November 23, 2000

1:58 PM

Nader recommends a coin toss for Bush/Gore - sounds good to me
posted by gluechunk (6 comments total)

I noticed that this already-short story was seemingly trimmed by the Columbus Dispatch. The original article ends with:

"It'll give both parties a four-year breather to show America what it's like to have presidential candidates not indentured to corporate contributors," he said.

Getting corporate America out of politics was a major idea of Nader's presidential campaign, which brought him less than 3 percent of the vote.

But the Dispatch version simple ends with:

"It'll give both parties a four-year breather," he said.
posted by gluechunk at 2:03 PM on November 23, 2000

Ergo, bring in Republican George W. Bush and Democrat Al Gore and flip the coin.

The ceremony, Nader said, could be broadcast across the globe, and the two parties could sell time for commercials to raise enough money to finance their presidential campaigns in 2004

A coin toss would not solve this problem unless a truly impartial party does the flip, and even then, the loser could claim that it was a weighted coin and what not, and we would return to the current situation that we are in.

I think they should just arm wrestle. Or maybe settle it Hamilton/Burr style. Or how about they get the VP candidates involved, and have a tag-team cage battle to the death?

This takes out all outside interference, and it is completely up to the skills of the candidate themselves to be victorious.

And as an upshot, it would definitely send a message to the rest of the world that the American President is not someone to screw with if they kill their opponent with their bare hands to get into office.
posted by Arvid at 10:00 PM on November 23, 2000

Until we have a political system that allows us to vote FOR someone instead of choosing the lesser of evils, this will only get worse. All of our elections are basically popularity contests. Beauty pageants in suit and tie. It should be individuals having the equivalent of a job interview with the american people. We should be picking whose most qualified for the job of running our country. We should not be looking for the most moderate, least offensive person.

Nader did not lose this election because he couldn't get into the debates. He certainly didn't lose it because of his qualifications. He lost because he could care less what you think of him. He knows between right and wrong and has no scruples about speaking his mind.

In short, Nader lost the swimsuit and personality competitions in this country's presidential beauty pageant. He didn't look the part. He didn't sound the part. We want a nice guy in the Oval Office, when we should be looking for the guy who will get it done.
posted by ZachsMind at 11:02 PM on November 23, 2000

I couldn't vote for Bush or Gore, but every time Nader opens his mouth, I'm happy I didn't vote for him either.
posted by m.polo at 7:02 AM on November 24, 2000

Every time Nader opens his mouth, I wish more people would listen. Did you check out that top 10 list?
posted by snakey at 10:20 AM on November 24, 2000

Well okay so what's the problem with the suits in this country? I mean they got all these polls and consultants and all this crap trying to figure out whose best for this country, right? And they consistently send us boobs. I mean no offense to anyone's personal favorite president of the latter half of the twentieth century, but the last time we had a president who wasn't an utter boob, I wasn't even a twinkle in my daddy's eye.

In fact, I don't think Kennedy was a twinkle in his daddy's eye.
posted by ZachsMind at 4:37 PM on November 24, 2000