Hey, Mark, don't bother. The Demicans can't face up to the fact that they
lost because they ran like Repugs, as well as running a generally sorry,
suckass candidate who blew what should have been a sure thing, and they are
deeply resentful because they think they own the votes of the left. They
either don't understand that we really do want to replace their party with a
progressive left party, which involves voting for our own candidates--or
they do understand that, and it scares them. I myself would have voted for
Nader if it had tipped the balance for Dubya. In Illinois, of course, it
didn't. But we don't have to apologize: of course we didn't lose the
election for Gore: Gore lost it for Gore, or the Supremes won it for Bush,
or whatever. But the idea that the left cannot be taken for granted is
profoundly frightening to Dems. The idea that we might be able to exercise
real power is absolutely terrifying. If we are to put together a winning
party, it means taking votes from Dems, and throwing several elections to
the GOP: if we can't face that, we have no business in politics, or we ought
to give up on left politics and become good little Dems, like Brad says.
--jks
>
>What evidence is there that Nader voters were in fact potential Gore
>voters?
>That is, is there any data to show that had Nader not been an option, the
>people who voted for him would have voted for Gore? Surely that is the
>correct question to ask. Nader voters may simply have stayed at home
>rather
>than voting for Gore.
>
>Mark Laffey
>
>
>
>At 15:48 24/03/01 -0800, you wrote:
> >> >>Brad DeLong wrote:
> >>>>
> >>>>>Yet another blessing we have received from Ralph Nader...
> >>>>
> >>>>No, from Al Gore. If as many self-identified Democrats had voted for
> >>>>Gore as self-identified Republicans voted for Bush, W would still be
> >>>>governor of Texas.
> >>>>
> >>>>Doug
> >>>
> >>>And Nader was in their pitching, telling self-identified Democrats
> >>>not to vote for Gore...
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>Brad DeLong
> >>
> >>No, Nader never told anybody, let alone "self-identified Democrats,"
> >>"not to vote for Gore."...
> >>
> >>Shane Mage
> >
> >God! The quality of argument here is *really* low. If you vote for
> >Nader, you don't vote for Gore--unless you're in the vote fraud
> >business...
> >
> >
> >Brad DeLong
> >
> >
>Dr. Mark Laffey
>Department of Political Studies
>School of Oriental and African Studies
>University of London
>Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square
>London WC1H OXG
>0171 898 4744 (w) 0117 969 8438 (h)
>[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
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