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December 13, after thrity-five ( 36? ) days of hell, Vice President Al Gore and Governor George W. Bush address the nation on the final 2000 presidential election result? Not together, but hopefully expressing togetherness; the two damaged candidates, one decidedly more used that the other, will have the chance tonight to try to lay the foundation of cooperation and not partisan political rancor!
As the time for Al Gore to speak grows near, Democrat so-called leader the Reverend ( and I use that term extremely lightly ) Jesse Jackson, who I believe is a black racist bigot, is still trying to stir up trouble with a campaign designed to not keep hope alive but to KEEP HATE ALIVE! He preached, to anyone who would listen or videotape, " We will continue our quest to get the votes counted ". Jackson is the kind of hate monger who would keep the Gore vote harvest in Florida going just to gather publicity for his racist Rainbow Push Coalition or politically harm the next president George W. Bush. Jackson went further, warning of, " massive non-violent protests "? This is sad, so sad. I hope Al Gore will speak of uniting the country and not exclaim sour grapes or continued political division and combat.
On MSNBC's so-called (Un)Equal Time, Oliver North started, " You got the unions down there in Florida talking about stolen elections "? They must be looking in the mirror; as the GOP is known for having conceded close, or stolen, elections; while the corrupt mob ridden labor unions of fixing them?
Not to be outdone by Jesse Jackson, the Reverend ( and I use the term even more lightly in this case than in reference to Jackson ) Al Sharpton, a proven anti-semitic bigot of true racist level, declared, " I will not concede ". Oh man, what a piece of work! He continued, " We will count ". Yeah, I bet he will, and he will pull out all the stops to manufacture votes for his Boy Gore! He finished, " Al Gore may concede the election, but we will still count ". A racist by any other color would be just as dispicable?
Vice President Al Gore conceded with gracious dignity. He is not a good enough liar to have faked this. He has erased quite a bit of the blame I attributed to him personally. I now believe he had every intention of conceding that first night for good, but let his closest campaign workers talk him into the prolonged post election litigation.
The Vice President started, " I called George W. Bush...I promised him I wouldn't call him back this time ". He declared, " I am with you Mister President ", and urged everyone to, " Put the partisan rancor aside ". He eloquently said, " I strongly disagree with the court's decision, but I accept it ". He then graciously put it as clearly as humanly possible, " I OFFER MY CONCESSION ". This speech was no sour grapes vehicle, as he may have addressed Jesse Jackson with, " We are one people...accept the results peaceably ". Putting it bluntly, " All who stood with us should unite with our president ". He finished with the meaty part, " There is a higher duty than alligence to political parties ". He slid temporarily into the old FIGHT routine but quickly came out of it for long enough to do the old America The Beautiful ending, with the fade out of his neck muscles twitching. I think this was the best speech I have ever seen him make!
Democrat Texas Speaker of The House James " Pete " Laney announced " PRESIDENT-ELECT GEORGE W. BUSH ". Bush began with the usual praise for your vanquished opponent, " He has had distinguished service ", and, " salute the Vice President and his supporters ". Obviously, not the concession speech of his rival, he introduced his wife Laura. He wanted, " cooperation ", in the, " bi-partisan cooperation ", and, " spirit of cooperation ", kind; and urged to, " put politics behind us ". On the unusually long post-election period, his version of ' shit happens ' was, " Things happen for a reason ". He really may have the ability to reach across the aisle which Al Gore lacked, " This nation must rise above the house divided ". He hit on, education, social security, medicare, subscription drugs, tax relief and the military, calling it, " compassionate conservativism ". He finished with the old Lincoln, " house divided ", routine with a mention of the, " election of 1800 electoral tie ", out of which Thomas Jefferson became president, being the first time another party occupied the White House.
George Bush didn't exactly hit a homerun, but he did set the stage for an attempt at breaking the heavy ice of partisan political gridlock in Washington. We shall see if the Democrats can legislate, or if they start running the 2002 campaign right away and fillibuster the Senate, blaming the GOP!
Am I still cynical or what?
Forget the finger pointing; I can wake up tomorrow feeling good about America. We shall see if the zealots from the far left and the far right can calm down for a while? Excuse me. Well, I think I gotta' go process my due.
- Bongo ( CLICK for the audio file I was going to use before I heard Gore's speech? )
Updated ( 12-14-2000 )
(c)2000 Bongo.