The Story
In non-news today we find the same item that's been making the rounds again and again recently, that of Ralph Nader's entrance into the 2004 presidential race.

Today's story is brought to you by syndicated columnist Charlie Cook who's cry that the sky is indeed falling comes courtesy of today's New York Times. Cook claims the usual dire consequences--Nader costing Sen. John Kerry the election, Nader handing Bush a second term, etc. We've heard it all before and it likely won't die down until the election is in the books.

Nader's presidential bid, and Cook's column, is non-news because it is utterly inconsequential. Don't get us wrong, 3N is a great supporter of Nader and voted for him in 2000. We won't do that again, however, and neither will most of Nader's supporters from the last go-round. Which is why the media outcry amounts to nothing more than the Boys Who Cried Wolf.

No one is going to vote Nader again. The Green Party didn't even endorse him this time. We who voted Nader last time did it because we believed in his rhetoric, we believed in the Greens getting their 5 percent and federal matching funds, we believed there was no way Bush could win and we just plain didn't like Gore. This time around, none of us are willing to risk another four years of Bush.

Cook throws around some numbers--6 percent say they'll vote Nader, 47 percent would have voted Gore, etc. Wrong and wrong. Nader didn't even get 6 percent last time around and with far less at stake. As for the 47 percent who would have voted for Gore, well, the exit polls 3N saw in the hours after the polls closed showed the majority of Nader supporters would not have even shown up to the polls had he not been running.

For the last time, Nader did not cost Gore the election in 2000 and he won't ruin it for Kerry in '04. Only Kerry can do that.

Read Instead
What the media should be talking about is how U.S. citizens once again get to choose between the lesser of two evils. Kerry is not the anti-Bush, Kerry is not the answer to our problems and Kerry is a weak candidate thrust upon us by a weak Democratic Party searching for leadership and direction.

Kerry voted for the war in Iraq, has routinely voted in the interest of big business throughout his time in Congress, has supported NAFTA, has denounced Affirmative Action--the list goes on and on.

This is no savior folks, this is Bush-lite.

Look to this excellent article from Slate for more.