[Luis Gonzalez]

"Ralph Nader gave him the presidency"

You see, the conservative "base" was not a factor even by your own conclusions.

By the way, how the opposition voted only decided who the opposition supported.

Bush won the election by virtue of a massive shift back to the GOP by American citizens of Cuban descent in the aftermath of the Elian Gonzalez fiasco.

Elections are decided by the center, not the fringes.

[Mamzelle]

re: Bush won the election by virtue of a massive shift back to the GOP by American citizens of Cuban descent in the aftermath of the Elian Gonzalez fiasco.)))

I know. The whole election swung on Clinton's pandering to Castro, and the abusive Janet Reno. I don't know what lesson Rove took from all that, but it was not the right one.

But Nader took the only hope Gore had--and Nader's not here this time. 15,000 liberal votes would have done the job. There is also the libertarians to consider--they took votes away from Bush, and they're still around.

[Happy2BMe]

"Bush won the election by virtue of a massive shift back to the GOP by American citizens of Cuban descent in the aftermath of the Elian Gonzalez fiasco."

Oh really?

How strong has Bush remained in that select community of voters?

[Missouri]

Bush won the election by virtue of a massive shift back to the GOP by American citizens of Cuban descent in the aftermath of the Elian Gonzalez fiasco.

There is no doubt that Bush needed every vote in Florida to win that state. Panhandle or Miami.

I wonder if Bush actually carried Florida by a much bigger margin but voter fraud by democrats made it look much closer. We had problems with democratic voter fraud here in St. Louis which may had been a factor in a couple of races that year.

[NewRomeTacitus]

"Bush won the election by virtue of a massive shift back to the GOP by American citizens of Cuban descent in the aftermath of the Elian Gonzalez fiasco."

Humble, aren't we? I recall citizens of Cuban descent showered with abuse all during the 1990's bcause they remained staunchly Republican while the majority of Hispanics were politically hijacked by the pro-Marxist La Raza crowd who backed the Democrats.

This is not just about upholding law and national sovereignty. It's about preserving the dream that hundreds of thousands of our fighting men (and now women) laid down their lives to preserve, the hardships and sacrifices our ancestors endured and the ideals America's founders staked everything they had on. That investment is not a political chess piece available to politicians seeking corporate or minority favor.