Conceding is the best thing Kerry can do for our cause, and here's why:

When I mentioned Kerry's imminent concession to a Repub friend of mine (here in Texas, Repub friends are pretty unavoidable), he pointed out that by doing this, he will not appear to be a sore loser. That resonated with something I had been tossing around in my head... and that was how long Kerry could pursue recounts, etc., without appearing to be whining, much as Gore did in 2000.

This is a case of conceding the battle to win the war. I suspect that investigations into voting irregularities will continue, and that if any are substantive they will be prosecuted. If they are adequate to turn any states, Kerry will withdraw his concession. But in the meantime, he looks better adjusted by facing the realities of his situation. The reality is that even if the majority of uncounted votes go to him in Ohio, he still cannot catch *. The reality is that one does not prove voter fraud in days, but in weeks, perhaps months.

Forget the October Surprise; the real Surprise may come in December.

Merry Christmas!

You folks move along. Nothing to see here.

If there are no investigations to be had, then moving on is the right thing to do.

However, it may be more productive for Kerry to conduct investigations under the radar.

Was not paying attention in 2000.

We had voter fraud once, and we did NOTHING.

Game over, Kerry lost the battle, America lost the war.

They don't give a shit about us, except when the hurricane blows in and they look longingly at your young children in the hopes that you'll lend them to you to pick up their debris. The politics of selfishness wins. I might as well get borged.

This was an election where reality was a "painting" using a BushCo palette. The planet's "reality" was the real casualty...torture, Geneva Convention violations, wars, deaths, lies, hate, fear, truth. But at least no "in love" gays will be moving in next door!

Nothing mattered. This is a pure power play by christian fascists who are now clearly in control of our government and country.

in Att'g Gen - and his actions in 2000 election.

And the media's attempt to cover up their own finding that Gore won Statewide in any recount.

I'm the only person still posting to DU that is not totally jaded and disgusted, aren't I?

I'm dissapointed and upset, but I still believe in what we fought for, but I still believe that John Kerry is a good man, and I still believe that there is light at the end of the tunnel.

You're one of our fellow DUers who has a good, level head on his/her shoulders...

And obviously disgusted, without being jaded.

The re-counts WILL go on...I'd like to think they may just change things...but if Kerry doesn't have the votes, he doesn't have the votes, folks...

It really SUCKS out loud, but, for whatever reason, it may be the case. I guess whatever doesn't kill us (i.e. Iraq) makes us stronger...

Meaning we should be able to pin The Rock by 2008!:eyes:

Remember the words of Paul Wellstone:

"Stand up...keep fighting!":D

B-)

work anymore. He let us down. Or he didn't give a shit about us in the first place to break the promise to wait until the votes were counted.

If he broke his promise..what did he think of us. Not much, apparently.

he made a promise to fight. What would it have cost him to keep that promise? Nothing.

Yeah RIGHT!
We will still have a completely repube controlled congress, white house and supreme court and they will do what ever they fucking want to the contitution and your civil right.

the old rules no longer apply.

Get use to it.

They have their own rules, for their own good. Hope has died today.

By conceding now, Kerry effectively told the American people that ** is now the legitimate prez. I don't think Americans give a hoot that their vote didn't count

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I don't think I said ANYTHING to warrant that kind of abuse.

What ever happened to the free exchange of ideas?

a good looser will always be a looser. That is how they play this game.

a) ever be conclusively proven,
b) ever be exposed by the mainstream media, and
c) ever be prosecuted by a Republican-friendly Justice Department?

The foxes are guarding the henhouse.

Our only hope for 2008 is to REGAIN CONTROL OF SWING-STATE GOVERNORSHIPS.

If we had a Democratic governor in Ohio, we'd be toasting a Kerry victory right now. A viable Democratic party machine in Ohio would have both prevented fraud AND turned out a huge vote for Kerry.

-MR

The same people who are entrusted with investigating voter irregulaties are the ones who did them, or benefitted from them!

Nobody is going to even bother for an election that is already decided.

How many people were prosecuted in Florida from 2000?

This election was more important than just a battle. The line was drawn in the sand.

Welcome to the brave new world.

Four more years of Bush, and he has nothing to lose.

That's been happening on a continual basis for four years. Has it worked?

The Bushbots don't care one iota what we think about anything. They hold no quarter, show no mercy, make no compromise...ever. They play everything for keeps and care NOTHING for consequences. They will gladly hand over their first-born children to feed their beast, then ask if they can do anything more. They have the focus and collective mind of a school of blood-lusting piranas, and it's working spectacularly well for them.

I'm sorry, but Kerry literally had nothing to lose by pressing this. He gave up, faster than I ever imagined he would. I will never for an instant fathom why.

IN HONOR OF THE DEMOCRACY AND OF THE MEN AND WOMEN IN IRAQ, HE CAN KEEP THIS GOING AND EXPOSE BUSH !!!!!!!!!!!!


IT'S BRILLIANT!!!!!!!!!!!

Convince bush to conceed the presidency in order to expose Kerry of something meaningless? Ya right.

Your argument reminds me of something Barney Fife would say right after he shot himself in the foot.

"I did it to demonstrate how angry Andy gets when I do this"

We lost in 2000, 2002, and now 2004. When is our leadership going to get their heads out of their collective ass and put together a machine like the Scumthugs?

There are no more battles, none. In four years, this country could be in ashes, and we will have NO say in the matter.

Wake up folks, we can't salvage this one with being magnanamous.

So you're saying that George Washington should have given up when the Continental army was stuck in the dead of winter at Valley Forge.

Because the British and the Torys were safe and warm in Philadelphia mocking and making fun of the American revolutionaries.

America is lost.
We have no leaders to lead us.

We're all on our own now.

Too bad we can't call on George Washington now.

It is more true that Kerry surrendered not just a "battle" but the entire war. Additionally, with the Congressional and Governors seats the pukes gained, things are guaranteed to be bleak for the next 4 years. You should know by now that we are dealing with conservative extremism that has just been given more power.

You "everything is fine" folks should apologize to the realists who had their very real concerns criticized for the past several months.

The sky has indeed fallen. Shake off the ignorant denial and face reality for what it is. The American Taliban has the power and the will to steamroll our nation back into the dark ages.

If this was professional sports, the coaches would have already been fired. We KNEW that Diebold was corrupt, but where were the lawsuits to demand a paper trail.

I don't fault Kerry for conceding as we aren't talking just 500 some votes here. Maybe the film will wear off the eyes of the Christofascists when they all lose their jobs, their kids are all killed in more Bush wars, and our cities all begin to look like "ground zero" in lower Manhattan.

the "Christofascists" (I really love that) will be the last to loose their jobs. It will be heathens who support the DNC, the ACLU, the Southern Poverty Law Center, Amnesty International, Greenpeace, or the Sierra Club who will loose their jobs.

Good churchians will get promoted

I think he gave up to early but the constant fighting for Gore actually damaged him I think - I agree that conceding now may help improve the image and bring more people to us in the long term.

It's like investing people, think of the long term, not the short term and it starts to look better.

"I suspect that investigations into voting irregularities will continue, and that if any are substantive they will be prosecuted."

Looks don't mean shit right now! Action was all that counted.

If the evidence is there, it is there, whether Kerry conceded or not. Let them dig it out. If it isn't there, it wouldn't have been there if Kerry pressed on and refused to concede. Either way, it is not the Repub powers that be that would uncover anything; it would be the Kerry team.

By conceding, the spotlight on them is less harsh and their investigations may be more effective.

But even if there is evidence there, hanging on and refusing to concede just makes him appear to be a sore loser. If he comes up with something next month, after this has all died down... and he can make it STICK, then we have a better shot by presenting it as a surprise. If Kerry doesn't concede, then there will be the expectation to justify why he doesn't and he would have to tip his hand.

I suspect this is a big ol' pipe dream on my part, but it is the best scenario I can come up with in terms of hanging on to hope for a Kerry victory.

The country and the people have lost control of the government. All branches belong to the Republican party/corporations. Nothing will be done to fix it. They had 4 years to fix the voting system and prevent fraud. And with judicial appointments over the next 4 years, we are screwed for decades to come. Assuming Bush's energy policy doesn't finish us all off before that.