Independent candidate for president Ralph Nader will appear on comedian Bill Maher‘s show Real Time this Friday. The show is on HBO, and airs at 11 PM EST.

Nader also had an op-ed in today’s USA Today. It can be read below:

Opposing View

By Ralph Nader

Two decades ago, the Republicrats hijacked our presidential debates from the League of Women Voters and replaced the stewards of the one public debate that is watched by tens of millions with a two-party citadel run by a couple of party cronies.

Walter Cronkite, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the league, respectively, call the commission debates “unconscionable fraud,” “mockery” and “charades.”

This private commission, funded by large corporations that my running mate, Matt Gonzalez, and I have gone after for years, says you have to be at 15% in five undisclosed stealth polls by five stealth media conglomerates that have shut us out all campaign.

The Catch-22 threshold suffocates third parties and their fresh ideas. If Minnesota did the same, Jesse Ventura never would have jumped from single digits to governor.

All six candidates who are on enough state ballots to win the election should be allowed to debate. A majority of Americans in a 2004 Zogby poll agree with that idea.

Even all 65 ranked teams at the NCAA tournament get a chance at the Final Four. Rationing debates rations voter choice.

Ralph Nader is an independent candidate for president.