Posted on 11/07/2001 5:19:26 PM PST by Mr. Mulliner
On the one year anniversary of the 2000 election, ABC’s Good Morning America let Bob Woodward marvel at the most "extraordinary event in all of this," Al Gore's "statesmanlike" concession speech: "Not only did the Supreme Court make Bush President, Al Gore did." Charles Gibson expressed surprise that the Supreme Court "does not seem to have suffered anything in loss of prestige and the country accepted it, moved on."
A CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll released on Monday found that registered voters would now vote for George W. Bush over Al Gore by an almost a 2-to-1 margin, 61 to 35 percent, but instead of focusing on that affirmation of Bush’s presidency, or even mentioning it, on the one year anniversary of the election day ABC’s Good Morning America on Tuesday allowed Bob Woodward to marvel at the most "extraordinary event in all of this," Al Gore's "concession speech." Woodward asserted: "In a sense, not only did the Supreme Court make Bush President, Al Gore did."GMA’s Charles Gibson expressed surprise that given how five Supreme Court justices had made Bush the President, the Court "does not seem to have suffered anything in loss of prestige and the country accepted it."
GMA began its anniversary retrospective, caught in the 7am half hour by MRC analyst Jessica Anderson, with a review from Terry Moran of events a year earlier. He concluded his report: "The bottom line, Charlie, thanks to five members of the U.S. Supreme Court, George W. Bush is President of the United States and as we speak, he's addressing world leaders via satellite in Warsaw."
Gibson then set up his November 6 interview with Washington Post Assistant Managing Editor Bob Woodward: "Yes, Terry Moran, thank you very much. Five Justices of the Supreme Court with him, four against him, and on that narrow margin he won the election."
Gibson’s first question: "It is extraordinary when you think back that that was a year ago that we began all that. It seems not that long ago, but it's amazing how quickly the country moved on from that."
Woodward immediately praised Gore: "Well, it is and if you go back and look at the TV and press reporting, the extraordinary event in all of this was Gore's concession speech, when Gore actually got up and said, 'Not only do I concede, but I accept the finality of it,' meaning that he was going to accept cold the Supreme Court decision against him. If you read that speech or looked at a video of it, you would say you couldn't write a better speech totally giving away the presidency to Bush and saying that it's over."
Gibson followed up by wondering how the Supreme Court came through unscathed: "He did that, but there were howls of protest from many people, books written, you know about them, saying that this was a political decision by the Supreme Court, not a legal decision, and yet the Supreme Court does not seem to have suffered anything in loss of prestige and the country accepted it, moved on."
Woodward credited Gore with protecting the Court from itself: "Well, among some academics and critics, the Supreme Court has been damaged, but people accepted it because Gore accepted it. In, again, that speech, he got up there and mocked himself and said, 'It's time for me to go.' In a sense, it's almost prescient what he said about anyone who looks at this election dispute to suggest that there is weakness is American democracy does not understand this country; totally put himself behind Bush. In a sense, not only did the Supreme Court make Bush President, Al Gore did."A bit later, after Gibson pointed out how interest in electoral reform has waned in Florida, Woodward again returned to his theme: "Does that mean the right result was reached or that somebody's not going to recount all of those votes and come to a different conclusion? No, but again, I don't mean to be overly repetitive, but it was the Gore speech and concession which was so graceful and statesmanlike, no one had anything to hang their hat on. Now if Gore had taken the opposite tack and said, 'Oh no, we're going to fight this or we're going to do something,' then you would have had a different attitude in the country."
Gibson wrapped up by wondering how different the war on terrorism would be if Gore were President, prompting Woodward to acknowledge the U.S. then would not have veterans of the Persian Gulf War directing it, such as Cheney and Rumsfeld.
He's a has-been who hasn't caught onto the fact.
Perhaps the reason that the Supreme Court hasn't suffered in its reputation is because people can see that it was a very reasonable decision. But you can't blame the media for not trying to convince people otherwise.
This drives me wild! Make that: "On the first anniversary of the 2000 election..."
End of story, they're both minor footnotes in history.
Did Woodward say, "Waaaaaahhhhh! Waaaaaahhhhhh!!!!!!"?
It sure read like that.
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