The Spoiler Factor? Ralph Nader Responds

This is a partial transcript from "The O'Reilly Factor," Oct. 15, 2004, that has been edited for clarity.

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TONY SNOW, GUEST HOST:  Our top story tonight: Will the spoiler factor be in play  on November 2?  Yes, we're talking about Ralph Nader.  He's running for the  presidency as an independent. He's on the ballot in more than 30 states, including nine where the numbers show Bush and Kerry in a virtual dead  heat.  He's been struck from the ballot in some states, but vows to stay in the race.  He's the author of "The Good Fight" and he joins us now from  Washington.

Mr. Nader thanks for joining us.

RALPH NADER (I), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE:  You're welcome, Tony.

SNOW:  I want to get your reaction to a piece written in "Newsday"  this week by Donna Brazile, who helped run the Gore campaign in 2000.  She  says that you were the beneficiary of Republican dirty tricks, and adds why  doesn't Nader disavow the dirty tricks?  And why can't he see the reasons  why Republicans have jumped into his political bed after despising  everything he's worked for all his life?  "The man we all once admired,"  she writes, "is behaving like those he's always blasted, sacrificing  principle for political gain."  Your response?

NADER:  All right, almost anything goes in politics, Tony.  Here's  Donna Brazile, a veteran Democrat, part of the Democratic Party, that's  hiring Republican lawyers like Ken Starr's firm, Kirkland and Ellis, in  Ohio to get us off the ballot.  And they have poured millions of dollars in  phony lawsuits in dozens of courtrooms.  And we're fighting back and have  won eight out of nine state supreme court decisions.

But imagine Donna Brazile writing something like that when Reverend  Jesse Jackson told me weeks ago that the Democratic Party was not actively  registering nine million African-American voters, 90 percent of whom vote  for the Democrats and could swing the swing states.

Too much scapegoating, too much fabrication, especially by Terry  McAuliffe, who says our campaign's backed by corporate backers.  I mean,  this guy is talking about corporate backers?  He's marinated in corporate  money.

SNOW:  Look, well, needless to say there's no love lost between you  and the Democratic Party right now mainly because they're afraid you're  going to cost their guy the victory.  Do you think you might deprive John  Kerry a chance to become the next president of the U.S.?

NADER:  No, I've been going around the country, going after George W.  Bush, who's marinated in oil, all right?  And...

SNOW:  This is the marinating theme tonight.  Go ahead.

NADER:  Yes, that's right.  I mean, the Democrats, I don't know what's  wrong with them.  They've become so decadent.  They've been losing, losing  for the last 10 years at the local, state and national levels to the worst  of the Republicans.  And they don't introspect and say what have we been  doing wrong?

I want, for example, some focus on George W. Bush when he was on the  board of directors and the audit committee of Harkin Energy in Texas, sold  his stock before the stock plummeted, which is of course the theme of the  lot of Enron type corporate crime fraud and abuse that has drained  trillions of dollars in the last five years, small investors, pension  holders, 401K holders and workers.

SNOW:  OK.

NADER:  And the SEC, Tony, has not done a complete investigation of  George W. Bush's role in Harkin Energy.

SNOW:  OK.

NADER:  That's the real issue.

SNOW:  Harkin Energy's a real issue.  I want to get a little more  contemporary.  There are also a lot of fears of vote fraud going  on right  now.  You've heard about it.  Do you think either -- which party right now  is the worst offender in your opinion and also your experience?

NADER:  Well, I think the Republicans are the worst offender in   getting voters off the rolls.  And the Democrats are the worst offender in  getting competing candidates off the ballot line, namely the Nader-Camejo  ticket.

So they're both culpable.  You know, Tony, our election machinery's in  a mess.  You have electronic voting machines in states where there's no  paper trail.  You have voters being disenfranchised, precinct addresses  being switched at the last minute, people designated as ex-felons just  because their names are similar and stripped of the right to vote.

I'm trying to make this a major issue in America, trying to deepen the  substance of the presidential campaign and raise its tone.  And all these  politicians are engaged in trivia and gossip and vicious...

SNOW:  Well, no, wait, wait, wait.  You've got these guys having a  pretty spirited debate on taxes, on regulation, on Iraq.  You say you want  to get the United States out of Iraq in six months.  How do you do that  without putting at risk the lives of people in Iraq right now?  And  furthermore, without running the risk that the rest of the world's going to  look at us and say there they go again.  They're bailing out, they've  chickened out, they're fair game for us once more?

NADER:  Well, if you look at our Web site, votenader.org, you'll see.   And let me summarize.  Six months responsible withdrawal, preceded by  internationally supervised elections in order to get rid of a puppet regime  that's trending toward dictatorship with our military support.

SNOW:  Whoa, whoa, wait, wait...

NADER:  Let me put it on the plate.  Getting our oil companies out of  there and getting international peacekeepers who will come in from nearby  Islamic countries and other neutral countries if they know there is an exit  deadline.

If we want to get the mainstream Iraqis, Tony, to distance themselves,  and knock the bottom out of the resistance, we've got to give them their  country back.  Otherwise, it's civil war, it's a quagmire, it's another  Vietnam.

SNOW:  Well, I hate to tell you this, but it sounds like you're  endorsing what is going to happen in January already, which is there are  going to be free elections.  We've seen news in this week in Fallujah that  finally the Iraqis have said, you know what?  We've had it with you guys.   And there's a good chance that the key of the  resistance is going to be  knocked out of Fallujah.  I don't know.  It sounds to me like you're  endorsing the Bush policy?

NADER:  No, I don't think so.  I don't think you can have free  elections under military domination.  They have to be internationally  supervised elections.

SNOW:  But these are -- these are going to be supervised by the U.N.   That's part of the deal.

NADER:  Well, not when the puppet regime people are running with our  military backing.  But we can argue about this.  But you just  mentioned  that the -- that Kerry and Bush are talking about real things?  The reason  why they're so close in the polls is because they're so similar on so many  issues.  They both support the Patriot Act.  They both support untouching  the bloated military budget.  They both are saying drive to victory in  Iraq.  They both are the same page on Israel-Palestine, supporting the  Israeli government instead of the deep and broad Israeli peace movement.

SNOW:  OK.  Finally, just tell me quickly, who's going to win? Bush or  Kerry?

NADER:  I have no idea.  All I know is I'm trying to go around the  country so that the people can win, so that we break up the two-party  system.

SNOW:  All right.

NADER:  We have cleaner and more competitive elections,  which is what  the good fight is all about.  You got to read it, Tony.

SNOW:  I'm going read it.  Ralph Nader, as always, thanks.

NADER:  Thank you, Tony.

SNOW:  Next on the rundown, anti-Kerry Vietnam vets reignite their  campaign against the senator.  They're doing it in some big swing states  and we're going to tell you how.

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