“Hell, the last time I had a real preference was Reagan, Carter, Anderson. And that time I liked Anderson.”
—Hey, 2nd Law—YOU’RE the other person who voted for Anderson? Glad to finally meet you!
Soulsling – I think Nader is great. I wrote him in last election, and if he’s not on the ballot in Illinois, I’ll write him in this time. He has a few views I don’t fully agree with, but so many more than I do. And he’s actually smart. (I’ve read some of his speeches and debates, and it’s amazing to hear someone in politics intelligently discuss issues, instead of spewing empty rhetoric.)
Plus, he’s the first candidate in decades who doesn’t put corporate interests before the interests of the people. That’s the biggest reason I consider voting for either Bush or Gore a wasted vote – neither one really represents us, IMO.
::steps off soapbox::
I am very excited about Bush and have been since he announced his candidacy. I think he is as close to my ideal candidate as I have seen since being able to vote in 1989.
Giraffe, It’s not that i disagree with you, I just never even figured mentioning him here since the OP referred to either Gore or Bush. I do like Nader, I was a bit surprised by the mention though. A green, I do believe he stands more for my beliefs than either Bush or Gore, except that Gore still has some Green in him, one of the reasons why I’m leaning towards him.
Soulsling – It’s OK, I misread your post anyway. (I didn’t notice the Nader reference in the previous message.) I thought you were saying “Hello? What about Ralph Nader?” in response to all the “vote for someone else” comments. So I was just pitching my oar in to agree with you.
::making a mental note to read things more carefully before posting in the future::
I like Gore and would be proud to have him elected as President.
Of course, I am a TN native.
And, to pick up on another thread, I am an atheist and am not bothered by Lieberman’s comments regarding religion. He does, after all, have a right to believe what he wants. Moreover, I think his comments were taken farther than he meant them, and/or misinterpreted.
Go Gore/Go Vols.
I am so happy to say that I am NOT voting for the lesser of two evils. I am going to vote for who I want: Harry Browne, Libertarian.
Screw the lesser of two evils argument, vote for who you want. It really is that simple, and who knows, maybe some year your party will be in a real position to make a difference. For me, that is the Libertarians, and they are getting stronger every year.
(and yes, I did think about posting the Libertarian homepage, but I didn’t want to anger anyone. So I’ll just say- there is one out there! Look it up!)
-T
I’ll probably vote for Gore. Per Eve’s OP, it’s not because I find him particularly inspiring; I think he’d be a perfectly average, ultimately forgettable one-term president.
Bush, on the other hand, worries me, for a couple of reasons. First of all, he has publicly stated he doesn’t really administrate the details, that he turns over most of the gruntwork to advisors and assistants and then makes decisions based on their summary recommendations. I’m well aware that this sort of figurehead leadership is hardly uncommon, but if I’m going to give my vote to somebody, I’d rather it be for Gore (or, in fact, Clinton), who will obviously roll up his sleeves and get involved in the minutiae. I’d rather have a policy wonk than someone who isn’t, because I’d never be sure if Bush were palming off the detail work because he’s either bored or not that smart, or doesn’t have a clear philosophy or vision, none of which makes him an attractive leader in my eyes.
But the bigger reason I think a Bush victory would be a bad idea goes like this. If Bush wins, no matter what happens, we’ll see Jeb Bush as a candidate in 2008. From what I’ve seen, I think Jeb is a much smarter and more capable politician than GW, but George has the name recognition so he got tapped this year. If GW screws up his first term and loses his bid for re-election in 2004, Jeb becomes the front-runner to challenge in 2008. If GW does okay and gets re-elected, Jeb is still the front-runner to make a bid at the end of GW’s second term.
I don’t know about anybody else, but I find the idea of slipping toward a pattern of bloodline succession to be deeply frightening.
P.S. Great Debates, here we come… 
I dislike the lot of them. John McCain would’ve had my vote had he been nominated. He seemed to tell it like it is and actually want to try to accomplish something. He had character and lived by his words (pro-life and he has adopted children; not that pro-life is a requirement of mine, but it’s nice to see a candidate practice what they preach).
As for the dingleberries running for office this year, I’ll just have to wait and watch the debates. I may vote for a third-party or independent candidate this year.
Too bad Pat Paulsen died, huh?
Re the OP, someone out there really likes Gore/Lieberman- the Washington Post ran a story on a campaign stop, accompanied by a picture of a person who had the Gore/Lieberman logo shaved into the back of his head. I can’t imagine that they put someone up to doing something that ridiculous.
Eve, I voted for Anderson, too. Well, that’s his total about there.
I’m not thrilled about Gore, but W. is such a non-entity that it appalls me. The best business deal he ever made was in buying a share of the Rangers for $600,000 and then selling them for $14 million after massive public subsidies. He has been a governor for only six years in a state that is known for having very little power given to the governor’s office. What has he ever really done? What ideas does he really have?
(Unfair side-note: His father was one of the greatest mediocrities ever to sit in the White House; W. seems to me a lesser version of that very lesser man.)
Bucky
Cervaise:
Funny, I feel the same way about Kennedys. Sometimes I think their little habit of dying with alarming frequency is the only thing that’s prevented the establishment of a Kennedy presidential dynasty…and even then, there’s quite a few of them in government.
And, of course, Gore’s father was a senator as well. The Daleys in Chicago, Andrew Cuomo likely going for governor of New York in 2002, Hillary riding on the coattails of her husband…
The Republicans aren’t entirely, or even mostly, where this frightening trend toward bloodline succession is coming from.
Bucky:
Do you really want an answer to this question? You might consider visiting his website, which is not difficult to find…took me about 2 seconds (the first second was my stab at http://www.georgewbush2000.com, which is actually a PAC and not his campaign’s official site, but has most of the same info). Click on issues, and you get a list of issues from which you can get a summary of his positions, and, by clicking on the specific issue, it gives you the details of his proposals and his Texas record on the issue.
Go ahead: visit the link, and then ask yourself if you can honestly say he has either accomplished nothing in Texas or has no substantive proposals in the campaign.
Or, of course, you could just avoid the link and stick to your first impression of him, leading to your making many more uninformed posts on this message board…
I’m rather supprised that so many people still support Gore. And no, not just because of the ‘invented internet’ tripe, but because of his performance as VP. The Chinese campain contributions and the whole Los Alamos situation scare the hell out of me. Clinton/Gore has basicly sold us out on a large scale, but it seems that has been swept under the rug by the Justice Dept. and the media, and the majority of us just dont care or understand the implications. They set us up to no longer be the world superpower that we currently are. I sure hope it doesn’t pan out that way, but their time in the spotlight will be long over before we know.
There are many other reasons to NOT vote for Gore, but I’ll stop with what I believe is the BIGGEST one.
As for GW, I’ve yet to find a reason to dislike him, but he hasn’t completely sold me either. I’ll keep listening to what the man has to say.
I like Gore. I don’t care if he gets wooden when speaking. A lot of people do, and he’s a lot looser now than two months ago. Part of it is practice. As a Veep, he never got big crowds.
Anyway, the main reason to vote for the top spot is that it drags all the others along. Do you really want all the people who support Bush to get the cabinet posts and judgeships? That’s what happened when Reagan and Bush Sr. got in, and the “nice guys” had packs of sleazy friends collecting on favors.