December
6, 2000
America's Low Budget Movie
By Tom Bevan
He won't quit. He won't stop. He may NEVER go away. After a
full month of legal battles in which Al Gore has been almost categorically
rejected by the courts and the American public, he still will
not accept the fact that he lost this very close election. Democrats,
complicit in propping up "Fightin' Al" over the last
thirty days, keep telling us what a wonderful civics lesson this
has been watching the wheels of democracy turn. In truth, it has
been more like a low budget horror film where the bad guy never
dies.
Two days ago, Judge Sanders Sauls effectively put a stake through
the heart of Mr. Gore by ruling against his contest of the election
on every single count. But that didn't stop the Vice President
from continuing to stagger blindly forward, yesterday holding
a delusional press conference outside the White House where he
asserted that he still had a 50-50 chance of winning the presidency.
Gore even went so far as to encourage the more law suits and refused
to acknowledge that he would accept the Florida Supreme Court's
upcoming decision on his case as the final word.
And while many, including this columnist, felt that Gore should
have conceded while he still had legal options on the table in
an attempt to salvage a shred of dignity for himself and begin
healing the nation, it is clear that our Vice President for the
past eight years never had any intention of putting the country
first.
And because of his selfishness - or more accurately his self
righteousness - the Vice President has insured a difficult end
to this horror movie. By waiting until his final appeal has been
exhausted, his last legal option extinguished, Gore's concession
will carry no grace or healing power at all. Instead, the country
will know, even as he stands before us and says the right words,
that he fought with every fiber and every breath against the final
outcome. We will know that the Vice President has not conceded,
but has been defeated - and there is a world of difference between
the two.
Democrats will say George Bush stole the election. African-Americans
leaders like Jesse Jackson and Kweisi Mfume will further divide
our nation by promoting the falsehood that there was a concerted
effort by Republicans to stop them from voting in Florida. As
instructed (some would say begged) by the Democrats, some liberal
scholar will go to Florida next year and produce a bogus study
declaring Gore the true winner in Florida, further undermining
the legitimacy of the Bush Presidency.
Though we haven't seen this movie before, we certainly know how
it will end. It's a bad movie, and one that we can't get up and
walk out of. So until it's truly over, all we can do is sit and
watch.
Tom Bevan writes for RealClearPolitics
