Rating: 
Summary: Democracy's only hope
Review: This book is both exciting to read, and boring. Some parts made me want to just read on and on, whereas some parts made me want to put it down.But I am glad I read it! Ralph Nader has a lot of important things to say, and reading his book is one of the only places to hear it, since the Major News media consistently ignore him. Why? because they don't want us to hear what he has to say. SO READ THE BOOK!
Rating:
Summary: Ralph Nader-An American Hero
Review: I followed Nader's crusade to the White House with true excitement. It was about time that someone make a real effort to shake up the two party system. Once the election was over, my high on Nader's campaign came crashing down after the news of Bush being elected. When I heard this book was coming out, instead of asking for a romantic gift from my husband for my birthday, I asked for "Crashing the Party". This book does not disapoint. The back stage feel of Nader's journal-like entries along the campaign trail coupled with his dry (often hilarious) sense of humor, (I love the part about Clinton's haircuts...)makes this book a must read for anyone who followed the 2000 election. Nader is the only candidate with nothing to hide, and he lets the world know it in this great book.
Rating:
Summary: Nader is the man
Review: Everything this man says is the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth and that's the way everyone should be.
Nader for pres!
Rating: 
Summary: Close, no banana.
Review: I was rather disappointed in this book. I do treat Ralph Nader as a god, for saying what no one else will. I've seen him speak, and he's very serious about abolishing child poverty and instituting universal health care in this country, just as they did in Europe years ago. These were things that should have been done during the prosperous Clinton years, and weren't.
Safety and consumer rights go a long way. He spoke about the fact that one of his groups (Center for Aviation Safety, most likely) has been crusading for airline safety (stronger cockpit doors, for example) for 30 years! "Consumer rights", a boring concept, could have prevented the California energy crisis, and Nader's views on corporate accountabitily would have prevented the Enron embarressment.
But in this book, he sounds like a whiny limosine liberal. He obsessively references sympathetic celebrities and spends about three chapters attacking other liberals. He also provides an index list that would be very helpful if anyone (Ann Coulter, maybe?) would find useful in any future attacks on anyone dissenting from the Bush regime.
He can be poetic and visionary, and he needs more attention to his views, but this book is not the humanistic, modern "Das Capital" that I expected it to be.
Rating:
Summary: Important story, but bumpy read
Review: The take-home message of the book is essential for anyone interested in the current - and more importantly - the future of of American politics. Crashing the Party provides a wonderful opportunity to revisit Nader's position on countless items and juxtapose it with that of other liberals and the so-called democrats. The book reads as a cross between a diary, diatribe, and lessons learned report on how to run a campaign. While reading Nader's account of life on the road campaigning for the Green Party has mainly historical anecdotal value the book's real strength is the repeated illustration of the deplorable shortcomings of the current electoral system and the consequences for all of us. Nader's style is surprisingly lively, but increased editorial care and attention would have made the book an ever better read.
Rating:
Summary: tough love of america
Review: Nader's homely eloquence and un-airbrushed patriotism may not persuade those who blame him, rather than corrupt machinations in Florida and Washington, for the result of the 2000 campaign; but it will appeal to idealists both younger and older. Few unestablished authors could get away with his unsparing depiction of the hijacking of the Democratic Party by the DLC (the creation of one-time Democrats for Nixon) and by corporations that created 'prosperity' by what we now know as 'aggressive accounting'. He is one of the few national figures who still asserts that the message is more important than the messenger, and that democratic society can be rescued by action and involvement the populace. The dreadful maneuvers that excluded him from the ballot in seven states and from nationally televised debates with Gore & Bush could have produced a bitter book, but the book remains brightly optimistic, fed by the optimism and energy which he encountered on the campaign trail.
Rating: 
Summary: The Delusions of a Political Nut
Review: There’s something about running for President as a fringe candidate that seems to bring out the Inner Nut in just about everyone who tries it. Recent examples include Pat Buchanan, Ross Perot and Alan Keyes, and then there’s the granddaddy of them all, Harold Strassen, a once respectable Minnesota politician who went on to run for President a record nine times and in the process become a national laughingstock. Which brings us to Ralph Nader, whose book here recounts his 2nd run for the White House in 2000. First off, like the above named luminaries, Nader is so full of his own importance that he has basically lost touch with reality. He rails against the fact that he was not allowed in any of the debates. Well guess what? Neither were the Libertarian or Reform Party candidates. That’s what happens to you when you rate maybe 5% in the opinion polls. Even Perot was dropped from the ’96 debates when it was obvious he’d lost most of the support he had four years earlier. He also seems to be utterly clueless as to how democracy really works. He states that the final straw, which motivated him to run in ‘96, was when Bill Clinton signed a law ending the 55 mph speed limit, possibly the most disliked and least obeyed law since Prohibition. Which brings me to wonder: what part of “In a democracy, politicians generally tend to give the people what they want” don’t you understand, Ralph? It doesn’t matter. Nader is a classic elitist posing as a populist. He also resembles the conspiracy theory nuts in that he has an excuse for everything. Nothing is ever his fault, and if his ideas have not gained mainstream acceptance, it must be, in his own mental universe, because powerful interests have stacked the deck against him, not because he is simply wrong. For example, he rails against the lack of socialized medicine, failing to take into account that it was introduced by none other than Hillary Clinton, debated by both Houses of Congress (controlled by Democrats at the time), and ultimately rejected as being unworkable. There was no mysterious plot, no villainous conspiracies at work, just the basic give and take, debate and compromise, which makes a democracy work. This same head-in-the-clouds elitism pervades practically every page of this book. Nader wants a country where money has no influence in politics, business is regulated tighter than a Victorian era corset, where we have far less choice in what we buy, what we eat and drive, and in where everything he wants comes into being without anyone questioning his reasoning or his motives, completely oblivious (I hope) to the fact that only in a dictatorship could such results occur. Clearly we citizens are too dumb to decide what we want, and need “experts” like St. Ralph to save us from ourselves. Yes, Ralph, our own self anointed secular saint. It’s no wonder you never see the man smile, he’s too busy bearing all our burdens and crusading to bring Purity and Goodness to government to ever have a moment of fun. Unfortunately, such people usually make for lousy leaders, classic examples being Jimmy Carter and Oliver Cromwell. Fortunately, 98% of the American electorate seems to agree, since they voted for someone else. But the same things that make him impossible as a realistic Presidential candidate also make him entertaining to read. Most politicians write in a bland style that resembles fast food – mushy, insipid, and above all, one that gives offense to no one. Not Nader. He’s a one-man bundle of outrage and indignation. Kooky he may be, but boring he certainly is not!
Rating:
Summary: Dissappointing Results
Review: I had hoped Ralph would kick a little life into the last election. I was disappointed. As a member of the Green Party of Hawaii I hoped this book would kick some life into the Green Party and our politics. I was again disappointed.
The book is not worth the cost to buy it nor the time to read it. As many of Ralph's criticts pointed out during the election, he was running to support his own ego. He wrote this book for the same reason. His readers are subject to endless lists of names of people he had dinner with, mentions of famous stars who wasted money on his failed campaign and page after page of Ralph patting himself on the back for his dedication to what he calls "Peoples" issues.
That is another example of Ralph's tremendous ego getting in the way. He uses the word "People" to describe himself and his small group of friends as in "People want," this or that, "People should have control over" such and such.
Ralph has some good points and I agree with him on some issues but I hope he doesn't run again. He helps no one by writing a book that criticises and insults the media and the majority of American voters. With out them there is no future for the Green Party and no future for Ralph's next campaign.
Rating:
Summary: MUST READ
Review: Everyone needs to read this book! Ralph Nader describes the corruption of our political system and describes in great detail what really happened in the Presidential Campaign of 2000--it is chilling to find out how the media blacked out newsworthy information about Nader's campaign. It doesn't matter whether you are a Democrat, Republican, Green , or other---the information contained in this book transcends party lines--it is information that is vital to our democracy. Nader attracted crowds of 10,000 plus at his super rallies in Boston, Portland, New York, Washington, DC, etc. He attracted more people than Gore or Bush at their stump speeches---10,000 people is an amazing number for a third party candidate. The media had a responsibility to cover these rallies! Nader was also illegally barred from viewing the debates in Boston. He had a ticket to attend the viewing room, and he was illegally escorted out by police sent by the Debate Commission. He has filed a lawsuit against the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD). The CPD tried to have the case thrown out, but the judge felt that something was terribly amiss--the case is still pending. Shouldn't the media be telling us that a lawsuit has been filed against the Debate Commission??!! The League of Women Voters (the former sponsors of the debates) withdrew their sponsorship from the debates when the CPD stepped in, saying that the debates were a fraud and that they didn't want to be part of the hoodwinking of the american public. What's left of our Democracy is slowly dying. It is up to us as citizens, regardless of political party affiliation, to get involved and take back our government. This book is very disturbing, but what is more disturbing is the fact that the majority of Americans don't even know what is happening---corruption thrives in the dark--- everyone must read this book! As Nader said , "If you don't turn on to politics, politics will turn on you."
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding
Review: I voted for Nader in 2000 mostly out of disgust for the other two candidates. When I heard that he had a book out about the election I read it and learned more about the dishonest politital process that has become out democracy. Nader explains in great detail about why our political process turns off so many people that only half vote. He exposes the Commission for Presidential Debates as a scam to keep the two parties in power. This book has many great insites into how we have let our political process deteriorate into a choice for the least worst. The book may go down in the anals of history as equal to those of Ida Tarbel and Upton Sinclair.
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