Stop The Insanity
by John McIntyre
The Gore campaign, pending the result of the remaining overseas
ballots, lost the election Tuesday in the state of Florida. An
automatic recount that went into effect due to the closeness of the
original vote has appeared to reaffirm George W. Bush as the
winner of the state - again, pending the result of the remaining
overseas ballots. By winning the state of Florida, Governor Bush
has accumulated the necessary 270 electoral votes to win the
Presidency.
The Gore campaign, realizing they lost the election Tuesday and
were very likely to lose the mandatory recount, took a very
aggressive approach Thursday. Their original focus was on the
"unfairness" that 19,000+ people may have been confused and thus
were "denied" their Constitutional right to vote. Gore campaign
chairman Bill Daley told us the Palm Beach County ballot was
"illegal" even though the ballot had been legally designed by an
elected Democrat and approved by a bipartisan panel of election
officials. Still, the Gore campaign made it very clear from the
beginning they were willing to fight this election in court, irrespective
of the disastrous consequences that course of action would mean for
the country.
Over the next 24 hours senior Democrats and liberal newspaper
editorials, including the NY Times and others, essentially told the
Gore campaign to back off this litigious approach. Realizing their
"win at all cost" mentality was not going to sell even with their own
supporters, the Gore campaign made the only decision they could
and took the position that "we will just have to continue to recount
these votes until we get enough to win."
Having lost the first two counts, the Gore campaign is now pushing
for a third count, this time by hand, in four overwhelming
Democratic counties. Is there any doubt who will be ahead in the
state of Florida after this third "hand count?" The Bush campaign,
fully aware of the likely outcome of these "hand counts" in pro-Gore
counties, today filed a Federal injunction to prevent this third count.
The press has had a field day telling the America public how the
Bush campaign has gone to court to prevent a "fair" count of the
vote in Florida. As a result, with the cooperation of the gleeful
national networks, this whole process will descend even further into
a sickening public relations campaign and legal quagmire.
Someone has to stop this madness, before it spirals out of control.
The national press with their ridiculous and terribly biased call of
Florida on election night, has proven their inability to fairly present
the facts to the American people. The networks act like this is a
game, just a continuation of the horse race for the Presidency. It is
not.
This is not a sporting event or an excuse for a ratings bonanza. This
is a national tragedy unfolding right in front of our eyes. Where are
the voices of reason? Where are our country's leaders? Where are
the country's statesman? Do we really want to risk the uncertainty of
where this might lead? When will the insanity stop? |
