The Legacy of Al Gore

From Joseph Perkins:

It is because of the Gore precedent, because he tried to win the 2000 election in the courts after losing at the ballot box, that this nation remains so bitterly divided between Republicans and Democrats.

And the nation is likely to remain bitterly divided following this year’s presidential election. Because John Kerry is already gearing up to contest the outcome of the election even before voters go to the polls on Election Day.

In fact, lawyers for the Democrats already have filed some 35 lawsuits in some 17 states. And if Kerry goes down to defeat on Election Day, there almost certainly will be an avalanche of lawsuits claiming that the Democrat somehow was cheated out of the presidency.

Of course, Kerry and his fellow Democrats profess that their lawsuits are motivated only by the noble desire to defend every American’s constitutional right to vote. They maintain that they simply want to ensure that every vote cast in this year’s election is properly counted.

But the reality is that the rash of election-related litigation precipitated by Kerry and the Democrats is doing lasting, perhaps irreparable, damage to the democratic process in this country.

You can read his whole excellent op/ed piece here.