Nader: Limit bailout to 3 months

Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader said yesterday that any federal bailout package for Wall Street should be limited to three months in duration.

Speaking to the Inquirer Editorial Board before giving an address at the University of Pennsylvania, Nader said that Congress was being stampeded into action by the Bush administration just the way it was stampeded into the Iraq war.

Putting an expiration date on the plan, he said, would allow for a full set of congressional hearings looking at such issues as executive compensation, shareholder power, and taxpayer equity, as well as the need for a bailout.

Nader did not say that he opposed federal action. But he did say he saw no reason for Congress to rush.

"As long as the market knows something's going to be done, it'll fritter along," he said. "This is a great opportunity for comprehensive reform. But if we don't have an opposition party worthy of the name, it's not going to happen."

Nader and running mate Matt Gonzalez, a former city official in San Francisco, are on the ballot in 45 states, including Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

In polls in which Nader's name is included, he is getting an average of 3 percent of the vote. He said he would be doing better if there were more coverage of his campaign; he is being kept out of the debates, for which a 15 percent showing is required.

In 2000, Nader got nearly 3 percent of the vote, enough in the view of some analysts to tip the election to George W. Bush. In 2004, he got less than 1 percent.

Asked why he is running again at age 74, Nader got philosophical:

"People say athletes should never give up, artists should never give up. Why should civic advocates give up?"