In January 2000 George W Bush became President of the United States. It was a very close election that saw the winner George W Bush lose the Popular Vote by over 500,000 votes. Al Gore, however, lost the Electoral College Vote - which is the one that actually matters. There have been several recounts since the Supreme Court ordered recounts stopped. George W Bush has won most of them including a USA Today and the Miami Herald Journal.

While some maintain George W Bush was "selected" and not elected due to the Supreme Court decision. It should be noted that if Al Gore had simply won his home state of Tennessee he would have won the election without Florida.

Questions for Debate:

Do you believe the Presidential Election of 2000 was stolen/rigged/fixed? How?

Do you believe this is still an issue now in 2007? How?

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Do you believe the Presidential Election of 2000 was an unfortunate way to elect a President but the outcome was legitimate? Why?

Do you think that it's time to "get over it" with regards to the Presidential Election of 2000? Why?

I was sorely tempted to just leave this thread alone due to memories of the acrimony of a few years back over the same subject. Please bear with me in that I am not going to answer every single question but instead make a statement on the subject.

I have come to believe that the country got what it deserved when George W. Bush became President. For too long we have allowed vast amounts of money and the propaganda it can generate to substitute for reasoned debate and honest scrutiny of our candidates. As Americans, we are a lazy bunch who devote more consideration to ordering menu items at a restaurant than to who is going to represent us and (ostensibly) defend the Constitution.

Some of us still actually believe that Iraq and Saddam Hussein had something to do with the 9/11 attacks in 2001! This is symptomatic of a willful ignorance that allows us to be swayed by scare tactics and appeals to our several prejudices. One need only look at the smear campaign perpetrated against Senator John McCain in South Carolina during the summer of 2000, when it was suggested that 1) he was mentally unbalanced because he had been a P.O.W. in Vietnam, and 2) that he had an illegitimate brown baby (actually an Asian child whom the couple had adopted). Worked in South Carolina, didn't it?

It is far too late to chew on whether the elections of 2000 and 2004 for that matter were totally legitimate. If these elections were bogus, nothing can be done to rectify them. It would be better to work on something that might be remedied somehow, like the 15-month deployments and stop loss policies of the military in Iraq, or the all-but-forgotten yet continuing conflict in Afghanistan.

If we do not want a repeat performance of the last two Presidential elections, it means that we need to make sure that we actually pay attention to the policies of the candidates, not the hype. It means that we need to talk to our friends, family and co-workers about issues, not personalities or prejudices. It means that we need to require of our state and local governments polling devices that keep records of the votes, and that there are a sufficient number of ballots for precincts, and that the polling places stay open when the numbers of people still waiting to vote call for it.

We got what we deserved as Americans. I hope that we don't have to pay the price next time because we were too lazy to learn the candidates' positions and voting records on issues, or we let ignorance or prejudices guide our choices.

Do you believe the Presidential Election of 2000 was stolen/rigged/fixed? How?

Do you believe this is still an issue now in 2007? How?

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Do you believe the Presidential Election of 2000 was an unfortunate way to elect a President but the outcome was legitimate? Why?

Do you think that it's time to "get over it" with regards to the Presidential Election of 2000? Why?

I strongly suspect hanky-panky at the polls during our national elections and not so much for our local counts. But do I believe in rigged US elections? Well, I don't give out belief all that easily. That takes a portion of faith that I reserve for more important matters. However, I do believe strongly in election oversight by non-affiliated officers sworn to uphold the Constitution of the United States, and I believe strongly in harsh penalties for any intentional fraud. Or you might say I favor such policies.

Are people still complaining about the 2000 election season? Seems like a mighty dead horse to me that's been cycled through dog food and kitty chow at least once. I do believe if people knew then what we know now, Al Gore would have won by landslides. But that is not the way this time/space continuum game works.

I'm not a supporter of the Electoral College, so no, I don't think the 2000 election was the best way to select a President. The country had a second chance at this in 2004, but that was way too early in the Iraq project and still too soon after 9/11.

Yep, I'm over it. Maybe some are not, and I guess that makes me feel a little sorry for them. Or maybe I should feel happy, as apparently this represents their biggest worry, which must mean that life is treating them well. It's still knocking me around but I'm also still on my feet and swinging. Got a few body punches in last evening with a certain person of the marketing type, which felt pretty good. I'm really losing patience with marketing hype.

So that's what we face in 2008, more marketing trash. It'll be another opportunity to nab fraudulent election tactics. We'll get to complain about dirty campaign tricks. Yep, forget about 2000. Do it right in 2008 and make the United States a shining example of democracy for the entire world.