Things would have been so different if Gore became President in 2000

[still_one]

History will probably record that as a watershed moment where the country shifted to the right

It is hard for me to believe that the American people have become so dumbed down, and lack critical thinking that they will bring back the people that collapsed our financial system, involved us in a war based on a lie, and have promised to privatize social security and medicare.

[hamsterjill]

1. If Al had become President...

There is no doubt in my mind that the country would be in a much better place now than it is after eight years of Bush. Al, after all, has some scruples. Bush is an idiot.

You are absolutely correct in your comments and I fully concur. I cannot believe, myself, that people would risk going backwards yet again. But we've got plenty of them out there begging to do just that.

Unfathomable!

[still_one]

8. I am extremely frustrated /nt

[DCKit]

2. Would that we could all transfer to that alternative universe.

Unfortunately, we've got to deal with the hand we've been dealt.

[gateley]

5. That was Seahawks coach Chuck Knox's tried and true saying --

playing the hand we've been dealt (unfortunately he had to use it too often :()

And you're right, when I find myself getting pissed about who was responsible for this or that event, getting mired the in blame game, I have to remind myself that it doesn't matter who the finger should be pointing to, we've got to take care of the mess, and ourselves, NOW. :hi:

[Ezlivin]

3. No 9/11, that's for sure

[gateley]

4. This would be an entirely different WORLD. It's like we're living the 'bad' side

of an mirror universe.

[still_one]

9. Nightmare on Elm street /nt

[InvisibleTouch]

25. Yeah, I had just that impression after the stolen election.

It was like we had "jumped the track" and gone down a wrong turn in history, a path that actually "wasn't supposed to be."

On the other hand, there's no way to know how things would have turned out of Gore had assumed his rightful win. We all think everything would have been better for the world as a whole (and I think that as well), but we don't *know* it, for sure. Maybe something terrible would have happened as a direct result, and we'd be far worse off today. So bemoaning the "if only's" is ultimately counterproductive, because it wastes energy on something that can't be changed, which could instead be used in making *today* and *tomorrow* better.

[RZM]

6. But . . . but . . . Ralph said they were the same

Not everything would be different, but plenty of things would be. No Iraq war would be the big one I think and more focus on environmental issues. Would have been interesting to see Gore's response to 9/11 and how his FP would have played in 2004, assuming he ran again.

[still_one]

11. If nothing else, they wouldn't be talking about privatizing social security /nt

[laundry_queen]

12. 9/11 would not have happened under his watch.

I believe during the 2004 elections, he either gave an interview or a speech, can't remember right now, in which he said, after hearing about the warning (Bin Laden determined to attack in the US) that the government would have come to a halt to concentrate ALL their resources on that warning, since in all the time he'd been in office there hadn't been anything that was even remotely close to that ominious. Bush just ignored it. LIHOP without a doubt. Gore said you just don't ignore intelligence like that, you just don't.

[RZM]

26. LOL . . . Gore seems like a good guy, but he's also a human being

And people can quite often convince themselves of how they would have behaved in certain situations they were never in and not surprisingly, the conclusion they often draw is that they would have done it better. You can find that in a lot of political memoirs, that's for sure. They are usually filled with 'if only' and 'I was right' and 'they should have listened to me' and 'I would have done this or that instead.' Maybe Gore would have listened to the intelligence and taken strong action, but I really, really doubt it. I find it hard to believe that Gore would have come out with guns blazing at the mention of a terrorist plot. We can never prove anything either way, but we have to put how he would have been thinking in its proper context. I don't think a whole lot of people would have necessarily viewed the pre-9/11 warnings as heralding a world-changing event. I don't believe the ridiculous LIHOP nonsense and until I see some real evidence and not bunk, I'm not going to. End of story.

[Winterblues]

13. Please show me where Ralph said any such thing...

You can't because he never said any such thing.. He said there was very little difference between the Parties and never once said Al Gore was the Same as Bush* ..NEVER.. I guess it is too much to ask of some people to understand the difference.. :shrug:

[RZM]

22. We all know his positions

I didn't use quotation marks. The impression I got from Ralph Nader in 2000 is that he thinks that there's not much difference between the parties and thus not too much substantive difference between the candidates they trot out. That's what I gather many people on the non-Dem left believe. But no, that does not fit in a headline. I think it's reasonable to argue that Nader thought/thinks that Gore and Bush weren't different enough for his tastes. That's not exactly the same as what I said, but it's close enough for me, though I guess not for you.

[alcibiades_mystery]

23. Tweedledee and Tweedledum, he said, over and over again

So, yes, slight difference imputed.

:eyes:

Yeesh.

[alcibiades_mystery]

17. The same know-nothings who allowed that to happen are at it again

One would think that a group of people wouldn't fall into the same pathetic trap twice in the space of a decade, but our purists are very silly people indeed, so they'll throw us into the fire again, and then shrug their shoulders or scream and scrape when anyone mentions that they are responsible for the consequences of their idealistic stupidities.

[opihimoimoi]

7. The National debt would be history, no wars, no 9/11, no stupid waste,

we would join these guys having FUN

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpBkUY62TtM&feature=related

[WinkyDink]

10. You mean if the COUP D'ETAT had not occurred? I agree.

[lpbk2713]

14. May Katherine Harris and the Supremes be smothered by a truckload of hanging chads.

It was a conspiracy and no one will ever convince me of anything different.

[still_one]

21. May harris and the supremes be denied insurance because of a pre-existing condition /nt

[soryang]

15. Gore gave up

There was other ballot litigation pending in Leon County that would have given him the election in Florida. The Supreme Court decision would not have affected the outcome. He lost his nerve or simply didn't want it.

[still_one]

19. Regardless, the election should NEVER have been that close. The economy was booming

[soryang]

28. Florida elections have always been crooked

It was a recognized problem long before the 2000 election. Most of the hanky panky goes on in the Democratic counties. No suprise there.

[indepat]

32. Perhaps by then Gore realized what an enormous albatross (LIEberman) would hang around his neck and

be only a heart-beat from the Presidency. :shrug:

[Robyn66]

16. You are absolutely right!

That is why everyone MUST VOTE on Tuesday! If you dont you are enabeling the jack-booted thugs that are the Teabagger-Rethuglican Party! And guess what, you OWN the fall out if you enable Democratic losses.

[Tippy]

18. I wonder how history will view election 2000

And all that has taken place because of the decision of the SCOTUS...

[still_one]

20. Everything changed in ways we could not image at the time because of that /nt

[DaveinJapan]

24. On the other hand, Barack Obama would probably be a bit-player right now...

It's always interesting to re-think history, but to assume that things are necessarily better or worse assumes a lot.

I can't imagine that our current President would even *be* President if not for 8 years of Bush.

Now, is that good or bad? Who knows. But we can't assume that the Repubs wouldn't have come back even stronger and harder in 2004 to oppose Gore (thus leading, perhaps, to a Bush administration that extends to this day...or worse, Sarah Palin as President since Bush picked HER as his V.P. instead of Cheney, and they decided just to quit in 2008 because he'd had his fun and was pretty much too drunk to run again).

Woulda...coulda...shoulda...

I'm pretty happy with the way things turned out, civil rights-wise and having a BETTER guy in the White House now than I think that Al Gore (much as I respect him) would ever have been.

[deaniac21]

27. It would have saved his marriage.

[mistertrickster]

29. Amen . . . 9-11 probably wouldn't have happened. No war in Afghan & Iraq.

No trillion dollar debt. No tax cuts for the filthy, stinking rich.

No massive de-regulation and un-regulation.

The Supreme Court unloaded a whole lot of hurt on us when they installed

Worst.
President.
Ever.

[Uncle Joe]

30. I'm convinced that Al Gore could have been one of, if not our greatest President.

Thanks for the thread, still_one.

[ThatsMyBarack]

31. That's for sure.

Flying today would be easier and more fun.

BUT, what it would be like to have had Joe Lieberman as VP??