Ralph Nader manages to be relevant again, sort of

Ralph Nader continued his personal and political disintegration this week.

He suggested in interviews with Fox News that America’s first black president, Barack Obama, could turn out to be an “Uncle Tom.”

Most pundits have observed that Nader has already slouched into irrelevancy, following his dramatic spoiler role in the 2000 elections.

But it now appears that Nader did give manage to give some very real aid and comfort on Tuesday — once again to the Republican ticket.

In the battleground state of Missouri, John McCain won 1,442,673 votes, a scant 5,800 more than Barack Obama.

Ralph Nader’s role? He stripped away 17,769 votes from the Democrat, apparently costing Obama the state. (Missouri hasn’t been officially called yet.)

Of course, it turns out that this is a bit of election night trivia.

But imagine a different (and entirely plausible) scenario, where Missouri had turned out to be the Ohio of 2008.

If Obama had needed the Show-Me State’s 11 electoral votes to put him over the top, then Nader would have been the spoiler once again.

Well played, Ralph — well played.