Exhibit A: Gore
Without even bothering to talk to the press, without waiting for the final votes to come in, he has been orchestrating a campaign that is designed to throw this whole mess into the courts. Now I can understand (though not necessarily approve) having this as a back-up plan, particularly with the whole fiasco in Palm Beach County. But to start threatening legal action more than a week before any sort of final definitive vote count can come in only perpetuates the stereotype of him as a candidate that will do anything, fight anyway to become President.
Any effort to come across as patient, any lip-service to respecting the will of the people is undermined by Democratic operatives inciting unrest in Florida. Things are bad enough already–motormouths like Jesse Jackson only make things worse. It is one thing to explore your legal options, canvas for irregularities, do fact-finding research; it’s another to trumpet this position in a fit of self-righteousness. Were the rights of the Palm Beach County voters somehow breached or compromised? If so, let them take it to the courts, not the machinery of the DNC and the Gore campaign. Did I mention I voted for Gore?
Exhibit B:** Bush**
Again, there are ballots that haven’t been counted, absentee votes still not considered, counties that had not officially submitted their totals, and the man is already presuming to be President. He has his representatives say so, he’s publicly holding auditions for Cabinet members, all of which perpetuate him as a spoiled brat who has acted out of a sense of entitlement, and one who is unwilling to admit he hasn’t won quite yet (even if only means sweating it out a week). This from a man who is still trailing in both the popular vote and the electoral count.
At least Florida was required by state law to have a recount. The same is not true for states which Bush & co. are coordinating recount efforts–something which they were not even publicly considering until they realized that things could get ugly in Florida (and by ugly, I mean something as simple as a wholly supervised and legitimate recount going the wrong way for them). Let me add that the Bush campaign has the single most obtuse and obnoxious individual in this entire sordid business in Karen Hughes.
Furthermore, the evidence is undeniable that something seriously wrong has happened in Palm Beach County. But instead of admitting as much, they pull the most ridiculous rationalizations. Talk about fuzzy math! I do not favor a re-election, but to say that there is anything normal about the butterfly ballot result is to live in a state of denial. The George Bush website states that not only did these over-votes occur in Florida last year, but in Cook County this year–yet instead of interpreting this as a pervasive problem everywhere, they claim that this is Standard Operating Procedure. The butterfuly ballot is a disaster, yet this reform-minded fellow is more interested in toting a party line of personal responsibility, even if it means that he will assume the presidency on a pure technicality. He is far from having anything that will resemble a mandate, but his representative continue to talk in a patronizing, condescending manner.
The opportunity for either of these men to step down gracefully is past. Things have already gone out of control on both sides, and neither have shown even the slightest hint of genuine integrity that speaks to me as presidential.
In fact, of everyone involved, the man who I disagree with the most is also the one who has been the most honest–acting out of a concern for his country more than out of personal self-interest: Pat Buchanan. It’s gotten that bad. Neither of these men deserve the office. We’ve lost either way.