Nader-cisstic

Can one get any more irrelevant than Ralph Nader?

Obviously Mr. Nader has not been paying attention. Had he taken the cue of other washed up icons who have attempted to reemerge on the public consciousness, he surely would have chosen that most democratic of vehicles, the reality show. Witness the arc of Hulk Hogan, Flavor Flav, Bret Michaels, Run, any member of any past cast of The Surreal Life, and any past competitor on Dancing with The Stars. All of these once-famous stars have re-captured the public imagination, squeezing another 15 minutes out of our collective attention tube. In so doing they have both reminded us of their singular brilliance and showed us another side to their personalities. Who didn't love seeing Jerry Rice dance across the ballroom after years of dancing away from potential tacklers?

Or look to Al Gore. Defeated, bearded, obscure Al Gore, who went from sheepish loser to Nobel Laureate. Why? Because he hit us where it counts: directly in front of our glassy eyes.

The fact that Mr. Nader chose a mainstream Sunday morning news program to announce his candidacy, rather than launching a new reality program (imagine a house with Nader, H. Ross Perot, both Doles, and Michael Dukakis, for example), shows just how out of touch with voters he really is.