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.
“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?"
Destruction of the Constitution IS the goal of the Socialists.
Sorry to say it but the next logical step is a National ID card.
I think having driver license with national standards is creating it.
Oh geez, I tell ya. I'm on a roll tonight. I think I'm starting to speak Bush language! j/k .
Yes, that is exactly what I meant. What you said. :)
If the election is swung to Kerry by tens of thousands (or more) of questionably registered "provisional" voters in swing states- then the GOP owes it to America to challenge and expose vote fraud.
Or we will truly never again have a fair election.
B.S. Nixon and Ford caved to the "Rats ... and they ('Rats) expect the Pubbies to role over this election if it's close in some battleground states ... bottom line, the Pubbies have to show the 'Rats we can stand up to the 'Rat allies in the liberal MSM and prevail.
I think W underscored that in 2000 by saying something to effect that if he lost, he'd go back to his ranch and job as governor.
Al was gonna go back to...uh...er...being a slumlord in TN?...;))
"Show me one reason to think of John Kerry as the self-sacrificing type."
He married Ta-RAY-Za. Some liberal had to do it. :)
Say what you will about Nixon's personal and political issues. But one thing you can say about Nixon is this - he loved his country more than anything and would not put his own interests above that.
What is fat Al doing now, besides bailing his son out of jail and screwing over his renters?
Yeppers! I didn't go to the link last night, I just read the thread.
The radical left wing is not content just to sieze power. Its worse than that. They want us to pay for what they consider crimes against them. They want the entire Bush administration in prison, right wing talk radio silenced and for us conservatives to not have the right to vote. I'm telling you, these people are crazed with anger and rage. They are dangerous!
Algore said he HAD to win. Now look whats happened to him. He's a fat sweating bitter angry pig who let hate destroy him.
Thanks, foxfield!!
foxfield, didja happen to bookmark the FR thread from last night talking about that web site? I'm trying to show it to my husband, and can't find the dumb thing.
I noticed the Ruckus Society is listed on that page. Funded by the Tides Foundation, funded by the Terraaayyyza.
If Watergate had happened under a Rat, it would have been met with a yawn from the MSM.
"Statesmen"
Kerry is not a statesman and he NEVER WILL BE! He believes he DESERVES to win, and he's ENTITLED to win.
Kerry's problem is - Bush will not allow Kerry to steal the election.
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.