where would the country be right now?

10/18/2008 4:42:37 AM

Probably not in Iraq- but possibly intervening in pakistan instead. The economy would probably still be in the same place since the changes in banking laws were passed overwhelmingly by congress and not initiated by the president. The executives who pushed the mortgage backed securities and the rest of the practices that precipitated the banking collapse also had nothing to do with who was the president. It's possible but unlikely that different cabinet appointees may have seen what happened coming, but I doubt that.

The only things I can think of that would be significantly different would be that we would be spending more on solar energy research and the Kyoto protocol might have been adopted by other nations with slightly more sincerity.

10/18/2008 5:08:37 AM

Gore does a good job:
Probably still in a massive deficit (though not as big as the one Bush has dug us into). The housing bubble would probably still be bursting, too, unless someone in the Gore administration had seen the warning signs and warnings from some economists (which government officials regularly fail to do). We'd probably have a Democratic president right now, the second term of Gore, but chances are the House and Senate would still be held by the GOP or would be about neutral between the two parties. War on Terror probably still would have happened, 9/11 almost certainly still would have happened... but we probably wouldn't have gone into Iraq.

Gore does a bad job:
Everything is pretty much the same as above, but with more precedent set for increased government power (probably still not as much as Bush though), massive levels of wasteful spending, and we'd have gone into Iraq. Only major difference is that we'd be having the first term of a John McCain presidency going on right now... specifically, a John McCain that wasn't forced to betray his intellect and his beliefs in favor of pandering to the religious right. But there still wouldn't have been much change in the major events... chances are that year-2000-values McCain would not have tried to massively increase the power of the executive branch of the federal government, though, unlike the Bush administration has attempted to do.


This is too much of a "what-if" situation to even attempt specifics, though... like whether or not we're doing well in Iraq.

[Edited on October 18, 2008 at 5:19 AM. Reason : .]

10/18/2008 5:18:28 AM

What if we had been invaded by zombie squirrels in 2000?

What if the stock market didn't crash in 1929?

What if God was one of us?

10/18/2008 8:33:39 AM

just a slob like one of us?

10/18/2008 9:25:55 AM

electric cars yo

10/18/2008 9:36:29 AM

I think Gore would have been stupid enough to invade Iraq because of his Zionist vice president. He would have lost the 2004 election to McCain though and McCain would be also running against Obama in this election.

[Edited on October 18, 2008 at 9:46 AM. Reason : .]

10/18/2008 9:42:14 AM

fuck

[Edited on October 18, 2008 at 10:00 AM. Reason : .]

10/18/2008 10:00:34 AM

country would be a hell of a lot better right now. Likely in an economic golden age.

10/18/2008 3:19:16 PM

^^^ Who was going to be his VP?

10/18/2008 4:19:35 PM

lieberman

ps- why dont more people blame nadar for fucking up 2000?

10/18/2008 4:23:13 PM

pretty simple. We'd have given florida and california to Osama bin Laden in exchange for a guarantee not to attack us again. Then Osama would have nuked DC two years later. We'd all have to ask government permission in order to start our cars or turn on the A/C.

10/18/2008 8:55:07 PM

Gore would have tried to come to a diplomatic solution with the terrorists after 9/11

10/18/2008 9:04:00 PM

like giving them california and florida in exchange for promising not to attack us

10/18/2008 9:08:59 PM

He would have given them one of the useless republican states like Georgia, if anything.

Cali has too much tech companies, and Fl is too nice of a vacation spot.

10/18/2008 9:11:39 PM

true.

10/18/2008 9:14:08 PM

If 9/11 still happened, Al Gore would have been crucified by a Republican Congress for "failure of the Clinton/Gore regime to protect America from terror..." etc. For that, he might not have survived to a second term. Its not that I blame Gore or Clinton for 9/11, but seriously, if it had happened under his watch, you know the GOP would be riding that into the White House in 2004.

Of course, that might force Al Gore to become more aggressive in Afghanistan or the "War on Terror" which, depending on how it played out, could really have made a mess.

I seriously doubt Iraq would have occurred.

10/18/2008 9:40:19 PM

yeah, I definitely don't think we would have attacked Iraq, but that's about the only good thing I can say would have come of a Gore presidency. Of course, we'd also have no military by now, so...

10/18/2008 9:56:13 PM

10/18/2008 10:59:58 PM

If McCain had been nominated in 2000, he would've won

this country and this world would be in a hell of a lot better shape



i pray to Zeus that i'm not saying the following in 4 or 8 years:

"if MCain had nominated Romney instead of Palin, this country and this world would be in a hell of a lot better shape"

thanks Grand Ol' Party, for letting us intelligent folks down again!




[Edited on October 19, 2008 at 2:51 AM. Reason : and the hits just keep on comin']

10/19/2008 2:50:05 AM

At this point I'm not voting for McCain, and Palin may be the biggest reason for that. I thought Romney would have been a great choice.

10/19/2008 8:23:22 AM

I wonder what the world would be like if Samuel J. Tilden had won in '76?







































1876

GET OVER IT.

Gore lost.

The media proved that twice.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/media/media_watch/jan-june01/recount_4-3.html
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950DEEDB1338F931A25752C1A9679C8B63

10/20/2008 2:35:41 PM

I'm not bitter. I'm just trying to point out all of the bad stuff Bush has done that wouldn't have happened if Gore had been President.

10/20/2008 3:26:07 PM

Gore won in 2000

10/20/2008 3:32:20 PM

Quote :

"If 9/11 still happened, Al Gore would have been crucified by a Republican Congress for "failure of the Clinton/Gore regime to protect America from terror". . . if it had happened under his watch, you know the GOP would be riding that into the White House in 2004. Of course, that might force Al Gore to become more aggressive in Afghanistan or the "War on Terror" which, depending on how it played out, could really have made a mess."

Spot on, man. He would have to act very aggressively and effectively in the wake of 9/11 to avoid being burned at the stake. Almost certainly the initial period of unity would've still happened, but you're right, it wouldn't take the Republicans long to dig the ol' bloody shirt out of their closet and start waving it around. Bush and his boys avoided most of the shitstorm by pointing the finger at the previous administration (which Gore can't do) and moving very quickly and angrily with the military (something I don't think would come naturally to Al Gore). Even if he did manage to win re-election, there'd be a long period where everything he tried to do was hamstrung by the terrorism issue.

So then who runs in 2004? They've got Gore by the short and curlies for 9/11 -- for "continuing the weak national security policies of the Clinton administration," etc. -- so who's the Republican with the terrorist-killing chops? I kind of get the feeling that Bush wouldn't run again, and even if he did, I don't think he would be nominated. If someone could talk Colin Powell into it, he might be a good bet. Military man, experience in the Middle East, black guy...he'd seem to me like the easy choice, but who knows.

Meanwhile, Barack Obama doesn't generate nearly as much hype because he can't be the anti-Bush: an eloquent Democrat with class and refinement compared to a bumbling speaker of a Republican who sells himself as a common man. Without that contrast, nobody gives a shit, and besides, the Republicans are running a black guy, so that part doesn't even help. So he doesn't rise to national prominence, possibly ever, but certain not between 2004 and 2008.

McCain broods over his defeat in the 2000 primaries and is still busy being mavericky rather than sucking up to the GOP establishment. As I recall, that didn't really start until Bush's re-election. He never runs for president because unless Colin Powell fucks up something awful he wins in '08 and McCain's old as fuck.

Republicans maintain majority in Congress, further hampering Gore's agenda. Composition of the Supreme Court doesn't really change, since no spots were open until after 2004.

10/20/2008 3:37:59 PM

Quote :

"Gore won in 2000"

Yes, but i think the question meant to ask what if he had won and been allowed to become president as a result of it.

10/20/2008 3:53:14 PM

I'm not entirely convinced 9/11 would have still happened.

10/20/2008 3:59:06 PM

Yeah, weren't there numerous warnings about 9/11? I mean, they pretty much just let it happen so they could start invading right?

10/20/2008 4:30:18 PM

If Gore had won in 2000...TSB would be a lot more cordial

10/20/2008 4:31:51 PM

Quote :

"I'm not entirely convinced 9/11 would have still happened."

However, I am entirely convinced you are an idiot.

10/20/2008 4:34:38 PM

Bleed to Bankruptcy!

10/20/2008 4:39:00 PM

I wonder if George Bush would have grown a beard and gotten fat for a while.

10/20/2008 4:39:07 PM

There were numerous warnings about 9/11 and there's even a semi-famous picture of someone holding a document that says "Bin Laden Determined To Strike Within U.S." with Bush standing right next to him 3 days before 9/11. So don't so unreasonably assume that I'm incorrect in my beliefs that it might have not taken place. Let's not forget that before that, Bush was playing the role of a true conservative in that he wasn't actively doing shit. Gore would have been at least reading memos.

10/20/2008 4:53:23 PM

it was only a matter of time before this ^

10/20/2008 4:55:31 PM

Thank you for pointing out how I'm wrong...

10/20/2008 4:56:13 PM

Quote :

"it was only a matter of time before this ^ "

Really? You expected a valid argument!?? good for you!

What is 2 + 2??? I wonder if you can come up with a guess on what his answer to THAT one is!!!?

[Edited on October 20, 2008 at 4:57 PM. Reason : ]

10/20/2008 4:57:00 PM

whats the point?

10/20/2008 4:59:43 PM

Trying to speculate what would or wouldn't have happened with Al Gore is stupid. He didn't win.

10/20/2008 5:00:14 PM

Quote :

"There were numerous warnings about 9/11 and there's even a semi-famous picture of someone holding a document that says "Bin Laden Determined To Strike Within U.S." with Bush standing right next to him 3 days before 9/11. So don't so unreasonably assume that I'm incorrect in my beliefs that it might have not taken place. Let's not forget that before that, Bush was playing the role of a true conservative in that he wasn't actively doing shit. Gore would have been at least reading memos."

True, I think the White House would probably have been more attune to the signs, but I think there still think it would more likely than not have occurred. A lot of the fubar that lead to 9/11 occurred because of poor inter-agency communication and other flaws in government organization, and the federal government as a whole was pretty lax up to the fall of 2001.

Also, even if they did figure it out, I don't know if they would have been able to stop all four airplanes. Even if one plane hit, let's say the Pentagon or one of the towers or the Capitol building, it would still probably have caused the same ruckus.

10/20/2008 5:07:40 PM

lock box

10/20/2008 5:09:36 PM

This guy would not have been FEMA director.

10/21/2008 1:21:26 PM

Quote :

"There were numerous warnings about 9/11 and there's even a semi-famous picture of someone holding a document that says "Bin Laden Determined To Strike Within U.S." with Bush standing right next to him 3 days before 9/11. So don't so unreasonably assume that I'm incorrect in my beliefs that it might have not taken place. Let's not forget that before that, Bush was playing the role of a true conservative in that he wasn't actively doing shit. Gore would have been at least reading memos."

I'd agree with you at least somewhat IF it weren't Gore we're talking about... He was part of the Clinton administration, which doesn't exactly have the best record on listening to intelligence organizations.

I don't feel like running around re-finding sources for this... but here's the first relevant thing I saw on Google: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/06/AR2005100601797.html
If you want to research it more, maybe find more citations, maybe even try to prove me wrong, feel perfectly free... granted the link above is hardly the best source, but I'm lazy and leaving in 5 minutes. Basically the point I'm trying to make is that under the Clinton administration the leaders of the FBI and the CIA didn't like each other and from everything I've read they didn't particularly like Clinton either.

[Edited on October 21, 2008 at 1:54 PM. Reason : .]

10/21/2008 1:51:16 PM

9/11 still probably would have happened.

We would have committed more force to Afghanistan, and that place would likely be in much better shape right now.

We wouldn't be in Iraq.

The economy would still suck right now, but the deficit wouldn't be so terrible.

10/21/2008 3:46:28 PM

Polar Bears would have taken control of every major US city by 2005

10/21/2008 3:52:53 PM

Quote :

"The economy would still suck right now, but the deficit wouldn't be so terrible."

We would still be seeing the effects of the deregulation of the late 90's and early 2000's, but a couple things may be different

1) Don't know if Greenspan would have kept interest rates so low for so long in 2001-2004. He would likely still have been Chair of the Fed (had been there since 1987) but we don't know a) what would have happened on 9/11, and b) if his reaction would have been the same under a different administration

2) partially based on #1, we don't know how big the housing boom would have gotten

3) The SEC would have been under different leadership, and maybe would have denied the 2003(4?) request to change the leverage rules for the 5 largest investment firms, just like they denied the same request in 1999 under Clinton's SEC. This would have greatly reduced or softened the fall of Lehman, Bear Sterns, etc.

4) Very unlikely the CEO of Goldman Sachs would be the Chairman of the Fed now

10/21/2008 4:09:26 PM

Quote :

" This guy would not have been FEMA director."

this is the kind of shit that will continue if thundercunt ever makes it into the oval office

10/21/2008 4:10:18 PM

The worst part was when he was being questioned about the conditions at the Civic Center in New Orleans and about the people there getting help. He replied that he did not know there were people stranded at the Civic Center.

CNN and Fox News had been reporting for two days that there were hundreds of people waiting there that needed help.

HOW THE FUCK DOES CNN AND FOX NEWS HAVE BETTER INTEL THAN FEMA DURING A DISASTER?????

I just wanted to ask the guy "don't y'all fucking have cable??"

10/21/2008 4:57:52 PM

yeah, cant wait till they handle my healthcare.

way to think it through fellas

10/21/2008 5:20:32 PM

10/21/2008 9:26:50 PM

obviously if Gore had won, there would be no global warming and we'd all live in a land flowing with milk and honey

10/21/2008 10:11:21 PM