The End

Now that, barring a miraculous switch (read: blackmail) of Bush electors on Dec. 18, the election is over, I have to offer a final few comments about this mess. Well, perhaps it's more than a few, but I'll write till the words don't flow from me anymore like they tend to do when I'm fired up. Before I get into the meat and potatoes, there is one idea that I want to hammer in: To all those of you who got so tired of this debacle, keep in mind it would have been over when Florida's absentee ballots were counted (even the military ones) if not for the Gore camp's attempt to change the rules and steal the election.
First let's talk about Gore's concession and the media. Yes, I will admit I thought Gore gave a good speech and was honestly surprised by his graciousness and actual concession. I seriously thought he might have had another trick up his sleeve. But I absolutely could not believe the media's reaction. For lack of a better adjective, it was orgasmic. Anchors were teary-eyed as they spoke of one of the greatest speeches in American political history. Oh, puuuhleeeasse. It wasn't that great. It was only good because it was a different Algore. This time he scrolled through his stock of available personalities (I noticed that his Southern accent was a bit more prevalant...he was just an honorable Southern gentleman!) and decided to sound genuine. Gore's concession is supposed to be something really special, but you know what? It was what he was supposed to do. This is a classic tenet of liberalism: you are rewarded for what you are supposed to do anyway. When people didn't riot in New York City after the Rodney King verdict, liberal mayor David Denkins thanked them for not rioting. I didn't cheat on my comparative politics final, where's my reward? Then, after Bush gave his speech, the media spent 2 minutes max talking about it and then immediately launched into a tirade about why he'll never get anything done as President. You know, I have always given the media the benefit of the doubt, and tried to believe that they really weren't liberally biased. I now know for a fact that they are, from CNN to the editorial board of the newspaper I just resigned from, because my opinions fell on deaf (or hostile) ears.
Here's another media bias. Officially Bush became President-elect of the United States when Florida certified its election results. He was then the certified winner of the election, and Gore was the certified loser. For to contest an election, you have to lose it first. It is possible that Bush could have had his title of Pres.-elect stripped away, but until that happened that is what he was. And yet the media refused to call him that until an action of, surprise, Algore. I just fail to understand how his concession magically made Bush Pres.-elect. Yes, it ended the question of who the next President will be, but there is absolutely nothing in election law that says the loser of an election must concede before the winner really wins, or that he must concede at all! By this logic if Gore never conceded Bush could never be President!
I have had it with the media. I cannot stand how they demonized Jeb Bush, the Republicans in the Florida legislature, the conservative members of the Supreme Court, and especially Katherine Harris (who is now one of my favorite women in politics, along with Sandra Day O'Connor). These people were doing nothing more than trying to follow established laws and carry out their duties, and they were labeled as nothing more than Republican hacks. Let's talk about Harris. This poor woman. Here you have a strong figure that has broken through the glass ceiling, only to be derailed by the very people that are supposed to support her right to be at the top. They used her makeup as a reason to discredit her, for God's sake! Yes, even I poked a little fun at her (when I first saw her I thought her outfit made her look like a Civil War officer), but the malicious attacks from the very same people who have called for an end to the "politics of personal destruction" are truly despicable.
On to the U.S. Supreme Court, the final target of demonization. Every liberal is focused on the 5-4 decision to overturn the recount. Oh my God, the Republicans have invaded the Supreme Court! Abortion rights are next! No one seems to care that the Court voted 7-2 that what the Florida Supreme Court was unconstitutional. That is the job of the Supreme Court--to determine the constitutionality of both state and federal laws and actions--and that is what they did. Liberals have excessively pointed out what they think is a conservative hypocrisy--that they have been going against states' rights here, their so-called bread and butter. Well, conservatives place heavy value on states' rights, but there are two ideas that we value even more. First and foremost is the rule of law. Algore sought to change the election rules after the fact in order to steal the election, and conservatives will not tolerate that. Second is that we are strict constructionists of the Constitution, and while we believe states should have significant rights, we acknowledge the supremacy of the federal law and Constitution as set forth almost 200 years ago in McCulloch vs. Maryland. The conservatives on the Supreme Court followed their strict constructionist beliefs in voting on the unconstitutionality of the Florida Supreme Court--and the moderates agreed. Yes, Antonin Scalia probably voted for Bush. So what? At one point Justice Breyer (I think it was him) screwed up and said "If we win," meaning Gore, and no one cared. Moreover, are we supposed to believe that the Florida Supreme Court was entirely neutral--a Court comprised of 6 Democrats and a liberal-leaning independent? Where was the media outrage about their obvious bias (shown in the fact that other courts rarely agreed with them)? And finally, we have the Reverend Jesse Jackson, who is always right about everything he says. He actually had the gall to compare this decision to the 1857 Dred Scott decision that upheld slavery! That's the most stupid thing I've heard come out of a liberal's mouth since Barbara Streisand declared "We're the party that freed the slaves!" Do you need any more proof that liberals' main weapon is nothing more than inflammatory and often false charges?
Here's another supposed Republican hypocrisy that liberals loved to point out during the fight to save the chads: In Texas dimpled chads are counted...gee George, why won't you let them be counted in Florida? I'll tell you why. In Texas there is a clearly defined standard as to how dimpled chads are to be counted. No such standard exists in Florida, the Florida Supreme Court refused to set one (although it would've been doing so after the election), and allowing counties to set their own standards would've let to some peoples' votes count more than others in the state. It's not about counting dimpled chads, it's about changing the rules after the election.
That's enough about the election. Let's look to the future. I'm already sick of the Democrats and the media (which are one in the same) talking about how Bush has to concilliate to them since the margins in Congress are so close. Since when does the winner of anything have to concilliate to the loser? Does the winner of a game show give part of his prize to second place? Welcome back to the world where everything is morally relative and absolutes have been eradicated for the sake of making everyone feel good. In 1994 when Republicans seized control of Congress, did anyone call on Clinton to be nicer to them? Nooo! Instead he vetoed bill after bill and more or less single-handedly scrapped the Contract with America. I'll tell you what's really going on here. The Democrats are wild with anticipation that they can recapture Congress in 2002. They have no intentions of working together with the Republicans. They are really just trying to hold us down and keep us quiet so their task is easier in 2002. They are going to try their hardest to make Bush fail, which is what they need to recapture Congress, and therefore will not compromise.
One final story that has nothing to do with the election but hacks me off anyway and so I thought I'd mention it: This morning, after I took my comparative politics final, I was waiting at the bus stop to, naturally, catch a bus. I was looking down Jayhawk Boulevard, watching for a bus, when a woman comes around me from behind, looks at me, and says something along the lines of "Middle of the sidewalk isn't a good place to be!" I just kind of looked at her because it took me a few seconds to realize what she was saying. Well, excuse me for standing in the middle of the sidewalk, how dare I! Especially when the sidewalk is snow-packed and hard to see anyway! Maybe the bitterly cold weather or the fact that I was brain-drained disrupted my normally quite good sense of reason. Who appointed you Captain of the Sidewalk Police? I'm sure sorry I required you to take one step to get around me! Ugh. Must have been a bitter Gore supporter. :)

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