Reply #7: I'm the last to defend Nader, but in 2000 the climate..... [View All]

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was such that people had become jaded by the peace and prosperity of the Clinton years, so many on the left rightfully looked not as much at what had been done, but more on what was still left to be done. They feared that Gore would be more of the same and would not move enough to the left to follow through in some of the areas where Clinton faltered or moved right.

And I'm sorry but Gore in campaign 2000 gave those people every reason to worry that he wouldn't continue the fight in the direction of left rather than right. Picking Leiberman, conceding too many points to Bush, not fighting back against the smears.....so many others.

For many of us, we had a horrible feeling about Bush but let's be honest: it was a hunch based on some information from his time in Texas, but there was nothing in his record that indicated he would go as drastically far right as he did. Many Nader voters I'm sure thought he would move the country rightward and that it would snap dems back into fighting/left moving mode, but still nowhere near the destruction of the country as has happened.

I had a horrible gut instinct about Bush that prevented me from wanting him in office and made me vote for Gore no matter how lukeward I was on him. So while I can't claim to have been in the head of Nader voters last time around I can somewhat see where they were coming from in 2000.

This year though...no way. There is too much at stake. I refuse to give any benefit of the doubt this time around. Sorry if that is closed minded but the future is at stake and any reservations I had about Kerry have been completely washed away.