I’ve never registered as a Democrat in my life, knowing that I was a bit to the left of them (have registered Socialist, then Green for the last few years). I’m not even sure whether I’ve ever voted for a Democrat for President. Did I OWE my vote to Gore? Was someone counting on my support?
Ok, so in the campaign the Democrats consciously moved to the Right in order to get the centrist vote, knowingly alienating the Left. This created a void in the Left, which the Democrats should have expected that someone would fill. When the Democrats realized that the Greens were getting support, did they try to make concessions to woo the Left vote? Nooooo! Instead they started a campaign consisting solely of angry threats, centering principally on the notion that Bush will assign Darth Vader to the Supreme Court, and that you damn well better not vote for who you think best represents you. Do you doubt that this has alienated the Left even more? I can guarantee that, given the Democrats’ scapegoating and ranting in the last week, that 3.5 percent of the Left certainly will NOT support the Democrats in the next election. Gee, I hope it’s not a close race again.
The closeness of the race just reflects the closeness of the cantidates’ stances. Not being a partisan, I don’t feel that a Dubya reign would be MUCH worse than Gore (who has moved wayyy Right of where he has always claimed to stand, re. environment, etc., and with an increasingly conservative voting record). Both cantidates know that they did not have a clear mandate, so I doubt either would make any extreme decisions during their presidency (not sure what tense is appropriate here right now-- future-present subjunctive conditional, I think). Both cantidates are primarily concerned with the status quo; the sky is not going to fall-- things are going to continue to plod along. The worst that can happen with a Bush presidency is that it will galvanize the Left-- perhaps in the next election there might be a Left represented?
Oh, Pit, Right. Holy Zombie Jesus. Fuckity fuck.
Hello. Since Flymaster was good enough to mention this thread over here (no-bad-language territory), I thought it might be nice to float it again to see how people feel now.
In particular, I’m looking at capybara’s last paragraph above and shaking my head. From my point of view, it looks like we elected Holy Zombie Jesus, and a lot of you are cool with that.
Sorry, I could not forsee that Bush would crash a plane into the buildings-- Gore’s psychic powers and prognostic skill could have prevented all that. I am chastised.
Oh. . . wait.
Since I’ve been mentioned by name. . .
My Nader vote didn’t make a fuckload of difference in that election, you assmunches. Send a letter to Judge Scalia and the Florida county election committees next time. You zealot Democrat toadies pretend not to understand how that election worked (even disregarding for the moment the whole electoral college question)? That’s willful ignorance and scapegoating and ends up sounding like Democrat bullying for votes. As a California voter I still feel perfectly at peace with my choice last election-- as I recall, my state’s votes still went to Gore as expected.
There should definitely be a gravestone icon next to threads that have been resurrected from deep sleep … this thread confused the hell out of me until I noticed the posting dates! It’s too early in the a.m. to read things properly.
I am still happy to vote Libertarian Party candidates, although i like the idea of Joe Lieberman for President. And I do not like Bush the younger in 2003 any more than i liked him in 2000.
Uh, methinks some of the more rabid lefties here don’t realize that Gore only came so close because he was a centrist, not in spite of it. No Dem candidate left of Gore (Dean, for example) stands a chance in hell of winning a national election against Noelle Bush, much less GW.
You can safely bet your asses that GOP strategists are hoping that Dean does well in the primaries. It will be a defacto victory for GW.
Gads, please disregard my user name for a moment. I chose my name for it’s wonderful sound. My voting for Ralph back in the day was the only logical choice, seeing as I live in Texas.
I am somewhat unsure if anything that happened after the election, including the terrible events of Sep. 11th., would not have happened.
However, I do believe that having an American with Nader’s beliefs and, yes, where his family came from, as President through this crisis would have helped lead us on to another path. Perhaps one where our leader is not acting like a child asking for another spanking.