So I was talking to a group of my fellow Democrats and Ralph Nader came up and instantly my blood started to boil. See I really hate Ralph Nader because he put George W. Bush in the White House in 2000. Don't get me wrong I like what Nader did for consumer safety but I believe, and many Democrats agree including many liberals/progressives, that he only ran to stroke his own ego.
Now I know some of you will give the arguments that there were others reasons for Gore's loss, he alienated himself from Clinton, Gore didn't win his home state, and the like but these reasons did not make a difference in the campaign.
It is true that Gore did alienate himself from Clinton and yes that was an incredibly stupid move but I don't think that hurt him; he still did do well and won the popular vote. As for not winning his own state no Democrat would have won TN in 2000, not even Clinton, the state was too far to the right.
I look at two states in the 2000 election: Florida and New Hampshire. Nader won 97,488 primary votes in Florida and Gore lost by 537, if Nader had not been in the race I am sure at least 538 of those Nader supporters would have voted for Gore. In New Hampshire Nader won 22, 198 popular votes and gore lost by a little over 7,000 votes. It is also very likely that if there were no Nader, Gore would have won this state and the election.
I also not remembered being a fan of Nader because he seemed way out in the left wing of the party almost an extremist if you will, now I am not saying liberals are extremists, I am saying people on the left wing are. And I don't like extremists from the right or the left. I guess that has to do with me being moderate. We need more Democrats like Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and Jay Inslee. Now just because I like moderates doesn't mean I dislike liberals I like them just fine and if one wins the presidential nomination in 2008 they have my full support. I actually hope Gore wins and pulls a Nixon so he can be Nixon without being Nixon.
Well I had to rant to get that off my chest. That's all I got for now. Later.