whom, exactly, is this message designed to appeal?