Yes, yes a million times yes!!!
ANYONE who thinks there is no difference between the parties,
ANYONE who is tempted to waste your vote an a green candidate as a matter of principal,
ANYONE who thinks Ron Paul makes sense and might be a better choice than an "establishment" candidate of wither party,. . . . .
. . . remember those three words.
typos galore..
that should be either party
(I was excited)
wither party,. . . . .
Dr. Freud, call your answering service... 
"...a day that will live in infamy."
I am wearing mourning today. It seems appropriate.
Damn.
I had kept this historical nugget in the back of my mind earlier today, and, being as it's also my son's 17th birthday, I had hoped I could go a full twenty-four hours without getting yet-again pissed at this administration.
Better luck next year, I guess. 
ANYONE who is tempted to waste your vote an a green candidate as a matter of principal
WHAT the HELL.
It's MY damn vote and I'll "waste" it however the hell I want. Neither the Democrats, nor the Libertarians, nor the Republicans, nor the Greens - and certainly not YOU - owns my vote, and I'm fucking sick of this arrogant entitlement and smug assumption that you know more about my principles and interests than I do.
It's MY vote, and I'll deploy it however the fuck I want. Just because I don't vote the way that you might wish doesn't mean I'm stupid. It means that politics to me is more than just blindly checking the box next to a D just because it stands for "Democrat."
In fact, your "pragmatism" in voting for "electable" candidates who put "pragmatism" over principle is a large part of why we're in this fucking mess in the first place. By your logic, a candidate who's okay with torture and law-breaking but who might win is better than one who has - gasp - principles and a respect for the rule of law, but isn't a media darling.
Fuck your entitlement, fuck your "practical" tactics, and fuck YOU.
Ah yes. The first amendment does in fact allow one to yell "fuck" in crowded theater, or even comments section of a blog.
So anyway. I live in Georgia, and if any state goes Repuke in 2008 (besides MS and AL and SC) this will be one.
I'll probably vote Dem, but if trends hold, this is a place where I can safely throw a vote away.
Right on, Rana.
For those who still think Nader cost Gore the 2000 election, here's an interesting article - from Gore's party itself.
My biggest disappointment is that I didn't vote for Nader in 2000 & 2004. I'd happily vote for a Green Party candidate over Democrat, unless it's someone like Kucinich. There's no such thing as "wasting a vote" - every candidate has to earn it, and falling into the trap of voting for the lesser evil only shifts you further to the right. If the Democrats take my vote for granted, what's their incentive for moving left-of-center? Zilch.
Now all those people who voted for the lesser evil knowing very well that they agree with the agenda of the Green Party or Nader - now if they show some backbone and vote with their conscience, sky's the limit!! 
Also please watch "An Unreasonable Man" BEFORE you criticize Nader.
Oh, and Presidential elections are not a dog race where I have to vote for the "winner." I guess by that logic, all those people who voted for Dukakis in 1988 "wasted" their vote.
You just don't get it, Rana.
Of course the Democratic Party doesn't deserve your votes. The prevalence of bonehead arguments like the one you respond to proves that. If the Dems actually constituted a viable liberal opposition, people wouldn't HAVE to browbeat their putative allies into voting Democratic. We'd just, you know, do it.
As someone who's spent the last couple decades working on environmental issues, voting for the Democratic Party as it currently exists is voting against my interests. The only reason I've done so is because I'm voting against the Bush administration.
That's an incredibly lame party platform — we're not the GOP — and anything that offers even the remote future possibility of an alternative has got my support. And some immediately post-pubescent Democratic drone, who has never once done any political organizing other than leaving comments on blogs, repeating half-understood talking points telling me my experience doesn't count for anything? Let me just sign on to your last paragraph there, Rana.
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