"aha, so you admit "nothing" is an alternative"

Eureka! Nothing is always an alternative. I for one prefer going over the cliff.

"It's better to fight for something good and lose, than to fight for a cow pie and win and then try to tell the people that the cow pie is really chocolate cake and that we won."

Simplistic. Fighting for "something good" and losing doesn't mean nothing. Sometimes pushing for nothing instead of accepting the next best option is idiotic. It depends on what the next best option represents. "Doesn't go far enough" isn't synonymous with "bad"

That was the case with health care reform: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022037724