I don't know if there's a prayer of steering this thread back to the U.S., but just in case:

I have long found disclaimers such as the above Chomsky quote ("Well, I can try and police Nader but not Kerry because the latter is outside my field of influence and besides it's just a stupid election...blah blah blah...") to be deeply dispiriting and utterly puzzling. Where does this weird deference from so-called Lefty leaders come from ? Seems to me that about 90% of the hosility directed toward Nader by other Lefties has a lot to do with his breaking some kind of long-standing and all-pervasive --but unspoken-- taboo back in 2000 that called for Democrats to be criticized, but never openly deserted.

Anyone ?