There he goes again...

Credit Atrios with a pointer to this Philadelphia Inquirer report on the latest shenanigans of the Nader campaign...

Ralph Nader's presidential campaign this week abruptly abandoned the Center City office that housed its efforts to get on the Pennsylvania ballot, leaving behind a mess of accusations and a damaged building.

The office, on the 1500 block of Chestnut Street, was emptied Thursday after a raucous scene the night before. Police were called as dozens of homeless people lined up to collect money they said they were owed for circulating petitions on the candidate's behalf.

Many of the circulators were never paid, according to outreach workers and interviews with several men who had collected signatures.

"A lot of us were scammed," said Ed Seip, 52, who said he collected more than 200 signatures for Nader.

So the champion of the oppressed is reduced to ripping off the homeless and trashing buildings in his campaign for self-aggrandizement. It's so pathetic that I might feel sorry for him if I weren't so disgusted with him.

Reading to the end reveals the Naderite plan for setting up the next round of whining and Kerry bashing from the self proclaimed hero of progressive politics.

The 2-week-old effort to collect signatures using hired petition circulators also faced scrutiny last week after reporters witnessed several circulators repeatedly signing each other's forms and telling signers that they could use whatever name they wanted.

Slevin said circulators had been instructed to obey the law.

But one disgruntled circulator said they had not known the rules. "Everyone in the mission was just passing them around from person to person," said Michael Reed Jr., 21, who said he had not been paid.

Under Pennsylvania law, only registered voters may sign ballot petitions, and only once. Flawed petitions can be challenged in court, leading to a candidate's removal from the ballot.

Democrats plan to challenge the petitions after Nader turns them in next week to make sure the signatures are proper.

Of course, any Democratic challenge to Nader's unlawful signature gathering tactics will be denounced as a "dirty trick." Because, of course, the rules don't apply to Ralph Nader.
Except they do. And he's breaking them again.

And it's time for every progressive with any shred of integrity to break any tie with Ralph Nader.