[Marxism] Amy Goodman on the campaign trail for the dems, again

[Mike Friedman]

Forgive me for blowing off some steam, but, in general, I really
appreciate Democracy Now. However, every time presidential elections near,
Amy Goodman becomes a shill for the Democrats. Yesterday, she interviewed
Ralph Nader, and  rather shamelessly baited him. At least three times she
referred to his "costing the democrats the elections". She even tried
goading (insistently) former Michigan Rep. David Bonior -- John Edward's
campaign manager -- into repudiating a possible Nader run. She asked
Bonior to stay on the line as Nader came on, then:

AMY GOODMAN: David Bonior, I wanted to ask you to stay on the line for a
minute. Here, you have John Edwards dropping out, and on the same day,
longtime consumer advocate and two-time presidential candidate Ralph Nader
launched a presidential exploratory committee to decide whether to run as
an independent...

AMY GOODMAN: Let me ask you, Ralph Nader, you announced this exploratory
committee the day that John Edwards dropped out. You had said that
Nader—you had said that “Edwards now has the most progressive message
across a broad spectrum of any leading candidate I’ve seen in years,”
while he was running. Are you coming in because he just left and you saw
this progressive stance dropping out of the race?

...

AMY GOODMAN: David Bonior, your response to the possible run of Ralph
Nader for president of the United States?

[he didn't take the bait...]

DAVID BONIOR: Well, I’ve always been an admirer of Ralph Nader and his
record, his long record, as he has just indicated, over forty-something
years, and his work as a public citizen has just been one of the more
outstanding efforts in this country on behalf of working folks and social
and economic justice. So, you know, I really admire his work and his
voice. And we need voices like Ralph Nader’s in this country speaking up
on these issues...

[so, she tried again...]

AMY GOODMAN: And what do you think, David Bonior, of Ralph Nader running
for president? What do you think it would mean for the presidential race
in this country?

[he still didn't take the bait...]

DAVID BONIOR: I think it’s always important to have voices that express
progressive views and populist views.

[so, yet again...]

AMY GOODMAN: Would you encourage Ralph Nader to run?

[to no avail...]

DAVID BONIOR: That’s Ralph’s decision. And I’ll—we’ll watch and see how
this develops, and we’ll watch and see how the other candidates respond in
the Democratic race.

[so, she asked him directly...]

AMY GOODMAN: Our guest is Ralph Nader, three-time presidential candidate.
Will he make it four? He has just formed an exploratory committee to
decide whether to run for president here in this year, 2008. Ralph Nader,
the issue of running and taking away votes from the Democrats, take that
on, something that has made many people very angry, feeling that you took
the race from Al Gore at a time that was absolutely critical for this
country.

[he gave a complete response, but she still wasn't satisfied, she
continued along the same vein, trying to get him to differentiate among
the democrats...]

AMY GOODMAN: Are you more likely to run if Hillary Clinton is the
candidate, the nominee, as opposed to Barack Obama? ...

[... and then she returned to the same theme...]

AMY GOODMAN: Ralph Nader, we only have—we have less than a minute. John
McCain said we could be in Iraq for a hundred years. He’s the leading
Republican candidate. For those who say you’ll take votes from the
Democrats, none of them are saying we’ll be there for a hundred years.
What is your response, that your run could be a matter of life or death
for people in Iraq?

[she gave him five seconds to answer that one...]

[Then today, she had a cast of all pro-DP guests to discuss the two major
candidates for the DP and their relationship to Latinos and the Latino
vote... These were Dolores Huerta, who is supporting Clinton; Federico
Pena, a former Clinton cabinet member and Denver mayor, now co-chairing
Obama’s campaign; and California State Senator Gilbert Cedillo, who is
also backing Obama.]

*Sigh*