Althouse: Ralph!

February 24, 2008

Ralph!

Ralph Nader throws his funny hat in the ring.

33 comments:

Fritz J. said...: Gee, if Ralph lives long enough he may even pass Harold Stassen in runs for president.; 2/24/08, 9:14 AM
Roger J. said...: Go Ralph--you narcissitic doofus! What a piece of crap.; 2/24/08, 9:26 AM
From Inwood said...: zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz; 2/24/08, 9:30 AM
Freeman Hunt said...: The Democratic platforms aren't liberal enough for him this year? How can that possibly be? They're practically socialist as is. What else does he want to give away at taxpayer expense?; 2/24/08, 9:42 AM
MTfromCC said...: We all know the sound of one hand clapping. Another man who has allowed unrestrained self-absorption and egomania get in the way of a truly great legacy. Now he is just another narcisstic hack. Sad.; 2/24/08, 9:55 AM
From Inwood said...: The candidate formerly known as relevant.; 2/24/08, 9:59 AM
George M. Spencer said...: Is that headline a euphemism?; 2/24/08, 10:02 AM
amba said...: Ha ha, George! That should be his slogan.; 2/24/08, 10:16 AM
AllenS said...: He needs to beg the American people for foregiveness. He was instrumental in the demise of the Corvair, a really cool car. They had a suspension that could be used for Prince's hip, if they still made them.; 2/24/08, 10:28 AM
former law student said...: What fritz said. Ralph is trivializing his legacy. His persistence in running when he's not been called makes him a buffoon.

The original Corvair was unsafe. GM took a calculated risk that the cheap-ass suspension was OK, much as Ford did when they decided the Pinto's fuel tank installation was OK. Unfortunately for Ford, plaintiffs discovered their cost-benefit analysis of lives saved vs. production costs.

After Nader's expose, GM upgraded the Corvair's suspension, and it was a great little car the last three years in production.; 2/24/08, 10:47 AM
AllenS said...: No car is safe. Prince wouldn't be able to make his moves, with the upgraded suspension.; 2/24/08, 10:52 AM
Christy said...: Russert spent a long time with him this morning. Predictable and Boring.; 2/24/08, 10:56 AM
former law student said...: No car is safe.

True, but that didn't justify the razor blade steering wheel on the Machismo Motors Death-O-Matic.

Out of many possible alternative designs, GM picked an unreasonably dangerous one.; 2/24/08, 11:07 AM
AllenS said...: How do you know all of this stuff, that you take to be true? Did you own one? Did you know someone that was killed in one? Mind if I ask how old you are?; 2/24/08, 11:22 AM
Paul said...: I remember a famous race car driver, maybe A.J. Foyt?....excoriating Nader for an undeserved hit job on the Corvair. He thought it was a great design and Nader unfairly slammed it in a bid for national attention for himself.

My father had a Corsa four speed with a full compliment of gauges and a six cylinder engine with four single barrel Weber carbs. I learned to drive a stick in that car. It was a very cool ride and handled great. Ralph Nader is an ass.; 2/24/08, 11:35 AM
former law student said...: wikipedia has a succinct explanation of the Corvair design flaw.

The 1960–1963 Corvairs had a rear engine and a suspension design which was prone to "tuck under" in certain circumstances and which required drivers to maintain proper tire pressures which were outside of the tire manufacturer's recommended tolerances for the tire. The tires had an unusually high front:rear differential (15psi front, 26psi rear, when cold; 18 psi and 30psi hot). The tire pressures were more critical than for most contemporaneous designs, but this was not made explicitly clear to salespeople or owners. According to the standards laid down by the Tire and Rim Association, the relevant industry body, the pressures also rendered the tires overloaded when there were two or more passengers on board. An unadvertised at-cost option (#696) included upgraded springs and dampers, front anti-roll bars and rear axle rebound straps to prevent tuck-under.

My aunt had a '60 Corvair that swapped ends on her. But she lived to buy a Mustang. May I ask what the air pressure is in each tire of the car you principally drive?; 2/24/08, 11:43 AM
former law student said...: Paul, I congratulate your father on buying the redesigned Corvair. (The Corsa came out in 1965.) Ralph Nader's expose perhaps saved his (and your) life.; 2/24/08, 11:45 AM
Steven said...: Every decision made with an automobile is a trade-off between cost and safety. There are five hundred things that would only cost twenty bucks to make somewhat safer . . . the trouble is that the car would be $10,000 more expensive if you got all of them. So engineers sit down and try to work out what the best compromise is. And then "consumer advocates" and trial lawyers carp at them years after the fact when it turns out that one of those 500 things would have saved a few lives for "only $20".; 2/24/08, 11:46 AM
AllenS said...: Heavy emphasis on student.; 2/24/08, 12:03 PM
rhhardin said...: It's Ralph's vote for next time. If they don't do what he wants, he'll siphon off some Dem votes so they lose.

It actually just cancels out net voter fraud and makes it fair.; 2/24/08, 12:16 PM
somefeller said...: Ralph Nader is the Alan Keyes of the Left.; 2/24/08, 12:19 PM
Paul said...: "Paul, I congratulate your father on buying the redesigned Corvair. (The Corsa came out in 1965.) Ralph Nader's expose perhaps saved his (and your) life."

Oh please Mr. Drama Queen. The Corvair was discontinued because of Nader's hit job. Meanwhile VW bugs were ubiquitous and if any car was a rolling death trap....

Ralph Nader is a narcissistic buffoon. No wonder you love him.; 2/24/08, 12:50 PM
George M. Spencer said...: Edward J. Hock invented the safety belt first used by the Ford Motor Company as standard equipment, while he was on active duty with the military as a flight instructor. In 1955 his idea was accepted by the naval authorities, and Hock was awarded $20.50 for his invention. The original schematic and blueprints shows that he utilized scrap parachute strapping to implement his idea. He was never awarded anything other than the $20.50 award, a letter of recognition, a picture with military "brass", and a newspaper article to his credit.

....sez wiki; 2/24/08, 1:10 PM
Simon said...: I think it's an awfully decent thing for him to do, and I wish him a great deal of luck and success. Go Ralph! What was that term Lenin had for such people? "Useful idiots"?

Paul said...
"VW bugs were ubiquitous and if any car was a rolling death trap...."

But that was Bumblebee!; 2/24/08, 1:15 PM
JohnAnnArbor said...: I saw three Corvairs while on an internship in LA in 1996. One had a bumper sticker saying "Recall Nader."; 2/24/08, 2:05 PM
Peter V. Bella said...: If I am not mistaken, after the Corvair was discontinued, all of Naders investigative accusations were disproved. The Corvair was deemed a safe vehicle and those that kept them did not have any more accidents or safety problems than any other car manufactured during that time.

Nader lied, Corvairs died.; 2/24/08, 3:33 PM
blake said...: Seven years after the publication of Unsafe at Any Speed, a definitive study by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration — the very agency Nader's book conjured into existence — concluded, in July 1972, that contrary to Nader's charges, the '60-'63 Chevrolet Corvair models were at least as safe as comparable models of other cars sold in the same period. The study also found, after extensive tests of the '63 Corvair and five other compact cars of various makes, that Corvair's handling in sharp turns was no more dangerous that that of other cars and did not result in abnormal potential loss of control. NHTSA concluded that the available accident data indicated that the rollover rate of the '60-63 Corvair was comparable to those of other light domestic cars.; 2/24/08, 5:20 PM
blake said...: That said, I encourage Nader to run.

As Penn Gillette said, "When you vote for the lesser of two evils, things just get more evil."; 2/24/08, 5:21 PM
john said...: IIRC, I remember seeing more than one Corvair with its rear engine on the pavement, and not for repairs. I thought the "unsafe at any speed" meant that the car could, at any time, drop its engine on the highway and create a potentially lethal situation for the vehicles following.

But anyway, Go Ralph! The Rovain hand reaches out and again plucks Nader out of retirement to screw up the Dem. vote count in November.; 2/24/08, 8:30 PM
Simon Kenton said...: You can bitch and moan all you like, you unrepentant Corvair lovers, and I'm not without sympathy - if you mastered the sudden oversteer it was a fine car. But when you get right down to it, he could have snuffed a dozen Corvairs, and would still be assessed by history as one of the greatest patriots of his times. You just can't take it away from him - he performed about the highest and greatest service for his country that any man could have, in 2000.; 2/24/08, 8:43 PM
Trumpit said...: Areas of particular concern to Nader are consumer rights, humanitarianism, environmentalism, and democratic government. -Wikipedia

The right-wing knuckleheads around here don't like any of those things. Losers every one of you.; 2/24/08, 9:26 PM
Peter V. Bella said...: Areas of particular concern to Nader are consumer rights, humanitarianism, environmentalism, and democratic government. -Wikipedia

The right-wing knuckleheads around here don't like any of those things. Losers every one of you.

Bovine Excrement. Areas of particular concern to Nader are making money in the stock market. The guy is a Capitalist with a capital C. he is another Hillary Clinton. All talk but show me the money. He is a liar and a hypocrite. He has been discredited over and over again, but he has continually made more and more money through the Wall Street that he detests and criticizes. It is all managed by his sister. He is nothing but a man on a mission to make more and more money while criticizing those who make more and more money.

Nader has been a nobody his whole life. May he die an ignoble death. Forgotten.; 2/24/08, 10:44 PM
Anonymous said...: Cool. Ralph Nader can play Judas Escariot to Obama's Messiah.

McCain Wins!; 2/25/08, 10:28 AM