Reply #14: John Nichols: Memo to Dems: First, count the votes [View All]

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John Nichols: Memo to Dems: First, count the votes

By John Nichols
December 28, 2004


Politics is a game played by rules. And the most important rule regarding close elections is that you don't win by being conciliatory during the recount process.

Indeed, the only way a candidate who trails on election night ends up taking the oath of office is by refusing to concede and then confidently demanding that every vote be counted - even when the opposition, the media and the courts turn against you.

That is a rule that Al Gore failed to follow to its logical conclusion in 2000, and that John Kerry did not even attempt to apply this year. Both men were so determined to maintain their long-term political viability that they refused to fight like hell to ensure that the votes of their supporters were counted.

That refusal let their backers down. It also guaranteed that, despite convincing evidence that the Democrat won in 2000, and serious questions about the voting and recount processes in the critical state of Ohio in 2004, George W. Bush would waltz into the White House.

continued...
http://www.madison.com/tct/mad/opinion//index.php?ntid=22585


John Nichols is associate editor for The Capital Times. His book on the disputed 2000 election, "Jews for Buchanan," was published by The New Press. For more of his writing on the contested elections of 2004, visit www.thenation.com. E-mail: [e-mail]