My luck was spent, The floor opened up, down I went

Yes, it's another post about the Democrats tendency to metaphorically wander about with their shoes off approaching strangers and asking "are you my mommy?" Robert C. Koehler has a column in which he identifies two figures that he thinks have turned the 'Crats white as sheets:

One is George McGovern, who taught them that only Republican values matter in a national election. The other is Ralph Nader, who taught them who the real enemy is.

In my opinion he left out a third: Bill Clinton, who taught them they should step on their dicks.

As someone who voted for Ralph Nader in 2000, and has been defending my right to have done so ever since, I think it’s time to have it out about this preposterous state of affairs. It has turned mainstream Democrats into ballot bullies, convinced that their party’s future can only be secured by denying voters legitimate choice at the polling place. Indeed, this is the only fight they seem to wage with any animation.

In 2004, John Kerry cravenly conceded to Bush while the enormous irregularities in the Ohio vote were being contested by the Greens and Libertarians, and said not a word about the disenfranchisement of untold numbers of would-be (mostly Democratic) voters nationwide that probably cost him the election. Yet he managed to wage a vicious, resource-wasting campaign of harassment to keep Nader, and his message, off the ballot in as many states as possible. It’s the only fight Kerry won.

The myth that Nader cost Gore the 2000 election remains a virulent component of what passes for conventional wisdom among mainstream Dems. This is an outrageous simplification of what really happened. First of all, there’s no moral ground for claiming that Nader took any votes away from the stumbling, pandering Gore, who, like Kerry four years later, campaigned as though the only votes he had to “earn” were Republican votes.

Like this guy, I voted for Nader in 2000. I can tell you why in two words: Joe Lieberman. Although, had Washington State actually been in play for Bush, I might have done differently.

I think Nader did a lot of stupid things in the years since, and I was in no way tempted to vote for him again in 2004. But the one thing he said that I think was absolutely dead-on came shortly after the 2000 race had finally been decided, and he was beginning to face the "cost Gore the election" question.

He said (this is approximate), "Nobody cost Al Gore the election except Al Gore. Al Gore and George Bush--we're talking about the only two candidates in America who couldn't beat each other."

The night The Daily Show ran that clip, they cut back to Jon Stewart, who opened his mouth to say something typically funny, and then went--"He's right. Funnyman got nothing."

I don't know how many more floors the Democrats have to crash through before they finally stop opening them up beneath themselves, but it looks like it's not over yet.

Whee!