Prevented from participating in the final presidential debate, independent candidate Ralph Nader instead issued a rebuttal to what he called Sen. John Kerry and President Bush's "cure for insomnia" arguments.
Nader focused his remarks on issues he said were overlooked during the debate, including how to withdraw from Iraq.
Nader said on Wednesday night Kerry has indicated he would broaden the military campaign by invading Fallujah - an Iraqi city west of Baghdad that has been one of the most dangerous places for U.S. forces - and by sending 40,000 more U.S. troops to Iraq.
"A vote for Kerry is now a vote for war, and a vote for Bush has always been a vote for war - a war we were plunged into by Bush on a platform of fabrications, deceptions and lies," he said, adding his campaign is calling for Bush's impeachment.
Nader said if elected, he would set a six-month withdrawal deadline for U.S. military and corporate forces in Iraq, preceded by internationally supervised elections.
Nader said another topic Kerry and Bush did not discuss is universal health care that should replace the health care industry. The new system would incorporate "vigilant consumer groups" to oversee efficiency and sensitivity to patients' needs, he said.
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"They're not talking about it," he said. "They're talking about patchwork. They've been talking about it for years."
Eighteen thousand people die each year from lack of health care, he said.
"(The) parties have allowed an industrial health care industry to tell millions of Americans, 'Pay or die,'" he said.
Nader said both candidates fall woefully short of helping American workers.
"Kerry wants $7 per hour by 2007," he said. "Bush doesn't even know what a minimum wage is. It hasn't been put on his cue card."
Nader said he'd fight for a $10 minimum wage if elected.
"Who cares for the single mom who has to work for $6.80 an hour at Wal-Mart after driving five miles in a jalopy that she has to pay for, plus insurance."
Also not discussed during the debates was a crackdown on corporate crime, fraud and abuse, he said. He is puzzled why neither candidate stands up against corporate power for working Americans, a position that would win both candidates many votes, he said.
Above all, Nader said, neither Bush nor Kerry is willing to confront the U.S. military budget, which stands at more than $400 billion per year.
Excluding Social Security, 50 cents of every dollar the federal government spends goes toward military industry, he said.
"We have enough weapons to blow up the world 300 times and make the rubble bounce," he said.
But military producers are pressuring the U.S. government for yet more weapons, he said.
Nader said members of the Democratic Party have spent more than $10 million in efforts to prevent him from running for president.
"In an alleged democratic society, when you basically have to fight to get on the ballot and overcome hurdles that do not exist in any other western society, it certainly reflects on what I call the two-party electoral dictatorship."
Enacting laws is a simple solution to the relentless struggles alternative parties face when trying to get on the ballot, he said.
