Tensions between Ralph Nader and the Congressional Black Caucus flared again yesterday, after a letter from the independent presidential candidate to the caucus chairman, Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), demanded an apology for an "obscene racial epitaph" at a tense meeting last month.
Black lawmakers reacted to Nader's letter with a combination of anger and disdain, questioning his mental health and accusing him of acute and advanced egomania.
"He ain't playing with a full deck," said Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.), a member of the caucus and vice chairman of the Democratic caucus.
file photo
Consumer advocate Ralph Nader
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"I don't think he gets it," said Rep. Albert Wynn (D-Md.).
"The meeting was about strategy and the pragmatic planning to defeat [President] Bush," said Wynn.
"We told him how at strategic level, his candidacy defeats a common a goal," said Wynn, who criticized Nader for adopting a sanctimonious tone at the beginning of the meeting.
"We were particularly offended by Nader's exhibitionism, his selfishness and egotism," Wynn added.
Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.) said, "If he didn't understand what the meeting was about, not only is he an egotistical maniac, he's dumber than I thought he was."
Nader's two-and-a-half-page letter, released to the media before many members of the caucus had a chance to see it, demanded an apology from Rep. Melvin Watt (D-N.C.). Nader took umbrage at Watt's choice of words. Watt, Nader alleged, called him "just another arrogant white man, telling us what we can do. It's all about your ego, another [expletive] arrogant white man."
"Exclamations at the meeting descended into vituperative (e.g., Congresswoman [Carolyn] Kilpatrick's [D-Mich.] tawdry, anatomical comment yelled loud enough so the press could hear it outside) and ending with the obscene racist epithet repeated twice by Yale Law School alumnus Congressman Melvin Watt of North Carolina," Nader wrote Cummings.
As reported by The Hill, Kilpatrick told Nader to "get your ass out" at the June 22 meeting.
The full text of the story is here...
http://www.thehill.com/news/071404/nader.aspx
Question,does this help anyone,or does it make the CBC look ridiculous and Nader look silly?
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