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Nader, Donahue split Madison progressives, at least for one night

Robert Chappell  —  9/06/2008 9:20 am

Ralph Nader and Phil Donahue both had a hand in bringing the story of wounded Iraq vet Tomas Young to the screen, but the two found themselves at cross purposes Friday night in Madison.

In what both termed an unfortunate scheduling coincidence, Nader, an independent candidate for president, held a campaign rally at the Orpheum Theater at the same time that Donahue was hosting a screening of his documentary on Young -- Body of War -- at the Barrymore to kick off the seventh annual Fighting Bob Fest.

Nearly 900 people filled the Barrymore for Donahue's film, while Nader's campaign staff estimated his audience between 450 and 500. That is considerably smaller than the crowd Nader pulled during his most successful presidential bid in 2000, when he filled the Orpheum to its 1,700-person capacity and turned away some 200 more.

"I'm sorry we're competing," said Donahue, who supported Nader's candidacy in 2000, but did not in 2004. "I'm glad he's got a nice crowd."

Justin Richardson, Nader's co-coordinator for Wisconsin, attributes the decline in attendance only partly to the competing event across town.

"The big reason for Nader getting smaller crowds this time around is the national media has completely shut him out," Richardson said. "It's unfortunate that we had to do competing events. There are a lot of progressives in Madison, and always lots of things happening."

Nader's running mate Matt Gonzales also blamed the two major political parties.

"The only reason this place isn't full and people aren't coming in here excited over the top to see Ralph Nader is that we have an election system that tells you your choices are narrow, and if you go beyond that, they blame you for some outcome," Gonzales told the crowd, referring to the belief of some Democrats that Nader siphoned votes from Al Gore in 2000.

Bob Blair, 31, of Madison, is set to vote for Nader for the third straight time.

"If you just vote for the lesser of two evils every time, you allow each party to get worse and worse," he said. "I'd rather have Obama than McCain. But everybody has to earn the vote, and Obama didn't earn mine."

Blair also turned up at the Orpheum, where he was meeting friends following the screening of Body of War, which he had seen earlier.

"It has to have an effect any time you see the real costs of the war," Blair said. "Not just hear about it or put the yellow ribbon up, but see this kid whose life is screwed up for the rest of his life. It's preaching to the choir but it gives the choir more energy to preach with, I guess."

Body of War, directed by Donahue and veteran filmmaker Ellen Spiro, tells the story of Tomas Young, who was shot through the spinal cord and paralyzed from the chest down after serving just five days in Iraq. He went on to become active in Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW).

It was Nader who led Donahue to Young. After the 2004 election, Donahue said, "(Nader and I) were talking, and he said, 'A mother wants to see you at Walter Reed.' So I went and there he was, and I said to myself, 'The American people should see this.' He was whacked out on morphine, cheek bones sticking out. Twenty four years old at the time. Couldn't walk. I was so overwhelmed and helpless, I couldn't get him out of my head." Donahue called Spiro, who bought in only after confirming that it wasn't a Donahue impersonator making a prank call. Spiro and a camera crew documented the next two years of Young's life.

The film also features clips from legislators' floor speeches for and against the initial authorization for the use of force as well as noting each vote of the 77 -- 23 approval in the Senate in October, 2002.

For some, the film represented a starting point for political activism.

"I haven't been involved enough. It's a reason to get a little more involved," said 53-year-old Robert Miller of Madison. "We all put (politics) in the back of our daily routine. (The film) just seemed like a good way to bring everything forward, which will propel me to get a little more active."

"I think it impassions and empowers people to get out and mobilize," said Karri Bartlett, 30, of Madison. "I want to take (the film) and show it to every middle school and high school where they heavily recruit (for the military)."

Bartlett attended the film with her boyfriend, Nathan Toth, a Navy veteran and member of IVAW. He said the film reminded him that "people have gone through much more difficult things than I've gone through."

Toth said he turned against the war as soon as it started, when he was on an aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean and the order came to begin air strikes against Iraq. "We had 5,000 people on the boat, and 5,000 people instantly against the war, for very simple reasons." Toth said. "I left my car in the regular parking lot, not in long-term storage. You're only supposed to park in there for 45 days. I was gone for five months. Everybody who left their car in that parking lot was against the war. It's very simple things. I was kind of one of those guys.

"And then I got back and after a year, I had to go through my first funeral. And then I had to go to another, and another, and another. I went to six. It's hard to sit on the sidelines, for or against, after seeing six mothers break down. That's hard. That's real hard."

Fighting Bob Fest continues Saturday at the Sauk County Fairgrounds featuring Donahue, environmentalist Bill McKibben, populist Jim Hightower, and keynote speaker Scott Ritter, former United Nations chief weapons inspector in Iraq.

Robert Chappell  —  9/06/2008 9:20 am