Cooperate Or Else, llegitmate Child

by Wayne Lutz

It's becoming increasingly apparent that the liberal Democrats are shocked beyond consolation that they have lost this presidential election, a fact that will make for an interesting couple of years for those of us who take pleasure in watching the political left make fools of themselves.

If Daschle and Gephardt are representative of the prevailing mind-set among Democrats (and if they aren't, then who is) then we have already seen the calls for cooperation and bipartisanship exposed for the lies that they are.

In a recent interview with Tim Russert on "Meet The Press", the true nature of the intent of the Democrats was exposed. "In what critics saw as an extraordinary display of partisan rancor beyond anything in recent memory", according to the Washington Times, both Daschle and the ever-colorful Jesse Jackson jumped through hoops of fire to avoid assigning "legitimacy" to a Bush presidency.

Asked repeatedly by Russert if he accepted Bush as the "legitimate" president of the United States, Daschle would only repeat that Bush "is the president of the United States".

"This is a clear sign they are going to follow the scorched-earth strategy of [former Senate Democratic Leader] George Mitchell," said Mark W. Davis. Mr. Davis was a speechwriter for the first President Bush. "When the first President Bush extended his hand for bipartisan cooperation, Mitchell bit it. He made it clear that nothing was going to pass unless it was part of the Democratic agenda."

But that, of course, is the Democratic definition of "bipartisan cooperation". In the minds of the Daschles and Gephardts of America, the very concept of Republican control of the White House and both houses of Congress is illegitimate by definition, hence the definition of "cooperation" as "abandon your principles".

Jesse Jackson is, of course, equally skeptical. When Russert asked him if he would now "lock arms with these Democrats and Republicans and accept the legitimacy of George W. Bush", he replied:

"I accept his legality, because the courts and Congress will say he's legally the president," Mr. Jackson said. "But in a democracy, your legitimacy comes from the consent of the governed. He lost the popular vote of the governed.

Personally, I am relieved that Mr. Jackson accepts the legality of the presidential election. I am less convinced of the legality of Jackson's oft-cited popular vote victory for Algore, however.

If even half of the allegations of widespread voter irregularities, fraud, intimidation and vote buying in the 2000 election are true then Mr. Jackson is negotiating the twisting moral high road on a set of Wilderness ATs, as it were.

The turnout in the major cities was unprecedented this year - suspiciously so. Take the city of Philadelphia as a case in point. The population of that city is less than 1.3 million, yet there are 1 million registered voters, which means that Philadelphia has almost no children, no non-us citizens, and that every adult citizen is civically responsible. What's more, an unheard of 70 percent of those one million registered to vote actually turned out, with some precincts reporting a 100 percent turnout with 99 percent of those votes going for Gore. The city went for Gore by 300,000 votes, an obviously bogus number without which Gore's wispy popular vote win would have evaporated. And that's just one city.

Part of the reason for the high voter registration in urban centers is the ease with which one can now register, a benefit that made it possible for myriad illegal aliens to vote for Gore in California.

Then there is Florida, dear Florida, where hundreds of convicted felons cast their votes for Mr. Gore, and where the Haitian population was assisted at the polls by campaign volunteers who actually entered the precincts, telling voters what holes to punch and forcing sheets of paper into their hands with the numbers to punch listed on them, according to a Fox news report. One Haitian man with a Bush sign was persuaded by a bystander to see the error of his ways with a baseball bat to the head.

The Republicans won this election despite the fraud, despite the demagoguery, despite the fear tactics, despite the smear campaigns, and despite the unbelievable attempt by the losing candidate to have the certified results of the election overturned by an activist liberal court. If that ain't legitimacy, then I don't know what is, and the Democrats in Congress who still don't get it are setting themselves up for disappointment.

It's going to be an interesting couple of years.