Rating: 
Summary: Air to Breathe
Review: Why did thousands of people pay actual money to hear a presidential candidate speak? Read the candidate's election year diary and you'll know why. We're stuck with a hollow democracy because it's been hijacked by corporate interests who've turned it into little more than a purchased business asset. That's the book's main message, and though most people don't need Ralph Nader to tell them the obvious, a first-hand account does add a lot of important detail. For example, there are the steps by which the Democratic Party has been denatured and turned into Republican Party Lite. It's a sad tale and sorry end to the former People's party, but Nader's narrative makes for a handy reference and informative guide.Sure, a lot of folks don't like Nader. I think he makes some uncomfortable with his air of self-conscious purity, plus angering a lot of well-meaning, but misguided Democrats. But like him or not, he does walk the walk, and few have witnessed insider Washington as closely as he has without selling out. So when he pronounces the Democratic Party a walking corpse without hope, that's not sour grapes, it's Anatomy Class 101. Unlike most books, Nader's appendices make interesting reading for the names that are named and the records that are revealed. On the downside, little mention is made of the Florida scandal or those other banished debacles of 2002. Nor does he mention his final vote tally or percentage of returns. That may be because of a promising start which did not, as hoped, reach the matching funds essential to 2004 - figures which would also index that deadly voting booth virus known as the lesser-evil syndrome. Whatever the reason, he's presented us with both an educational tour through the lunar landscape of national elections and a good guide to who's responsible for sucking the air out of them.
Rating: 
Summary: Sad sappy Democrats and thier miserable excuses
Review: God am I sick of hearing the word "spoiler". For one, if you people would read 'Stupid White Men' by Michael Moore, the truth would start to come into focus. GORE WON! George Sr.'s buddies on the Supreme Court ordered the recount to stop when Gore was closing in on Bush's lead. After it was over, and all the ballots were counted Gore won by a little over 200, but those ballots weren't allowed to be counted.
Secondly, it seems to me that democrats have grown lazy and arrogant as time goes on. Do the Democrats think that by some divine right that a certain percentage of votes belongs to them? NEWS FLASH: The majority of Nader's votes came from people who had previously never voted. If Gore wouldn't have been so busy to criticize Nader, maybe he could have thought to win his own state! The fact is that both parties are the same. Do you really think that the Republican's would ever overturn Roe v. Wade? HECK NO! That would be political suicide. And for all those who believe Alaska is in danger; THE DEMOCRATS CONTROL THE SENATE! (thanks to the Green Party, as you can see if you read the book). If the Democrats care SO much about the enviroment, they won't let it pass!
Both canidates were given money by the same corporations to pay back the same favors period. Both parties work together to keep out third parties. It is a fact, Nader WAS kept out of even attending a closed curcuit tapping of it, even though he had a ticket. The political system as we know it is designed to bore the public out of their minds and turn off the TV and let the government carry on business as usual. Well after seeing that Gore and Bush agreed 47% of the time, I think things need to change. And maybe "lofty idealism" is what we need. (And yes I am a member of the Green Party)
Rating:
Summary: A great book if you can handle the large vocabulary
Review: Nader's story of the '00 election is fascinating reading. You follow him from state to state, as doors are shut in his face, former friends betray him, and the national media ignores him. His explanation of the ills of today's political duopoly is dead-on. Mr. Nader has a very large vocabulary, so this is not a book that can be easily digested. After reading this book, one has to wonder if either Bush or Gore have even half as much knowledge of the issues ailing this country as Mr. Nader does. I can't think of anybody better qualified to be President than Ralph Nader.
Rating:
Summary: Worth the read, and WORTH YOUR VOTE
Review: Let no one be mistaken: political campaigns are a tremendous bore, and an awful sink hole of time, energy, and --- at least in the Everything-For-Sale US political system --- money. However boring, tedious, and tiresome they may be, would that they could result in women and men of talent and vision more reliably winning office. Not to say that Dubbya lacks talent or vision --- his record addresses that question definitively --- but, as Nader's "Crashing the Party" makes clear, the present system assures that anyone who SHOULD be running for office would do anything but. What strikes me most in reading this narrative of the 2000 Narative campaign is that it captures the spirit and the process remarkably well. At times, the pace is fast and the developments furious. At other times the narrative slows to a crawl. The result is a book that captures, in a way, how I would imagine the experience felt to be lived by Nader and his team. This may not make the best format for an action-packed, nail-biting campaign thriller, or for a detailed exposition on the theory and praxis undergirding the range of Green thought in the US, but it does accomplish something equally important. If nothing else, it provides a sobering narrative of just how awful a presidential campaign can be when one tries to actually discuss issues or engage in meaningful dialog. Is it any wonder our current political system proves the computer dictum "garbage in, garbage out"? The reader will emerge with a clear sense of the tremendous work that confronts citizens in what is left of our democracy. History, if there is any hope left for democratic rule of and by the people, will not judge the 2000 presidential election kindly. From Florida's painfully displayed electoral corruption (which, to be fair, we realize happens almost everywhere), to locked-out presidential debates, to indefinitely delayed discussion of real electoral reform of any kind, no one but the most deluded among us can maintain the myth of democratic rule in America. Let us all hope that the Nader campaign was but one of many more events in the long chain of history that one day delivers our democracy back to the people.
Rating:
Summary: Don't "get" the Nader appeal? This book makes it very clear.
Review: Up front & honest, 'Crashing the Party' is Nader's personal take on his adventures during the 2000 election. The tricky & complex issue of media bias is explored as Ralph recounts specific encounters and situations w/ the press, and the "Commission on Presidential Debates" takes a well deserved beating. This is all Ralph's perspective, and the retelling of his personal experience may seem irrelevant to some, or vitally important to others.
Rating: 
Summary: Political Nominalism
Review: I admire Ralph Nader. His exploits over the decades have been honorable and beneficial. Sedulous, he ran a great campaign with diminutive resources. Personally appreciating his uncommercialized style, Mr. Nader gives an honest account of his 2000 campaign in "Crashing the Party." Accurately castigating the deleterious yield of the current American political system, this writing communicates his perspective concerning national socio-economic circumstances. Nader is quite vigilant about being "right" on issues, ethics, and campaigning. He is the archetypical reformer/perfectionist personality-- commitment to truth and justice are his primary values. Conservatives dominate the world we live in. National militaries and jingoism have expanded in nations from the USA to France to Japan. Monied interests have created supranational bureaucracies like the WTO to subvert established democracies. Religious fundamentalism aims to strip people of their rights -- by terror in many cases. What all of these elements have in common is their disdain for civil liberties and their profound hate for democratic institutions. The strategy of Mr. Nader is inappropriate in light of the contemporary political paradigm. Responsibility must be taken for not over-achieving. Though many well funded elements are evidently hostile to a progressive voice, much of what Greens view as a conspiracy is basic incompetence when it comes to political hardball. The Greens are logical, touching ALL of the issues and giving them equal weight. Vision MUST be communicated, though that is not Mr. Nader's style, which is very Spartan. Paradoxically, political nominalism cannot communicate a message people will remember -- which only encourages claims that the Greens are an oddball one-issue party. Three or four powerful issues should be used thematically with the particulars still there in the background. Plugging everything into a message of democratic freedom and civil liberty will greatly enhance their political viability. Nit-picking the Democratic Party while ignoring gross political behavior by conservative elements alienates liberal voters ' particularly the activists ' a progressive party needs. It is requisite that Greens viciously attack anti-liberty elements. Speaking out against the bizarre, weird, and outrageous lies peddled against President Clinton by the conservative scandal industry would be a good start. Greens must also speak out against the stolen election and take the battle to the nastiest of conservatives. Contrary to claims that Nader is an egoist -- he is an introverted thinker that doesn't like being in the spotlight. If he feels it is his duty to run in '04 -- he needs to do the photo ops and all of the cutesy stuff he refused to do in '96 and '00. There is nothing corrupt about doing this; his purist antipathy towards commercial campaigning will get him nowhere. Finally -- the Greens need to stop kidding themselves that they are a non-ideological organization. Their natural base are ideological progressives. Period. They need to stop courting Buchanan supporters and making dumb appeals to people who don't vote. Nader, again, is perfectionist, and sees being an "outsider" as a good. The Greens must play rough if they want to survive. There is no logical reason not to campaign and take votes away from Democrats -- the Democratic Party will accuse the Greens of doing this anyway. While the Greens are reluctant to do this -- I feel it is a tactical must if they are serious about being a champion of progressivism in the face of conservative ubiquity.
Rating:
Summary: I voted for him once; I'll do it again
Review: Ralph Nader never had a chance in 2000 and he knows it. The odds were stacked up against him, partially by the big parties and their real constituency -- the mega-donor corporations and their minions in the fourth estate -- and partially by his and his party's own integrity; without taking a single dirty donation, his campaign was a solar-powered eco-vehicle compared to the Bush/Gore tandem of rocket-fuel dragsters. And a tandem it was. The debates, platform differences, and sound-bite rhetoric of the big boys was merely a smokescreen for the real political battle: the big parties vs. the third parties. The powers that be would be content with either a Gore of Bush victory, since neither is going to greatly upset the status quo corporate welfare state. Only a candidate not compromised by corrupt campaigning - like Nader - can instill any real fear in the corporate bankrollers. Attacking campaign financing is corporocide to those who have put so much into their political investments. The main complaints I have with this book are that it is somewhat tedious at times and not footnoted at all. The real meat of the book is the evidence that Nader brings against the big parties, the debates, the media, and the corporations. Unfortuneately, Nader does not offer references for the reader to further pursue these issues. And the day-by-day report of his campaign is more than is needed. I hear two main criticisms of Nader's candidacy for president. One is, of course, that he took votes away from Gore. There is little doubt that most of the voters who chose Nader would prefer Gore to Bush, but their ballots represent the more profound statement that big-party politics needs to be reigned in. Moreover, this election was Gore's to lose, as Nader says, and he lost it with nearly a Clintonian flair. The other criticism is that Nader's views are simply too extreme for most Americans, or that they are just plain wrong. Yet no other candidate offered nearly the amount of hard evidence for his platform as did Nader, nor did they contribute anything to the political dialogue beyond the inevitable sound-bite or scripted debate response. The republicans and democrats are looking more and more alike as time goes on. Nader makes an interesting speculation that in today's political environment, Nixon may have looked progressive. This is not only fodder for nighttime talk-shows and comedy skits, it is a violation of our constitutional right; given two varieties of the same ideology for our electoral options, we are really only given one option. This is not a decision -- it is an instruction.
Rating:
Summary: Please review the book, not Nader's beliefs
Review: Dear Reviewers, Please don't make these reviews into a mere plebicite on whether Nader is right or not. I just want to know whether he writes
well, makes interesting observations and arguments, and so on. If I want to read about ideological battles, I buy a newspaper
or magazine. Let's make these reviews a guide to where one can find clear, relevant public discourse.
Rating:
Summary: A Must Read!
Review: Ralph Nader has done so much for our country throughout the years. When he runs for president because the 2 parties that dominate so severely have forgotten the American people (but certainly not the corporations) he is called a spoiler!
A thoughtful, witty, and illuminating book.
Rating:
Summary: Refreshing
Review: One cannot help but wonder how great our nation could be if we would ever elect a man of Ralph Nader's vision, morality and leadership. In his book, Crashing the Party, Nader clearly outlines the issues of importance and the possibilities for solution. I began this book expecting a summary of dry facts and recollections of stuffy meetings. But I quickly found that Ralph Nader has presented his campaign in a refreshing manner which is highly entertaining, informative and even humorous at times. I finished the book with a sense of inspiration, but also sadness, knowing that creative, intelligent, independent people like Nader will alway lose elections to the mediocre candidates who can be purchased by corporations.
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