I just realized how the Repubs screwed themselves in 2000.

[trotsky]

By getting the Florida vote suppressed and the wingers on the Supreme Court to install Bush, think about this scenario:

Al Gore is allowed to win in 2000. Let's assume (though I don't believe this would have necessarily happened) that all the subsequent events transpired similarly - recession, 9/11, a return to deficit spending. Now of course there's no way that Gore would have attacked Iraq, so we have to scratch that, but leave everything else. Maybe some heavier casualties in Afghanistan as we rooted out bin Laden. And throw in a bunch of manufactured "scandals" drummed up by the Repuke-controlled Congress. Hell, they surely would have tried to impeach him on something or other by now.

2004 would then be a year of "Clinton/Gore fatigue". If the economy was doing as poorly in that alternate reality as it is here, people would be pissed about losing their jobs, etc. 2004 could have been a Republican landslide - if not for Bush, maybe another 'puke. And with the business cycle sure to kick the economy in the pants in the next couple of years, they could have gotten in on the upswing, be presiding over a roaring economy in 2008, and be set for another 4 years, maybe longer.

Just speculating. It's fun to think how their insatiable lust for power in 2000 may have screwed them long-term.

[Paradise]

1. Good thinking! :) nt

[leesa]

2. They would have had to wait four more years to pull off 9-11

They would not have been able to control the response to 9-11 as well if someone else were Prez. It's why they were so pissed at Clinton. They had their Pearl Harbor all set up but he wouldn't get out of the way.

[Syncronaut Seven]

3. I think 9/11 was supposed to happen during

Bush I second term. Really fucked them up when Poppy lost to Clinton. Wasn't supposed to happen that way.

[drumwolf]

4. That's exactly what occurred to me back in 2000.

The recession would have still happened for sure even if Gore had assumed his rightful role in the White House. The economic downturn was already in its early stages by the time the election took place, and by the time Bush took the oath of office the job market meltdown was already in full swing. (Of course, that's certainly not to say that it would have LASTED as long as it did under Gore.)

It occurred to me during the election wrangling that there was going to be a recession regardless of who won, and if Bush were to take the blame for it instead of Gore, enduring four years of Bush might not be so bad. At the time I didn't realize just how much of an extremist and a psychopath Bush was or just how bad his reign would be.

There's no way of knowing for sure whether a Gore presidency would have, over the long term, been worse or better for us than Bush has been. Trotsky's scenario is, unfortunately, quite believable. But I'm inclined to think that the four years of damage that Bush has inflicted already is an enormous price to pay for a Democratic victory this year.

(edited to change "a Gore victory" to "a Gore presidency")

[DenverDem]

8. The recession was exacerbated by the tax cuts for the rich.

The economy would not have crashed so hard and would have turned around by now.

Gore would not have allowed the legalization of derivative trading and enron would not have been able to crash California's economy and drive Davis out of office, so we wouldn't have a smirking gorilla in Sacramento.

There is no way that a Gore presidency would have been as catastrophic as the bfee attack on the country and the fleecing of the middle class by the bfee cronies.

[HawkerHurricane]

5. My prediction in 1999...

Which, of course, I can't prove that I made, but I'll repeat it anyway.

The next President is a one termer. The economy is going to take a dive and there is nothing the sitting President can do but minimize the damage; of course the Democrats would be better for that. So, if the Dems win, he'll serve 4, then the Repubs will have 4, then the Dems will get it back. The country is moving left. If the Repubs win, he'll have 4 and the next Democrat will have 8.

I also predicted there would be a big terrorist attack on U.S. soil withing 10 years... But I didn't think it would be so soon, and didn't realize how much the Repubs would manipulate the tragedy.

[shockingelk]

6. Another thing

Instead of rallying around the President, the media would have blamed Gore for 9/11.

[maggrwaggr]

9. oh MOST DEFINITELY

Could you imagine?

Al Gore would probably be living in some other country if 9/11 had happened on his watch. The media would have crucified him.

[democraticinsurgent]

7. 9-11 Wouldn't Have Happened

...under Gore.

That's because the Clinton/Gore adminstration was tuned into defending terrorism on our soil and were successful, blocking the millenium plot, etc.

The 9-11 plot, being MIHOP in my view, would not have happened under Gore. What would have happened:

-a mild recession that would have been mitigated by sensible tax policies

-an expansion of Clinton's postive relations with world leaders

-continued defanging of Iraq

-possible consensus building among nations on how to contain and dismantle Al Queda

In 2004, Gore would have been a fairly popular president who nonetheless faced relentless attacks by neocons and repukes. Gore's popularity would be countered by his personality flaws which would have been exploited by the right and the media.

George Bush would be gearing up for a rematch. He would be popular as well, and the two would be headed for a close election. A replay of 2000 with the outcome uncertain.

[maggrwaggr]

10. "defanging of Iraq"?

How about "kicking the man who's already down"?

There were no fangs to de-fang.

He was well contained and the containment was working just fine.

Oh, except for him switching from $$'s to Euros.

:eyes:

[kaitykaity]

11. DU would not exist.

I would not know all the things I know about the
conservatives, the media, the way they operate together,
the whole banana.

Also, the fact that the Democrats are so unified is a direct
result of our anger at the theft of the 2000 election.

And I cannot wait to hear President Gore speak at what should
have been his re-election convention.

[ChocolateSaltyBalls]

12. Which is why I think that Bush is the BEST thing to happen.......

to Democrats (and this country) in quite a while.

Thanks to Bush and his behavior, there won't be another Republican in office for a long, long time.

My feeling is that the country had it so good under Clinton for so long that we forgot what it was like to have a repressive Republican regime in power and just figured that someone like Bush couldn't fuck things up too bad. Now that the American people have seen first hand and up close that the Republicans are the party of greed and could care less about America or the vast majority of it's people, they will be in the minority for a long time to come.

[kaitykaity]

13. You got it.

And welcome to DU!!

:hi:

[ChocolateSaltyBalls]

14. Thanks........

:toast:

[calimary]

15. Good heavens, I hope so.

I read something along those exact lines not long ago - where the author postulated that bush's "legacy" would turn out to be a rebirth of the left. Quite unintentioned. But I think that may indeed be one of the results. Welcome to DU, by the way!