Chris Matthews moments ago: "Third parties suck!"

[LLStarks]

That was amusing.

[rcrush]

1. Figures

[ZombieHorde]

2. I am hoping for a Tea Bagging Party. nt

[onehandle]

3. It ROCKED. He kicked the shit out of Ralph Nader.

Go Timmah!

[backscatter712]

4. He's right.

Naderizing the Democrats will not bring about a progressive renaissance, but will in fact throw the election to the GOP and let them take a steaming shit upon the nation, again.

Now, if the teabaggers want to form their own party and split from the Republicans, I'm all in favor of that!!! :evilgrin:

[DCBob]

7. +1

:thumbsup:

[LLStarks]

5. If Perot hadn't torpedoed his campaign in '92, the Reform Party would've came in at least 2nd.

It also would've stuck around and not have been absorbed by the Democratic and Republican platforms.

[backscatter712]

6. That's the best advice I have for the Democratic Party.

They need to be blatantly stealing platform planks from the Greens.

[KharmaTrain]

15. Perot's Problem Was He Was Perot...

His Presidential run energized some people at the outset...but he was on the November ballot and faded. It wasn't cause his message had changed from April (when he was riding high in the polls) to November except people found out what a crazy egomaniac the guy was. Even worse, so did the people who were working for him. He left little to work with in '96 despite promising to help keep his party alive...but it was only kept going for his benefit. Not quite a solid foundation for a third party and why it eventually fizzled.

As is the case with many third parties...they flirt with the general public at the outset, but when it comes down to brass tacks, they fade as a good portion of the electorate stays with one of the established parties.

[Oregone]

8. What sucks is when major parties ignore large segments of their base, fueling third party movements

[stray cat]

9. Go Nader - down with Gore - President Bush?

[Oregone]

10. Huh?

No one would of voted for Nader if the Democrats earned their votes. For a variety of reasons, they didn't

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

19. You're blaming Nader because Gore couldn't attract the votes of the left?

“He reminds one of the man who murdered both his parents, and then pleaded for mercy on the grounds that he was an orphan.” - Abraham Lincoln

[amborin]

11. +1000

[enlightenment]

12. Hmm. I just can't agree with him . . .

de facto two-party systems are barely democratic (in the philosophical sense). Multiple party representation makes up the majority of democratic political systems in the world, and even if the smaller parties cannot exert much influence (as in the UK) they at least allow the electorate to vote something closer to their conscience instead of the lesser of two evils - and as long as the ability to elect representation from smaller parties is possible, a shift in the dominant parties is not beyond reason.

It's astonishing that so many people simply reject the concept of more than two functioning political parties. I can understand the pundits doing it - they'd have to learn how to say something other than 'liberal' and 'conservative' . . . but I've never understood how any thinking person could reject the idea. Nothing in the Constitution states that we have to have a two-party system - it is our voting system that creates it.

[backscatter712]

13. Until we switch to a parliamentary system with proportional representation...

voting third party is just tilting at windmills. Because we have winner-takes-all, single-member districts, third parties are guaranteed to be marginalized and left with zero power.

By all means we should work for a parliamentary system where third and fourth and fifth parties can be competitive, but until then, excuse me for being a Democrat and working to elect better Democrats.

[enlightenment]

14. You don't have to excuse yourself

for anything. You're entirely free to do whatever you wish and believe whatever you choose.

[Echo In Light]

16. Another example of why I could care less about M$M punditry

[Toasterlad]

17. On the Other Hand, Our Current Two Party System KICKS ASS!

You can tell by the fact that we're out of Afghanistan and Iraq, and banks don't get rewarded for fucking over the American people, and we have universal healthcare, and the best schools in the world, and everyone has the same rights!

Go Republicans and Democrats!

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

18. Maybe the major parties should stop whining about 3rd party voters and try attracting them.

Of course, there's not nearly as much money to be had as they get from their corporate masters.

[kenny blankenship]

20. Did someone think to remind him that the Republican Party he used to proudly carry water for

every episode of the Hardball show, was a third party?

[slackmaster]

21. Chris Matthews is a media whore

Not that I have anything against whores. It's just a fact.