Unsportsman of the Year Sidebar: Ralph Nader Wants as Much Ink as the Washington Nationals
While putting together a story about Mark and Ted Lerner's stunning, shock-the-world-y upset of Dan Snyder in City Paper's 2008 Unsportsman of the Year competition, I called Ralph Nader.
Nader is more than just a three-time third place finisher in presidential races. He is also a longtime voice of reason in debates about publicly financed stadiums.
In other words, Nader hates them all, including Nationals Park, which DC taxpayers gifted to the Lerners.
Nader told me the questions about the Lerners reminded him of a meeting he had with Fred Hiatt, editorial page editor of the Washington Post.
Nader had asked for the pow-wow to complain about the lack of coverage DC's paper of record had given his latest presidential run.
"I'm sitting with the Post's editors, and I said, 'Fred, why aren't you covering my campaign? Your paper has given me two articles in seven months!'" Nader said, chuckling. "So Fred looks at me and says, 'Ralph, it's because you can't win!' So I said, 'Then why are you covering the Nationals?'"
Hiatt's response?
"Fred just smiled," Nader says. "He knew I had him."
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1:42 pm
When you explain why you ignore the racist name- Washington Redskins- or why college players who generate millions for their institutions are treated as slave labor, I'll take your blog seriously. P.S. I've treated both of these subjects in Counterpunch, but you cover
the place where the first African-American President in history will soon govern. Must Obama speak to these subjects, before you notice them?
1:57 pm
steveconn:
what the hell are you talking about? did you dial the wrong number?
3:16 pm
Too bad there wasn't a three-way tie - the cheap-ass Lerner family, Danny "Punky" Snider, & Abe Pollin.
DC pro sports stink. Nats stink, "Redskins" stink, & "Wizards" aka BULLETS all stink big time.
The Lerners are just cheap bastards, even though they got a $611 million welfare payment [aka the new stadium] the DC taxpayers gave them to sue]. Snider - he couldn't even win in a fantasy league; he's just stupid. Abe - his time passed about 30 years ago, & after kicking Michael Jordon to the curb, he's just become even more daft. Anyone who gives zillions of dollars to Gilbert Arenas needs to have his head examined.
The Capitals are fairly good, but hockey's just not a big-time sport in the US of A. DC United stinks, but soccer is even less big-time than hockey. & women's soccer will be back - maybe - still time to cancel the season like the Arena Football League just did.
6:18 pm
Ralph can be extremely funny sometimes. His witty sense of humor is often lost in the angry political frays he gets involved in.
6:30 pm
I enjoyed this story more when I read it in the Politico back in September.
8:21 pm
Nader's got a wicked sense of humor.
Then again, he'd *have* to have one to keep working his tail off for the rights of uninformed boobs who have no clue of how much he's done for them in the last 40 years.