Nader: Hillary Would Crush Warren, But Her ‘Coronation Wouldn’t Be Good’ For Dems

Iconic political gadfly Ralph Nader, who has run for president five times without success on third party tickets, said last night that Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren “would be crushed” if she ran for the Oval Office, claiming, “She’s not good on foreign or military policy.”

He observed, however, that Warren “offers something different” than the current list of contenders—“and she takes it all the way to Wall Street.” He suggested she could be a “potential vice president” on an “all women’s candidacy.”

“I don’t support anyone—I support the Green Party,” Nader noted in response to questions asked by B+B after he read passages from his latest book, Return to Sender, about unanswered letters he sent to President George W. Bush and Barack Obama, and inveighed against corporate power at Barnes & Noble Union Square. His fourth floor audience included a clutch of college students, broadcasting hosts Amy Goodman and Curtis Sliwa, and a guitarist who later sang and strummed for Nader on stage.

When we first asked Nader for his views on the mainstream candidates, he replied, “Hillary’s coronation wouldn’t be good for the Democratic Party.” As for the Republicans said to be seeking their party’s nomination for president, the 81-year-old consumer advocate pithily summed them up  as “twelve twerps and Jeb Bush.”

Mark Green, a former New York City public advocate, mayoral candidate and one-time member of Nader’s Raiders, introduced his former mentor at the podium.

“Ralph doesn’t endorse,” Green told us after Nader concluded his remarks and began signing books. “He’s only endorsed one political candidate in his life and that was me.”