"Things have gotten so bad in a short time that we went from the Republicans saying that the Democratic Party would be the permanent minority party following 2004 to losing both chambers and their President having one of the lowest approval ratings in history."

Our Democratic Party lead congress has even lower approval ratings.

"The Democratic Party is in its best shape in decades."

I repeat. Congress, which is lead by Democrats, has an even lower approval rating than Bush has.

I think that you need to reconsider how well the Democrats are doing here in the minds of the people. People are sick of the Democratic Party.

I think it is in better shape.  Otherwise, the DLC would be running th party.  Of course, it probably will again if Hillary wins.

Sigh, only the democratic party memembers can have this sort of mentality. Of course, it's much more preferable to have a presidency than a Congress controlled by your party.

Do you think Gore would have attacked Iraq after 9-11?

I do not think so.

That makes the theft in 2000 a net negative, no matter how much the resultant GOPer overreach might have resulted in a stronger position for the Democratic Party.

You can't purchase progressivism using 100,000+ corpses as currency.

There is no silver lining in the Iraq debacle, there is only getting out without causing more damage.

Besides, counterfactual games are not very productive.  The truth is we have no idea what the state of the party would be had Gore been the president.

The corruption, ineptness and malfeasance ot the Bush administration has had far-reaching (read worldwide) ramifications. It has energized progressives of every color and flavor around the planet. I've never in my life seen so many people motivated to get involved in politics and their world. Think of Bush as the fertilizer (pun intended) that has caused the net roots to blossom or more accurately, to explode with growth.

I've often thought about what our country and our situation would be like without Bush having stolen the election. Yes, Iraq is a colossal tragedy but I think Bush was somehow "appointed" to ring the death knell of the GOP - or at least what the GOP has become. To be, in effect, the nail in their coffin.

There are many forces in play now that point to a major and extended surge of voters away from the Republican Party (I mean, c'mon how long can you expect hate and fear to attract voters -especially younger ones). I think this has been Bush's "purpose". If Gore had been elected, the Democratic Party, and more importantly, its constituents would be still be pushing the status quo - at least compared to where we are now.

Of course, the question will be...what will the Dems once they have the presidency and a strong majority of both houses of Congress?

The best thing to happen to the Democratic Party is Bush's ineptitude in running the country, his negligent actions as POTUS, hiring and appointing cronies, failure in handling the war responsibly etc.

Granted all of that couldnt have happened if Gore was President, the role 2000 plays in the overall scheme is only partly responsible for the strengthening hand of Democrats 8 years later.

If Bush was a better President, 2000 wouldnt have changed the cards so much.

The question though is even if Gore handled 9-11 100% correctly, would it have made a difference in the Congressional Elections.  

Had President Gore been able to assume the office he was elected to, 9/11 may not have occurred. I am absolutely positive that a President Gore would have listened to President Clinton about the real danger of bin Laden and his Administration would have done something about it other than to demote Richard Clarke and hold no meetings.

As to how his election might have effected Congressional races I don't know that it would have any effect one way or the other. The Congress is a separate entity with it's own typically inept leadership. Who knows what those boneheads would do.

I cannot accept that domestic political gains of any kind are an acceptable trade-off for the generational harm done to the US by the war in Iraq and the collateral damage to our geopolitical power and prosperity.  Unfortunately, it will be several presidential election cycles before we are through reaping the bitter harvest of this terrible blunder and it will divert the resources and attention of any subsequent administration from other important issues.

Gore would have had to wrestle with a Republican Congress and wouldn't have got much done.  But we would probably still have a surplus and we wouldn't be in Iraq.  So I'd say no we are certainly not better off.

The only silver lining is that the election in 2000, along with the election in 2002, and the bravado of Bush / DeLay did cause the GOP to waaaay overreach and that has left them in the political weeds for the time being.

It is impossible to predict what might have happened to the party.  But I do know what would not have happened.  Iraq would not have happened, 9-11 would not have happened.  The huge deficit would not have happened. The cuts in college funding, veterans benefits etc etc etc... would not have happened.

And we are not in that great shape.