Jeb Bush, for removing himself from the entire recount situation.
Pat Buchanon, for having the honesty to say that most of the votes he recieved from Palm Beach county weren’t meant for him.
Ralph Nader, for refusing to step out of the running just because another candidate wanted him to, and also for indirectly giving us the second most exciting political event in my lifetime.
Every newpaper and TV newstation that doesn’t pretend that the election is the only story out there. There are surprisingly many of these.
There are too many negative threads already, so I decided to start a more upbeat one. Anyone want to add any name to the list?
Aside, I’m not so sure about the Jeb Bush one, he was on the phone all night from the Bush Mansion during the election. I agree that I haven’t seen him on the news adressing the recount situation, but I’m not confident that he isn’t up to his elbows in it right now.
I’m not so sure about Jeb either. He may have already done his skull-duggery. The most interesting conspiracy theory I’ve heard floating about is that the early returns from FL giving the state to Gore were actually right…
I think Bush the Younger provided one of the great ironies of this election. When ABC, NBC, CBS and CNN called the state of Florida for Gore, Bush said he wasn’t convinced and would wait for more of the votes to be counted. Someone who was lambasted for his lack of intelligence was smarter than four of the largest news organizations in the country.
And from what I understand, Jeb Bush has recused himself from any role in validating the state’s election results.
The most exciting political event in my lifetime (IMHO, of course, and of course restricted to those political events which I know of, etc.) was the election of Jesse Ventura as governor of my home state of Minnesota.
After listening to nearly everyone tell me he didn’t stand a chance, I stayed up all night watching the results come in. I remember vividly the utter surprise of the reporters when they admitted that Ventura was winning.
And I’ll never forget him yelling, “We shocked the world!”
Nice thread BlackNight. I will add Bob Dole to your list, and complement him on staying out completely!
BTW, I agree that Ventura’s victory was a rare and most pleasing event in US politics. How is he doing so far? Do you think he will go for any other office or for re-election to the Governorship?
Ashcroft out in MO was standup. Some of his supporters made noises about protests, but he said he would not be a part of them, as far as he was concrned it was over.
Bob Dole did actually appear on BBC Television during election night, talking a lot more sense than he ever did during his own election campaign. Another case of 20/20 hindsight.
