>Bad as Bush is, don't you agree that most of us would be disgusted with
>the Gore administration by now, saying that Bush might as well have won.
>Sure, Bush is terrible, even worse than expected, but unless we take our
>"medicine" and punish the spineless Dems, they will continue chasing the
>Repugs to the right in search of the elusive NRA vote.
Ahh, but that's exactly what I hope the Dems do. Gun control is a pretty marginal issue to begin with and if it costs votes that would otherwise support stronger unions, better schools, more health insurance and generally more progressive economic policies, then dump it. The "elusive NRA vote" is hardly elusive-- they are working class voters in many cases that support progressive issues in a number of areas but defect because of the gun issue. Disdaining getting those votes back to form a majority is exactly where progressives lose out.
And no way is it better that Bush won- the scale of the tax cut is an absolute disaster that is going to rip at social spending for the next few years. We will end up with a weaker Patient Bill of Rights and a range of worse policies.
-- Nathan Newman