. . . Max wants to argue that one can vote for Gore or one can be a socialist, one or the other, as if there have never been socialists, Maoists, and communists in the US who have ever voted Democratic in our elections. . . . "
We were talking program. I was counter-posing Social-Dem to Clintonoid minimalism, and you come back that S-D is not as good as socialism. The latter is not a disreputable argument, except in the context of your defense of Gore & Clinton. A lesser-evil argument is plausible too, except when defended by way of a leap to an opposite extreme.
This sort of dissonance is also implied by your argument to vote for McReynolds instead of Nader, while also saying voting third party is pointless in general.
It's like cutting and pasting lyrics from Run DMC into Robert Frost.
mbs