conceded. The vote count is what counts, period.
First, I'll admit a few tears of frustration and despair -- we all get those moments. Read over the blog post-concession and there's lots of good stuff here -- too tired now to brain-storm, but we've got plenty of material to work with.
Second, concessions mean diddly-squat other than in the public perception. I grant you that it would appear to be really stupid to concede at this point, from a PR standpoint -- it seems to embolden the opponent and also demoralize your supporters by reneging on a promise.
Hopefully you noted the articles saying that the counts will continue in Ohio and Florida. That is because the concession does not change the law in existence at the time of the election... remember your Antichrist Scripture Book of Baker, Chapter 3, "You can't change the rules in the middle..." The only way Kerry could concede the right for the votes to be counted is if he were a party to the "contract" that is an election -- he isn't...that agreement exists between the United States and its citizenry.
That was exactly the reason why the USSC should never have taken Bush v. Gore -- w was not a party in interest; it wasn't his vote that was allegedly being diminished, it was the votes of Floridians. In legal terms, w did not have "standing" to make the claim -- he could not stand in the shoes of the people whose rights he was claiming to defend.
Let's take this another step -- what if when the counts are completed, it shows Kerry won Ohio or Fla or both? Do those states then choose not to award those electoral votes even though the concession was based on early returns and the provisionals/absentees were lopsided for Kerry? Please!! The citizens of those states can seek to force the naming of the proper (Dem) electoral slate...Kerry can help by seeking to join as a third party plaintiff or by filing amicus briefs, but basically, it is not his ox being gored here (no pun intended when I decided to use that phrase, but it is fitting, no?). Shouldn't we want him enough to fight for him? He did for us, and I'm not convinced this isn't strategic, although I haven't had the benefit of viewing his concession speech.
Another step -- even if the counts don't go Kerry's way, suppose that due to efforts by various individuals and groups we demonstrate that there is something fishy, get investigations, etc., and can raise a colorable claim of election fraud. And don't start in on me with the nay-saying -- fraud takes time to investigate, you can't do a damned thing until it's going down, and the polls haven't even been closed for 24 hours yet. The corpse not only isn't cold yet -- it isn't even a fucking corpse! So quit your keening over the late-not-so-great Kerry campaign; no sale.
Okay, back to the fraud -- one major pillar of the law is that decisions (legal rulings, contracts, etc.) based on fraud are not binding. The Latin term is "void ab initio," which I always liked for some reason, meaning held void from the beginning, as if it never existed. Now, granted, I have no idea of the application of the concept to say, an inauguration, but I think it could certainly be applied to the certification of a slate of electors.
Without doing research on more of the specifics, I can't come up with a date (seem to recall mid-December from 2000...) and even if the certifications go thru then, proof of fraud could arguably require recert up to inauguration.
BOTTOM LINE: From what I can prod out of my brain right now, it is my belief that we have about a month and a half to get at least probable cause level evidence on the fraud in order to attempt a halt of the certification of the electors' slates.
The counts are going on, and that *may* pull our butts out of the fire, but as someone up-blog noted, we've got no time to be depressed. Today was it -- seven stages of grief compressed into one afternoon (or maybe a weekend) consisting largely of disbelief. {Hang on to that Anger character, though, there will be pressing need for that...}
Tomorrow, we begin....research, interview voters (e-mail family and friends in swing states and ask them to describe their voting experience in as much detail as they can recall – things that didn’t seem notable at the time often raise flags later), find something, anything, that you can do to work on this collectively. This is one time when it’s not just okay to ‘throw yourself into work’ to avoid despair – it’s absolutely essential that you do exactly that. In other cases, it would prevent healing; in this case, it could erase the reason for the despair.
It will take a few days for the organizations to put plans in place to know where to assign volunteers. (Not saying this was unexpected, but again, impossible to deal with fraud until you know its form.) This leaves a few days of feeling directionless. Go to the various websites and indicate your willingness to help – that will help them have a better idea of resources. Let them know if you can travel, work via internet, etc. Be specific about talents that you think may be helpful – Can you get people to talk easily? – actors, apply here (remember, we are not agents of the state bound by the Fourth Amendment). Are you good at research, statistics, computer programming, demystifying technical verbiage often contained in esoteric elections regulations, a writer able to translate an interview into an affidavit? Do the e-mail interviews of family and friends (make sure to ask about turnout, lines, etc.), if they know ANYONE who worked the polls or in BOE offices (lots of temps), see if they can get them to talk.
None of this will be easy by any stretch of the imagination. This will take the combined effort, resources and strength of will of everyone who realizes that this is our country that is on the line. We ARE fighting for our lives, here. But, realistically, what did we expect? We knew that anything but “Kerry in a Landslide” was a recipe for repug “problems” after the election. We knew that the fight would continue into December or longer, even if the counts were over. We just hoped that we would be in a position of perceived strength for the fight. But perceived strength can be overrated. The element of a surprise knockout punch from a seemingly toppled foe cannot be.
We are the underdog. We are Rocky. We are DanielSan. We are the BoSox down three games to the New York Yankees, the richest team in baseball. They may have the money, but we have the talent and the will to take them out. They know that. They believe they have vanquished us because they have taken our head. But, like the mythical Hydra, the creature that will pursue them in their waking nightmare has many heads, all of which will be striking at different points at different times.
We are united - we will not be deterred, and we will not be denied the electoral process due us. This is not the end of anything; it is simply a new stage of the fight, slightly less heady than expected. But infinitely more gratifying if it comes off.
C'mon -- it's actually OUR turn now -- we get our chance to kick the bully in the nads. How many threads have I seen here crying in frustration that Kerry-Edwards weren't going for the jugular? They couldn't -- we can. It's that part of the movie where the bullied have to stand up and realize that together they are strong.
So, again I ask "What is this shith?.... Over?! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? **** It's not over til WE say it's over!" Because, dammit -- WE ARE THE PEOPLE.
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