I will not make the same mistake I made in 2000, in 2012, or in any

[izzybeans]

election thereafter.

People like me made the vote too close to call and ripe for being stolen. You see, I abstained from voting on the Presidential line that year. I did not support Nader, did not support Gore (because of Lieberman and Clinton) and could not vote for a Bush. But, how I wish I voted for Gore. Sure he redeemed himself since that election, erased many questions I had about him, etc. But I was too young to see that my dissatisfaction with the Clinton Administration on a handful of very important issues would blow up in my face later. Shit, in retrospect I agreed with Clinton about 95% of the time. That being said, I know full well that it was because of one part people like me, two parts of the Supreme Court, and three parts of brother Jeb and his cronies that we had all six nasty shades of the Bush Regime. But I can't help but think, if people like me didn't sit out the election that year, would the outcome be different? Would we be here in this mess today?

Sure a VP Lieberman would have stunk like a pack of skunks. But Dick Cheney brought in an armada of trucks filled with elephant shit. Hindsight being 20/20, I'm gonna go with the skunks.

In 2012, though I have been very disappointed in some things President Obama has done, I will vote for him. If we thought Bush and Cheney could stink up a room, wait until you get a glimpse of the 2012 nominee.

:turning to the President:

But I must say Mr. President, even though you will have my vote, I will not stop writing you when i feel you have gone astray. I will protest the wars. I will remain a citizen who is always skeptical of people with your type of power. Hell, I probably won't even give you very much money for your campaign because some of your positions have disappointed me. But I realize something now that I didn't then. I can criticize you, your office, your policies, and the fact that you never invited me to play basketball (among other things) and still vote for you in the end. Why? Because the alternatives are more than just the lessor of two evils. They are dangerous.

I will never again let the fact of being left disappointed 5% of the time, get in the way of the 95% certainty that I made the right choice on the day I voted for you.

You may have my vote, but you will take my criticism.

[sui generis]

1. yah shoulda seen the abbatoire here

NO CRITICISM ALLOWED DAMMIT!

We independent minded critical thinkers were treated like the proverbial monster in the castle by the serfs with their pitchforks and torches.

#1 "Shut up and vote"
#2 "Nobody cares what you think"
#3 "Fine don't vote and then you'll deserve what you get, but your vote doesn't count anyway"
#4 "Shut up and vote, troll"
#5 "You don't belong here on DU / You're not a real progressive / Democrat / Liberal"
#6 "We don't need your vote, so our party doesn't have to do anything for you"

etcetera ad nauseum

[izzybeans]

2. yeah I've seen that, too.

partial motivation for my post. As is the "I'm not voting" crowd. I used to be the latter.

[ShortnFiery]

5. +1

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

3. This is like posting that you don't plan to murder any more co-eds

Your failure to vote for Gore was an indefensible error at the time, not just in retrospect.

Glad you sorted it out.

[izzybeans]

4. .

:rofl:

idealistic and naive, is how I like to describe it. I'll keep the ideals and drop the naivete.

[Name removed]

6. Deleted message

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

[izzybeans]

8. You can't read can you.

You'll see I do not support the wars, if in fact you read what I wrote.

In fact I fully believe that my non-commital on the 2000 election is a direct cause of the war I was against. Hence my post.

[Name removed]

11. Deleted message

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

[izzybeans]

12. Ahhh the joys of the purity test.

What fun.

me thinks you've never protested this war.

[ShortnFiery]

14. No PURITY tests. What part of the fact that we are immorally OCCUPYING two Muslim

countries and blowing people to kibbles and bits can you NOT wrap your *idealism* around?

[izzybeans]

16. What part of me not voting for Gore being a direct link to these Wars do you not?

Welcome to ignore, it's obvious you have an ulterior motive here.

[ShortnFiery]

20. Past tense. Please do try to keep up?

:shrug:

[Frances]

7. Great post

I apologize for my post in another thread saying I had never heard any Dem or Green take responsibility for not voting for Gore in 2000.

Thank you for looking at the big picture. I too disagree with Obama on many issues and think speaking out in a constructive way is good.

What I cannot accept is the total lack of political reality that says there is no difference between a Gore and a W or between an Obama and a McCain or an Obama and a Palin/Huckabee/Romney/DeMint.

[AspenRose]

29. *nodding*

+1

[Clio the Leo]

9. I cant argue with that.

(And as Tweety would say, "and I LIKE to argue!" lol)

[asdjrocky]

10. They made the mistake.

Not you. They fucked up. Not you. It's their job to give us something to vote for.

[ShortnFiery]

13. Gore ran a piss poor campaign and froze out any Greens. Oh, and don't get me started on ...

Lieberman. :thumbsdown:

[asdjrocky]

19. And we are supposed to feel guilty they didn't win.

I remember thinking all the time in 99, what the fuck is he doing? He could have had me. And just think, we may have had VP Lieberman.

[Jennicut]

30. If we had Gore as President for 8 years a poorly ran campaign would be meaningless

I will never ever fail to vote against a Repub.

[housewolf]

15. Depends on what state you were in at the time

Because we really have 50 individual elections on the 1st Tuesday of November, not a single national election. If you were in Florida or Ohio, it might have made a difference if you had voted for Al Gore. If you were in California (strong Gore vote) or Texas (strong Bushs vote), it wouldn't have made much difference.

The thing is, if you don't vote, you abidicate the choice to others and you have to live with their choices. You give up your right to have your say.

Congrats on moving past the need to withhold your vote due to candidates' imperfections. We're all human, none of us are perfect in every way.

[izzybeans]

17. I agree. I was in an uncontested state that Gore lost.

My point is merely rhetorical, because I know people from those states who were just like me.

[Blue_In_AK]

32. I voted for Nader in Alaska,

because I knew it wouldn't make any difference who I voted for, and Ralph Nader best represented my principles at the time. Gore did not impress me. If he had acted like Gore 2.0 back then, I would have felt differently.

[mkultra]

18. i disagree with your assesment but deeply honor your stand

reason in the face of disappoint is mature and thoughtful. K&R

[Arctic Dave]

21. Only disappointed 5% of the time, wow. You're easy to please.

So your stand is that your voice is irrelavant to them but it is a little irrelavant to one of them?

[depakid]

22. The mistake is continuing to support erosions and betrayals of your basic values

That only leads to a long decline toward disempowerment- as the only thing corporatists Dems understand is threats to their power.

[PVnRT]

23. I'm not sure a Nader vote in Illinois had any effect, honestly

[Cha]

24. Thanks for this, izzy.

After 8 years of bushcheney we got the perfect storm that even the corporatemedia couldn't control.

[Pushed To The Left]

25. K&R! Excellent points

One of the biggest advantages of President Obama getting elected that many people forget about: McCain-Palin NOT getting elected.

[NJmaverick]

26. An excellent lesson learn

as long as the criticism is constructive rather than destructive you are certainly doing the right thing.

[Moochy]

27. Cake or Death?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZVjKlBCvhg

[cry baby]

28. nice post! knr

[Blue_In_AK]

31. My "principled" decision not to vote in the 1968 election

contributed to the election of Richard Nixon. But I was so pissed off by the Chicago convention that I decided to stay home. Who knows? Hubert Humphrey might have changed the course of history significantly for the better.

But we all make mistakes when we're young.

I'm with you. If Obama is our nominee again in 2012, I will vote for him, unless our political system has fractured into four viable parties by then. The way things are going, it just might.

But I must say, I disagree with the president far more than 5% of the time. It's more like 50-50 right now.