I wish Al Gore would have gotten the chance to be President.

[undeterred]

I wish John Kerry did too. But I really think we missed out with the terrible decision of 2000.

[frogcycle]

1. you aren't going to get an argument here

[goclark]

43. With you 100% nt

[BlooInBloo]

2. So do millions of dead Iraqis.

[RepublicanElephant]

7. ....and thousands of dead u.s. troops.

and then there's 9-11.

[nini]

3. the world would be completely different today

if all that didn't happens. The stakes went beyond the US - but affected the whole world.


:cry:

[Autumn]

4. And I think to myself, what a wonderful world,

if only.

[Captain Hilts]

5. Life ain't fair. It sucks. nt

[SharonRB]

6. I certainly second that emotion.

[Colobo]

8. Gore would've been a superb president.

But I guess his presidency wasn't meant to be.

[frogcycle]

12. that expression is one of the most infuriating in the universe

nothing is "meant to be" or "not meant to be"

the country and the world got screwed royally by a bunch of scumbags, and will be paying for it for decades.

You saying that WAS "meant to be?"

You giving your "god" credit for MAKING that happen?

:banghead:

rant over

[Colobo]

13. God? I'm agnostic.

I do believe in destiny, though. If something is not for you, it doesn't matter what you do, it won't be for you. Gore won the election, but didn't get the presidency. Life is what it is.

[frogcycle]

32. you cannot be agnostic and believe in "destiny"

if you believe in some sort of supernatural predestination - some "force" making decisions that you are helpless to thwart - then you are as superstitious as those who believe they can pray for a base hit.

ps: I believe that "shit happens." I just don't believe it is "meant to." It just does.

But in the case of the SCOTUS supporting the theft of the 2000 election - that was intentional shit that evil people MADE happen. It was not intended by anyone but the avaricious bastards who did it.

[Colobo]

37. Well, I consider myself agnostic. And what you call "shit happens"

I call destiny. :)

[old mark]

45. "Agnostic" simply means you don't KNOW----you can think anything

and still be an agnostic - it is the belief that humans can't comprehend the totality of existence.

Not that they don't believe in anything.

mark

[frogcycle]

63. well, I don't know about that

:)

I know what agnostic means. My point is still valid. saying "I believe in" contradicts "I cannot know"

Anyway, I know for sure angels can't dance on pins.

[Canuckistanian]

9. The chance was stolen from him

He earned it. But he was mugged by an illegal criminal organization.

And the world is an uglier place for it.

[JuniperLea]

10. If ever I have the honor of meeting Gore...

I would most certainly call him Mr. President.

I'm still sick about the theft, and how unfair it all was to all of us... the entire world suffered under W and Cheney. Their rotting in hell can't come too soon to suit me.

[Arkansas Granny]

55. Your words exactly mirror my thoughts. The pain and suffering

that can be laid at the feet of Bush/Cheney is immeasurable. Surely, this world would be a better place right now if they had never come to power.

[Laelth]

11. Hear, hear! k&r n/t

:dem:

-Laelth

[targetpractice]

14. Here is a wonderful video of Al speaking today...

Al Gore on Laura and Euna's Return from Current TV

Great off-the-cuff remarks regarding a wonderful outcome... I love how Laura's Mom gives her daughter a big smooch (1 min 30 sec) as Al is talking.

[Jennicut]

15. What I wouldn't give to have a boss like Al Gore.

Wonderful, kind man.

[BattyDem]

16. Every time I think about it, I want to cry.

He was cheated ... and WE were cheated! It's so unfair! :cry:

[undeterred]

18. I admire him more as the years go by.

In 1992, I really wanted Gore to get the nomination. When he got in as VP I thought, well this is good- he'll win the presidency after Clinton.

He could have run again after 2000, but the moment had passed. But the loss feels even bigger now than it did back then. We could hardly have imagined how bad a president the other guy would turn out to be and how wise and gracious Gore really is.

[BattyDem]

29. I felt exactly the same way in 1992

I wanted him to be the nominee. I was enthusiastic about Clinton because Gore was his VP and I figured he'd be the POTUS eventually.

Bush* wasn't my president, Gore was. He'll always be "My President" to me ... I know that sounds silly, but that's how I think of him to this day. He won, he just wasn't allowed to serve. :-(

[undeterred]

31. Gore understood the urgency of the climate crisis

way more than Clinton did. My first thought after Bush was declared winner, was that it was a huge loss for the environment.

[karynnj]

39. Gore, and Kerry too were far more committed here

In asddition to Gore, both Kerrys did a huge amought of work on green energy. Kerry's work is well known to everyone here, but even here - the depth and the importance of the work Teresa Heinz Kerry did is still not well known even here. I really think it is sad that the media did not cover any of the work that Teresa did independent of John Kerry in 2004. Along with Al Gore and John Kerry, John Heinz was among the people involved on this back into the 1980s. Teresa went with Heinz to places like the Amazon jungle.

After John Heinz died, Teresa through her foundation continued efforts on green building and other related issues. She hired a top architech to redo the Foundation's office as a green building. Bill McDonough(sp?) did this so well that he started a shift of many Pittsburgh buildings tobecoming green. Their new convention center was at the time of the Kerry's book in 2007 the larges green facility in the country. (In fact, Obama is hosting the G20 in Pittsburg at that green convention center and will host a dinner at a green conservatory with a center for sustainable landscaping.) Teresa led by example here. ( http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/stories/2009/08/03/daily2.html )

Teresa was well recognized enough in 1992, the GHWB named her as a non-governmental representative to the RIO convention. It was there that she met John Kerry, who she had been introduced to when he and John Heinz jointly led the 1990 earthday events in DC. One of the first things they did after Rio, was to be two of the founders of Second Nature, which has the goal of teaching college students how to include the concept of sustainability in their fields. http://www.secondnature.org/AboutSN.html#History

Not only would this have shown Teresa to be a brilliant, serious woman, capable of using a Foundation to intelligently push change, it would have likely countered the Republican smears against her, her husband and their marriage.

[undeterred]

52. Thanks for reminding us of this.

:patriot:

[madmax]

17. I still cry over that

In addition, the USSC destroyed my faith in our country. The ruling was total bullshit.

[damntexdem]

19. I wish Dubya had not had the opportunity to fuck up the country for 8 years.

Nor even for 4.

I wish Al Gore had had the opportunity to address global warming as president, starting in January 2001.

[Stinky The Clown]

20. I completely agree

K&R

[Justice]

21. Agreed. I admire the way in which he has lived his life since that time

[ecstatic]

22. I wonder if Lieberman would have won in 08?

Would it be Lieberman/McCain in office now? :shrug:

[Jennicut]

25. Who knows? Maybe Gore would have gotten a new VP by 2004

Loserman is currently my Senator right now, hopefully not much longer.

[JI7]

38. i think Lieberman would have lost in the Primary

yes, even as a sitting VP.

[karynnj]

41. Not likely - Find either party having 5 terms in a row

Gore did win in 2000. Let's assume that he also was inaugerated - not a really radical idea.

Let's think of the first term.

Bush's first effort was to cut taxes - just as he had said it would be. Gore's first goals were healthcare and stabalizing social security (remember the lockbox).

Let's take healthcare:
Gore would have started with 50 Democratic Senators, but remember that Chaffee and Jeffords are among them. In addition, this was just 4 years from when a Senate with 55 Republicans voted in SCHIP. The roadblock Republicans had not reared their ugly heads.

There is more demand now and a lower % get it from employers and most pay more and it is STILL hard to pass comprehensive change. Gore's plan was nowhere near universal healthcare - this was an issue Bradley was better on - but I assume he would have done something. (Maybe copied SCHIP to create subsidies to help people buy private insurance if they were unable to afford it.) There was a SURPLUS, so this would have been much easier. This would be something people would like.

He also would have allocated some money to shore up SS and for a small middle calss tax cut. The estate tax would not have been rolled back.

Economy:
We went into recession in 2000 or 2001 after the dot com bust. The middle class tax cut and money spent on health care would have helped.

September 11: We know that he would have read the Hart Rudman report, but it is completely impossible to rule out that 9/11 could have happened. What we do know is that Gore would have not used it to go to war with Iraq.

My guess is the Gore would have won in 2004 - especially if 9/11 happened. Gore would have been the leader through that time and that would have had the same binding effect it did.

Let's assume that Lieberman has been a good VP - maybe because Gore put him in charge of oversight on the environment and global warming - where Gore and Lieberman were in close agreement.

I suspect that he would have lost in 2008.

Why? All the things that led to the economic crisis were already in place. I don't think that Gore would have seen the danger there until too late - and changing regulation in the mid 2000s might not have done enough to help. (I think Kerry in 2004 would have faced the same problem - and he wanted more regulation in the housing loan business.) Things would be nowhere near as bad as the real 2008, but that we couldn't see.

That combined with Lieberman being one of the most boring people to listen to would make it so we did not get 5 terms in a row. But President Gore in this sceanario would have started work on climate control, improved health care significantly, saved Social security and in the wake of 9/11 built up world wide diplomacy to minimize terrorism. Pretty good (though not real) Presidency.

[Hippo_Tron]

48. Last time was FDR/Truman 1933-1953

Also Lieberman was 66 in 2008. Certainly not too old to run, but arguably too old to be the Democratic nominee. Democrats prefer candidates who are between the ages of 45 and 55. Kerry was the oldest we've had in a while and he was only 61. Republicans are the ones who pick candidates over 65.

[karynnj]

54. Oops, I missed that one - though forgetting FDR was elected 4 times takes doing

The age factor is interesting too. In addition, Kerry was and is unusually young looking and fit for his age.

[rvablue]

60. No way. Even with 8 yrs as VP and an endorsement from Gore, Hillary would have trounced Lieberman

in the primaries.

With that said,I think if Gore had won in 2000, we probably would not have a President Obama today.

And I'm glad that we do....we'll never really know, I guess......

[Just-plain-Kathy]

23. (sigh) Gore...Kerry... what could have been.

K&R

[Better Today]

24. Yeah, I can go there, totally. He was robbed.

[undeterred]

26. And so was the United States

and the rest of the world we live in. Never again.

[Better Today]

27. Truer words have never been typed, nor will be.

[Uzybone]

28. Gore would have been an excellent president. As would have Kerry.

America was deep in psychosis for the 2004 elections.

[Carni]

30. This bush recession would never have happened

When I think of what happened in 2000, I just want to throw up--

I believe these last eight VERY MISERABLE YEARS would never have happened if that *THING* had not been selected in 2000.

BTW MANY MANY kudos to our new Pres Obama for allowing these two great men, to orchestrate the release of these two women, without throwing a bunch of red tape in their path because of limelight issues. Obviously our current Pres is a very stand-up guy.

I woke up this morning very impressed, with all three current and past (rightful) President's!

[DesertRat]

33. Absolutely. Imagine no Iraq invasion and occupation.

big sigh....

[doc03]

34. Just think he wouldn't have cut the taxes on

the rich, probably wouldn't have attacked Iraq and 911 may have never happened. We would no doubt have a national health-care system in place for everyone. We would now be off of the internal combustion engine and not held slave to Middle East oil. Obama wouldn't have inherited a depression and a huge debt. I think the Presidency of GWB has been the worst disaster this country has had in the last century.

[JI7]

35. yup, Dems ARE Different and Better than Republicans

[Samantha]

36. Al Gore was my President during the Bush* years

Bush* himself was banned from my household. Fox News still is, permanently.

Sam

[sofa king]

40. Can I go to jail for saying what I'd do if time travel were possible?

Let me just say this. The next time someone tries to steal an election, I won't be watching it on fucking TV. Someone will have to deal with me, or bulldoze my dead body out of the damned way.

[hfojvt]

42. I wish he'd won in a landslide instead of by inches.

There were other factors, of course, but I still blame Nader and I will never, ever forgive him.

Okay, maybe if the unrepentant pusbag crawled across Kansas over broken glass I would think about it, but I'm not holding my breath for that.

Heck, most of his supporters here are still on a river in Egypt and unrepentant. (and perhaps for good reason. It was only in New Hampshire or Florida where he made a difference.)

[jmondine]

44. The only silver lining about 2000 and 2004 is what Molly Ivins called the dead chicken effect

In her own folksy way, she described how to break a dog of killing and eating chickens: Take a chicken carcass and tie it around the dog's neck and leave it there until the carcass is so rotten and putrid that the dog will never, ever want to come near a chicken again.
Shrub Jr. was the chicken carcass around the necks of American voters for eight years.

[old mark]

46. I have always felt he would have been even better than Clinton.

It's a shame the voters got so stupid - let's try to keep that from happening again.

mark

[earth mom]

47. I wish Gore was president NOW. Fighting Global Warming, Single Payer, Peace in the M.E., Green Jobs

Those are the things Gore would have totally in place by now if he had run for president in '08.

No a$$ kissing of corporate America for Al!

NO WAY in Hell!


How he handled the situation with the reporters shows how a GREAT president does things. :applause:

[MissDeeds]

53. +1

I could not agree more.

[opihimoimoi]

49. We Wuz ROBBED...cost us Big Time...Them Bush years proved who really shoulda been President

[trayfoot]

50. Oh, I SO absolutely agree!!

[tomreedtoon]

51. "Missed out"? No. We STRUCK out.

We didn't go to bat for the Democratic candidate. We let the Republicans steal the campaign.

And for that matter, it's clear that we didn't run the best possible candidates in either 2000 or 2004. If they had been solid, dedicated candidates, they would not have folded. If they had said the right things, they could have cut through the Republican lies and gained more popular support.

There's enough blame for everyone to share; the DNC, the Democratic Leadership Council, the lazy or co-opted Democratic candidates who only put up token resistance to Republican ideas, the cowards who were afraid to attack Bush and Company's greatest outrages...and all of us who didn't demand better of the party that was supposed to look out for the best ideals of the people.

[demwing]

56. I've heard that complaint before

That Gore didn't do enough. I've heard it about Kerry as well, and though I agree with the bit about Kerry, I disagree about Gore. Gore took 2000 as far as he could, and when he eventually lost (read - "was robbed") he didn't quit. He took his signature project and rallied the world behind an idea. Lieberman? Meh. bad choice.

As far as destiny is concerned, I'm not agnostic. I believe in God (though not in the way most Americans would define God). I don't believe in destiny, or at least in pre-destiny. We take our steps, and make our choices, and sometimes we get it right. In 2000, we blew it short term. But look where we are now!

We have majorities in both houses, a clear mandate, and an intelligent president who just happens to be multi-racial. These are amazing breakthroughs for America and an immense opportunity for liberals and progressives. And while Obama is not Santa Claus - I believe his actions prove he does give a damn about people. He is compassionate and empathetic, and a world class leader.

Now imagine if Gore had succeeded before the SCOTUS. Sure, we would not have been in Iraq, but we almost assuredly would still be in Afghanistan, searching for Bin Laden. And the environment? We'd be 8 years closer to green, but thats only if Gore had congressional assistance. What about Congress? Would there have been a exodus to the Dems if Bush hadn't been such a fucker? Nope. America tends to balance things out after a term or two. The Red majorities would have grown, not dimished.

Which brings us to 2008. Who would the GOP have put up against Lieberman? McCain, just as they did against Obama. And McCain would have won. Lieberman is no place close enough to savvy to have handled McCain/Palin (and considering what a easy task that should be, read my comment as my level of respect for the power of Joe-mentum). In fact, it would have been a replay of the Lieberman/Cheney debate, with Lieberman agreeing with his "opponent" most of the time. We saw what a love fest there was between Joe and John just last year. Lieberman would not have fought, and Lieberman would not have won.

So then where we would be? War, economic depression, Congress controlled by Repulicans, and McCain/Palin in charge of it all.

Destiny Shmestiny, but go ahead and tell me there ain't no God! :rofl:

[dave29]

57. .

[jesus_of_suburbia]

58. He would have changed history (Bush did too, but for the worse).

[hamsterjill]

59. I would have loved it if Gore had been President!

I've always felt somehow that the 2000 election was a turning point. A point of no return, if you will. Much more important and with much greater ramifications than any news network every reported.

Like mother nature (or whoever may be in charge of the world and earth) gave mankind a choice at that point. Good or evil. Competent or incompetent. Right or wrong.

And the wrong choice sat in the white house for eight years.

[undeterred]

61. The most incompetent president ever.

And history will judge him that way.

[blm]

62. I KNOW we missed out on our best chance for a truly accountable and open government due to theft of

2000 and 2004.

[Hutzpa]

64. Al failed to win his home state

that was where the problem started, if he had won his state, then Florida
would not have counted.

[CTLawGuy]

68. last time he had to win his "home state"

on his own was 1990. That state had changed dramatically in ten years.

[Sheltiemama]

65. Oh, honey, so do I.

[Vidar]

66. no question about that.

[CTLawGuy]

67. I know people who voted for Nader

or at least wanted to, because Gore was "boring." How asinine of an argument is that now? How many of you were "done with Gore" in 2000 because of some complaint about his policies or mannerisms? Well now you miss him because you realize that the alternative was worse, and hopefully you realize that this is how the system works even though it is not ideal--you can either choose "ok to good" or "really bad."

We have to be mindful that when we criticize or pressure Obama or other dems we should not do so in a way as to sow disunity among the left. Whatever complaints we have about Obama are trivial compared to the complaints we would have about a Republican president. We cannot afford anymore Naders.

And as much as Ralph Nader might disagree, the Democratic party is the sole vehicle for leftist change in this country. Ironically, the more liberals that leave the party, the more centrist the Dem primary electorate gets and the "worse" the candidates are who come out of the primary.

[Bluenorthwest]

69. Al was elected. We the people elected him to be President.

But Al has not wasted his time. I encourage all to tune into Current TV or Current.com and enjoy the programming there. Or better yet, break out your video cam and create content for Current yourself, submit it and see what happens. They pay viewers for making content. Details are on their website. Much of the content on Current is Viewer Created. Go and DU Current TV!

[Uncle Joe]

70. I feel the same way, undeterred.

The American People were royally screwed in 2000 and I'm convinced it was the prime example of corporate supremacy at work on so many levels undermining the will of the people.

I believe that dynamic is carcinogenic to the nation, the people must regain control of their own sovereignty via their representative government and take it away from the corporations.

Thanks for the thread.