If Gore had taken office in 2000, might we now be saying "President Elect JOE LIEBERMAN?!"

[Bicoastal]

This is assuming a lot: that President Al Gore would be re-elected in 2004, AND that Vice President Lieberman (assuming Gore hadn't fired him already) would run for and win the nomination, AND that at age 66 Lieberman would win the election against whomever the Republicans chose to run against him...

Is this the only positive side-effect of Bush "winning" eight years ago? Let's play the "What If" game--I'm bored. :)

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

1. Maybe his partner Alf would have run instead.

Sorry, Lieberman / "dad from Alf" jokes don't get old for me.

[Ken Burch]

24. Scarily enough, I just searched and saw there actually HAD been a "Max Wright for President" website

:wow: :wow: :wow:

[Bucky]

2. I seriously doubt one party could hold the White House for five time terms

Roosevelt & Truman did it, under highly unique circumstances.

Anyway, the Supreme Court sure would look different, as would the state of the Bill of Rights.

But the idea that the inevitable Lieberman-Reid ticket would defeat the equally certain Huckabee-Norris ticket strains credulity

[Occam Bandage]

3. I really don't think so.

First of all, I think that Al Gore would have stood a decent chance of losing his re-election bid, depending on how the economy was doing. But even if he won re-election, sixteen years is a very long time for one party to hold the White House. Pretty much everything that was wrong in the country would be blamed on the Democrats; the Dems would have a hard uphill battle to hold on for years seventeen through twenty. It would be even harder if they were running Gore's VP; that would make for an extraordinarily long unbroken White House chain. Their only real hope would be to find a reform candidate to blunt the GOP's message of reform, which would presumably focus on cutting spending and taxes to restore a balanced budget. Lieberman would enjoy significant support, but I don't think he would win the nomination.

[zipplewrath]

7. A screwed up pendulum

This is a really hard "what if" because of the magnitude of impact Gore's presidency would/could have had. The victory we just had was in essence 8 years delayed. Remember, more folks voted for Gore than Bush. Gore "really" won in Florida except for all of the problems voters had in making votes that would be counted for the candidate they wanted. Furthermore, another large vote "getter" was Nader. That's a huge left leaning coalition. The progressive swing of the pendulum should have happened 8 years ago. The conservatives should have been having the civil war they're having now, 8 years ago. The 2002 elections should have influenced Gore, not solidified Bush. There is a good chance 9/11 doesn't happen, although maybe something else would have. (Remember, Richard Clark probably still has more influence under Gore). The country was moving progressive 8 years ago, but a flawed election and a major attack on this country pushed it back 8 years. In many ways the reason that the GOP is having such a crash is because their decline was artificially held back by events. They should have learned many of the lessons they are learning now over a period of a decade, not all in a 2 year span.


So would we have a Pres. Lieberman? As many have said, dubious merely because 16 years, much less 20, is a long time for any party to hold onto the White House. But alternately, what would the two parties look like? It is concievable that we could have had a President McCain that was progressive on immigration, taxes, social issues, etc. A McCain that never got pulled to the right and in fact saw a need to drift leftward. Heck, maybe we have a successful McCain/Fiengold ticket.

[LoZoccolo]

4. Yes but then there would have been no Iraq war and no Dean...

...and thus there would be nothing to poutrage about. You would see him for his decently liberal record otherwise.

[NYC_SKP]

5. I find your comments here...

"Poutrageous!"™

:rofl:

[LoZoccolo]

9. lol n/t

[WeDidIt]

16. Lieberman was already a prick in 2000

When Gore picked him it was enough to make me seriously consider Nader.

[blue_onyx]

6. I doubt it

No way Lieberman wouldn't have defeated both Hillary and Obama in the primaries.

[rvablue]

10. Exactly, and you can add to that list: Kerry, Edwards, Richardson, etc.

People do remember, right, that he ran against Kerry & Co in the primaries and had to drop out very, very early.

Remember his famous "Joementum" claim on Hardball when he was running 4th or 5th in line?

Traitorman would never be and WILL never be POTUS.

[Hippo_Tron]

20. It's different when you're the sitting VP and endorsed by the President

Not that Lieberman being a sitting VP right now or Gore endorsing him would've been assured by any means. But if that were the case, he would've been far more formidable in the primaries.

[Bill McBlueState]

13. If Gore's term were ending right now

would Clinton and Obama have taken on VP Lieberman in the primaries? The entire Democratic picture would be completely different.

[PBS Poll-435]

15. Bill Bradley took on Gore in the 00 Primaries.

He had some pretty solid endorsements too.

[blue_onyx]

17. Hillary definitely would have run

Obama is younger and may have waited. I don't think Lieberman would have been strong candidate and so I think there would have been plenty of challengers. The field may have been different but I can't imagine Hillary not running and she would have easily defeated Lieberman.

[AllentownJake]

8. Probably would be the Re-Election of President McCain

or Hillary Clinton defeating President McCain. Without an Iraq war Hillary would be much more popular on the left.

I love Al but something tells me he might have not been re-elected....of course that isn't playing exactly with your game :-)

[Cha]

11. Nah, ol joe was meant to be

just a back stabbing dino.

[OwnedByFerrets]

12. And since this is pure speculation, people would still

be going to work in the Twin Towers, 1.2 million people would still being awakened by the sunlight of a new day in Iraq and the entire world wouldnt be on the edge of economic disaster.

I would trade Joe as president for these things.

[TheKentuckian]

14. Lieberman is unelectable

and probably why 2000 was close enough to cheat. He'd probably be getting drilled by Jeb but we'd still be better off than we are now. The shrub is horrid even by Republiscum standards.

[karynnj]

18. Unlikely - that would mean that we would have won 5 elections in a row

Possible - but very unlikely. (It also means that Lieberman would have done a great job as VP - and that he and Gore were good enough to get reelected in 2004.

So, either - in this alternative world - Lieberman was have been such an exceptional VP he won BC's 5th term - or he wouldn't be the President elect.

[Zynx]

19. Nope. The world as we know it would be very different.

The Republican Party would be very different and probably would have fielded a much different candidate. The economy would be in a different part of the cycle. The issue mix that would be at the center of the national debate would be nothing like it is now.

Without the financial crisis, I have no doubt we would see a continued march of free market orthodoxy.

[cemaphonic]

21. Nah - aside from the odds against an unbroken string that long for a single party,

and the fact that Lieberman is a tool, it's just not that common for sitting VPs to be elected President - the last time that had happened before Papa Bush in '88 was Martin Van Bueren.

[Arkana]

22. Joe was an old fuck back in 2000--I don't think he would have been the party's future.

And maybe he would have been less of a royal fuckhead turncoat limey bastard if he had been VP for 8 years, but I still don't think he'd have gone for the nomination in '08.

[davidpdx]

23. Oh God, I hope not

The only thing he deserves is a big knife in his back.

The guy is a two-faced backstabber, who runs on the politics of fear. He isn't a Democrat, he's a Republican.

I hope the people of his state wise up and kick him out of office the next time he's up for reelection, but I somehow doubt that is going to happen.

I very much wish Gore had been our president for the last 8 years instead of the stupid idiotic brainless twit of a chimp president we've had (and trust me I have called him worse, but I won't repeat those words on here).