Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader during a Detroit campaign rally at First Unitarian-Universalist Church. PHOTO: Khalil AlHajal

Presidential politics is a theater of the absurd, according to independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader, who said he recently had to participate in a debate with Triumph the Insult Comic Dog on Late Night with Conan O’Brien to get some mainstream exposure.

Nader held a rally in Detroit on Sept. 7 and on Sept. 10 appeared at a press conference with Libertarian-leaning Republican Ron Paul in Washington, where Paul urged voters to consider Nader, Green Party nominee Cynthia McKinney and Constitution Party candidate Chuck Baldwin, in an effort to consolidate support and media coverage of third party and independent candidates.

Libertarian nominee Bob Barr skipped the event and held his own news conference later.

Frustrated with being excluded from televised debates scheduled for late September and October between Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain, Nader said the two dominant party nominees won’t scratch the surface of issues facing the country.

Speaking to a crowd of about 100 at First Unitarian-Universalist Church at the Detroit rally, he said the debates will be like boring, parallel interviews with both candidates ignoring the contentious issues.

Nader and his running mate Matt Gonzalez deeply criticized both McCain and Obama while tackling a slew of issues ranging from unfair bank surcharges to animal cruelty.

“They’re controlling our money now. They got us by the neck,” Nader said about consumer struggles with bank penalties, fine print and credit woes.

“Eighteen thousand Americans die every year because they can’t afford healthcare,” he said. “Nobody in Canada dies because they can’t afford healthcare.”

Nader, 74, mocked what he called empty, repetitive messages of hope and change coming from other presidential campaigns.

“Hope, change, hope, change, hope, change… like a metronome. Hope, change, hope… It’s hypnosis,” he said

Nader said liberals should be sick of Democratic candidates moving to the right as part of campaign strategy, only to lose in the end.

“They have been losing for years,” he said.

Democratic nominee John Kerry should have picked up minimum wage as a campaign issue in 2004, Nader said.

“That was a winning issue… They’re destroying their own candidates,” he said.

While he believes the Democrats are better on several issues than the Republicans, he said the difference between the two parties is narrowing, as corporate influence has its effect on both.

“The difference is the velocity with which their knees hit the floor under corporate pressure,” he said.

Nader expressed outrage over policies that he said have forced Arab Americans to watch their civil rights erode.

He also spoke about his plan for a full six-month negotiated withdrawal of “military and corporate forces” from Iraq.

“We have to give the Iraqis their country back. We gave to give the Iraqis their oil back. That will knock the bottom out of the insurgency,” Nader said. “I know a lot about this area. My parents came from Lebanon. I speak Arabic.”

Taking deeper swipes at Obama, he said the Senator has pandered to Israeli lobbyists, at one point even moving to the right of a majority of Israelis, according to opinion polls.

“He went to AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) and gave the most groveling speech that any candidate has ever given… He used to be a pro-Palestinian rights activist in Illinois… A lot of people are very angry with him,” he said.

Nader said he hopes to convince young people to get involved in civics as he travels the country campaigning.

He said that throughout history, “When people weren’t turned on to politics, politics turned on them  in a very vicious way.”

Nader expects to be on the ballot in 45 states, including Michigan, where he is currently supported by about six percent of registered voters, according to a new CNN/Time/Opinion Research Corp. poll.

His ultimate goal is to shake up dominating control over government by the Democratic and Republican parties.

“It strips the voters of bargaining rights. They’re left voting for the least worst,” he said. “We want to push these two parties, give them a sting every once in a while… People have to arouse themselves, get a sense of their own power.”

Nader urged Detroit community organizations like the Urban League, NAACP, ACLU, unions, education groups, women’s rights groups, healthcare groups, poverty groups, neighborhood groups… to join together as a coalition, organize a presidential debate, hold a news conference and invite all the candidates.

“Taken together, they represent a lot of people,” he said. “They’re going to have to say ‘We’ve got to win Michigan.'”

Offended by being labeled a spoiler of past elections for Democrats, Nader insists the parties are themselves to blame for their own failures.

“We’re not the spoilers, the two parties are the spoilers. They spoiled the government,” he said. “Everyone has an equal right to run. Nobody should be called a spoiler for running.”

Supporters gushed at Nader’s intense conviction.

One Arab American supporter said her admiration for the consumer advocate comes from no one issue, but from his sense of justice across the board.

“The logic he applies to healthcare is the same logic he applies to the Arab-Israeli conflict,” said filmmaker Rola Nashef, a volunteer for Nader’s campaign, who was shooting video of the rally.

She said Nader has saved the lives of more Americans through safety advocacy in auto and other industries, than any other candidate.

Emmalee Bacha, 29, of Flint, said she believes Nader’s efforts over time could create a place for mainstream participation of third parties in the future.

“I’m a big one for breaking up the two-party system we have,” she said.