Show me one reason to think of John Kerry as the self-sacrificing type.
Posted on 10/30/2004 4:19:46 PM PDT by Utah Girl
Richard Nixon would have captured the 1960 presidential election but for five states he lost by 5,000 votes or fewer – Missouri, Illinois, Nevada, New Mexico and Hawaii.
Gerald Ford would have retained the presidency in 1976 but for two states he lost by no more than 5,600 votes – Ohio and Hawaii.
Though the 1960 and 1976 elections were close, though they turned on a few thousand votes in a handful of states, the outcomes were faithfully accepted by the American people, by Republicans and Democrats alike.
That's because neither Nixon or Ford demanded that the votes be recounted in the states in which they lost by narrow margins. And neither Nixon or Ford insisted they were denied election because of voting irregularities in some state or another.
Then there was the 2000 election.
George W. Bush and Al Gore went to bed on election night uncertain whether they had won or lost.
Later, when all of Florida's voting precincts had reported their tallies, Bush had eeked out victory in the Sunshine State, pushing him over the top in the Electoral College.
But Gore refused to accept that he lost Florida, that he lost the presidency, by so small a margin. He refused to put the national interest before his own selfish interest.
He dispatched his lawyers to the Sunshine State to contest the election. And his lawyers used every legal maneuver in their arsenal to overturn Gore's defeat – challenging the manner in which Florida conducted its balloting, claiming that certain voter blocs were disenfranchised.
The result is that a portion of the populace refuses to this day to accept the outcome of the 2000 election (despite a post-election ballot review by a consortium of media organizations that concluded, unequivocally, that Bush won Florida no matter how the votes were counted or recounted).
It is because of the Gore precedent, because he tried to win the 2000 election in the courts after losing at the ballot box, that this nation remains so bitterly divided between Republicans and Democrats.
And the nation is likely to remain bitterly divided following this year's presidential election. Because John Kerry is already gearing up to contest the outcome of the election even before voters go to the polls on Election Day.
In fact, lawyers for the Democrats already have filed some 35 lawsuits in some 17 states. And if Kerry goes down to defeat on Election Day, there almost certainly will be an avalanche of lawsuits claiming that the Democrat somehow was cheated out of the presidency.
Of course, Kerry and his fellow Democrats profess that their lawsuits are motivated only by the noble desire to defend every American's constitutional right to vote. They maintain that they simply want to ensure that every vote cast in this year's election is properly counted.
But the reality is that the rash of election-related litigation precipitated by Kerry and the Democrats is doing lasting, perhaps irreparable, damage to the democratic process in this country.
Indeed, Doug Lewis, executive director of the Election Center, a nonprofit organization, told the Associated Press this week that all the legal wrangling is "disastrous for fundamental faith in the system" by which presidents have been elected since this nation's founding.
"Pretty soon," he said, "You get people saying, 'Shoot, then why bother to vote?' There has been such a concerted effort to beat up on the system itself that people need to step back and understand that if you destroy the very process by which your candidate gets elected, then what have you gained?"
I think it is time for a moment of grace in this year's presidential election.
John Kerry and George W. Bush ought to take a few minutes out of their schedule to have a heart to heart chat, much as Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy had six days after the 1960 presidential election.
The Democrat and Republican should agree to accept the outcome of this year's presidential election, no matter how close, no matter which of the two candidates comes out on top. They also should forswear any post-election lawsuits. And they should urge their supporters to do the same.
If Kerry and Bush were to evince such statesmanship, they not only would do much to restore faith in the American electoral system, they also would do much to promote civility between all but the most rabid Democrats and Republicans.
That would be a great service to this country.
Al Gore invented this sh!t. It's the only thing he can be credited for inventing.
Republicans have dignity. Kerry will never put his political ambitions a head of the country. It is all about him and no one else.
No he didn't. He had *eked* out a victory. Someone smack the editor.
Great article otherwise, though.
True, however I remember that I myself did eek profusely when Dan Rather called Florida for Gore in 2000.
I agree completely with the author, but it doesn't bode well that Kerry is reported to have teams of lawyers all ready to go before the election.
Electing guys like Jimmy Critter and Bubba have gotten us to where we are today with the ragheads.
This every other 4 years we put a com-symp or perverted crook into the White House cannot go on forever.
At some point these fools and the people that vote for them are going to get us in real trouble, and then the socialists will get whats coming to them, including new restrictions on who can vote.
John Kerry and the Democrats are NOT even CAPABLE of being statesmen and looking out for the good of the nation, otherwise they wouldn't have started ranting their divisive hate speech as soon as they did after 9/11. George Bush is as wise as the mother in the story of Solomon. He would give up the baby rather than see it cut in half. Yet maybe he also knows that to give the baby up would result in its demise.
Hopefully, Bush would never agree to such a thing, given the 'Rat history of reneging on promises.
Black Conservative bump.
They have had four years to plan and execute the theft of this election.
We can stop them and save our country if we vote and encourage other registered republicans to get out to vote.
We must not fail our president!
Supporter: I'm just worried that there will be riots after wards.
Elizabeth Edwards: Not if we win.
Show me one reason to think of John Kerry as the self-sacrificing type.
My sense for the good of the country is we cannot allow such vileness, slander, fraud and cheating to be victorious. The Right must fight for what is right!
You said that backwards.
You mean to write: "Kerry would never put the good of the US before his own self interest."
At least I hope.
I hope that name goes down in history along with Benedict Arnold.
Gore (from dictionary.com):
gore3 ( P ) Pronunciation Key (gôr, gr)n. Blood, especially coagulated blood from a wound.
Gore ( P ) Pronunciation Key (gôr, gr), Albert, Jr. Known as “Al.” Born 1948.
Vice President of the United States (since 1993) under Bill Clinton. He earlier served as a U.S. senator from Tennessee (1985-1993).
gore1 ( P ) Pronunciation Key (gôr, gr) tr.v. gored, gor·ing, gores. To pierce or stab with a horn or tusk.
My new definition: verb. To decline the results of an election and initiate legal proceedings to change them. As in: John Kerry intends to gore the 2004 election if the loses.
The writer of this piece has hit the nail on the head. Unfortunately, we cannot depend on the Democrat candidate to put the good of the country ahead of his own personal ambition.
There is another key component to elections in America that must be addressed before the next election. We absolutely must prosecute and punish voter fraud. It will continue and will grow until people are persuaded that they will go to jail if they participate in schemes to steal elections. The Democrat party has to reform itself, and it will never happen until they are held accountable.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.