I am convinced Gore would be president if he had picked Kerry

[WildEyedLiberal]

Instead of Joementum. Just think how different the world would be today. :(

[karynnj]

1. Totally agree

Cheney was able to win the VP debate -which was a shock to me. Kerry would have blown him away. (Lieberman I think was supposedly only a real help in Florida - and we know what happened there.) NH should have gone to Gore/Kerry

[vinessa4freedom]

11. but Kerry also beat the pants off

Bush in the debates last fall. I think the debates have become nothing more than tradition to some people. It's obvious that if they mattered (at least in 2004) Kerry would have had such a landslide that even election fraud wouldn't have stopped him. The margin between the fraud and the landslide was decided by people who respect someone for being more stupid (or as stupid) as themselves.

Sorry to be so cynical but Kerry was brilliant in the debates and there was w, just being his stupid self. How could anyone witness that and still vote w? It baffles me.

[TayTay]

13. Ahm, the debates mattered a lot

These debates were extremely important and they re-energized the race. The Rethugs honestly thought they had the campaign sewed up in late Sept. They believed that all * had to do was show up in Miami and Kerry would fold. (Don't you remember this?) The Kerry campaign did nothing to damp down the 'Senator Windbag' meme that was floating around. And the *ies got overconfident. (They even fell for that dodge that the Kerry folks put out that Kerry was upset at the blinking lights on the podium and was having a hard time accepting them. The *ies were so overconfident it was just amazing.)

The Gallup poll (which is admittedly suspect) had Kerry down by 11 before the debate, then dead even a few days later. The debates mattered, I just wish they had been two weeks later. Ken Mehlman admitted that had the debates been two weeks than they were, Kerry would be Pres now.

Trust me, they mattered and they still matter. John Kerry does not have to establish that he is competent to be President or that he is one smart guy. That image is cemented into the public consciousness. That part of him is a known quantity to the public. This will give him an advantage next time.

[vinessa4freedom]

14. You don't have to convince me...

I was referring to people that saw the debates and still voted for Bush. It should have given him an advantage *this* time. Not in spite of the war, but because of it. I don't get how he could talk about going to war with Iraq because of 9/11. get called on it, stick his foot in his mouth, and still have anyone think he's qualified to see us through the war.

[TayTay]

15. Cuz Jayzus told them too!

And John Kerry looks 'French.' Damn it woman, stick with the script. I know a Frenchy when I see one and he looks French. And that *, I could just serve him non-alcoholic beers all night long. You kow, I don't think I would feel like an idiot in his company at all. He seems just like one of us. Bet he never hangs out with those sissy intellectuals from Harvard. Can you even picture Georgie with a book in his hands. (I mean one of those heavy books without pictures.)

Honestly, this 'murica. We don't want any smart people who can actually do the job. Hell no, we want regular folks who know how to pronouce nucular in a non-fancy pants way. And look at Kerry's wife? I mean really. What normal woman looks that good at her age. And she took her cookie recipe back. What does that tell you? Yah, that's right, it was French. I'm not eating no Frenchified cookies that come from smart people land. I want a real 'murican. I want *.

[vinessa4freedom]

17. Not to mention she had the nerve

to wear the same color as the first lady. What self-respecting woman would do that?:spank:

Sorry I dropped the ball. I'm so damned tired even sarcasm eludes me.
Bear with me TayTay, I'm in the middle of 2 papers due tomorrow, and I joined a club, to boot.

[Lavender Brown]

2. That would have been cool

But I just can't imagine Kerry's being second in command to anyone though. :shrug:

[WildEyedLiberal]

3. Oh I totally prefer Kerry at the top of the ticket

But still, to not have Bush in the White House on 9/11... would've been nice.

[Lavender Brown]

4. Of course.

:(

[ginnyinWI]

6. maybe Gore was afraid of that? Maybe not.

Kerry wouldn't have upstaged Gore on purpose. I think Gore wanted to swerve to the center by picking Joe, but I agree he didn't add much. Kerry deserved it, and probably would have run if Gore couldn't have, for some reason.

I remember that the in the minds of the public then, the goal was to have a change from Clinton and his sexual adventures (I know, thanks to all the publicity he got from the right). Kerry would have offered the best of Clinton's policies, but with a "clean" personal life.

[Lavender Brown]

7. I don't think he would have upstaged him

but the VP job doesn't offer much for someone like JK, although it is a stepping stone. He is all about *action*, as we all know. (Not to diss the position of VP or anything). :7

But, that would have been a hell of a ticket.

[ginnyinWI]

8. I think he would have made it something

Remember, since Clinton and Gore were a team, the VP postition has been more powerful. So a Gore-Kerry team would have given JK a lot to work with. He'd been a bit overqualified,though. :)

[LittleClarkie]

9. He did a pretty good job as Lt Governor of not stepping on Dukakis

but making the Lt. Gov. job his own. He came up with things to do with the job that weren't what a Lt. Gov is usually stuck with.

[whometense]

5. Funny

you should mention that today. I was thinking about the same thing.

[elshiva]

10. Don't think so.

I'm sure Kerry would have been better, but he didn't "lose" because of Joe, he "lost" because of election fraud.
Sure Joe did crappy in the VP debate, but such things don't make or break a campaign. Bentsen smoked Quayle in '88, did that make any difference?

[WildEyedLiberal]

12. I don't think Gore lost because of Joementum

But I do wonder if Kerry would've attracted more voters to the ticket than Joe. He wasn't yet hated by the lefty freepers (pre-IWR), so maybe his liberalness (something Joementum lacks) might have appealed to lots of people who voted Nader. Remember, Nader won 2.5 million votes in 2000 and was DEFINITELY a spoiler. If Gore hadn't tried to run a centrist campaign, I think Nader's appeal would have been drastically reduced.

[elshiva]

18. Good points, Mrs. Kerry, but

pre-IWR, Joe was not hated as much. He was sort of appealing as the first Jewish Vice president (at least he had that going for him).

[GRLMGC]

19. I didn't like him

Of course I was 15 and my friends hated him because of his video game crusade :)

[JI7]

20. the under 30 vote is where Kerry made huge gains over Gore

in 2000 Gore and Bush pretty much split evenly among the under 30 voters.

but in 2004 Kerry got over 10 percent more of the under 30 voters than Bush got.

i wonder if Lieberman and the censorship thing had a lot to do with it.

of course Kerry appealed to younger voters with his sports such as windsurfing, snowboarding etc and he listens to good music.

[GRLMGC]

21. My friends, to this day hate him

Just because of that stupid crusade. Video games have the best ratings system. It's extremely thorough. Parents just need to learn how to make informed decisions. The rating is right there.

[elshiva]

22. I don't like the Video Game junk, either.

However that's small patotoes compared with the Joe-is-Bushlite hatred which is current.

[JI7]

23. i agree with that

there are a disagreements on a few things. but overall he has a good record on things like civil rights, environment and other domestic issues.

[JohnKleeb]

16. Sigh yeah