Already, the pundits and professional political hacks are harumphing about how the Constitution must be followed. They are saying both candidates knew the rules and now must abide by them.
It's also against "The Law" to wear a hat on Sunday in Helena, Montana, and it is written into LAW that a woman in Tucson must not spit on the sidewalk. Those and thousand of laws like it are still on the books. But common sense dictates that we ignore these laws.
We must ask that common sense and decency prevail here with this election. Al Gore is the choice of the people. To go against that single, explicit fact would do more damage to an already cynical electorate than I want to imagine. Once again we had the same sad situation yesterday when half the country didn't even vote! Can we afford to have more citizens lose even more faith in our democracy?
There will be ample time to analyze and discuss the other issues regarding this election. One thing is clear -- most of the Nader voters decided at the last minute to change their vote to Al Gore. Nader's 5% in the polls for the past month ended up being less than 3% in the voting booth. In Florida, Nader went from an expected 6% of the vote to only 1.7% of the votes cast! Exit polls showed that Fear of Bush lead to nearly all of Nader's support there to switch over to Gore. Nader's votes came from those who said they were registered Republicans or who were initially planning on not voting for either candidate. In Oregon, half of Nader's voters went for Gore, with the same happening in Wisconsin. In the end, Ralph achieved neither his 5% goal, nor did his supporters help to elect Bush.
For me, what truly put Gore in jeopardy through most of the night was losing his home state to Bush. Those 11 electoral votes could have made all the difference. And to lose Clinton's Arkansas was a serious blow to wrapping up the election early.
But a dead guy won, defeating a Republican incumbent Senator in Missouri. At least two or three women have been added to the ranks of the Senate. Hillary won, causing right-wing nuts everywhere to go into convulsions. The governor of Vermont, who many thought might lose because of his support of Vermont's new gay marriage law, won. The state of Colorado, in the wake of Columbine, passed a gun control law by a vote of 70 to 30 percent. Michigan slammed Bush hard, as I predicted.
But, as I said, we can discuss all this later. Right now, all good citizens must speak out today, in the next few hours, loudly and clearly, that George W. Bush has lost the vote of the people and we will NEVER trust all the shenanigans that took place with the vote in Florida tonight -- a vote presided over by none other than Little Brother Governor Jeb Bush!! Send e-mails, call talk shows, contact your congressmen and women -- RAISE HOLY BLOODY HELL!!
Click michaelmoore.com to contact your officials.
I guess I'm not going to bed. My support for Nader will have no integrity if I am not willing to do everything in my limited power to support the main belief of the Nader campaign -- demand that the will of the people be heeded and heard. I ask all of Ralph's supporters -- those who voted for him, and those who voted for Gore -- to join with me this morning to stop this potential theft of our majority democratic rule.
Yours,
Michael Moore |
