Kerry class

Good to see that John Kerry has conceded defeat, demonstrating significantly more class than his running mate who unwittingly risked damaging his own prospects for 2008 this morning. Edwards' defiant promise that "every vote" would be counted raised the prospect of another long drawn out poisonous coda to the election and gave the impression that the Democrats were sore losers. Whatever one thinks of Bush's merits as a candidate, there can be no doubt about the legitimacy of his election. Kerry's prompt concession graciously acknowledges this.

Comments

[Brian]

I'm a little tired of the notion that letting the legal and electoral processes run their course should be scrapped for some fake sense of "unity." Or that insisting the legal and electoral processes is sore loser-ness or putting party ahead of country or whatever.

Gore and the Dems did not start riots in 2000. They did call for general strikes. They did not engage in looting and pillaging or intimidation of Bush supporters. They merely asked the courts to settle the dispute. When the highest court ultimately ruled against him, he immediately conceded.

[Frank McGahon]

I'm a little tired of the notion that letting the legal and electoral processes run their course should be scrapped for some fake sense of "unity." Or that insisting the legal and electoral processes is sore loser-ness or putting party ahead of country or whatever.

Well, good because that's not what I'm suggesting. There is absolutely no way Kerry would have been able to win this election by dragging things out. It's not 2000. The gap in Ohio was too far to bridge, a fool could see that. That's why it's better to admit defeat when defeat is there staring you in the face. Dragging things out would just serve to muddy the fact that this election was indisputable.

[Brian]

Well, perhaps I was a bit confused by the prhase "another long drawn out poisonous coda to the election" since it contained the word 'another' with its implication.

[Frank McGahon]

Perhaps I should have clarifed by saying "another long drawn out poisonous coda to the election which would be even less justified than the last one because the winning margin was indisputable".

As for 2000, it was a poisonous drawn out coda and hardly anyone disputes this. As for whether Gore should have conceded earlier, well he couldn't know exactly how it would turn out so he probably isn't at fault considering how close the margin in Florida was. This time around nobody can plead innocence - everyone knows the downsides of flogging a dead horse - and this horse was significantly "deader" than the one in 2000.