Do not be bullied by reactionary, exaggerating, fear-mongering idiots into voting for a candidate you do not want to be President. Do not ever let yourself be convinced that you have a responsibility to vote for one guy you don’t want to block another guy you don’t want.
If a candidate cannot attract sufficient votes, it is his fault and his fault alone. If a major-party candidate cannot even win his home state, he has no business being President.
All of these fear-mongering bullies, who are trying to convince people to abandon their principles to ensure that a candidate that they don’t want to be President is in fact elected, should be given a good solid smack in the mouth.
I’m basically going to echo John Corrado, Alphagene, Falcon et all, so feel free to breeze by this post.
But I have to say something. As a longtime Green supporter, I’m proud of what the Greens are doing. They’re not around to throw elections the way of the right wing, or be splitters, they want to create a viable alternative to the two party system that we have. Should they wait for “permission” to try to build that? If either party addressed the concerns that Green/Nader supporters are concerned with, we wouldn’t be in this position. Yes, it’s a close election. Yes, some people that voted for Nader would have voted for Gore if Nader wasn’t on the ballot. But I think it speaks volumes that even that they knew how much their vote counted, they didn’t roll over and do “what they were supposed to do” (i.e. vote Gore, to be "safe).
It’s always the time to vote for what you believe in. I make no apologies for that.
That’s right, and when the brownshirts come… That’s a moronic argument. (EXPLICIT NOTE, no I’m not honestly comparing Bush to Hitler, but the over the top idiotic assertion above needs an over the top idiotic response)
To add to ludicrous verging on moronic assertions of little to no intellectual value, let me assert that a candidate who only wins the electoral vote and loses the popular vote has no business being president.
Bother, there’s no damned closure yet but in any case Gore won or lost on his own merits.
Just as a quick sidenote. I don’t think Nadar what he did becuase he thought he had a chance of winning, or that he wasn’t going to hurt Gore… I think he was doing the big picture kind of thing. First he was trying to drag the dems back left, and if he cost Gore the victory, then that is best chance of accomplishing that. He also feels that a Gore Presidency will just lead to several more years of complacency, while a Bush presidency will fuck things up enough to shock people into voting Deocratic. Hate the guy if you want, but a close election where Nadar cost Gore the victory was the best possible scenario for Nadar, the guy’s plan worked perfectly.
Second, I voted for Nader. Quite happily, thank you very much. Of course, some will argue that I was in a “safe” state. Which yes, I was. But I would have voted for him regardless.
And yes, pepper, the knowlege that I did what I THOUGHT WAS RIGHT, and DID NOT COMPROMISE WHAT I BELIEVE IN will make me VERY happy. I will not compromise what I believe to make someone else happy. I have never done it before in 25 years, and dammit, I won’t ever do it in the future. Gore’s no saint, either. Bush cannot overturn Roe v. Wade in a year. And even if he did, get out there and lobby your state congress, since Roe v. Wade being overturned means it all goes back to the states.
Bush can’t wreck the country in 4 years. And if he tries, the backlash will KILL him in 2004. He doesn’t have a mandate from the people, and do you think the Dems will let anyone forget that? Not a chance in hell. (Honestly, as a Democrat, I think it’s better if Gore loses…he gets a leg up on the 2004 campaign that way. I can see the slogans now. “Vote for the real winner…”)
Me, I’m just pissed that Gore stole votes away from Nader.
Nader summed it up pretty well.
He said (paraphrasing here) that the person doing the most harm to Gore’s campaign was Gore. He went on to say that he was amazed that Gore couldn’t do any better against one of the most bumbling, incompetent canidates we’ve ever seen.
For all I’ve read about Nader, I’ve agreed on pretty much everything he’s proposed.
Gore, has been sucking up to the Republicans, doing his best to appeal to the jack-asses voting for Bush. Especially when he agrees with no less than 32 fricking issues during the debates. I’m sorry, but if Gore couldn’t get his shit together to overcome such a bumbling right wing, drunk driving, AWOL, fuzzy past, subliminable, horrible education record, environment devasting, gun toting,big tobacco lovin, anti woman, anti gay, shmoe like Bush, he has noone to blame but himself and his sorry-ass campaign manager. The last guy he should blame it on was the only person making any sense who swayed a whopping 3 fucking percent of the nation to wise up.
All that said, I voted Gore. I feared the worse just like you people. But I certainly don’t blame the 3 percent that voted Nader. In hind sight, I sorta feel like my vote was wasted.
At least if Nader had gotten his 5 percent we could have seen even more of a showing four years from now.
My only hope is that maybe there’s a silver linging to the shit cloud that in G Dubya. Perhaps he will be such an obvious evil that people will start taking notice of what’s going on with the government. Maybe if Bush does get elected, it’ll shake people up enough to make a real change in 4 years.
Either way, whether Bush or Gore gets in, I say:
Fuck you, You Corporate Fucking, Same Old Fucking Same Old.
It’s idiotic to assert that you should not let people bully you into voting for candidates you don’t want in office? Oh, do elaborate. I’m sure that the concept of letting yourself be guilted into voting for candidates you don’t favor is perfectly defensible.
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For those of you talking about moving to Canada, if you like our country more, then you are welcome here. If it’s just cause your guy lost an election, then no thanks, what makes you think we want quitters any more than the Americans?
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I’m not sure dumber words have ever been posted on this message board.
Collounsbury:
[quote]
quote:
Originally posted by pldennison
Do not be bullied by reactionary, exaggerating, fear-mongering idiots into voting for a candidate you do not want to be President. Do not ever let yourself be convinced that you have a responsibility to vote for one guy you don’t want to block another guy you don’t want.
That’s right, and when the brownshirts come… That’s a moronic argument. (EXPLICIT NOTE, no I’m not honestly comparing Bush to Hitler, but the over the top idiotic assertion above needs an over the top idiotic response)
[/quote}
How was pldennison’s comment over the top and idiotic? No argument on your’s, however.
Aw, don’t worry; nobody’s moving. Every election there are members of the losing side swearing they will move to Canada in protest and they never do. Why not? 'Cuz it’s CANADA, fercryinoutloud! Nobody REALLY wants to live there!
Besides… our women (and men) are better looking and our beer is drinkable and hell… I’m here too. I might be able to put one of you up for a while.
Our federal election is in ten days, I wonder if you Yanks will be sitting back watching us piss and moan about who won and who lost with the same amusement I am doing right now.
I hate politicians and it is just seems to be a matter of picking the lesser of two evils.
I understand that most people hate losing and having things not go their way but this is life… get used to it.
If it turns out to be like a bad haircut don’t worry, you can try and get it right in four years.
Hey, no prob. I spent most of the morning reading posts from people who assumed that the apocalypse was upon them, so seeing someone actually respond with a sane and rational “It’s not the end of the world, people” was like manna from heaven.
Glad to hear it; I thought you had been kinda divided on what to do, and I’m glad you decided to stick to your guns and vote for the person you wanted to be President rather than play what Ted Rall called “electoral cubism”.
And my thanks goes out to all the people who voted for the candidate they actually believed in, or at least the one that least made them ready to puke.
One won’t even have to wait that long. If he does a really crappy job and/or becomes too evil (like Clinton in his first 2 years) then we will see in 2002 a Democratic House and Senate. Similar to the “Republican Revolution” in 1994.
Holy fucking Christ! I think some of you liberals/democrats have lost your perspective. But I guess maybe I should expect that from people who back a candidate who has a problem with reality. Get a damned grip and grow up, my petulant children.
Does anybody see the irony of supposedly tolerant and inclusive liberals who are apparently unable to bear the views of a conservative? (Not that Bush is even a true conservative.) Sheesh.
Hey Falcon, doesn’t it feel good to vote your conscience? I remember you were mulling over the Nader/Gore thing last month, when I contributed to one of those debate threads. Not that it’s my business, but my guess is you would feel somewhat dirty if you had voted for a candidate you didn’t support.
phil, that was well said, man. I always admire someone who stands on principal, especially when there are those who would castigate you for it. I hope you are prepared for receiving 4 years of blame for sticking to your principals and “causing” Gore to lose.
It’s worse than you think–I didn’t vote for Bush, Gore or Nader. I voted for Browne. Of all the candidates on the ballot, he was the one I preferred for the Presidency.
In the State races, I voted for Democrats. In Virginia, it came down issue-wise largely to pro-gun-control Robb or pro-life Allen. I decided that in my opinion, abortion rights were more important than gun rights for now.
