Does anyone know how George Bush got elected? I certainly didn’t elect it(Bush). While we’re on the subject, how did he make it through college and graduate? I guess his dad paid his way through. Dope head. He won the election by -300,000 votes. 
Two words: Ralph Nader. Hey mods, this’ll turn into a great debate very soon, so why don’t you move this to great debates? It’s ok bob, he’ll be out in 3 years.
Actually, there are two more words…
Bill Clinton
That’s too far away. He could destroy the country by then!!! 
Oh yeah… I just thought of two more words…
Supreme Court
Actually, if Al Gore had run on Bill Clinton’s record instead of the populist approach he did take, he’d probably be President right now. Also, if he had taken John Edwards instead of Joe Lieberman (who was used solely for the whole “morality” issue) he would’ve done better in the South. Al Gore’s fear of Bill Clinton is what undid him.
George W. Bush got elected the same way that every other President in U.S. history got elected: He received a majority of the electoral college votes. What’s so puzzling about that? Love him or hate him, he’s the legitimate President.
How did the hapless Cincinatti Bengals (or insert your favorite underdog sports team) manage to beat the St. Louis Rams (or insert your favorite championship calibur sports team)?
Well, they just got more points… that’s all.
[QUOTE[Does anyone know how George Bush got elected?[/QUOTE]
Strictly speaking he was never actually elected in the democratic sense, rather the U.S. supreme court halted the counting of ballots when it determined that George’s reputation might be damaged by the continuation of the election process. Bush happened to be ahead at the time the count was stopped, so he ended up in the white house. Some folks hold to the theory that the courts decision conferred legitimacy unto Bush, others do not, others see it as a blatantly political act by a corrupt judiciary.
Chronos has chimed in with his support for theory A. I’ll take a heaping helping of B myself.
This is worded more in an “In My Humble Opinion” way, so I’m moving it over there. - Jill
The President is never elected in the democratic sense. They are elected by the electoral college.
If it were a democratic method, then Florida wouldn’t have even been an issue as Gore won the popular vote nationally.
I once watched the Harlem Globetrotters playing against their perennial rivals, and a couple players were trying to gain control over the ball. The adept Globetrotter managed to get in a nudge now and then, propelling the ball away from the other player and closer to the out-of-bounds mark, until finally knocking it just ahead of the other player, in front of his course of travel. The other player palmed it easily and then flung it down in disgust, realizing he had stepped out of bounds just as he did so.
I do not mean to imply that I think Gore or the Democrats deliberately arranged for the Republicans to inherit the Presidency under circumstances where neither candidate would be viewed as holding it with any real legitimacy, the Congress sat divided, and just as the economy was poised to do a face-plant…
…but I do recall thinking at a certain point that the best thing that could happen for the Democrats would be for the election’s outcome to remain murky and then get tossed to Bush under highly controversial circumstances, provoking a bit of a public backlash, leaving the Republican President unable to do much effectively once the economy starts to tank. The current bear market isn’t George W Bush’s fault, although the tax cuts he promised and implemented will make it worse and longer than it might have been; but people in general will end up thinking “Hmm, Democrats in office = fiscal responsibility & economic good times. Give it to the Republicans and it tanks 'cuz they do foolish things with tax cuts that kill the economy”. And public opinion will also be a factor in making it longer and worse than it otherwise might be.
Of course the economy may recover before 2004 for no particular good reason (economies don’t feel compelled to play by any rules that mortals understand) and W could reverse the impression he’s started out with, but right now he’s well along the road to looking inept and incompetent, and the Republicans don’t look brilliant or heroic as a party.
I wonder if they sometimes look at each other across Republican Central Committee mahogany tables and mutter, “How’d we get stuck with this damn Presidency? Tell me again?!??”
I’m still in denial about the presidency. The whole election thing made me sick to my stomach… And the fact that people still bitch about Nader makes me angry, as well… Gore should’ve been a strong enough candidate. And damn the electoral college. As my dad says, “The American voter is a whore”… referring to the reason most voted for Bush - the big ol’ tax cut he promised and gave. It’s short term, and that’s all.
I stood by the TV screaming most of the night, until I had a big enough headache, slammed the “off” button, and then fumed silently. I still hope Bush does something to wreck his presidency and the precious “I’m the second President to be the son of a former prez” reputation. Spiteful, much? Hell yes…
The blatant dishonesty, concealed intentions, and disgusting hypocrisy of the Shrub Administration is nothing at all unusual, either. What is unusual is that Shrub’s advisors apparently either forgot or ignored the most basic premise that nobody in Washington gets by without help from their friends. The Senate switch is only the tip of the iceberg.
I’ve watched two traditionally liberal Departments, HHS and Interior, grind to a standstill because “temporary” appointees to positions that normally require Senate approval drove out vast numbers of competent people underneath them. One reason why Gale Norton hasn’t yet fully begun to prosecute her agenda of paying off big business through the exploitation of our natural resources is because several key people within the Bureau of Land Management and Fish and Wildlife were forced out, taking with them a huge chunk of institutional knowledge.
My office recently received a (very polite) request from the federal government itself, asking for information on a project we are working on with the BLM. They have “forgotten” all about it, and this sort of thing is happening all over the place. In the meantime, unscrupulous lobbyists of a different stripe than mine are taking advantage of this institutional amnesia to further their own agendas. People far more powerful and influential than me are well aware of this, and are merely waiting for the administration to step all the way into the shitpile before they hold up the Shinola.
I give it six to nine months before the scandals start rolling out like Whopper patties off the flame broiler. Of course, these sorts of scandals will not be of the prurient nature of the previous administration, so while Bush’s handlers are paving the way for a level of corruption far beyond that of the Clinton Administration, I think there is some chance that the mud won’t stick.
Because the fight against ignorance hasn’t been completed.
d&r
If you think it makes a damn of a difference if Gore won or if Bush won, then you are naive. We’d be in the same boat we are in now.
Surplus, Smurshplus! If it didn’t go to us, or whatever the liberals claim happened to it, it would have went to some other wasteland.
It’s just corruption of a different sort.
I keep reminding myself, only 1242 days until the next inauguration. How much damage can one microencephalic Favorite Son do? The answer keeps me up at night.
And no, I doubt things would have been much better with Gore. The worst part about E2000, IMHO, is that the individual voter has now lost even the pretense of having a voice in government.
I’m with Oblong. We’d have gotten screwed no matter who was in office. And as much as I hate the Shrub, I’m going to wait before the Democrats field someone before I start thinking that he’s going to be a “Jimmy Carter.”
Both true, but the two most important words? Al Gore
There seems to be an incredible level of confidence expressed here and other places that there’s no way W. will be re-elected in '04. I can only imagine what these same posters were (or would have been) saying about another president widely perceived as a dim bulb back in '81…
If Gore runs against him again, I think he’d win by a landslide, since people tend to hold grudges against things like having several recounts that drag out the election results for weeks…but I voted for Bush, so what do I know?