Tag: Matt Gonzales

Third party candidate Ralph Nader released this ad today showing similarities between McCain and Obama and then laying out his different positions. One big one: Nader is for "Across the board amnesty for all non-violent drug offenders."

Nader's time has passed, and I hope everyone will realize the choice between McCain and Obama is a choice between the failed Republican policies of the last 8 years and a chance to do things differently. I don't care to see either Bob Barr or Ralph Nader in the presidential debates.

That said...[More...]

This is pretty funny. Last night I wrote a very positive post on Matt Gonzale's article about why he is not supporting Barack Obama. (Comments now closed on it, so you can continue to address it here.)

I mentioned that he was a former Democrat, public defender and the Green candidate for Mayor in San Francisco in 2003, garnering 47% of the vote against the traditional Democrat, Gavin Newsom.

He's also a change progressive who isn't buyng Obama's change meme. He detailed Obama's legislative record as U.S. Senator to explain why.

Just two days earlier, I wrote an op-ed, Will the Real Ralph Nader Please Stand Up? critical of Ralph Nader's decision to run for office.

And in the "you can't make this stuff up" category, Ralph Nader has just announced he has selected Matt Gonzales as his running mate.

Update: Now that Ralph Nader has selected Matt Gonzales as his running mate, which I did not know when this post was written, I've written a follow-up here.

*****

Matt Gonzales is a progressive and the former president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. He's also a former public defender, former Democrat and green party candidate who ran a well-respected and close campaign against San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom. (Bill Clinton campaigned for Newsom, who won.)

He started thinking he didn't know too much about Barack Obama other than the change meme, so he did some pretty exhaustive research on his voting record. As a result, he says, "Count Me Out." Check out his issue by issue comparison and then his conclusion:

Once I started looking at the votes Obama actually cast, I began to hear his rhetoric differently. The principal conclusion I draw about “change” and Barack Obama is that Obama needs to change his voting habits and stop pandering to win votes. If he does this he might someday make a decent candidate who could earn my support. For now Obama has fallen into a dangerous pattern of capitulation that he cannot reconcile with his growing popularity as an agent of change.

I remain impressed by the enthusiasm generated by Obama’s style and skill as an orator. But I remain more loyal to my values, and I’m glad to say that I want no part in the Obama craze sweeping our country.

I think Gonzales' view is even more telling when you consider who supported him for Mayor in 2003. It wasn't the Democratic establishment, it was the change folks, including: [More...]