In a message dated 11/10/00 2:03:12 AM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
<< All that being said, don't like the idea of a re-vote. With the
perspective
the re-voters now have it would be quite unfair. But I don't know what should
be done. >>
Before I say anything else, let me state for the record that I'm a lifelong
Democrat and a strong supporter of Al Gore. I think George Bush is a
disgraceful moron and will be a disastrous embarrassment as President.
That said, however, I think there have to be limits to how far one can
challenge this election - both as to results and to how it was conducted -
without so poisoning the atmosphere that the race becomes one not worth
winning. Al Gore can, if he wants, continue the challenge in court and maybe
even get some or all of the result in Florida overturned. He CAN - but SHOULD
he?
I'm not so sure, and I'm someone who desperately wants him to win. But
challenging the result in Florida would open up similar challenges in every
single state where the result was close (even though it wasn't this close in
any other state). I'm not sure that's in the long-term best interest of the
country.
I realize I'm not Al Gore and I did not spend the past two years striving
might and main to become President. It's almost impossible for him to give up
on his dream when he's so close. None of us can imagine what he's feeling
right now. Still, I think at some point he has to be a statesman and accept
that he has lost.
That point is not now. He has every right to demand a hand count of every
vote. He has every right to insist that they wait for the absentee ballots to
be counted. But if and when both those things occur, and if at that point he
has still not won Florida, he needs to concede that Bush won.
At that point, what I personally think Gore should do is lead a nationwide
commission to make sure that this kind of nonsense NEVER OCCURS AGAIN.
Florida is not the only state with ambiguous ballots, missing ballot boxes,
spoiled ballots, poorly trained election workers, etc. We are the richest,
most technically sophisticated nation that ever existed - and we can't
conduct a transparently fair election? I think we need minimum national
standards (say THAT, Dubya!) at least on presidential elections. That we are
still using paper ballots in many places in this day and age is absurd. I
think Gore should lead an effort to come up with a better way to stage
elections. He could couple that with an effort to pass some serious campaign
finance reform, and to increase registration and voter turnout. That would be
performing a true service to the nation. It would also give him something to
do.
As for George W....he has two alternatives. He can realize how thin his
margin of victory was and truly try to govern as a bi-partisan President. Or,
he can decide that half the country is going to disapprove of him no matter
what he does and try to govern as if he'd won with 60%. Just go ahead and do
what he really wants to do. If it works, he'll be reelected in 2004. If not,
well, at least he went down trying.
Problem with that is, it's what Bill Clinton tried to do in 1993-94, and look
what happened to him in the '94 mid-term elections. So he's probably better
off, at least in the short term, in trying as hard as he can to satisfy the
entire country.
I'm not Gore or Bush (nor have I ever played either one on TV), but that's
what I would do if I were these two men.
I stress that this is what I think should happen AFTER the ENTIRE process in
Florida is absolutely over. Which won't be until next Tuesday at the earliest.
Let me also stress that this is my advice to the two campaigns. What citizens
in Florida, particularly in Palm Beach County, do is up to them. I'd hope the
campaigns would stay out of it, but I do know that's extremely unlikely to
happen.
Finally, the Bush campaign is being disingenuous when it accuses the Gore
campaign of politicizing the situation in Florida. Choosing a president is an
inherently political process. It has been politicized all along - and it
should be. If the situation were reversed, the Bush people would be doing
exactly what the Gore people are doing. It's easy for Bush to say NOW that he
would concede. But there's no way he'd just give up until he'd explored every
imaginable option.
Let's be patient, everyone. We still don't know how this is going to end.
Tom Beck
