This may sound like a snark, but it is intended to be serious: Gore vs Bush

[Stinky The Clown]

I am virtually certain that if we were now in the waning months of the second term of a Gore presidency, things would be far better than they are now. That said, the only thing we can say with near certainty is that the Iraq War would never have happened. But what abut the other stuff?

Would the WTC and Pentagon have been attacked? An attack thwarted? Never have been attempted?

Assuming the WTC/Pent would have still been attacked, would we have gone into Afghanistan? Would we still be there?

Would oil have gone as crazy as it has? Would we still be almost totally bereft of alternatives?

How about the economy? The housing bubble/bust?

What would American life have been like in the closing months of an Al Gore presidency?

[rainy]

1. We would never have been attacked. This has been a neo-con wet dream for

years. They MIHOP to get their oil wars on. Of course only a few, Cheney, Wolfie, Perle and maybe a few others know the whole story.

[pt22]

2. I can't believe you don't know it was Bush vs. Gore

:eyes:

[Name removed]

3. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Stinky The Clown]

4. Whoa ..... that's a theory I've not heard before!

[jimshoes]

5. That's a good one

I think I'll spread it around just because joe has earned it. Just for fun.

[librechik]

6. haven't heard that one, but did hear Gore was prepared to go into Afghanistan

to school the Taliban. Plans all drawn up. (NOT IRAQ, THOUGH!)

[Stinky The Clown]

7. I could see him going into Afghanistan.

Yup. I could.

But not Iraq.

[The Magistrate]

9. The Attack On The W.T.C. Might Have Been Thwarted, Sir

If it went through, Afghanistan would have been invaded. We would probably still be there.

Oil prices would be somewhat more sensible, but the housing bubble would probably still have been and burst.

[librechik]

10. Indeed--the celebration of liberal plans to attack Afghanistan

makes me want to heave. Have none of them read history? invading Afghanistan is the definition of hubris.

Can we not build on our knowledge instead of repeating the same mistakes over and over?

Guess not.

[The Magistrate]

11. The History Of The Place Is Not Unknown To Me, Ma'am....

The gentleman asked for assessment of probably events in a counter-factual scenario. The exercise has no point of one simply plugs in fondest wishes. The fact is that any government of a country attacked as the U.S. was that day, which had the military power in hand to effectively strike the base of operations where the attack originated, would have gone to war there in response.

[librechik]

12. I would have sent the troops in for blowing up the Buddhas

That was a crime against humanity. And you never know, that might have stopped everything right there, pre-9/11.

Wishes indeed.

[The Magistrate]

13. We Are On The Same Page There, Ma'am

That was a crime of stupendous proportion against the whole of the human heritage, and as you say, the result of a proper response might have been most salutory.

[Juche]

8. My view

The destruction of the WTC and pentagon wouldn't have happened, as Cheney wouldn't have been in charge of air defenses and war games on that morning, which he supposedly was on 9/11. So even if the plan went through to fruition and the planes were hijacked by Al Qaeda, the planes probably would've been shot down by the Air Force.

We would've gone to Afghanistan anyway but never Iraq.

Alternatives would be taken more seriously, but with a GOP congress and no 9/11 (likely just a few hundred deaths from the planes being shot down) the appeal wouldn't be as strong. So there'd be alternatives to oil, but not a whole bunch more than now.

I doubt the housing bubble would be as big as my understanding is due to deregulation by the Bush admin banks were able to make dangerous loans that they normally wouldn't be able to make. With Gore regulating the banks and preventing as many risky loans the housing bubble might not have been as severe.