...at least she'll be better than the other Republicans.

will probably give us the likes of a President Romney.

I wouldn't vote for someone who has promised to continue this war if it was the last vote I ever got to make-- and at this rate, it might be. If Hillary is the best we can do, I say why not a Repug? Hasten the collapse! I'm ready to skip ahead to the nationalization of industries, trials of former political leaders, and ratification of a new constitution.

Nobody who owned an SUV gets to vote, OK? The ayes have it.

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The Agonist 2008 Presidential Candidates Forum

I agree with the views of the other replyers above.
A truly good candidate is pretty much unelectable.
The Machine has pretty much taken everything over.
That can be changed. (Nothing is impossible.)
Are we seriously to balance the merits of the likes of Obama and Edwards?
Left vs. Right wing is moot. Democratic vs. Republican likewise.
On one side are candidates like Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich while on the other side are the rest.
Gore has his reasons for not running, and I'm almost scared to know why. Yet he writes the sort of books he writes while Bill Clinton writes the sort he writes. Gore is not disingenuous, but simply has little to really reveal despite the conspicuousness of all that's hidden. It almost suggests a level of informedness just above Kucinich or Paul. It almost suggests they have a certain necessary amount of naivete to be running as they do at all.

Some major frankness and candor is called for.
Beyond Alan Greenspan level of supposed candor and revelation [that he backtracked from anyway].

We are at a major turn. What we, you and I and all of us, do now matters critically.

Gore is a capable, good, and nice man but he lacks the gravitas. Personally I'd rather see Sen. Patrick Leahy run rather than Chris Dodd, and I believe he'd stand a better chance of winning than Dodd if he was explosively revelatory, which ain't his way -not on the level required. It's not just a matter of gravitas.

We need someone ready to rant and rail and rage against ALL the abuses, from the use of depleted uranium to the rape and torture to pilferage and cronyism and encroaching military culture perverted into total Dominator culture, Blackwater, surveillance, lack of habeas corpus and other Patriot Act constitutional abuses, That Executive Order of last july, loss of Net Neutrality, governement code in our OSs (that will likely be hardwired into our processors some day), the sub prime rate mortgage hedge funds rape, etc. -the entire litany!

John Carpenter's Escape From New York is here now, as is Orwell's 1984, and Gibson's Neuromancer as well, not to mention the original Rollerball... The time is now.

Much like Ian Welsh said earlier;

http://agonist.org/ian_welsh/20071001/the_next_hoover

http://www.firedoglake.com/2007/09/28/roosevelt-or-hitler/

it's a pivotal time. In every sense. Politically, culturally, economically, militarily, diplomatically, the soul of worldwide goodness cries out, demands, and deserves virtually Martin Luther King himself to run...

Next year we have RealID to face and blog registrations to contend with. The time is now. To do far more than we're doing. Even if we can't, like Randall Patrick McMurphy in One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest tried to lift that marble counter and failed, we have to to be genuine and committed and ready to leap beyond this crap of elections as usual through whatever window can be opened.

A really novel approach is needed. Elections? Our voting structure itself is suspect!

We need our own union. We, the decent people of any and all political parties need more than parties at this point, we need unite.
A union.

Freedom! Freedom from power, pirates, and the machine. Now!
Man, I am so weary of politics, I just want to write silly stories and draw silly drawings, but I can't in any good conscience ignore all this -plus I wish to die a free man in a decent and honest America....

(Lastly, when I think of Roosevelt, I think also of Teddy Roosevelt and how much of this empire building began with him, and have to wonder how much that influenced FDR with any sense of familial guilt....)

The national discourse as it is is raw bullshit. That must be addressed first and foremost, immediately. Chalo's reply above may be most spot on; better leap over nitpicking over Dem candidates and force the real issue.

Hyperbole is not much a danger these days. Think of it; this time a year or two hence, some of us here may literally be yanked out of bed at 2am and incarcerated for our views. Disappeared Persons as an issue is not far off at all.

Chalo may be even be more correct than I can imagine.

vote for Kucinich? He does it all. I am tired of hearing people say "he can't get elected". Why not just vote for him anyway? I am.

you're working to pry the hands of crazy people off the switch. Keep that in mind. Anything you get, any of the Dem candidates, will be better than demonstrably crazy.

I've been giving this much thought. The comments above are all accurate. It's out of control. The Donkeys won't do it. Gore won't help us. It's too late to start a third party now. Write-ins won't be counted. The election process has been corrupted beyond confidence. Non-violent protest will be met with detention, extraordinary rendition, torture and death. The only thing that keeps coming back to my mind is to hit them where they live - money. A general strike. A big one. Cancel Christmas, stay home. Two full days of sick time. Think that would get some attention? Comments?

I think the post here was about a Gore endorsement.

First of all, lets consider Gores 'Endorsement' just prior to the primaries in 2004. Remember that one. Gore endorsed Howard Dean about a month before Dean crashed and burned in Iowa. As in AAAAAIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEE!! Don't see how decisive that turned out to be

So what will Gore do this time? After all HE will remember last time if no one else does.

First of all, if he's holding back, then he is not about to endorse Hillary, because that WOULD be a lock for her. So why not just do it now. No he is holding back because he has - potentially - something else in mind.

He also says he has been advising some of the candidates, but won't say who. Now the fact is Obama, Edwards, Richarson would all love to get that endorsement. And it would, or could help - a little. Endorsements hit big at first, then fade. A reality that is perfect for the compressed primaries. It especially helps the young candidates, ie. Obama or Richardson, getting the nod of the old hand. Edwards, is not really helped by a Gore endorsement, and I don't really see that either because he actually dissed Edwards, aka Kerry, in 2004.

So there is no evidence a Gore endorsement helps anyone but Hillary right now, very little likelihood he would endorse Edwards. He is going to do it BEFORE the primary, so what is he going to do??

He has to be careful. He was a Vice President of Bill Clinton after all. A diss of Hillary is at high risk, considering they could be the ones who end up in the White House. And fact is Gore's endorsement really means less to Obama. In other words a Gore endorsement cannot tip the scales alone. He will wait, he has to. So . . . IF Obama surges, and looks likely to win. He will jump on that bandwagon, add whatever energy he can. If Hillary holds her own, and appears to be headed for a win - THEN he will endorse Hillary.

Gores endorsement comes before Iowa. Edwards big race is South Carolina, Edwards is off the radar. Richardson has no chance, he is off the radar. So . . .

A) he won't endorse anyone until the race is effectively over

and B) when he does it will be a break for the winner, even Hillary if she is the one.

I do not believe he wants ANOTHER tag of irrelevancy tied to his 'endorsement.' It is another reason Iowa is so important to Obama. If he can get organized, stay on message, spend his money smart and surge to a victory - he gets a Gore nod as well. If not, then it is Hillary all the way. And Edwards, I am skeptical of a Gore nod no matter what.

As far as Edwards goes, he should be minimizing the importance of Iowa and refocusing his energies on places he can win. But his organization follows a pattern that is hard to understand - If he really wants to be President that is. HIS state is South Carolina.

My two cents.