Posted on 11/03/2004 5:45:05 AM PST by shortstop
He wasn't even man enough to say it himself.
When the John Kerry campaign decided to put ambition over duty, they sent the kid out to make the statement.
"We've waited four years for this victory, we can wait one more night."
And then the pretty boy walked off.
While somewhere off sight unseen the man who would be king cowered and hid. A cleverly concocted phrase, a couple of claptrap sentences, the Breck boy on stage, and democracy was left cooling its heels.
Rather, it was kicked right in the crotch.
By Teresa's husband and some cracker shyster. The struggle for power has begun and a constitutional crisis is in the offing, the harvest of destruction has begun to ripen.
It wasn't gracious, it wasn't presidential, it wasn't even civil. As the world watched to see the country draw its next breath, some antagonistic smartass encumbering a national ticket came out to rouse the troops.
Not to speak comfort or guidance to an anxious nation, but to rattle the cages and promise fresh meat to the lions. It had all the substance of a high school pep rally, the battle call of disunion, the clarion of division and alienation.
You can't expect somebody to quit before it's over, but you can expect a United States senator to act like a gentleman, to recognize the difficulty of the time and the awkwardness of the situation. To announce the campaign's intentions, not in cryptic insolence, but in clear and comforting words. The way a leader would do.
He didn't even have the decency to explain it forthrightly to his supporters.
It was just a few lines and some uncertainty and the people who did the work were left standing in the rain, not even sure if they had been told to go home. But they had been. They were told to go home and the rest of us were told to take a hike.
So the battle begins. The battle in the courts and the battle in the public mind. And the division of four years ago is exacerbated even more.
In the dark of the night, while most of America slept, an ambulance chaser shook the country to its foundation.
And we are left wondering. Not just who won, but what will come. A polite counting and questioning, or more of the bombast of today's early morn, the boy playacting like a man.
Two networks gave Ohio to Bush, and John Edwards gave America the finger.
But today is a new day.
And a new opportunity.
A new opportunity to push aside the impulse to fight and take up the duty to lead.
Even in defeat there can be dignity and obligation, the obligation to bind up instead of tear down.
John Edwards failed at that in the middle of the night. Perhaps John Kerry will do better in the light of day.
How does he try to win with lawyers in Ohio when the popular vote there is 135,000 against him and the popular vote in the USA is almost 4,000,000 against him?
He doesn't.
This is absurd.
It's over.
Even sKerry will see it that way. Today.
"And then the pretty boy walked off."
Without his own Senate seat to go back to!
Bwa-hahahahahahahaaaaaaa!!!
Of course, I'm only half serious about that but I am convinced that if we re-ran the Reagan/Mondale campaign today, we would be sitting here this morning with Reagan ahead by the narrowest of margins with 46 states "too close to call".
I have every expectation that Kerry will wait the eleven days for the provisional vote count. He will not concede based on logic and statesmanship.
John Kerry, supposedly, turned his swiftboat into the face of enemy fire and personally and courageously took on the enemy.
Now, he can't even face his own supporters. He sends out a surrogate.
He won't be writing up the after-action report this time. No more medals for him!
Wherever he is, you can guarantee that he's throwing the mother of all tantrums. [aka M*O*A*T]
His ego simply cannot withstand this.
His keepers are probably trying to get him 'under control' right now.
And a new opportunity.
A new opportunity to push aside the impulse to fight and take up the duty to lead.
Even in defeat there can be dignity and obligation, the obligation to bind up instead of tear down.
John Edwards failed at that in the middle of the night. Perhaps John Kerry will do better in the light of day.
I'm not holding my breath for Kerry's concession. By the looks of it, he's going to out-Gore Gore on this election.
The only saving grace in this whole thing is that we've got a man in office that knows how to lead with honor, dignity, and humility. He'll give Kerry some room to make a bigger fool out of himself. But, in the end, he'll rest easy knowing that--for the first time in 20 years--our presidential candidate was elected with a MAJORITY vote.
Or, to put it another way, our country is more united behind this president than they have in 20 years!!!
BTTT
"I have every expectation that Kerry will wait the eleven days for the provisional vote count. He will not concede based on logic and statesmanship."
I really hope your are correct. It would be a free GOP recruitment drive every single day on the democrats dime.
"cracker shyster"--ouch. That's harsh. I love it.
HHHEeeeeeeeee haw. AP reporting skerry has called Bush to concede.........'bout time.
He won't be writing up the after-action report this time. No more medals for him!He won't be reporting for duty at the White House.
Now the question is: Will Mama T dump him?
About time indeed, but the concession is more than I would've expected from him. I was sure Kerry was going to pull a Gore.
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