Twelve years ago today - The darkest day in American politics.

[El Supremo]

[Arkansas Granny]

1. I'm not sure any of us realized at the time just how bad it was going to be.

[SheilaT]

13. Some of us did.

My husband said, "Well at least we can count on him to surround himself with good people."

I knew that wasn't going to happen. Every time I see photographs if Bush, Condy Rice, and Cheney I feel as if I'm looking at a group of Nazis.

[GoCubsGo]

15. Yep. Most of my worst nightmares have come true.

I knew he and his anti-science minions would cost me my job. They did. And, not just mine. Millions of others did, too.

I knew that a guy who drove three businesses into the ground would do the same to our country. He did.

I knew millions of us would wind up in poverty. We have.

I knew we'd wind up in some war, with the rest of the world hating us. We did, and it did.

I hope I live to see the day when Karma catches up with these assholes.

[losangeleslibker]

25. I was

only ten at the time so I didn't really know what was going on. If only Gore was elected then we wouldn't have had all the crap that we did. Now after learning about that election I know it makes sense to say this; "Fuck you Jeb Bush!"

[Cosmocat]

21. I was absolutely sure it would be bad

I still have a visceral memory of election night, and I was just stunned how careless people had been with their vote for Bush.

Everything about his past showed what was going to happen, that he was not really interested in DOING the job, and that it would be a big money grab for the people around him.

What was unfortunate was 9-11 put the damage they did on steroids.

It gave them the bully pulpit to push through everything they wanted, and it was why he won a second term by the hair of his teeth.

[Dont call me Shirley]

41. I can visualize them all in their nazi uniforms, especially Laura B and hw

[valerief]

14. Ah, but we did. Sadly. nt

[deutsey]

28. I told people before the election that if Bush won

we'd be digging out from under rubble for years to come.

But even as bleak as that assessment is, Bush went on to surpass even my darkest fears.

[barbtries]

34. i knew he'd throw a war,

but two of them? 911? katrina? economic meltdown? patriot act? torture?

i definitely did not realize at the time how bad it was going to be.

[teddy51]

2. Great depiction of the idiots that appointed the moran to the WH.

And to add, that band of idiots has only gotten worse in that 12 years. ugh

[drthais]

3. I remember EXACTLY where I was at that moment

...and I'll bet many of you do, too.
I was standing at the foot of the stairs, on the landing...
and I heard it announced from the TV in the next room and I froze...
and I thought - oh god, now we can't trust the Supreme Court EITHER.

[Raine]

45. I remember too. I was in Mongomery Wards with my boyfriend and my

brother called me on my cell phone to give me the horrid wretched news. I'll NEVER forget or forgive!

[Initech]

4. Worst supreme court decision ever.

[WCGreen]

7. +1 million...

[GatorLarry]

19. Agreed!

And why should Democrats "play nice" and seek 'bi-partisan" agreements when the Republicans have jammed their agenda down Democrats' throats every chance they've ever had?

This purely partisan "coronation" should never be forgotten!

I've begged my Democrat friends to play hard-ball because that's all the GOP understands.

[Dalai_1]

5. +1

[trackfan]

6. The world has still not recovered from the damage done that day.

It was "a great disturbance in the force" as it were.

[Liberal_Dog]

8. A Dark Day Indeed

[Sheldon Cooper]

9. I nearly gave up on politics altogether that day.

Work and family kept me busy and I spent the next 8 years avoiding politics as much as I could. When Obama ran in '08 I didn't dare get my hopes up, and even after he won I was still cautious. It's only been lately that I feel I can let myself get involved again. I will never forget the despair I felt that day.

[LeftInTX]

39. Me too. I kinda gave up hope.

[rzemanfl]

10. I dressed entirely in black the next day, including my shirt and tie, but I had no idea how

bad it was going to be....

[kath]

11. I started this thread about an hour ago

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021966641
but for some reason it's not showing up on the greatest page.

[Johnny2X2X]

12. I remember

And I knew that George Bush was going to be a very bad President. 9/11 brought out the worst in him. Honestly though, when he defeated Kerry in 2004 it was worse for me. At that point I knew we had a dangerous President and the next 4 years would devastate the Country. We are still not recovered from Bush's second term.

[GoCubsGo]

17. Yeah, people a laughed at me when I pointed out the same things.

None of them are laughing now.

[Cosmocat]

24. Yep

I knew it, too, and was just stunned how careless people were with their vote for him in 99.

I knew after 9-11 we were totally fucked. Knew it would get him a second term, and knew it would give the scumbags the club to get what they wanted.

If we had ANY kind of actual press, that party would STILL be forced to have to face up to taking advantage of 9-11 like it did.

[No Vested Interest]

16. I've never forgiven Sandra Day O'Connor

Every time I hear her spoken of with respect and adulation, I cringe.

Her vote was especially egregious, because she could have made a difference.

The other votes were more predictable; with O'Connor there was a hope, even though her husband (likely already affected by alzheimer's disease) was heard to say at an election evening party that she -Sandra Day O'Connor- was hoping for a republican presidential victory.

[Sheldon Cooper]

23. To this day I hold her solely responsible for Bush v Gore

She was the only one who could have swung the decision, and she chose wrong. Rest in hell, Sandy.

[Sekhmets Daughter]

26. So do I. n/t

[Berlum]

18. The Day the Plutocrats (R) stole America from the Americans

[byronius]

20. Truly, the most grievous wound America has ever suffered. We still bleed.

[Terra Alta]

22. a very dark day, for sure.

One that we are still recovering from, and one that we may never fully recover from.

The results from 12/12/2000 led to 9/11/2001, and also to the worst economic disaster the country has seen since the Great Depression.

[Dawson Leery]

27. The worst President.

The cult of personality surrounding Bush was horrible. There was nothing of the sort during Reagan's tenure.
The most likely reason was that Bush is a "true believer", a born again fundies as where Reagan gave strong overtones to the "christian" right, but was secular at is core.

[patrice]

29. ABSOLUTELY fucked this country up, possibly forever . . .

and absolutely is NOT a word I like to use a whole lot.

[WilliamPitt]

30. THIS.

[Bainbridge Bear]

31. I will never forgive

the "Gang of Five" for what they did to this country and the world. Particularly, I blame Sandra Day O'Connor for being the swing vote that enabled the Worst President Ever to take power. She was supposedly the more "moderate" of them but when it came to denying Florida its right to a recount she sold us all out. Gore won the popular vote and would have won the electoral college as well if not for this heinous decision. She was apparently overheard at some Washington function months earlier saying that she wouldn't feel comfortable retiring with a Democrat in the White House. So much for "blind justice". Of course, another of these "perpetraitors" was Scalia who has further disgraced himself since, most recently
claiming that the Constitution is "dead, dead, dead!" His is a disgrace and the best argument I can come up with for the fact that Supreme Court justices should NOT be given lifetime appointments.

[patrice]

32. To make you all feel a little bit better . . . maybe:

Lawrence Wilkerson beat Cheney up real bad on the Ed Show lastnight:

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/49263362#50169555

[EmeraldCityGrl]

33. It was also the loneliest day of my life

Everyone around me told me I was having a severe,
irrational response to the decision. I felt on the edge
of hysteria trying to go thru the motions of what might
pass for normal. Others around me were angry, disappointed
but thought bush/cheney would be incompetent but
not capable of destroying the country on every imaginable
level.

When I was young my Mother explained the best she could
how our government worked. She focused on the checks and
balances in place so one person/branch could never have
enough power to seize control and shred The Constitution.
We were always safe from that happening. My Mother was wrong.

[Hekate]

35. Coup d'etat in my country. Never thought I'd live to see such a day.

How hard would it have been to decree: Count all the votes. Just count them. Do like Eisenhower and federalize the National Guard, and guard the ballots. Count the votes.

[Rob H.]

36. Some right-wingers still haven't learned anything from that mistake

During the election this year I was posting things on Facebook warning that Romney's advisors were a bunch of Dubya-era retreads and someone actually commented that he couldn't understand why so many people were focusing on W and bringing up the things he did. ("Bush hasn't been president for the last four years!&quot He didn't understand that Romney would've been Bush 2.0 and would've made things even worse than they were under Dubya. (FTR, he voted for Romney anyway, lies and all.)

[Liberal1975]

37. I remember...

Being super pissed off. But I would be lying if I said I had any clue it would be as bad as it turned out to be.

His "Presidency" ended up being a microcosm of his life. No one benefited more from being incompetent than he did. Without his unforgivable incompetence 9-11 would have never happened and he would have been unable to do the harm he did.

As I recall people threw garbage during his inauguration his approvals rating was in the 30s until September 2001. Without 9-11 he is a one term a President, just like his daddy.

[kimbutgar]

38. It was this election that woke me up to politics

When this happened I was upset because I had read about Bush and Harken Energy and his bankrupting it and I feared for the country. Little did I know I would be so prophetic. I remember my husband saying we'll survive he can't be as any worst than his father and we survived him. Little did I know that bush would go down as the most inexperienced puppet President ever. The day he was selected was the day democracy ended in America. A partisan Supreme Court choosing the President over the will of the people. Just think where we would be right now if Gore took his rightful office. 9-11 wouldn't have happened, Iraq war, and the crash of the wall street. So sad to even think what could have been.

[Dont call me Shirley]

40. Clowns are soooo creepy :-O

[JoSpits]

42. America Was Bought And Sold That Day

The Bush Reign Was A Nightmare

[colsohlibgal]

43. Dark, Dark Day

It amazes me that so many just look at this as one of those things and don't really think about it.

Think about it - in the end the deciding state, Florida, had Dubya's brother as governor and his Florida campaign manager was the top election official. Gore and the US were screwed from the start, SCOTUS finished the job.

In the end Gore did win Florida but that's forgotten.

This was a coup, nothing else.

Of course if this had been legitimate and Gore had won I'd have fretted over his health the whole time, the thought of President Lieberman made me shudder.

[PrMaine]

44. Why is it so unthinkable to fix this problem?

SCOTUS is out of control. They have the absolute power to over-rule laws passed by congress and signed by the president. The Justices are not elected, they serve for life and quite arguably they have assumed much more power than the Constitution gives them. Of course on this last point, the power they have assumed is to say what the Constitution says, so it matters not at all what the rest of us think is in the Constitution.

But it is possible to change the constitution. An amendment could take away their power of judicial review or it could limit the terms of the Justices. Personally, I favor the latter solution - limit their terms to a dozen years and allow them additional twelve year terms subject to voter approval. The voters should have some influence on the court after all.

At the very least we should have a Constitutional amendment stating clearly that the Court cannot decide issues concerning elections to the electoral college - that is a state issue after all and SCOTUS should know enough to stay out of the matter.

[carolinayellowdog]

46. a horrifying sense of inevitable disaster

I could not bear to see W's face or hear his voice for the first year of his residency-- it seemed irrational but my overwhelming sense of dread started on 12/12/2000. Only on 9/11/2001 did it become clear the MAGNITUDE of the Bush disaster was beyond our worst nightmares. On edit-- 12 years later I STILL have moments of hoping to wake up and find out that it was all a bad dream, and Gore was elected president, and there were no 9/11 or Iraq or Afghanistan wars. The world will never look the same, and sometimes I envy people who died before 12/12/2000 never knowing what the Supreme Court would do to American democracy.