Krieger

Well I hope you enjoy voting for reactionary (socially conservative, pro-war, anti-atheist, economically far-right) Joseph Lieberman running against reactionary (socailly conservative, pro-war, anti-atheist, economically far-right) George W. Bush in 2004.

Best regards.

Grumpy

Strictly speaking, it was only >1000 Nader voters who (assuming they would've voted Gore in the absence of Nader) tipped the balance in Florida. If you want, you can blame a couple thousand more in New Hampshire, where it would also have made a difference.

But that's not what this thread is about.

It's about Jerry Thacker. Apparently, he is HIV+ since his wife acquired the virus from a blood transfusion, or something.

Googling for "Jerry Thacker deathstyle" turned up a page of the Bob Jones University chapel archives, which claim that Thacker spoke to the student body, but apparently that reference has been purged. (There was a comical assertion that crime has gone up 560% in the past decade.)

SanDiegoAtheist

I will be registering a party affiliation for the first time in my life as a democrat just to attempt to prevent this scenario from occurring (I've always voted, but never registered as anything but 'independent' before).

I doubt Joe Lieberman will win the primaries (as you mentioned above, he's not terribly strong in areas that typically drive democratic voters, which are the most important issues when the primaries roll around). I don't think he has the base to get the nod - but I'm going to register just to make my voice heard on the issue.

Assuming nothing else changes (which is always of course a terrible assumption to make), I'll probably cast a ballot for Kerry for the Democrat candidate.

Cheers,

The San Diego Atheist

Krieger

Currently, the only progressives in the Democrat race are Al Sharpton and Howard Dean. They won't win, no chance, and in the latest poll I saw (Newsweek I believe) Joseph Lieberman is leading (22%), everyone else was between 12% and 4%.

While I am registered Democrat, I hate the party leadership and basically everything else about it (how they try to control leftist voters, but never give anything back in return, etc, etc, etc). This country needs a new party, and while the Greens seem a little conservative to me, they're still a hell of a lot better than nothing (and they're a hell of a lot better than Gore, Clinton, Kerry, Daschle, Gephart and espeically Lieberman).

crab juice

I voted for Nader because I could not vote for atheist-hater Lieberman. I vacillated for two weeks with my absentee ballot, but that issue sealed the deal. Gore should have picked a different running mate if he wanted my vote. Not that I think the votes were counted fairly in the first place. But I should just "get over it", right ?

Obviously, if Lieberman does somehow become the Democratic candidate for President in 2004, I will not be voting for him. I don't think that will happen, though. If he is, we can depend on four more years of Bush, and just imagine what Duh's been holding back from doing during his first term in hopes of re-election...

Grad Student Humanist

If the Greens seem too conservative for you, you will never be satisfied with the president. Unfortunately the Democratic party, which is the most effective force secularists have to fend off the religious right (Lieberman's religious issues aside), has lost the last two major elections and unless they can come up with a winning candidate in 2004, Bush and the GOP will pack the judiciary and cause headaches for liberals, progressives, secularists and non-believers for years to come.

Oh well, I can always move. At least Europe has shed all of its religious nonsense (most of Europe anyway).

Krieger

Until the two ruling-class parties' duopoly on political power in this country is crushed, there never will be any significant progress (either social or economic). Most of the Democrats want to maintain the status quo (conservative), while many Republicans want to move backwards (reactionary - and despite the use of religious right zealots to win elections, the elected Republicans are far more interested in economic reaction than they are interested in social reaction). Social reactionaries are the electoral slaves of the Republicans in the same way that progressives are the electoral slaves of the Democrats. Each ruling-class party gives lip service to their electoral slaves during the elections, but once they go to Washington it is back to business as usual - maintaining and increasing the power of the ruling-class. So you see, that is why I am of the perspective that both parties must be driven from power.

Retsyn

Here's the deal with the Green Party: They are dissatisfied young (immature) white people who aren't going to face any real hardship at all from a Repulican administration. They have read a little about oppression, but their personal experiences of it consist of their parents expressing horror at their new eyebrow ring. They've never skipped a meal or a doctor's appointment and if they run up their credit cards buying the very best patchouli, they don't have to worry about current bankruptcy laws, because daddy can just write a check or maybe they don't need his help because they already make a decent living as a result of their college education.

I hope every time a Green voter reads about "faith-based charities" or rounding up all the brown people to accuse them of terrorism (if you want to say Gore would have appointed someone like Ashcroft with straight face, you might want to practice it a couple of times in front of a mirror) they're real proud of themselves.

Just for the record, I don't consider anyone that calls himself "Reverend" a real progressive.

wildernesse

What a generalization about Greens! I hope every time that a half-hearted Democrat who wasn't out pounding the pavement and campaigning for their candidate feels very responsible for the Republican presidency. Because in the end, it's their own fault.

Just you remember, those immature dissatisfied people are the ones that you think would have helped you win the election.

Keep whining. We all know how attractive that is.

--tibac

Krieger

Great post wildernesse.