D.B.W.I. That massive terrorist attack actually happens

Today is the tenth anniversary of the F.B.I sweep that ended in the arrest of 19 Arab men who were plotting to hijack airliners and crash them into the U.S. Capitol, the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. What if the G men had not been so fortunate and the plot had actually taken place?
 
I can't see Gore being much of a leader in a crisis. His approval ratings would probably take a massive, massive knock and he'd be narrowly edged out by McCain in 04, even if the economic and social stuff goes as in OTL. Then again, it's a long time between 2001 and 2004... assuming those guys planned to act soon. What's to say they weren't going to knuckle down and wait until campaigning season began in 2003, and hope the US would elect a right wing military nutjob who would give their 'war with the west' a fresh supply of new recruits when he starts firing cruise missiles at anything with a minaret?
 
I can't see Gore being much of a leader in a crisis. His approval ratings would probably take a massive, massive knock and he'd be narrowly edged out by McCain in 04, even if the economic and social stuff goes as in OTL. Then again, it's a long time between 2001 and 2004... assuming those guys planned to act soon. What's to say they weren't going to knuckle down and wait until campaigning season began in 2003, and hope the US would elect a right wing military nutjob who would give their 'war with the west' a fresh supply of new recruits when he starts firing cruise missiles at anything with a minaret?
So McCain would get the nomination again in '04? McCain, while popular (probably would've wiped the floor with Gore were it not for Trump's Reform candidacy) is no Nixon, but I can see a focus on national security doing that.
Well, McCain in '04 would probably be a lot better than what we got :rolleyes: Bye bye, President Elizabeth Dole!
 
Yeah, I gotta think that our POD is that Gore wins West Virginia making Florida irrelevant or that the voter purge in Florida goes public a month before the election resulting in a anti-Bush backlash that tips Florida.

Gore listens to Richard Clarke as Clinton did. Eleven of the 19 hijackers are arrested at a Florida strip club. The other eight are arrested at the martial arts training school they attended. A massive cruise missile and bomber strike is sent into Afghanistan, but this time without asking for overflight permission from Pakistan like Clinton did when he tried to bomb Osama. Osama is blown to bits, taliban weakened, Aghanistan descends into civil war, we don't really care about.

Gore has a good budget. Declining debt. Decides to deal with modest recession with some green tech spending and payroll tax holiday for new hires who have been unemployed. Deficits increase a little, but tax revenues from renewed growth almost offset this and the 90s boom times almost come back. People are content.
 
to continue, it seems like you almost have to get Al Greenspan out of the way to prevent a recession (I'd suggest tigers), there's a recession, Elizabeth Dole becomes POTUS in 2008, the dems make huge gains in 2010, and seem set to win a landslide in 2012, with Elizabeth Dole as a female, Republican Jimmy Carter
 
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