The Dick
Donate $8 now to Nader/Gonzalez ‘08.
Why?
Ralph won’t back down.
Ralph will stand his ground.
You’ll be making an historic contribution in 2008 to a man who never gives up.
You will help us reach our goal of raising $4 million by tomorrow midnight.
And you will be supporting the only 2008 Presidential campaign that is right on the issues, as Chris Hedges dramatically points out this morning.
Forty-two years ago, a young attorney named Ralph Nader wrote a book titled Unsafe At Any Speed.
In the book, Nader exposed how cars were unsafe and how they could be made safer.
What was the auto industry’s response?
They hired spies to tail Ralph.
They hired beautiful women to seduce him.
Faced with this intimidation and seduction from a powerful industry, Ralph did not succumb.
He went on to sue General Motors for invasion of privacy.
And used the proceeds of the settlement to launch the modern consumer movement.
And you think Ralph will ever stop fighting the corporate state?
He never has.
And he never will.
The first person to report on General Motors spying on Ralph Nader was a young reporter named James Ridgeway. Ridgeway wrote an article titled "The Dick."
The article was published on March 12, 1966 in the New Republic.
It was the first piece ever written about Ralph Nader’s battle with General Motors.
(Excerpt: "Sunday evening, February 20, Nader left his room in northwest Washington and went up the street a couple of blocks to a drugstore. He was standing at the magazine rack when a young attractive brunette he had never seen before approached and said "Pardon me. I know this sounds a little forward. I hope you don’t mind, but can I talk to you?" She said a few of her friends often got together to discuss various problems of foreign affairs. They wanted to get all viewpoints. Would he join them? Nader was dumbfounded. Trying to get rid of her politely, he said he was from out of town. But the girl persisted. Oh, she said, that’s alright. There was a meeting that night. Nader said he wasn’t interested and turned his back. The girl left.")
"The Dick" is a classic in citizen journalism.
If you donate $8, or $18, or $28, or or $108 now — any donation with the number 8 in it by midnight tonight — then tomorrow, we will e-mail to you a replica of James Ridgeway’s March 12, 1966 historic article — "The Dick."
And if you donate $100 or more to Nader/Gonzalez before midnight tomorrow, we will ship to to you the hard cover 40th Anniversary edition of Unsafe at Any Speed — Ralph’s classic expose of the American automobile industry — autographed by the man himself.
It was the book that launched the American consumer movement and saved hundreds of thousands of lives.
This autographed edition is bound to become a rare collector’s item after the election.
So, get it now.
Only a limited number left. (This book offer ends November 4, 2008 at 11:59 p.m.)
Onward to Election Day and Beyond
The Nader Team
PS: Not only does Ralph never give up. Jim Ridgeway never gives up. Yesterday, Ridgeway was at the University of Maryland interviewing Ralph on the current state of politics for The Guardian of London.
