Gore and Dole Versus William J. Clinton and G. W. Bush

[Boojatta]

The title refers to two candidates who (officially) lost versus two who (officially) won. Both parties are represented in each case. What do Gore and Dole have in common?

Do they both seem tense? Do candidates who seem relaxed have better odds of getting votes from voters who vote for the person rather than the party?

I put in the "official" part to avoid provoking a discussion about the actual voting processes and vote counting processes. The vote shouldn't be close enough for those details to matter. To discuss the mechanics of the voting system, please start your own thread.

[NoodleBoy]

1. apples and oranges. vastly different candidates win or lose for vastly different reasons

[Fridays Child]

2. The problem with this is that Gore won.

For the purpose of your hypothesis, it doesn't matter that the Supreme Court divested him of the office of U. S. President. He won the popular vote and, under the only valid vote-counting scenario in Florida, he won the the electoral college vote, as well. If you want to compare the traits of losers you need to compare Dole and Bush.

[PATRICK]

4. this reminds me

of how successful the SCOTUS decision was. In reality the GOP controlled state legislature already had selected a Bush slate of electors. The GOP Congress would have had to decide on a challenge or second slate of electors. I think it was a done deal that they were prepared to trump any recount at all and forever establish(openly) that elections are arbitrated totally by those above. Perhaps SCOTUS would have been dragged in later although according to the Constitution the partisan Congressional decision in a controversy was legal. That is assuming that the Dems rallied to Gore and the media(poor Al really banked on getting that "public" pressure on his side. I doubt it.) Perhaps the smoke which was already pouring about the "republic" principle as OPPOSED to plebiscite would have begun the Bush dictatorship then and there. Tiptoeing around making them them do exactly that and confronting has led by relentless increments to where we today and headed for worse.

SCOTUS slammed the door shut on the primary crisis that was to take America down the toilet. It NEVER has been faced and many intelligent commentators don't even see what was behind that partisan stone wall. The outright coup against the majority of voters in America. There was no logic or rational in that naked decision to "protect" the raw takeover of power already easily foreseen by the choosing of a GOP Florida slate and the villains and cowards who would have had to expose themselves to the fullest with the fullest cooperation of the worst MSM in history. Not facing that has cost us thousands of innocent lives, loss of every democratic institution and everything else which is a mere down payment on truly cataclysmic, dehumanizing disasters that also will surely follow. Even if the people had been enslaved and the Dems beaten there(and probably getting the blame) the inevitable battle or the resurgence of true citizenship(dare we say honor?) would have never slunk into the shadows looking for handouts of occasional justice and crumbs of sanity.

[Hippo_Tron]

3. Clinton and Bush are both natural politicians, at least from what I've heard

The difference is that Clinton has natural speaking ability as well as the ability to work the crowd. Bush can't give a speech for shit (as anyone with a pulse anytime for the last 6 years knows) but I've read that he has the ability to work the crowds. Shake peoples' hands, kiss babies, make people feel like he's listening and understands them, even though really he doesn't give a shit.

Gore, I know, was not born with these abilities and thus he has had to learn them. That's part of what got him in trouble in 2000, because he was trying to have consultants teach him how to do much of this and they were poorly advising him.

[Uncle Joe]

5. The only commonality I see is

Bob Dole lost part of his body defending our freedom against fascism.

Al Gore lost Bush vs Gore because he defended our freedom by championing the Internet.