Spoiler then, spoiler now?

Sacramento Bee: Some people are never satisfied. Take Ralph Nader, for instance.

Apparently not content with having helped put George W. Bush in the White House in 2000, Nader is now making noises about running for president this year. He has launched an official exploratory committee and told various news organizations last week that he will decide in about a month whether he will run.

Nader, who has become the Harold Stassen of the consumer protection movement, regards himself as the natural heir to the campaigns of Democrats John Edwards and Dennis Kucinich. He sees Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama as corporate tools and not much different from Republicans. It seems that only he is pure enough to serve in the White House.

A spoiler

Not surprisingly, Nader is trying to inoculate himself against charges that he would enter in the race as a spoiler.

“Political bigotry will be the label on anybody who uses the word ‘spoiler,”’ he told CNN.

But it will take more than the huffy threat of being called bigots to keep voters from regarding him as a spoiler. That’s what he was eight years ago. And it’s the only role he can play if he enters the race this year.