<p>Yeah, that deadly Corvair which was pilloried by Nader for having the same rear suspension as nearly 30 million Volkswagen bugs. *Unsafe at Any Speed *was a hatchet job written by a clueless hack. He’s better now that he’s descended to political humor.</p>
<p>Does anyone think Nader is doing this for money? Perhaps some wealthy supporters of Republicans (or Democrat haters) are bankrolling this effort and are paying him to get in the race?</p>
<p>That’s a definite maybe.</p>
<p>But more likely, I think, is that he’s doing it just to stay relevant. If no one hears of him for years and years, his speaking fees go down.</p>
<p>WashDad: Was the alleged reason for the Corvair’s lack of safety simply due to its rear suspension a la the VW bug? I thought it had to do with the rear engine near the gas tank, and other design flaws. I’m really curious.</p>
<p>Hmmm. This from Wikipedia:
</p>
<p>Fascinating.</p>
<p>My first car was a Corvair. I loved that car!</p>
<p>I don’t know. I just can’t get too exercised over Nader’s announcement. Yawn.
Last election he got something like .03% of the vote. I’ll bet this time it’s even less. Who will be his constituency if Obama is the nominee? Angry Clinton Democrats unwilling to support Obama? Maybe he’ll keep them from voting for McCain.</p>
<p>While a Nader candidacy disturbs me to an extent I do agree with his comment that if the Democrats can’t win in a landslide this year they have serious problems.</p>
<p>As to the Corvair’s alleged safety issues:</p>
<p>The first generation Corvair had a swing-axle rear suspension similar to that of the Volkswagen beetle. Critics maintained that the design was inherently unstable. They charged that under certain conditions in hard cornering, the outside rear wheel had a tendency to tuck under the car, sometimes resulting in a roll-over style crash. The results of a federal study released in 1972, three years after Corvair production ended, concluded that the Corvair was safe. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) exonerated the Corvair. Chevrolet began improving the Corvair’s suspension in 1962. By 1964, engineers added a transverse camber-compensating spring, much improving the handling over previous years’ models.</p>
<p>As to Nader:</p>
<p>I don’t know why he’s running (again), but I can’t imagine any good that can come of it.</p>
<p>Well, there has been an opening for the job of Pathetic Perpetual Political Joke ever since Harold Stassen died. Ralph has abundantly demonstrated his eagerness to get the job.</p>
<p>All Nader needs is a rubber nose and giant shoes…</p>
<p>RE: Corvair. Sometime <em>mumble</em> years ago I read an article in which someone looked into the accident/death rates in different kinds of cars, focusing on the Corvair. It turns out that the Corvair’s rates were just about average.</p>
<p>We had a Corvair when I was a kid … it was great!</p>
<p>I was wondering when Ralph would make his announcement. No surprise there. I miss Pat Paulsen, though.</p>
<p>I would pay money on pay-per-view to watch a Nader vs Ron Paul debate.</p>
<p>Corvair for president, woo-hoo!</p>
<p>I was under the impression that, given the unpopularity of the war and the general state of the nation under republican leadership, that the democrats will without a doubt win, even if a few votes are taken by Nader.</p>
<p>Is this true or am I just naive? This is the first election I’ve ever paid attention to, but based on my personal values I just can’t see how people can support McCain other than out of party loyalty.</p>
<p>A lot of people don’t like Socialism, and will therefore vote Republican.</p>
<p>Plus, McCain should get alot of support because he is the most knowledgeable and experienced candidate.</p>
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<p>You’re being naive, at least a little bit. Party loyalty is HUGE and with that being said accounts for a vast majority of the votes cast. Plus you have to remember that the electoral college, not popular vote, determines who is pres so Obama has to win at least 1 red state and hold all the blue states. In actuality, unless one candidate makes a huge mistake, the election will come down to about 6-7 states. </p>
<p>Also, just because people are unhappy with Bush doesn’t mean they wont vote McCain. It sure as hell doesn’t help but saying that McCain will be a continuation of Bush is wrong. Sure, they share many views (same party) but they are still different. </p>
<p>In my personal opinion I think a lot of people <em>say</em> they are really unhappy with America today but deep down inside don’t believe that, or believe that some things that may not appear to be that popular actually work or are acceptable. But obviously there’s no way to prove this so arguing about it is a moot point.</p>
<p>Just read an interesting statistic from David Frum’s new book:</p>
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<p>Here’s more:</p>
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<p>This falls right in line with Michelle Obama’s statement about being proud of her country for the first time in her life. </p>
<p>This is all kind of surprizing to me - I knew that Democrats were closer to Socialism on the political spectrum, but I didn’t realize that there was that much “Anti-Americanism” in the party. All of Frum’s assertions are documented, btw. I just didn’t add the notations in the quote.</p>
<p>This info has been rather disheartening.</p>
<p>I talk to a lot of Republicans at the Y. They’ve nearly all become Bush-haters in the last year or two, but none of them are going to vote for a Democrat. At least one says he’s not voting at all, because of McCain’s war stance. Quite a few of them are convinced that there will be a civil war in Iraq no matter when we leave and feel we should just cut our losses and stop killing Americans. It’s been interesting to watch them change. </p>
<p>I think the election will be close, but it’s the Democrat’s to lose. Both Obama and Clinton have plenty of reasons for people not to choose them - they aren’t safe candidates by any means.</p>
<p>I don’t see refusing to say I am “extremely proud” to be an American is anti-American. Right now I’m extremely ashamed of Guantanamo, of extraordinary renditions, of our refusal to abjure torture. We aren’t perfect. I’ve lived in a dozen other countries, every country has plusses and minuses. None has made me want to give up being American, but that doesn’t mean I think we are so unequivocally the best.</p>
<p>I don’t consider myself a socialist by any means, but I don’t believe that unchecked capitalism is so wonderful either.</p>
<p>Astute observations on patriotism by George Bernard Shaw:</p>
<p>-Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it.</p>
<p>-You’ll never have a quiet world until you knock the patriotism out of the human race.</p>
<p>If patriotism means supporting a “world bully” role of this country and blind support for an evil war and torture of our enemies, then I don’t feel too patriotic right now.</p>
<p>If patriotism means wanting to protect the country against ALL enemies, foreign AND DOMESTIC then I feel very patriotic and fired up, ready to go.</p>