Article courtesy of The Federalist
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Bush and Cheney were coasting into the presidency on favorable political polls (you will note we never published a word about any of those insidious, manipulative polls) Michigan and Pennsylvania skipped town on them, and Florida gave pursuit.

Last Friday, amid all those favorable polls, we questioned whether the "compassionate conservatism" Mr. Bush has peddled for six months could overcome the 12 year void of strong conservative leadership in America, eight years of Clinton-Gore's masterful "divide-and-conquer" policies in concert with the media opinion shapers' relentless advocacy of the Sociocrats' cause, and Gore's populist campaign.

It appears, the odds notwithstanding, that Bush/Cheney is the wining ticket. Additionally, Republicans have been able to hold on to a thin margin in the House, and perhaps the Senate, pending one seat still contested. (If there is a tie in the Senate, Republicans will maintain some measure of control because if Bush is elected, Mr. Cheney will become president of the Senate -- casting tie-breaking votes -- and if Gore is elected, his veep Lieberman would have to resign his Senate seat and Connecticut Gov. John Rowland, a Republican, will name a Republican to that seat.)

Of note, 29 states are still under the leadership of Republican governors, though, as in Congress, the line distinguishing Republicans and Democrats grows increasingly vague -- Republicrats, let's call them.

Concerning the presidential election standoff, watching the media talkingheads scramble to explain why they put Florida in Gore's column, then put it back in play, then put it in Bush's column declaring him the next president, then retract their statement and put Florida back in play -- this was indeed the talkingheads' finest hour!

After declaring Florida for Gore an hour before polls closed in the state's conservative panhandle, thousands of Bush voters left long polling lines for home -- media mission accomplished. The talkingheads claim they forgot that the state's panhandle is in the central, rather than eastern time zone.

Though a certified Florida victory for Bush is now in the works, we don't believe the Democrats will give up the state's 25 electoral votes without a fight.

For his part, Al Gore, after taking back his concession to Mr. Bush Tuesday night, said Wednesday: "Despite the fact that Joe Lieberman and I won the popular vote, under our Constitution, it is the winner of the Electoral College who will be our next president. Our Constitution is the whole foundation of our freedom and it must be followed faithfully.... We are now, as we have been from the moment of our founding, a nation based on the rule of law." (Now, we know some of our readers will question if such words could have actually come from the Vice Prevaricator's lips, but we transcribed them verbatim!)

And speaking of "rule of law," would it not be the greatest of political ironies if Al Gore, whose has treated our Constitution with disregard if not utter contempt, loses his bid for the White House because of a "federalist relic" in that venerable old document pertaining to the Electoral College.

Despite Gore's assurances Wednesday that he would respect the Florida recount, by Thursday, he said he would not accept it -- greasing the skids for what could be an endless loop of litigation. His campaign head, Bill Daley, said, "If the will of the people is to prevail, Al Gore should be awarded a victory in Florida and should be the next president of the United States." Can you say "coup d'etat"?

Memo to Al: You have already conceded once. Take a page from John Ashcroft, who readily conceded his U.S. Senate seat to the widow of his deceased opponent, Mel Carnahan, and assured her he will undertake no legal challenge, despite the fact there is a significant legal question about whether a corpse can in fact "be an inhabitant of" Missouri on election day, as the Constitution's Article I, Section 3, requires.

Memo to the Bill Daley: When Clinton was elected with 43% of the popular vote in 1992, and 49% in 1996, Demos were not complaining about democracy being cheated. And, if you don't like the process, we suggest you put forth an amendment stipulating that the election will be settled on the basis of land area won by respective candidates. (Gore got about 15% of that!)

Gore employed Clinton's former Secretary of State Warren Christopher to oversee the recount -- as if Janet "Blockade" Reno's home state was some kind of third-world dictatorship. Jesse Jackson will provide the assist. Back when Christopher worked for Jimmy Carter, it took him Warren 444 days -- and the election of Ronald Reagan -- to free 52 American hostages in Iran. No telling how long it will take him to free 275 million American held hostage by the Florida standoff.

Christopher arrived in Florida Wednesday morning accompanied by half the membership roster of the American Trial Lawyers Association. If they can't get the job done, perhaps Gore can call for an internationally-supervised runoff election hosted by the U.N.'s Kofi Annan.

Behind Christopher, Gore sent in Reno and her troops. "We're not here to generate controversy. We're here to do what's right... to make sure that the voice of the American people...has been heard fairly," said Ms. Reno, noting it's important to "adhere to the principles of federalism." (Really, folks, she said "federalism!)

When a Sociocrat starts talking about federalism and states' rights, pay attention. The reason for Reno's conversion to federalism is that the Demos are banking on the state courts in Florida to overturn the Palm Beach vote.

The major focus of Gore's complaint -- assuming he does not achieve the majority of the popular vote on a certified recount to include the absentee ballots -- will become the Palm Beach "butterfly" election card, which Demos say was too confusing. Too confusing? Aren't these the same people who questioned Mr. Bush's intelligence?

The ballot in question was designed -- and approved -- by Florida Democrats. It is similar to the ballot now used in Bill Daley's hometown, Chicago -- you know, the place where Daley's mob-boss father, Mayor Richard, stuffed ballot boxes for Kennedy in 1960.

In yet another bit of election irony, the Algoristas claim that because of the ballot confusion in Palm Beach, Pat Buchanan -- not Ralph Nader -- stole votes from Gore, because some Dumbocrats may have punched the wrong hole on the ballot.

Perhaps they are on to something here.... Shouldn't all ballots be sufficiently confusing to weed out idiots? But then, no Demos would ever get elected under that scenario. Hey, that's why they call it "dumbocracy"!

Speaking of Nader, whose leftist Green Party did not muster the necessary 5% of votes needed to obtain federal funding in 2004, he gets the award for best post-campaign retort. As for Gore's lament that Nader cost him votes, he responded, "Gore had all the advantages of an incumbent administration, but he never generated enthusiasm, and many voters cast votes for him out of the least-worst attitude, not out of conviction. ... Gore cost me the election!"

The ballot problems in Palm Beach are not unique to Palm Beach. If Gore insists on opening that ballot box, he will be opening Pandora's Box.

Should the Florida state courts not take an interest in the Palm Beach ballot, the Algoristas will launch a national campaign to undo the Electoral College, while suggesting that Bush should concede his infinitesimal Florida margin to Gore's infinitesimal national margin as a matter of "honor." (Of course, Clinton and Gore are the arbiters of honor....) This is a last ditch effort to soften the beaches for any of Mr. Bush's state electors who might want to cast their vote for Gore -- "on principle."

As for Gore's lead in the popular vote, of the almost 100 million votes cast, Gore's margin of about 175,000 votes continues to dwindle nationally as states count absentee ballots. Spinning that lead, Bill Daley said, "Only Ronald Reagan got more votes than Al Gore in the history of presidential elections." Of course, the Demos and their media are now far more skilled at dividing up hyphenated-Americans, and rallying them to the polls. For example, 90% of black Americans voted as a block for Albert Gore, making race the most polarized voter profile in the election.

Regarding all these political shenanigans, our preference for resolution is, of course, constitutional rule of law. If not, we will accept gridlock -- or revolution -- whichever is better suited to retaining the God-given liberties expressed in our Declaration of Independence and its subordinate guidance, the U.S. Constitution. Did we mention secession? Perhaps New England could revert back to the Crown!

All said and done, we do expect that within the week Mr. Bush will be declared the next president, and the nation will be granted a temporary reprieve from the abject lawlessness of the Clinton/Gore regime.

Of course, if Mr. Bush makes it over the Electoral College hump, our work as conservative patriots has only just begun. Though the Republican platform still reads much as it did under Ronald Reagan, the moderate Mr. Bush has yet to issue any rally call for liberty and freedom -- which is precisely why his weak victory is short on mandate. (To understand where he failed in his campaign, review our critiques of Mr. Bush's performance in the presidential debates.)

Memo to W.: If you make it to the White House, gag those pinheads calling for a "coalition government." Lose the campaign politicos, visit Reagan2000.com, get a vision for what that word "conservative" really means -- and lead!

And a final campaign note: As for that other "historic" event, HILLARY!'s election comes with a silver lining. She displaces Teddy Kennedy as the new lighting rod for the left. The media love her -- America hates her. Even in New York, her Demo-voter support fell far short of Gore's. (And wasn't it a nice touch for her to steal the media coverage from Rick Lazio's concession speech by giving her victory speech at the same time!)

As anticipated, hubby Bill was beside himself. "Some people thought I was a lame duck in '95. I'll just keep quacking. I've got another 10 weeks to quack. There is a feeling in the country, that I pick up, that people want to keep the prosperity going. They want to keep moving in a good direction...." That silwy cwazy duck alweddy quaked his way out of 'Nam and Monica!

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About the Palm Beach Thing . . .

Another shining example of the growing trend of whining that I so hate. Once again, folks are not wanting to take responsibility for their own actions because the outcome doesn't suit them this time. Voting is not something you take a chance on like a coffee pot at X-Mart that you can return later.

Face the music folks, if you do something stupid, face up to it and don't blame it on anyone but yourself. Are these people stupid because the ballot supposedly confused them? Well, there were nice bold arrows pointing to the punch holes BUT I'm willing to give them that much.

What makes them stupid is that they did not take their responsibility as voters seriously enough to look over the sample ballots that were published earlier, or even to ask an election clerk about them if they were indeed uncertain of how they were laid out.

Plain, simple and to the point: too many people are not taking the responsibility to pay attention to things from day to day and now it is taking its toll.

--Foamy Dog