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Here me out: I really wish that Gore had won and I think things would have been better today. Please try to understand what I'm saying: had there still been a Florida recount, but the SC didn't stop the it and Gore narrowly won, I think the following would have happened:
Bush would have been the Republican nominee this year. Gore would not have been well-served by an economy that would likely still not be in a great position (better than under Bush, but there is the natural business cycle to things) and he would've had an obstructionist GOP in Congress. Bush would have run hard-right, claiming he could "get things done" and quite possibly running hard-right on national security as well, openly proclaiming a nationalist neocon ideology calling for "holding Saddam Hussein accountable," getting tough with Iran and North Korea (Gore would have adopted a more conciliatory and more productive approach) and calling Gore weak and indecisive. Especially if Al Qaeda had struck the US (PLEASE let's not get into an argument over whether or not 9.11 would've occurred under Gore - I'm just saying that IF hypothetically SOME terrorist attack were to occur these last 4 years - a very likely possibility, even it weren't the 9/11 attacks), it's likely that Bush would have declared that Gore wasn't fighting Al Qaeda hard enough and argued that 12 years of the "Clinton-Gore administrations" had cost America in the world.
I think that such a strategy would have given Bush a narrow victory after whipping the country into a hysteria. He would have swept the red states and rural areas, connected with evangelical voters across the country, and probably won a narrow victory. And I have a feeing that a 2005-2009 Bush presidency would have been even more dangerous than a 2001-2005 Bush presidency. At least we're nearing the end of his reign and, God willing (Note: it's an expression), Kerry will be president.
Now, just for the record, I think that if Gore had won without there being a dispute (i.e., had there been no butterfly ballot), Bush wouldn't have had another chance. This is what I wish had happened. Gore would have faced 50-50 odds of being reelected and I think he'd probably have faced either Frist or Hagel. Possibly Giuliani if 9/11 or a terrorist attack in NYC had occurred.
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