Equal time for candidates other than Gore?... [View All]

[election_2004]

I've noticed a disturbing trend here at DU...anytime anyone says the slightest little negative thing about Al Gore, we get tag-teamed by three or four individuals who then tell us to shut up, that we're crazy, that we're idiots, that we're working for Karl Rove, etc...

(FYI: that's probably not the smartest way to attempt to persuade people, in case you've never taken any academic courses in Communication)

Then we get additionally pounced upon by a chorus of other yespeople, who I'm guessing were pointed to DU from a Gore2004 listserve, messageboard, or mailing list.

And everyone else lets them get away with it.

Yet, when people criticize Howard Dean or John Kerry, we hear "oh, let's not fight...you aren't making a constructive case for your candidate by bashing his opponent...."

In other words, when criticizing Dean or Kerry, people keep each other in check.

But when criticizing Gore, the people who do the criticizing are painted by the "Only-Gore-In-2004" camp as a bunch of "undercover Republican" right-wingers. And no one really questions that accusation.

Does the fact that many of us don't want Gore to be the nominee in 2004 really make us so EVIL?

Why is it so hard to believe that there might be better candidates for the job?

Is this how the Gore2004ers hope to accomplish their agenda...by telling voters who disagree with you that we're all "idiots" and by complaining that we're disrupting the system and hindering democracy if we don't support the candidate whom you want us to?

Keep in mind that not everyone is a die-hard Democrat, and you can't convince people by saying "I told you so" or "Don't you feel stupid for voting for him?"

Oh, and one last thing: making blanket statements like "he was robbed" or "he got more votes than any other Democrat in history" or pointing to polls based primarily on name recognition are not going to help your case, especially if you want to get young people excited about voting and bring new voters into the process.

After all, how many of us here actually get to participate in many of those polls?