The news that Ralph Nader is considering another futile run for the presidency next year brought back all those angry feelings that I still harbor for him because of the 2000 election.If you want to piss off a Green Party member, tell them that Ralph cost Al Gore the election. So I'm not only gonna say it, I'm gonna crunch the numbers and back it up.
Ralph Nader cost Al Gore the 2000 election.
So Naderites, before we get started, spare me whatever spin you've come up with to salve your guilty consciences. Your Nader votes made it possible for the worst president in my lifetime to take office. (I was a teenager during the Nixon years) The blood of 3000 plus dead soldiers is on YOUR hands. The conservative Supreme Court majority we have is YOUR fault.
And it's all because you and Ralphie boy lacked the vision (and failed to listen to us Texans) to see what a disaster a Bush presidency would (and has turned out to be) for our country.
Before we start, here's the basics. In the 2000 election Gore received 266 electoral votes, Bush 271. 270 is the magic electoral vote number to win office. Gore actually received 267, but one DC elector didn't cast their vote in protest over the Florida travesty. I'm going to presume that Nader votes are progressive ones that I'll add to Gore's totals and Buchanan ones are conservative that I'll add to Bush's.
Let's start with the two states that the 2000 election hinged on, New Hampshire and Florida.Ralph pulled enough votes from Gore in New Hampshire to swing the state in Bush's direction along with 4 critical electoral votes.
Gore 266,348
Bush 273,549
Nader 22,195
Buchanan 2,615
Now assuming Ralph (and Pat) aren't in, lets take their votes and add them to the respective candidates totals. (Nader votes=progressive ones, Buchanan votes =conservative ones) I reject the Naderite assertion that without him in the 2000 race those voters would have stayed home. That's bull feces and y'all know it. The 2000 election was critical to our country's future and everyone knew it.
Gore 266,341 + 22,198 = 288,556
Bush 273,559 + 2,615 = 276,174
No Nader, and Gore not only takes New Hampshire but the presidency as well. New Hampshire's 4 electoral votes puts him over the top and makes Jeb and Katharine's thuggery in Florida irrelevant.
Gore 267 + 4 = 271
Bush 271 - 4 = 267
Moving on to Florida. Remember the Supremes stopped the recount. At that time the vote totals were:
Gore 2,912,293
Bush 2,912,790
Nader 97,495
Buchanan 17,484
Check out the new totals with Nader votes going to Gore and Buchanan ones to Bush.
Gore 2,912,293 + 97,495 = 3,009,741
Bush 2,912,790 + 17,484 = 2,930,274
Gore not only wins Florida, it's not even close enough for them to steal it. That adds 25 more electoral votes to the Gore column and your new electoral vote total is:
Gore 267 + 4 + 25 = 296
Bush 271 - 4 - 25 = 242
That means we have no Supreme Court intervention, no Iraq War, an erasing of our national debt by 2009, a 6-3 PROGRESSIVE majority on the Supreme Court with a Latino/a judge sitting on the bench...
Shall I continue listing what Ralph and y'all screwed up besides a Gore presidency? Naah, think I'll drop some more political science on y'all. Y'all desperately need a refresher course in it.
In that 2000 election there were six states, Iowa, Oregon, Wisconsin, Washington, Minnesota and New Mexico worth a total 55 electoral votes that Gore narrowly won.
Nader polled 29,374 votes in Iowa, and Gore only beat Bush by 1144 votes there. In Oregon, the 77,357 votes he received there had Gore trailing most of the night until a late surge gave him a 6715 vote win. In Wisconsin, the 94,070 votes he received made it so close Gore only won by 5708 votes there.
Washington was a nail biter most of the night thanks to the 103,002 Nader votes cast there. Gore eventually pulled it out and won by 78,825 votes. In Minnesota, the 126,696 votes Nader garnered there also made that state uncomfortably close but Gore won that state by 59,607 votes.
In New Mexico the 21,251 votes Nader got almost cost Gore the state. Gore won by a razor thin 566 votes. So what you Naderites say? Here's the problem. Because of Ralph, in the closing weeks of the 2000 campaign, instead of using that precious time to attack Bush in Missouri and Ohio and going home to Tennessee to mend fences he was forced to defend what should have been friendly turf.
Gore lost Missouri by 78,786 votes, Tennessee by 80,209 votes and Ohio by 165,019 votes. No Republican gets elected without having Ohio in their electoral vote column and that's where Gore needed to be, not in the Pacific Northwest and the Midwest. He could have also spent time in West Virginia, which he lost by 40,978 votes.
The only thing I can take solace in is the fact that the 'there's no difference between Republicans and Democrats' line has been exposed for the lie it is. The last 7 years have proved there's a major difference when Democrats run thangs as opposed to when Republicans do.There's one other thing you Naderites need to chew on. If you want progressive policies for our country, you definitely aren't going to get them by helping to elect CONSERVATIVE politicians.
Ralph, stay home in 2008. You've done enough damage to our country.