The one thing that could have changed the course of history and prevented this disaster?

[Dawson Leery]

Al Gore taking his rightful place as the 43rd President on January 20, 2001.

[StatWoman]

2. Yup. Thank you, Sandra Day O'Connor. (nt)

[AZSkiffyGeek]

3. I was thinking thanks Ralph Nader nt

[electric_blue68]

67. him, too. 🤬

[certainot]

89. neither were significant compared with the incredible ongoing stupidity of ignoring rw radio

roger stone once boasted about even using spanish talk radio in florida to scream to end the recounts, and dems still lament the latin vote for repubiicans election after election - and like the iddiots who voted for trump it's not based on 'conservative values', it's based on disinformation. the russians figured out all they had to do was feed limbaugh, while democrats still think it's a legit part of the free speech spectrum and ignore it

even after 30 years the 'analysts' ignore 1500 coordinated radio stations - like studying fish without water

the largest common denominator linking the brooks brothers rioters and the trumpers and jan 6 traitors is rw radio - they're all dittoheads or sons and daughters of dittoheads - miller, mulvaney, desantis, abbott, etc - and trump was limbaugh's golf partner and neighbor and was probably paying him with russian money

[dalton99a]

5. And all the neocons and their ratfuckers

[StatWoman]

6. Oh yeah, Nader and all of the others played their part, as did JEB.

But the Supreme Court didn't have to stop the counting for an artificial deadline. They could have said that it's more important to get it right than to do it fast.

[Hekate]

28. I read recently that Amy Coney Barrett played her part behind the scenes

Bastards, all

[rampartc]

82. kavenaugh was in the "brooks brothers riots" as well

partisan deplorables.

[Hekate]

91. Yes. All of them have risen very high in right wing power since then. Two Supremes is quite a haul

… for whoever put the Brooks Brothers Riot group together. They were all young then, and 20 years has only made them middle-aged, not old. They have decades still to go in swinging this country to the religious and legal right. I wonder who else in that group — not just those in the photo, but ones behind the scenes like Amy — is being teed up for SCOTUS.

[leftstreet]

21. +1

[oasis]

64. Anthony Scalia was the main culprit. nt

[musette_sf]

4. K&R

[Thunderbeast]

7. 735 Ralph Nader voters.

Last edited Wed Aug 18, 2021, 10:48 PM - Edit history (1)

Think about it...

If Nader had not screwed all of us in 2000...
and Putin had not screwed us in 2016...

Both events resulted in popular vote losers ascending to the White House.

The Supreme Court would be 7-2 liberal.

[rickford66]

16. 9-2 ??

[louis-t]

59. Uh, 7-2. But we knew what you meant.

[Deep State Witch]

8. Absolutely!

n/t

[moose65]

9. I don't even want to think about it

If Gore had rightfully taken the oath as president, there probably would have been no 9/11, no Afghanistan, no Iraq, no massive tax cuts for the wealthy.

And who knows what might have happened after that. I don't know if Dems would have been able to hold the Presidency all that time, but it seems to me that the 2000 election was their first shot in seeing what they could get away with.

[FakeNoose]

42. The 9-11 attacks would have still happened, most likely

... but our response would have been very, very different.

We'd have had no reason to invade Iraq - that was all Bush and Cheney. We would have have tried to get Bin Laden, and he was in Afghanistan for quite a while. The full-scale invasion of Afghanistan would never have happened under Al Gore, so you're mainly right.

We'd be living in a different country now, if Al Gore hadn't had the Presidency stolen from him.

[brooklynite]

47. Disagree

Getting Bin Laden and the entire leadership structure would need to be removed, and since the Taliban gave them sanctuary, they would likely need to be taken out as well. In which case we would either leave Afghanistan without a Government or stay to rebuild it with all the current implications.

Worth noting that President Obama wasn’t able to stabilize the Afghan Government either. Some end-results are unavoidable.

[DeeDeeNY]

49. 9-11 attacks might not have happened

Gore wouldn't have ignored the presidential briefing "Bin Laden Determined to Attack in U.S.".

[JHB]

90. He also wouldn't have downgraded counterterrorism priorities...

...and wouldn't have discarded recommendations for airport security just because the report had the name "Al Gore" on it.

No one can say whether or not 9/11 would have happened with Gore as president, but Bush definitely reduced our chances of preventing it.

[thucythucy]

56. We'll never know

but as I recall there were plots to stage terrorist attacks in the US on New Years Eve 2000, but these were prevented by Clinton/Gore working the problem.

There were plans underway to go after bin Laden et al., which the incoming Bush/Cheney regime gutted. I also seem to recall the Bush people saying, prior to 9-11, that the Clinton administration had been "obsessed with bin Laden." Bush/Cheney knew where the REAL threat came from: Iraq of course.

Maybe Gore wouldn't have prevented 9-11, but the ascension of Bush/Cheney made the success of the plot well nigh inevitable.

[betsuni]

66. +1

[greenman3610]

62. I don't think the attacks would have happened-

The Gore people knew the threat-the Bushites thought it was a joke

[uponit7771]

92. Nope, they ignored the PDB saying some shit was coming ... Nope, Gore would've done something

[Dawson Leery]

95. The Clinton administration was on their a**es after the 1998 embassy bombings.

For that reason, the millenial attacks never occurred.

If McCain has been President, it would not have been as bad.

[WinstonSmith4740]

50. Absolutely.

I seriously doubt Gore would have ignored the findings of the study he headed up, which pointed to an attempted attack of some kind on American soil. Just like Obama's pandemic crisis plan, the republicans probably used it to level a table or something. And we sure as hell would have gotten way ahead of the curve on climate.

And basically, when you stop and think about it, the Dems HAVE held the Presidency since then. In 8 cycles, we've only lost the popular vote in 2004...and I'm not so sure about that one, either.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

83. I'm so sick of repuke cheating. Wish I could stop it somehow. ☹️

[electric_blue68]

68. An earlier start on climate change ...

😔😔😔

[Bettie]

11. That was my first thought too

no W makes a huge difference in how things happened.

No Reagan would have been even better.

[electric_blue68]

69. This + 1,000,000

[moondust]

12. Agree.

And 2004?

[maxsolomon]

13. Maybe. 9/11 was still coming.

May have been stopped by a more attentive Administration, may not have been.

One hopes that Gore would have responded more thoughtfully to 9/11; he certainly wouldn't have invaded Iraq in response.

[FoxNewsSucks]

19. Gore also wouldn't have told an intelligence officer

who gave him direct warning about bin Laden "ok you've covered your ass, now watch this drive."

[LisaM]

57. He would have read the Gore Commission report.

There is a good chance if it has been followed, 9/11 would not have happened.

I saw a news magazine show referencing that report after 9/11 (Dateline, 60 Minutes, not sure) and how utilizing it could have stopped the attack, and they never once referenced that Gore led the commission and authored the report. It still makes me furious.

[world wide wally]

14. My wife and I talk about this all the time

[G_j]

15. A sad time

[wryter2000]

35. I saw this in a theatre in Oakland

When Barbara Lee came on, there was an audible gasp. This was the scene that made me cry. As bad as I felt for the lady who lost her son in Iraq, this was worse. As a white woman, I felt so ashamed of this country.

I'm not a big fan of Michael Moore, but he's extremely astute at pointing out racism in this society.

[G_j]

97. I'm glad you remember this also

I gasped too.

[JI7]

17. What BS that there is no indifference between Gore and Bush

people who spew that bs should be seen as trolls.

[Escurumbele]

18. You could not be more correct...The World would be a different place today.

Thank you for reminding us.

[ColinC]

20. Yeah but that would require conservatives to have respected states rights

And the Florida supreme court ruling.

[NurseJackie]

22. I've often thought same thing. If there had been President Gore, there would have have been 9/11...

... and all the awful things that have happened since.

[stillcool]

23. definitely...

the Bush Admin came in knowing exactly what they wanted to do. Dusting off the old relics, and putting them back in charge to take whatever they could and divvy it up. Every time I read about The Carlyle Group, I think of James Baker III. After I read about the acquisition of Dunkin Donut's I could not bring myself to buy another Dunks. The idea of putting money in James Baker III's pocket

[Auggie]

24. K&R

[Ramsey Barner]

25. Let's see -- he was right about something else, too: CLIMATE CHANGE!

[Hortensis]

26. Electing HRC and Dem senate majority, OF COURSE. NO tRump and trumpism.

Back in 2002-2003 we stopped SARS1 cold where it appeared in our nation and eventually mopped it up in over 2 dozen other nations, to the point that it's disappeared. Technically more lethal, but 8 actual cases in different U.S. locations, no deaths.

In 2013 we stopped double pandemic outbreaks of bird flu and MERS.

SARS2 may have been more contagious than SARS1, but we would have leaped on and controlled it also. We know how just as well as the Republicans who took over knew how to turn it loose.

[Hekate]

30. I suspect that if Trump had died when he got it & had to be hospitalized, that Prez Pence would...

…ultimately have been elected and sworn in Jan. 20.

We know what kind of person Pence is, but on the outside he looks like a quiet and reasonable sort of guy, doesn’t he? I really think that in the midst of the chaos, Pence would have been hard to beat.

So, on that basis thank gods Trump survived.

[Kablooie]

29. And the US would have much stronger climate controls.

He was very concerned about climate and would have done something about it.

Wish we had access to the alternate universe where he won. Some scientists believe it could exist in the multiverse theory.

[electric_blue68]

71. The yea before Clinton picked him for VP he gave a speech...

as a sermon so to speak at St John the Divine's Blessings of Animals Mass/St Francis the year his "Earth In The Balance" book came out.
😔

[East-A-Squared]

31. Our national debt would be lower. We had a surplus in 2001.

Also no Bush tax cuts and no going to Iraq.

[moose65]

44. Yep

At that time, they were forecasting budget surpluses far into the future.

Of course, there would have been the inevitable recession following the dot.com boom, but it would have been mild compared to the George W Economic Meltdown of 2008. Also, there would have been no Bush tax cuts.

[NBachers]

32. I've been feeling an even higher rate of hate for the fucking Nadir voters these days.

See what you have wrought, you pieces of shit?

[betsuni]

72. The worst are those who voted for him and learned nothing.

How anyone can see how close elections are and how destructive Republicans are to the country (and world) but still shrug their shoulders and vote third party or not vote, it's crazy. The ones who constantly complained about drone warfare during the Obama administration and wouldn't vote for Hillary Clinton because "warmonger." Idiots.

[jalan48]

33. Well, we had eight years of an Obama Presidency and Hillary Clinton as Sec of State for part of the

eight years so why didn't the disaster end then?

[moose65]

45. Because Obama wasn't a dictator

Did you forget about us losing the House in 2010? Once that happened, Obama really couldn't do much.

[jalan48]

48. I didn't realize Biden needed to ask Congress to end the Afghanistan War

Oops-looks like that wasn't required. He did it on his own authority.

[Moebym]

63. If you're going to ask *this* question,

You should also ask why there exists the expectation that Democratic presidents will clean up - quickly and neatly, natch - every mess left for them by Republican presidents, but not a similar expectation that Republicans actually, you know, not create such messes in the first place.

This is hardly any different from the argument that "boys will be boys", so girls must take full responsibility for not attracting unwanted male attention.

Just as boys must be expected to take responsibility for controlling their own behavior, Republicans must be expected to take responsibility for the consequences of their actions. That they won't do so (now) is no reason for these expectations not to exist.

[betsuni]

74. Yes.

Similar to the "Why didn't/don't Democrats stop Republicans?" thing. Insinuating that the reason Democrats can't fix things or stop things is because they don't want to, are just like Republicans and must be replaced with True Progressives.

[CBHagman]

34. There's more than one factor involved there, though.

One of the most damaging elements of the 2000 race was the systematic smearing of Al Gore. Before we'd all heard the term swiftboat, there was the negative campaign to depict Al Gore as a serial exaggerator.

Rolling Stone published an article describing how it went on, and I remember observing it happening in, for example, talk shows at the time.

Of course Ralph Nader played his role, and so did the GOP staffers behind the so-called Brooks Brother riot, and so did the media's general enabling of the Bush narrative. There's a lot of blame to go around.

[UpInArms]

43. Maureen Dowd ...

Criticizing Gore for wearing earth tones.

[electric_blue68]

73. effin' Sen Dick Army...

part of the Brooks Bros Riot from afar

[Dawson Leery]

96. The Times could not shut up with their bs lies about Gore.

The pundits repeated everyone of them.

[BootinUp]

36. I think Clark in 04 would have helped. Nt

[Lonestarblue]

37. I have long wondered whether 9/11 would even have happened had Gore been president.

Osama bin Laden hated Bush the elder for having US troops in the Middle East, believing them to be defilers of Islam. Did bin Laden attack because Bush’s son became president? We’ll never know, of course, but just a curiosity. That said, we would have been infinitely better off with Gore as president.

[wryter2000]

38. Could be

I have to wonder, though, if we might have ended up here through a different route. As soon as a black person became president, the racist backlash was inevitable. That spurred much of Trumpism.

[Trueblue1968]

39. how about the bullet doing in Ronald Ray-Gun

[barbtries]

40. Jimmy Carter being re-elected.

JFK and RFK not being assassinated. there are many moments. I certainly agree that if the 2000 election had not been stolen, 911 would not have happened and everything that's followed, all the wars, all the deaths and misery, would have been averted.

all these pivotal moments in history. sigh

[zipplewrath]

41. Win Tennessee

He easiest route would have been for Gore to win his home state of Tennessee.

[moose65]

46. Not really

That would have been a tall order.

He also could have won New Hampshire, the only state that voted for W and then switched to Kerry in 2004. If Gore had won New Hampshire, Florida wouldn't have mattered.

[kimbutgar]

52. I never was much political until this 2000 stolen election

How we would have been better off if Gore was not cheated out of his rightful place. But I’ll go back even further just think where we’d be if Carter was re elected in 1980 and went ahead with his plans for solar energy.

I so detest repukes. They are vile evil traitors cretins who haven’t finished destroying our country and poisoning gullible stupid peoples brains.

The other day I was stuck listening to Fox propaganda channel for 3 hours and it was like a different universe and all they did was report lies. It was hard for me to keep from screaming out loud at the TV.

[Turbineguy]

53. We have gone progressively further off course.

And the republicans have had a success. China will surpass the U.S. soon to become the Worlds largest economy.

[Haggard Celine]

60. I'm pretty sure China has already passed us up.

I read that they are the largest economy within the last year or so.

[elias7]

54. History proves the Republican stance wrong every time. They're idiots.

Anyone who can be shown that their point of view can be proven wrong historically over and over again, yet a cling to their same belief system, is an idiot.

[MrModerate]

55. I'll put a finer point on it: If Ralph Nader hadn't run, there would have been no President Bush n/t

[COL Mustard]

84. By That Argument, If Ross Perot Hadn't Run In 1992

Poppy Bush might've been reelected. Who would've run in 96? They might've been reelected in 2000 and served until 04.

[MrModerate]

85. We don't remember that one as intensely, because Clinton...

Didn't turn out to be a disaster of a president, unlike GWBush.

[Efilroft Sul]

58. President Robert Francis Kennedy

[EarnestPutz]

61. I can't tell you how many times I've thought about what a different world it would be, if he.....

....had been elected.

[electric_blue68]

75. .....

[Ferrets are Cool]

65. This x 1000

[RANDYWILDMAN]

70. fookin a right ! 20 years of shiite would have changed....

Wow, a huge disaster unchallenged.

The crowning of W. dumb frat boy by the Supreme idiots !!! 5-4 of course (against the democracy, hope they all rot in hell )

[mahina]

76. This.

💧

[JCMach1]

77. In that same Alternate Universe there is No DU

[PufPuf23]

78. The was a crime committed in Florida to take the 2000 election from Gore.

Not plainly naming the crime followed by serious prosecution was in order.

None of our political leaders shouted the truth and the USA I was raised to trust and believe in, and still did despite much, ended.

We cannot trust the corporate MSM.

[Silver Gaia]

79. YES!!!

Sooooo much would be different today, including the effects of 20 years of work on climate change.

[Raine]

80. It would be a different world if Al Gore had been President

a much better world.

[Aussie105]

81. We have only one reality to live in.

Considering other time streams where things were different is a waste of time.

[kpete]

86. I think about this alot

I M A G I N E.

[NoMoreRepugs]

87. Whole world would be different.

[marble falls]

88. Use of birth control by GHWB in August, 1945.

[seta1950]

93. Yes

It would of changed climate change trajectory too☹️

[colsohlibgal]

94. Thanks Electoral College

Only in America. If, like it is in virtually every other Democracy, the person with the most votes wins.....no Dubya, no Chitolini. Imagine the lives saved, especially with COVID, if we’d had a president who was competent, and had done what needed to be done from the jump. Oh and hadn’t suggested we drink bleach.

Then if we could make the Senate more fair....if only.

We call ourselves a Democracy but it’s a bit of a stretch with those two tilted toward the right factors.