Chrenkoff

Wednesday, November 03, 2004

Never concede, never surrender

The media and the Dems really want to turn it into a second Florida, don't they? Except this time it's not 500 odd votes, confused retirees punching holes in wrong places, and chads hanging every which way. It's almost 140,000 votes, for goodness' sakes. There's definitely 135,000 provisional votes, plus maybe another 10,000 or so to be counted. Kerry would need to get all of them to win Ohio. Likelihood? Zero. At the same time Kerry - and the media - are quite happy to claim victory in four states with a similar margin - Pennsylvannia, New Hampshire, Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Hey, but the media needs excitement:

"The US presidential race headed toward chaos tonight with President George W. Bush grabbing a narrow lead, Democrat John Kerry refusing to concede defeat and the possibility of no winner for days or weeks."

Or this breathless introduction:

"The U.S. election system failed to choose a winner on voting day for the second straight presidential contest, raising the possibility that the courts may have to break a deadlock between George W. Bush and challenger John Kerry."

The U.S. election system did just fine, thank you very much. Just because John Kerry thinks he can pull votes out of his hat doesn't mean there's no winner. And just because John Kerry says there's no winner, it doesn't mean that the media has to be his echo chamber. But that would be to expect too much.

Remember? This was always going to be Kerry's strategy:

"Sen. John Kerry, bracing for a potential fight over election results, will not hesitate to declare victory Nov. 2 and defend it, advisers say... In short, the Democratic presidential candidate has a simple strategy for Nov. 3 and beyond: Do not repeat Al Gore's mistakes.

"The Democratic vice president prematurely conceded the 2000 race to George W. Bush in a telephone call, then had to retract his concession after aides said Florida wasn't lost. He never declared victory, an omission Kerry's advisers - many of whom worked for Gore - now believe created a sense of inevitability in voters' minds about Bush's presidency."

And it still is:

"But Senator Kerry's campaign manager - mindful of how Al Gore stopped in his tracks four years ago en route to conceding Florida - refused to throw in the towel as the count dragged on into the early American morning."

That's right, kiddies, because refusing to concede will make all those bad votes disappear. Because refusing to believe something means it's not actually true. Welcome to the make-believe world of Democratic politics; we'll make you believe we're won. Or at least we'll make you believe that there's something not quite right about the election result, something tainted, something illegitimate. So even though Bush had handsomely won the popular vote nation-wide and won the state by a fair margin, the Democratic specter will haunt the land for years to come, sinisterly whispering "Ohio... Ohio..."

Kerry's actions overnight are a scandal. Media's abetting of Kerry's tantrum is an even bigger scandal. It's time to end this farce.

# posted by Arthur : 10:28 pm