Nader to Speak after Cheney Addresses Students at BYU
SALT LAKE CITY - Ralph Nader says his invitation from students at a conservative, Mormon Church-owned university to speak on the same day that the vice president gives the school’s commencement address reflects increasing opposition to the Iraq war. Nader has accepted an invitation to speak at Brigham Young University on Thursday evening after Vice President Dick Cheney addresses graduates. The event’s organizers say they oppose Cheney’s actions as part of the Bush administration and want to offer an alternative voice. 
“It’s really quite encouraging to see BYU students stand tall and assert themselves in ways they will long remember and respect after they graduate,” Nader said Tuesday.
“I think it reflects a massive public opposition to a war that was initiated on false pretenses.”
Nader said he plans to talk about government accountability and foreign policy.
The speech is open to the public, but he said that some of his words will be aimed specifically at students.
Nader said that students need to take themselves more seriously as emerging civic leaders to advance causes of justice “that have been ignored, marginalized and severely damaged by the domination of corporate power in America.”
When the school announced that Cheney would give the commencement speech, several faculty members and students objected.
Critics of the decision question whether Cheney sets a good example for graduates, citing his promotion of faulty intelligence before the Iraq war and his role in the CIA leak scandal.
The vice president’s office has said his speech will not be political.
Nader is skeptical.
“He’s not going to miss this opportunity to espouse his support for the war,” Nader said.
Nader is scheduled to speak at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at the McKay Events Center on the neighboring campus of Utah Valley State College in Orem. Cheney is delivering his remarks at 4 p.m. at the Marriott Center on the BYU campus in Provo.
Organizers of the Nader event have said they scheduled it later so students who wished to attend commencement can make both.
The school’s College Democrats have already held a sit-in style protest on campus, and are scheduled to hold a second protest from noon to 2 p.m. Thursday. Other groups are planning pro-Cheney rallies and anti-war protests throughout the day.
Nader is longtime consumer advocate and political activist notable in recent years for his presidential runs as a Green Party and independent candidate.
Copyright 2007 Associated Press
nice job kids of BYU- go get em mr nader - hahahaa cheney is a fool - a big dumb smirking dope -
I hope CSPAN will cover this address because otherwise it probably will be shut out of the electronic media.
Yes you are so right . . . We will need to watch this and see what happens. I certainly haven’t seen anything in the media about the opposition to Cheney and this is really saying a lot for the students at BYU. I really love this line . . . “The Vice President’s Office has said His Speech Will Not be Political.”
Can anyone find a tv or web listing? I’d like to watch it, please.
So the White House is concerned about somebody being tortured and now Cheney will say nothing political. Why does Bush & Co. even bother to talk? They make no effort to be credible.
Cheney is a dangerous anti-democrat. Every time he opens his mouth lies emerge. Nader will trump him easily.
cordovarancho April 25th, 2007 1:28 pm
“Nader for President(’08).”
Nader-Kucinich for President 2008
because lesser-evilism still leaves us with evil
I hope Nader sits squarely in the front row when Cheney speaks! He should then squish every lie of Cheney’s in his own speech! Oh, what fun!
If someone finds videos posted online, please let us know! I’d hate to miss this!
For anyone interested, here’s a great Democracy Now! interview with Amy Goodman in which Ralph talks about the film “An Unreasonable Man,” his new book “The Seventeen Traditions,” and of course a little politics and George W.
My favorite quote:
AMY GOODMAN: Ralph Nader, your father used to ask you, “What did you learn in school today?”
RALPH NADER: Yeah. One day I went home and in the backyard, and he said, “Ralph, what did you learn in school today? Did you learn how to believe or did you learn how to think?”
Another event I remember in the backyard — a beautiful spring day, my parents were there with my siblings — and my mother said, “How much is a dozen eggs?” We knew all the prices, because we were restauranteurs’ children. And so, she said, “How much is a bushel of apples? How much is a pound of butter?” And then she stopped and she looked up, and she said, “Nice cool breeze, isn’t it? How much is that? What’s that sunshine worth? Look at those birds. Hear those birds singing those beautiful songs. What price should we put on that?” That really at an early age taught me that there are certain things that should be never for sale. And [that], in our democracy, elections should never be for sale. Politicians should never be for sale….”
Oops, I forgot:
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/02/05/1532248&mode=thread&tid=25
I was warned years ago about people who speak out of the sides of their mouths of not being honest.
Just watch Cheney the next time he speaks and you will understand.
He couldn’t tell you the truth if his life depended on it.
Bless you, Ralph. Please stop running for president, but continue being America’s best watch dog!
“Critics of the decision question whether Cheney sets a good example for graduates, citing his promotion of faulty intelligence before the Iraq war and his role in the CIA leak scandal.”
This is priceless, Cheney is also a twice convicted drunk driver, Isn’t drunk driving a felony in Utah? It is in most states. A convicted felon giving the commencement address at BYU, PRICELESS!!.
i’ve never admired BYU this much before.
Too bad those people have to sit through the BIG DICK’s boring, droll, death laced, bumbling BS. Amazing he is crawling out of his “bunker” for some college kids, what about the rest of america? He is afraid of the rest of us, he knows how well armed we all are. thats right, why should we sit and watch JFK, MLK, and Robert Kennedy go down while these mass murdering, planet destroying pigs get to walk around with a big grin on their sick faces?
Will Ralph ever admit he cost Gore the White House? I doubt it, but he does say some good things other than self-denials.
What I find most interesting is that BYU, the Mormon religion’s official university, and arguably the reddest core of the Republican’s conservative religious right, is showing signs of doubt. Think of the many feet of intellectual concrete covering that dogma-bunker, and the nuclear-sized blunder it took to shake it.
Mr. Nader, to his son Ralph as he arrived home from school:
“Son, did you learn to believe, or did you learn how to think?”
I hope someday that phrase gets printed on the cover of the Holy Bible. What a different world it would be.
———
My thanks to bildad, for his post, above, containing Mr. Nader’s question to his son. That one deserves a special place in my heart.
Ralph did not cost Gore the White House. First of all, Gore ran a pitiful campaign. Everyone I know who voted for him held their nose. Second, Bush was stealing that election no matter what. When Gore was ahead on election night in Florida, the cameras cut the the Bush family (pere mere et fils)all sitting in front of the TV and smiling so smugly I knew it was rigged.
What I keep wondering is why the Dems keep ending up with the most unelectable Presidential candidates that can be found. They are unattractive to voters, they run lousy campaigns, and they make stealing the election a cakewalk for the Republicans.
Ralph’s not a politician, but he has integrity. I’ll vote for him if the Dems dump Dennis. The only other two politicians I’ve seen with integrity were Wellstone, who was assassinated and Barry Goldwater, who I’d never vote for even though I respected him. As for the rest of them, follow the money.
Excuse me, that was “cut to the Bush family”
miamullet
nader diod not cost gore the white house. first of all, gore won the popular vote, and would have won the electoral vote had the supreme court not intervened.
secondly, and in my view, more importantly, if gore wanted nader’s voters then he should have put what nader offered as some of the planks in the democrats platform. i voted for nader happily in 2000 nad would do so again. to blame that election on nader is a) to play into the very hands you seem to want deliverance from, and b) to accept some received ideas and not think the issue out for yourself. both of these are dangerous and if any are to blame besides the lying sack of shit bush is to blame for the 2000 election, it is them who dont think for themselves and play into the hands of the enemy. and they are the enemy.
well two things, pardon the scrambled last sentence above and the repetitious chastisement re: nader costing gore the white house.
Of course this story was written by the main stream media,
so there was no mention that the money for the venue and speakers came
from the netroots community with just several days notice.
This story also failed to mention that the organizing students have been
blacklisted from jobs by some local organization.
Yes. It’s good to remind people that Gore did not lose in 2000. Gore “lost” because of voter fraud and the Supreme Court appointment of Shrub. I wish Gore had put up a real fight, though. There may not be much difference between the Repugnicans and the Democrats, but let’s face it, the country would not be in this abyss if Gore had taken office. We would not be having “debates” over whether or not torture is an acceptable interrogation technique, or whether “only” 30,000 Iraqi civilians have died, or is it 650,000. I don’t blame Nader, though, because he has always remained true to his principles and won’t compromise.
Anyway, I remember hearing Nader speak at UCLA in the early 70s and thought that this is someone who should lead the country. He was an inspiring speaker and singlehandedly took on major corporations before anyone else even had a clue.
Dear miamullet:
This is such OLD NEWS, but you really should do some of your own research rather than regurgitating the old canard put out by the Democratic Party Slander and Scapegoat Machine. The real reasons Gore “lost” the election were: (1) voters who were disenfranchised (mostly people of color); (2) voting systems and procedures that failed (by design, perhaps?); (3) the party-line United States Supreme Court vote declaring George W. Bush the winner; and (4) Democrats who voted for Bush or not at all. Al Gore was a lackluster candidate who ran a poor campaign. Even Gore himself doesn’t believe that Nader cost him the election–so why do you think you know more about it than HE does? The truth is that Gore WON the election and he would have been installed as president if he had demanded a FULL recount.
Just to remind you where Nader coming from here’s a bit from his Wikipedia profile: “Issues he has promoted include consumer rights, feminism, humanitarianism, environmentalism, and democratic government. Nader has also been a critic of American foreign policy in recent decades, which he views as corporatist, imperialist, and contrary to the fundamental values of democracy and human rights.”
Think about this: Ralph Nader has done more for the health and welfare of the American people than any of the candidates in the race so far, and he has been right on the issues all along from 2000 until today. From the time you get into your car in the morning, until you go to work, eat dinner and take a breath of fresh(-er)air, you should be thanking Nader for improving your quality of life and the quality of our government institutions. Think about it. What would your life be like without the: Occupational Health and Safety Administration, Environmental Protection Agency, Consumer Product Safety Commission, Safe Drinking Water Act, National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act,the Freedom of Information Act, Mine Health and Safety Act, Wholesome Meat Act, Whistle Blower Protection Act, Consumer Credit, Disclosure Law, Pension Protection Act, food labeling, no-smoking sections and reduced auto insurance rates to mention a few. Nader was the driving force–some would say “primary force”–behind all of these things.
You have probably also been the beficiary of the work done by the many public interest groups he has founded, including Public Citizen, Congress Watch, Global Trade Watch, Critical Mass Energy Project and Democracy Rising, among others. And whether you realize it or not, his contribution to the growth and platform of the Green Party is helping to open the political system to other parties with widely diverse views who have been excluded from participation in our system by the two corporate duopolist parties.
Now tell me, what have Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John Edwards or Joe Biden done in their public lives to deserve your respect and support (besides sucking up mountains of corporate cash)? Even longtime Congressman Dennis Kucinich, whose political views are very close to Nader’s, can’t match Nader’s record of dedication and achievement. If by some miracle, Kucinich gets the nomination, there will be an authentic progressive in the race, but if not, who can we turn to to represent our views? If Nader runs in 2008 I’d vote for him again in a heartbeat. I think he’d make a great president. Why won’t you give him another chance and check out who he really is and what he stands for instead of beating the dead old horse of 2000? That was then, this is NOW.
P.S. Satyanand, do you have any details about this blacklisting business? I’d like to hear more (so would Ralph, I’d guess).
“Will Ralph ever admit he cost Gore the White House? I doubt it, but he does say some good things other than self-denials.”
I think the Nader bashing needs to end. He wasn’t a factor. It was election fraud that got Dubbya installed. Nader had every right to run.
I was mad at Nader for a time also, and I regret that. I was a coward and didn’t vote for him since I was afraid it would get Bush (s)elected. Until I realized that Nader is a truer Democrat than either Gore or the Clintons could ever dream of being.
If he runs, this time he will definitely get my vote. If it gets a Republican elected, then so be it. The Dems need to prove that there’s more than a nickel’s difference between them and the Republicans, and so far, they aren’t showing me much.
Bildad, I heartily agree. Shakespeare understood–and it’s often a fundament of history and literature–that often it is only the fool who can tell the king the truth. And sometimes truth can only be conveyed through fiction. In 2000 I wrote a screenplay based on a surreptitious group of scientists cloning the first human and choosing RALPH NADER so that a supernatural force to stand up against global corporate capitalism without conscience would be established. I like to say “I cloned Nader” as a half-joke. If we COULD clone someone (presuming the soul was not a separate entity and all the “intelligence was in the genes”) can you think of anyone better for THIS century? Wish we COULD duplicate the man in word, deed and dedicated action… what a different planet if HE was leader of the free world!
Nader has always been a cut above the rest.
ejmurphy414 April 25th, 2007 4:10 pm
“”"”"Bless you, Ralph. Please stop running for president, but continue being America’s best watch dog!”"”"”
Hypocrite
Coward
corporate lap dog (whether you know it or not)
Cheney prevailed upon BYU to “invite” him to speak. In other words, he invited himself — just as he chose himself to be Bush’s VP back in 2000. (You may recall that he was head of Bush’s VP selection committee.)
Nader, by contrast, did not invite himself. He was invited by BYU students.
Of course he invited himself — they can’t have Nader stealing Romney’s base!
I will look for the c-span coverage of Nader’s speech. I am hoping that the film about Nader will be coming to a theater near me, or that I can soon purchase the DVD. Nader affirms my faith in the inherent goodness of humanity.
Why is everything in the US so black or white? Why you can not accept a multi party system and respect the man who stands for things that none of your “big names” would ever do.
I am no fan of Mr. Nader, but for me, he sounds much more honest and respectful than any of the “leaders” of your country.
So why are people so hateful against him? Just because he believes in a multi party system and believe in his democratic right to fight for what he believes?
Instead of hate him and fight him, you should save your energy to safeguard your democracy and create a system where interest groups can not control your votes or your “elected” officials.
/Farhad
bildad,the fundraising efforts to rent an alternative hall,and pay the speaker for the alternative commencement, came from the bloggers at Dailly Kos .It was an amazing grassroots support from a mostly democratic site that still has some members harboring resentment towards Ralph.Real grassroots fundraising at it’s best!I am proud to have witnessed the effort.Peace
Thank you Mr. Nader for the good you have done, but we cannot thank you for helping to put George Bush Jr. in the White House. And you most definently did!
Republicans or Democrats . . . The difference in minor I have made the decision and am moving on. I’ll try the Libertarian Party. I’m tired of butting my head against a wall. I’ll try another wall . . . at least for a while. Voting for the “Lesser of Two Evils” has run its course. I’ll at least be voting for something that I can agree with . . . I hope
There’s not much I can add to the ‘Nader cost Gore the election’ debate except that in November of 2001, several US newspapers ran the story (buried deep in the paper) that had a recount been conducted according to Florida law (the one the Supreme Court stopped), Gore would have been president.
Also, I was receiving emails from the Nader campaign in 2001. Weeks before the election they were telling voters is ‘battleground’ states such as Florida to vote for Gore over Bush. Only in ’safe’ Gore states did they ask voters to cast a ballot for Nader in order to start a viable third party alternative to the corporately-controlled DLC Democrats.
BTW, the ‘Republican Lite’ Democratic Leadership Council Dems, of which Hillary is a member in good standing, blamed Nader for Gore’s loss as a way to excuse their own weakness and Gore’s horribly-run campaign. They should have gone after the Bush neocons, not Ralph Nader.
As Hunter S. Thompson wrote in “The Fix is In,” Nov. 27, 2000:
“There was one exact moment, in fact, when I knew for sure that Al Gore would Never be President of the United States, no matter what the experts were saying — and that was when the whole Bush family suddenly appeared on TV and openly scoffed at the idea of Gore winning Florida. It was Nonsense, said the Candidate, Utter nonsense… Anybody who believed Bush had lost Florida was a Fool. The Media, all of them, were Liars & Dunces or treacherous whores trying to sabotage his victory… Here was the whole bloody Family laughing & hooting & sneering at the dumbness of the whole world on National TV. The old man was the real tip-off. The leer on his face was almost frightening. It was like looking into the eyes of a tall hyena with a living sheep in its mouth. The sheep’s fate was sealed, and so was Al Gore’s.”
I saw on TV the scary scene Thompson described here and he was absolutely right. Junior was going to be president unless millions of armed Democrats headed to Florida. The theft had been carefully planned for some time (see the notorious butterfly ballots, intimidation of the media and the GOP operatives harassing the vote counters), and the Rove Bushites would not be denied.
Back to the topic of this article, isn’t it amazing how much this country has changed just since 2004?
When a lily-white college in the most conservative state in the nation has hundreds of students protesting Cheney’s speech (according to MSNBC), you know we are far along in a shift to the progressive side and away from the Big Business plutocrat-Republicans on a scale that hasn’t been seen since FDR was elected in 1932.
A shame this phrase won’t be tattooed on Deadeye Dick’s forehead when he speaks to the BYU students:
“I do not think the United States wants to have U.S. military forces accept casualties and accept the responsibility of trying to govern Iraq… I think it makes no sense at all.”
– Dick Cheney on ABC’s This Week with David Brinkley, April 7, 1991.
Unfortunately, Nader will be tasked with this chore:
“We have now sunk to a depth at which the restatement of the obvious is the first duty of intelligent men.”
– George Orwell
And, to add to Orwell, intelligent women.
I don’t know about TV but the audio for the alternative commencement will be live streamed from:
http://byualternativecommencement.com
I have never heard of any one being blacklisted, and I own more than one company in happy valley. Is Satyanand an affiliate of Cheney? Someone’s spreading rumors….
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joe-vogel/local-businesses-monitor-_b_46760.html
“Now BYU Alternative Commencement has received an email from a local businesswoman named Denise Harman, who claims that all BYU students participating in activities against Dick Cheney are being tracked by local businesses. “Many businesses are noting the names involved,” she says.”
Worth repeating: “Will Ralph ever admit he cost Gore the White House? I doubt it, but he does say some good things other than self-denials.” (by miamullet)
The following is a message I tried to post to the website of the BYU alternative commencement organizers. When I submitted it, my internet connection died, I received an alert from my anti-virus program, that it encountered an error. My internet connection closed, and I was forced to reboot. I ran a virus scan. No luck, it wouldn’t even open.
After almost two hours of trying to get back online, I kind of succeeded. I tried to get to my gmail account to send the message to their direct email addresses, but it wouldn’t open either. However, I was able to get to the commondreams website, hoping I could post it here. It took forever to load on a high-speed line. Crashed again. Reboot again. Finally got on, again after a very uncharacteristically long load time.
Any way, I’m finally on. Here is what I wrote to them. I hope it posts. I’ll try to send it to them tomorrow. It’s now after 4AM, and I have to work later today.
Here you go:
——————————————————————————————————
Dear BYU alternative commencement organizers,
YAAAAAAAY!!!!!
I was there at the Military Families Speak Out table. I also produced the red and black “chickenhawk” posters displayed at the east end of the lobby. I gave copies to organizers, Nader, and a couple others. They’re all signed originals. They took a while to make. I’m glad they were appreciated.
Having studied Political Science/International Relations and Security at the U of U, I was well aware of issues leading up to 911, and was most afraid on that day of what the Bush/Cheney cabal would do with it.
Yes, Cheney is a liar- over and over again… and still…
This actually makes me proud of my Mormon heritage. You got back to basics. I’ve been pretty jaded on it, even contemptuous of it for the last 15+ years.
You inspired a lot of people today. Our common future is blessed by your courage and conviction. Thank you.
For the record: Everyone should read “The Grand Chessboard: US Geostrategic Imperatives in the 21st Century”, authored by former U.S. National Security Advisor Zbigniev Brziznski in 1997 (again 1997) to see the real reasons why the Bush cabal did what it did after 911.
You should also read “Strengthening America’s Defenses” by the neocon Project For a New American Century (of which Cheney, Rumsfeld, et al, were members and signatories), published in 2000 (pre-911), to see how they applied the strategy of taking Afghanistan and Iraq for reasons not disclosed to the American public- specifically, taking control of the world’s “last” viable sources of oil- and the strategic territories of Central Asia (Afghanistan) and the Persian Gulf (Iraq).
It’s about control of the world’s oil supply and of strategic territories from which they could “finish” the global chess game- i.e. conquering the world by force.
I applaud BYU students for standing up to Dick Cheney from the bottom of my heart. I actually got choked up listening to the students speak.
To those courageous students: You are “the change (you) hope to see in the world”.
I stole that line from Gandhi. Take it to heart and proceed. You did very well today.
…and only three weeks to pull it all off. You rock!!
Again, great job. I know that you know what you’re up against.
Sincerely,
Pete Litster
PS: When Bush came to Salt Lake to speak to the Veterans of Foreign Wars in August 2005, we pulled of a large and historic protest with only 5 days lead-time. I hosted the opening meeting and the “after party”. I know some of the pain experienced when these guys come to town.