What If Not?

[FrenchieCat]

What if America had had a President Gore sworn in on January of 2001,
instead of a President Bush?


What would our current present look like?




So what happened to make it not be so?
I mean....going all the way back?:shrug:


Gore formally announced his candidacy for president on June 16, 1999, in Carthage, Tennessee.

The speech was "briefly interrupted" by AIDS protesters claiming Gore was working with the pharmaceutical industry to prevent access to generic medicines for poor nations. Additional speeches were also interrupted by the protesters. Gore responded, "I love this country. I love the First Amendment <...> Let me say in response to those who may have chosen an inappropriate way to make their point, that actually the crisis of AIDS in Africa is one that should command the attention of people in the United States and around the world." In making the announcement, Gore also distanced himself from Bill Clinton, whom he stated had lied to him. In an interview for 20/20 Gore stated, "What he did was inexcusable, and particularly as a father, I felt that it was terribly wrong."http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Gore_presidential_campaign,_2000


Gore faced an early challenge by former New Jersey senator Bill Bradley. Bradley was the only candidate to oppose Gore and was considered a "fresh face" for the White House.

Bradley, in comparing himself with the current administration, argued that "One of the reasons I'm running for president is to restore trust and public service and confidence in our collective will." By the fall of 1999, a number of polls showed Bradley running even with the Vice President in key primary states."

Associated Press Poll conducted by ICR. Nov. 19-23, 1999.
N=1,023 adults nationwide.

Asked of Democratic voters:
"Who would you like to see the Democratic Party nominate
as its presidential candidate in 2000:
Bill Bradley or Al Gore?"
%
Al Gore 43
Bill Bradley 32
Neither 12
Undecided 13
http://www.pollingreport.com/wh2dem.htm

Jan. 7, 2000 | Little more than a month remains until the primaries in Iowa and New Hampshire, and suspense is building (slightly): Is the George W. Bush juggernaut slowing down as John McCain narrows the gap in the race for the Republican nomination? Can Democrat Bill Bradley's aggressive, big-money campaign stop Vice President Al Gore? Pat Buchanan has finally bolted parties and will now seek the Reform Party's blessing, but will he have to fight Donald Trump? All those thrills, and the race for the vice presidential nomination hasn't even begun.
http://www.salon.com/news/special/campaign2000/

Gore then challenged Bradley to a series of debates which took the form of "town hall" meetings. Gore went on the offensive during these debates leading to a drop in the polls for Bradley.

To the moon, Al
By Jake Tapper
you felt like you were eavesdropping on the incessant bickering of an old, unhappily married couple. When the two would scrap -- interrupting one another and disputing facts and figures, having fights that seemed decades old -- Gore recalled a nagging shrew, Bradley his exasperated spouse long resigned to misery and seething.

On the whole, the second debate, held at Daniel Webster College, hosted by ABC's "Nightline," and moderated by the inimitable Ted Koppel, was a fairly accurate representation of the campaigns they've been waging for the White House -- and occasionally against each other.

Gore, who in his bygone days as an unquestioned front-runner seemed physically unable to pour the name "Bradley" from his lips, has seen his candidacy challenged by Bradley's fund-raising and laconic appeal -- especially here in New Hampshire where Bradley and Gore are neck and neck, according to polls.

"Gore wonders why his disapproval ratings are so high," one Bradley supporter groused earlier in the day. "Why doesn't anyone like him? It's pretty simple: He's a jerk."
snip
Bradley replied that he was running to promote health care, racial unity and campaign finance reform, and to reduce the number of children in poverty and guns in the wrong hands.
snip
This guy is rude," said Bradley supporter John Rauh, the New Hampshire Democratic Party's 1992 Senate nominee, after the debate. "It ain't gonna sell. And he ain't gonna be president of the United States."
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/1999/12/18/democrats/index.html

Gore eventually went on to win every primary and caucus and in March 2000, secured the Democratic nomination.




Gore accepted his party's nomination and spoke about the major themes of his campaign,
stating in particular his plan to extend Medicare to pay for prescription drugs,
to work for a sensible universal health-care system.



Soon after the convention, Gore hit the campaign trail with running mate Joe Lieberman.
Gore and Bush were deadlocked in the polls. Gore and Bush participated in three televised debates.
While both sides claimed victory after each, Gore was critiqued as either too stiff, too reticent, or too aggressive in contrast to Bush.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Gore_presidential_campaign,_2000


and then there was.....

The Media Going After Gore
Al Gore couldn't believe his eyes: as the 2000 election heated up, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and other top news outlets kept going after him, with misquotes ("I invented the Internet"), distortions (that he lied about being the inspiration for Love Story), and strangely off-the-mark needling, while pundits such as Maureen Dowd appeared to be charmed by his rival, George W. Bush.

Could such an obviously intelligent man have been so megalomaniacal and self-deluded to have actually said such things? Well, that's what the news media told us, anyway. And on top of his supposed pomposity and elitism, he was a calculating dork: unable to get dressed in the morning without the advice of a prominent feminist.

http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2007/10/gore200710

Theories of why Al Gore Lost (or almost lost, whatever one's view is):
There were a number of theories connected to Gore's loss. Gore, according to a 2002 NPR article, attributed it to "the economic downturn and stock market slide that began earlier that year." His running mate, Joe Lieberman, criticized Gore for adopting a populist theme, stating that he had objected to Gore's "people vs. the powerful" message, as he believed that it was not the best strategy for a Democratic win (Lieberman also stated that he would still endorse Gore if he decided to run for the 2004 election). Other critics attributed Gore's loss in part to Green Party candidate Ralph Nader who garnered 2.7 % of the vote, enough of whose votes which they argued might have otherwise gone to Gore to swing the result.

Another theory suggests that Al Gore attempted to run a populist campaign but failed to separate himself from the abuses of the Clinton presidency. The public was not able to forget the Campaign fund raising controversy at the Hsi Lai Temple 1996 United States campaign finance controversy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Gore_presidential_campaign,_2000

[FrenchieCat]

1. I know.......

Bad memories
talked about
forever.....

Better not to have to
think about it....

including any lessons learned. :thumbsup:

[LAGC]

2. I think the biggest factor was Lieberman.

He turned off many progressives and made it easier for them to justify voting for Nader, or just stay home.

There's no reason Florida should have even been close, let alone close enough to steal.

[FrenchieCat]

3. I think Lieberman was seen as OK by many of the general public.....for the most part,

till he didn't win Florida for Gore, I think.
He wasn't discovered of being a totally complete
asshole till into the Recount, IMO.

Of course, he's gotten much, much worse since.

Was Clinton loved by progressives at the time
that Gore was running?

[Bonobo]

6. "He wasn't discovered of being a totally complete asshole till into the Recount"

Completely wrong.

It was known to those paying attention.

Gore, who had been to the right of even Clinton during the Clinton presidency, was shown to be a true Blue State "Dem" by his outlandish choice.

It cost him my vote. It cost him the election too.

[FrenchieCat]

7. I believe it cost us way more,

than it cost Gore. Way, way more.
But some folks don't care about the cost,
as much as they care about how them themselves feel....

So in that sense, politics is more about "them"
than it truly is about society as a whole, or this country in particular...
Which ironically is exactly the way we interpret
the type of people most Republicans are.

That's probably why 30 million insured doesn't move some,
even when one would think that it would,
because the sad reality, is that for many more than will admit,
it ain't about that, but rather it is about their personal
selves, and those they might care about who are in their personal lives.

I would call this motive to be involved in politics as somewhat self serving and limited,
although of course, it is one's right to be exactly that.
I guess it is when one has to rationalize it as something else
in order not to be thought of in those ways,
that the des-ingeniousness that easily leads to
exaggerations, dramatic accusations, then on to outright lies
justified by disgusted impatience, and for some, even the hatred
is activated.

[Bonobo]

8. History is long and sometimes you need to look at the larger picture.

Do you understand the concept of the ever shifting 'center'?

Do you understand the concept of the 'new normal'?

Can you not see the steady erosion of principles, of expectations?

What you see and describe as 'incremental progress', I see and describe as 'incremental regress'.

I see the steady erosion of our values.

I see Obama, Clinton claim the center and then I see the other side re-define that as the "left", resulting in a steady progression to the right.

I see voters such as yourself holding desperately by their fingernails to a party with no loyalty to its own values and I see YOU as the one that is self-involved and small-picture minded.

I see an abandonment of principles that I cannot stomach or justify to myself anymore.

War? Supporting the rich at the cost of the poor? Torture? More war?

Where does your line lie? Where have you drawn the boundaries for yourself?

Does the name "democrat" mean so much that it is infinitely flexible?

[craigmatic]

4. Gore lost because he ran away from Clinton just like dems lost this year because they ran from Obama

[FrenchieCat]

5. Yes. That is one of the theories.......not mentioned in Weakpedia....

another was that
he drove away the moderates,
which Bush and his media charmed over to his side.

Folks were saying, after the SCOTUS ruled......Bush probably won't be so bad.

[craigmatic]

9. Even Clinton told Gore he should've used him on the trail more.

I think he said something to the effect of "Hillary has more reason to be mad at me than you do, Al but she ran on our record and won."

[Greyhound]

10. It was a coup, pure and simple.

I think they were a little surprised at how easily we accepted it.