Footnote to the preceding

I'm waiting for the apologies to Ralph Nader and his supporters. In not one state that Shrub carried did Nader's vote exceed the margin of victory. In fact, in all but, if I recall, two of those states, Bush got an absolute majority. That is, in not one state did the "egomaniac," the "destructive," the "enemy of all things progressive" Nader hurt Kerry. Not by any stretch of the imagination or the numbers. And believe me, if there had been a way to put any of the blame on Nader, we would have heard it already.

As it was, despite the insistent, expensive, and, as it turned out, pointless effort by the Democrats to hinder him, Nader still got something like 400,000 votes. But that was only about 0.34%, considerably worse than 2000.

So in point of fact the Democrats did exactly what they did in 2000: They undermined a genuinely progressive alternative and got Shrub anyway. It's just that this time they undermined him harder and got Shrub even more. A truly brilliant strategy.

By the way, back on February 22, the day Nader declared he was running, I predicted "Nader's effect on the outcome will be negligible." I eagerly await the kudos that doubtless will pour in from all directions, particularly from those who were so exercised about his candidacy, praising my perspicacity.

Right.