for those complaining about the Gore endorsement.

[virtualobserver]

Has your candidate been endorsed by anyone?
If so, should it bother us that they told us who to vote for.

And if Gore would have endorsed your candidate, would you have objected.....somehow I doubt it?

[Stuckinthebush]

1. Let's not start this...

I'm a Dean guy, but let's understand that the Gore endorsement is very hurtful for many of the other candidates.

Let's let everyone express their feelings on the other threads without restarting the discussion here. It will only help to divide us further. We can't afford the division much longer.

[TrueAmerican]

3. It's not hurtful to other candidates

I expect a backlash to his endorsement. It's going to hurt Dean more than help him.

[Stuckinthebush]

6. Perhaps

But the point is that we don't need to keep picking fresh scabs.

[Donna Zen]

10. Bwawawwawaw!

Hurt Dean more than help him? Please don't patronize me.

Al Gore: the man who couldn't open his mouth about the stolen election, the tax cuts, no child left behind....Al Gore: who could even bring himself to run this year, now gets to crown Dean king of the party.

[jcgadfly]

8. An endorsement is an endorsement

Nothing more.

Should we just not vote until after the general election so we can br sure we're not committing too early?

Yes, the above statement sounds silly. It is, however, no more silly than to remain undecided until the primary battles are squared away.

[liberalhistorian]

9. How is it hurtful to the other candidates?

Gore has the right, like everyone else, to determine who he will support and to announce that support. People surely didn't actually expect him to endorse Lieberman, now, did they?

And on that note, I'm amazed that Lieberman is the least bit surprised that Gore didn't endorse him.

[Stuckinthebush]

20. It would make me feel bad if the leader of the Democratic Party

endorsed someone other than me. Also, there are a number of people that will look to Gore for his advice. Let's face it, most voters are not as informed as the DU crowd. This hurts the other candidates.

[LuminousX]

2. On the same note

if Gore had endorsed someone other than Dean, I would have been dissappointed. I would have felt bad, but I wouldn't have attacked Gore. Much like when one of the men I've respected for nearly twenty years, Gary Hart, backed Kerry, I didn't a) suddenly shift my support to Kerry, b) attack Hart, c) say it didn't matter.

It was a coup for Kerry. I expressed my disappointment and my congratulations for Kerry. Then I continued on.

[Kremer]

11. You mean there is life after Gore's endorsement?

Whew! I thought the world came to an end after his endorsement. Okay, so it is cool to resume normal daily functions like eating, sleeping, etc. I'll try but I can't stop trembling after Gore's earth-shattering news yesterday!!! :)

[LuminousX]

21. Be aware of the phases of Grief though

anger, denial, etc. :)

[Eloriel]

26. Exactly

JK has gotten a number of endrsements that made me sad -- Hart, Cleland. And then there was Rngel for Clark. It's life. They're entitled, and so is Gore.

[Julien Sorel]

30. But you used to cry incessantly about the Clintons,

saying they had no right to be involved in the elections. Apparently, as in so many other things with you people, it's a shoe that only fits one foot.

[Fovea]

4. I think that it is a valid endosement

and I am a Kucinich supporter.
It was Gore's to make, and he made it.
I think that it puts all the candidates on notice,
and really throws some cold water on the DLC.

I still support Dennis strongly.

[HFishbine]

5. Virtual

I understand the point you are trying to make, but it really does amount to flame bait. One could just as easily offer a recpipricol hypothesis and ask, if Gore had endorsed someone other than Dean, would Dean supporter be just as upset as thoe of other candidates are today? I think the answer would be yes.

[cindyw]

13. If Gore had endorsed someone else, Dean supporters would be screaming that

Gore's endorsement was a bad thing as he is DLC. Spin is an interesting thing.

[Donna Zen]

7. Don't be so naive.

You know very well that this was more of an crowning than a endorsement. That is why the true party heavy weights stay out of it. Afterall, democracy and voting as opposed to being pushed around by Al Gore and the Dean supporters, is worth something.

Al Gore, a supreme court of one.
Thank Al.

[jcgadfly]

15. Uh, Gore is not a party heavyweight anymore

As soon as his rhetoric started going against what the DLC endorsed, their icon (Lieberman) denounced him as being too populist, too liberal. The DLC (the real heavyweights) decided to support someone who was more malleable.

Other friends of the DLC did as well but I can't remember particulars.

[Nederland]

18. Not Really

Afterall, democracy and voting as opposed to being pushed around by Al Gore and the Dean supporters, is worth something.

Al Gore's announcement only weakens democracy and voting if people let him "push them around". The bottom line is this: the primary will continue and Democrats will still get to vote for whomever they want to. Al cannot take that right away from anybody.

[Kremer]

28. Pushed around by Dean/Gore supporters?

Where do you come up w/ this crap! No one pushes you around unless you let them!! Your basically admitting that you can't think for yourself. Why do you read some much into one little endorsement? He's just crowned Dean. It's a plot to secure 2008 for Gore. Gore betrayed Liberman. Gore did it so he could fulfill his secret dream to rule the world. He endorsed Dean so the good doctor can give him free check-ups for life and on and on and on!!! OMG!!!!! This is turning into a debate like who killed Kennedy. What's next? Gore did it so he can get lifetime ski passes to all the ski runs in Vermont. Gees. Have a shot of Jack and get ahold of yourself!!!

[dfong63]

33. don't be naive?

with no facts to support your thesis that this is a "crowning" rather than an endorsement, you argument consists of nothing but argument by ridicule.

as you noted in a previous message, Gore has pretty much steered clear of politics for 3 years. how does that make him a "king-maker"?

[Catherine Vincent]

12. Tell me about it.

I mean, damn. Gore has to endorse someone. Why not Dean?

[mmonk]

14. The endorsements

basically say they support the candidate and feel that candidate is strongest. That's about it. They didn't tell you anything more to do nor suggest anything about an individual's support of someone else.

[deminflorida]

16. Personally I agree with Wes Clark in thinking that Gore's.....

endorsement of Dean is wonderful. Wait and see, just when Clark needed a spark, this has done more for him than anything. Iowa doesn't count for him, and New Hampshire is a hopeful second or third place, Gore has really hurt Kerry and Liberman now in N.H. But in S.C. -- Oh boy, not a strong Gore state at all, and with Sharpton pulling in the Black vote there.....

Thanks, Al.

[dfong63]

27. Clark sure showed more class than some of those who lost the endorsement,

... not to mention any names, but especially the initials JL.

[dfong63]

17. of course it's sour grapes

it's especially ironic to hear Clark supporters whine about "having the election called prematurely" by Gore, when they (the Clark camp) have been saying over and over that "Dean can't win" and "only Clark can win", since day one. apparently it's OK for THEM to "call the election" in favor of Clark, but not OK for Gore to state his own preference.

and somehow i suspect their principles will be suddenly forgotten if Bill Clinton or some other big name endorses their guy.

Gore hit a home run for Dean. the timing is absolutely masterful.

it may not change the minds of many supporters of other candidates, but it'll help Dean pick up undecideds. and, after the primaries have knocked out a few of the lower tier candidates, Dean will be in a great position to sweep up their former supporters.

[mmonk]

22. yes sour grapes

I'm sure. No valid argument over Gore's words (sarcasm). Fact is, it wasn't a typical endorsement. Pretend you wouldn't call foul if reversed if you like. Congratulations though.

[dfong63]

35. who said it was "typical"? is "typical" the new standard of ethics?

No valid argument over Gore's words (sarcasm). Fact is, it wasn't a typical endorsement.

so it wasn't "typical". tell me what's so "typical" about a high-ranking general to run for president with no political experience, and in a party that he was fundraising against only 2 years ago. and remember what happened right after Clark announced a few months back? Clark supporters started a rumor that Clark was going to pick up 50 congressional endorsements and a bunch of superdelegates. was that also what you'd call "typical"?

Pretend you wouldn't call foul if reversed if you like. Congratulations though.

pretend you wouldn't be crowing if Gore had endorsed Clark. and no, i don't see anything wrong in principle with Gore's endorsement. AFAIK Dean supporters haven't cried foul when Clark picks up endorsements. we may lament the poor judgment of the endorsers, but there haven't been these wild charges of impropriety.

[meow mix]

24. i know wtf was that?!

gore has influence and national tv.

and were just regular people, posting on a board..

that whole argument is pure unthinking crap.

[QC]

19. Would not object, but neither would I gloat.

[ibegurpard]

31. Who's gloating?

Jesus...the second people got wind of the endorsement there was a huge firestorm of criticism...not just of Dean but of Gore now too. Trying to answer that is gloating? Sometimes people make my head hurt.

[RPG-7]

23. I think it's farkin hillarious

I've been reading this site a long, long, time and I recognize people coming out of the woodwork who two years or so ago would claim that Gore was the epitome of perfection and suggesting that he could do wrong was blashemous and only a crypto-republican would ever think that he was anything less than perfect.

A bunch of the same people are suddenly diehard Gore haters :D

[QC]

25. Likewise, I remember

how many people have, for lo these many years, denounced Gore as a worthless DLC sellout hack, and are now positively orgasmic over his endorsing a candidate who promotes himself as The Original and Ultimate Outsider.

Lots of irony floating around today.

[RPG-7]

32. oh yes..

Much of that also ;)

[Tatiana]

29. I'm not complaining about the Gore endorsement.

Gore has every right to endorse a candidate. I respect him and I respect his opinion, even if I disagree with it.

[HuckleB]

34. Well, then this thread isn't for you.

;)