Stupid White Men-- and Other Sorry Excuses for the State of the Nation! - Michael Moore [103]
Ralph’s campaign was distributing a column by Molly Ivins that offered advice to those who would like to vote for Nader but didn’t want to put GeorgeW. Bush in the White House. If they lived in a state where either Gore or Bush was expected to win by a wide margin, she suggested, then they should use their vote to send a message, and give it to Ralph Nader. But if they lived in one of the states where the election was close, then they must vote for Gore to block Bush. Me, I normally vote for whoever I think is the best candidate, just like I was taught in seventh grade civics—but what do I know?
Privately, I think most people in the Nader camp thought what I thought—that once Gore had a chance to wipe the floor with Bush in a debate, the election would be over. So we figured, let’s get out millions of votes for Nader to show the next President—Al Gore—that there’s a large number of Americans who don’t want him pushing the Democratic Party further to the right. A strong vote for Nader might be a way to check Gore and his promise to do things like spend more on the military and less on jobs.
Yeah, we were real geniuses.
Then came the debates. Ralph was shut out of them, which left America with three ninety-minute shows in which Gore and Bush agreed with each other more than they disagreed. In the second debate, the two of them said they agreed with each other on thirty-seven different issues. It was stunning to watch.
Gore had blown it. He had failed to unmask Bush’s ignorance and stupidity. He had failed to set himself apart and show the nation there was a real difference on the ballot. He had three chances to nuke that smirking son of a Bush, and he couldn’t do it! Message to the country: If this is how he caves with Junior, what will happen when he gets in a room with the Russians? Or the Canadians!
I was shocked by the implications. It was starting to look as if Gore would lose. He was going to lose his home state. He was going to lose Clinton’s home state. He couldn’t convince the Democratic dean of the Senate, Robert Byrd of West Virginia, to endorse him until five days before the election (thus sacrificing West Virginia, a traditional Democratic stronghold, to Bush). Any one of these states would have given Gore all the electoral votes he would need to win the White House.
Gore was imploding—and Nader voters everywhere were like rats jumping off a sinking ship (nice rats, though—the lovable fluffy kind). Ralph saw his poll numbers cut in half. It appeared that he would not get the 5 percent necessary to receive federal matching funds in the next election.
Things at Nader Central went crazy. A decision was made to disavow the Ivins plan and go out on a second tour—of states where Gore might win or lose by a percentage point, and Ralph’s presence would make all the difference. (In some of these states Nader’s poll numbers were as high as 12 percent.) It was a bold, in-your-face strategy that said to the Democrats, “You have deserted your base. You are no longer Democrats. It is now time you were taught a lesson.” Nothing like a good switch to the buttocks from Headmaster Nader!
Look, we all know the only thing a politician fears is being removed from that nice cozy office with the interns and the expense account. (That, and the prospect of having to get a real job.) If you don’t hold that over their heads, they will never behave, never listen to us, never get out of bed in the morning and show up for work. Ralph Nader represented the country’s only hope of pushing Gore toward doing the right thing.
Everyone knew this effort to barnstorm in the swing states could cost Gore the election and put Bush in the White House. But when you’ve seen the administration you voted for side more often with