Fun_People Archive
11 Dec
[Michael Moore again] -- Those Democrats Are About to Cave. Should

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From: Peter Langston <psl>
Date: Mon, 11 Dec 100 16:21:30 -0800
To: Fun_People
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Subject: [Michael Moore again] -- Those Democrats Are About to Cave. Should
	We?

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From: "Mike's Message" <mikemail@cloud9.net>

December 11, 2000  early evening on the east coast

Dear friends,

As I write this, the Supreme Court is deciding what to do.

And the Democrats are running for cover. They are expecting to lose. They
always do. No faith in their own position. No guts.

The pundits are screaming for Al Gore to throw in the towel. He may do just
that. You gotta give the guy credit, though -- who woulda thought he'd take
the fight this far? I mean, he and his party have caved so many times --
NAFTA, death penalty, welfare, drug war, Gulf War, putting Scalia and Thomas
on the Court, and on and on  -- that they are now but a mere shell of their
former selves.

But how did they get to the point where they are willing to concede
something that they have actually WON! Unbelievable!

What should we do? I'm stumped. Should we try to save them from themselves?
I know, I know -- they certainly don't deserve our help.

I can't tell you how many letters I'm getting from people who are saying
that they will never vote again. Rather than being inspired to believe,
after this close election, that "every vote counts," most people are utterly
disillusioned by the REAL message that has been hammered home to them:

    "YOUR VOTE MEANS NOTHING. GO FUCK YOURSELF. YOU'RE ONLY A VOTER!"

Pardon the language, but that's EXACTLY what is going to come out of this
election.

Look, I guess I could just sit back and have a good smug laugh at the
Republicrats and folly they are in. They got what they deserved
-- two candidates who were so close to each other on the issues (remember
the 2nd debate and the 32 times they agreed with each other!), it is no
surprise that the vote itself was also so close. The voters couldn't figure
out the difference, and neither could the chad chomping machines.

But this is no time to gloat. We ALL lose if just ONE citizen gives up and
goes home. That is the true tragedy of this election. I do not want them to
give up. I will not give up. I do not want the one who LOST the election to
sit in the White House.

So here's the question: Do we, the people, have a commitment to a higher
ideal than the Democratic Party? Are we willing to fight on to stop Bush --
EVEN IF GORE AND THE DEMOCRATS GIVE UP?

If so, there are, remarkably, SIX ways to still stop a Bush coup! (Oh, yes,
I can hear the moans of an exhausted electorate -- "Mike, please, I got
Christmas shopping to do!!") I am passing on this e-mail from a fan who
spells out what can be done before January 20. Check it out, pass it around,
have some faith, do something. If you were Tom DeLay or Jerry Falwell, you
would NEVER give up. Though we may have no fighters like them on our side,
and we will never see their kind of rabid tenaciousness in any liberal or
Democrat, we should trust one basic truth: We are right. Pure and simple, we
are right. ALL votes, in any democracy, get counted dammit, and that's that.

A little over a week ago, we celebrated the 45th anniversary of Rosa Parks
refusing to give up her seat on a segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama.
Thousands of black citizens through the decades suffered injury and death,
simply to obtain the right to vote.

Just 81 years ago (in our parents' and grandparents' lifetime!), it was
illegal for a woman to vote in America. Thousands of women endured insult
and injury, and many went to jail to obtain this basic human right.

Millions have died on battlefields believing, in their final moments, that
their deaths would not be in vain as they gave their lives for a cause they
believed in: A free society governed by the will of the people.

Here are, thanks to Bob Fertik, six ways justice can still prevail:

Beyond the Supreme Court:
6 Ways Al Gore Can Still Become the 43rd President
by Bob Fertik
Co-founder, Democrats.com  212-396-3457

While thousands of Americans have eloquently urged the Supreme Court to
count every vote, there is little optimism that the Court will actually do
so. Rather, it appears clear that a narrow partisan majority will nullify
rule for George W. Bush, regardless of the facts before them.

But even if the Supreme Court rules against Al Gore, there are at least 6
ways that Al Gore could become the 43rd President of the United States,
consistent with the will of the majority of Americans and Floridians -
who voted on Election Day.

1. George Bush can concede for the good of the nation. There has been
tremendous pressure on Al Gore to concede, despite his winning the popular
vote by over 337,000 votes. But what about George W. Bush? It is bad
enough that Bush intends to assume the Presidency despite losing the
popular vote. But it is immoral that Bush should claim a narrow victory in
the Electoral College on the basis of a sorely disputed victory in
Florida. The moral weight of the nation should fall upon George W. Bush to
gracefully concede the election to the candidate with the stronger moral
claim to victory, namely Al Gore.

2. Al Gore can still win Florida. Remember Seminole and Martin Counties?
Yes, the Democrats lost in court. But on Monday at 9 a.m., Gerald Richman
will appeal the Seminole case to the Florida Supreme Court. Richman
believes Judge Nikki Clark erred when she acknowledged illegal conduct by
Republican operatives, but refused to follow the remedy required under
Florida law: namely, to reject all 15,000 absentee ballots. On Friday, the
Florida Supreme Court overruled another trial court decision, the ruling
by N. Sanders Saul. If the Florida Supreme Court chooses to apply Florida
law, Al Gore will win Florida's 25 votes, and become the 43rd President of
the United States.

3. The 32 Electors from Texas can be disqualified. Remember the 12th
Amendment challenges to the 32 Electors from Texas? Lower courts have
ruled that Dick Cheney became an "inhabitant" of Wyoming simply by
dropping in for a day to get a voter registration card. But this case is
on appeal to the Supreme Court, and it only takes four Justices to agree
to hear the case. The four angry dissenters in the Florida case Breyer,
Ginsburg, Souter, and Stevens  may be angry enough to put this case
before the American people.

4. A Democratic state legislature can nullify Florida. Remember the
Special Session of the Florida Legislature to choose Electors? The
Republicans rounded up numerous Constitutional scholars to argue that it
was perfectly legal for state legislatures to override the will of the
voters of their state. Well, Democrats can play that game too. Democrats
control the legislatures of eight states that voted for Bush: Alabama,
Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee, and
West Virginia. If any ONE of these states switches its electors to Gore,
then Gore wins regardless of Florida and the Supreme Court.

5. Three Republican Electors can switch to Gore. The Electoral College is
comprised of people, not machines. These people have consciences. In the
majority of states, Electors are not bound by law to vote for the
candidate to whom they were pledged. If there was a groundswell of opinion
against a stolen election, it is not impossible to imagine 3 Republican
electors (out of 271) doing the right thing.

6. Republican Members of Congress can switch parties, or simply vote with
the Democrats to refuse to count Florida's 25 Electors. During the
impeachment, a number of Republicans in Congress refused to go along with
Tom DeLay and Trent Lott. In the House, seven Republicans voted against
two of the three counts: Michael Castle (DE), Phil English (PA-21), Amo
Houghton (NY-31), Peter King (NY-3), Connie Morella (MD-8), Chris Shays
(CT-4), and Mark Souder (IN-4). If five of the seven switch, the Democrats
would control the House. In the Senate, five Republicans voted against
both counts: John Chafee (RI  recently replaced by his son, Lincoln),
Susan Collins (ME), Jim Jeffords (VT), Olympia Snowe (ME), and Arlen
Specter (PA). It would take only one switch to give Democrats control of
the Senate.

As Yogi Berra famously said, "It ain't over till it's over."


So what do you think? Pass it around.

Yours,

Michael Moore
mmflint@aol.com
www.michaelmoore.com

P.S. The Western Union telegram campaign to Justices O'Connor and Kennedy
that so many thousands of you participated in today went through the roof.
Thanks! Here's my favorite e-mail:
    "Mike: When we called Western Union today, we got as far as, 'We'd like
to have a telegram hand-delivered,' and the operator said, 'To the Supreme
Court, right?'  We said yes, and she said, 'To O'Connor and Kennedy, right?'
We said yes. She already had the address. All we had to do was give our
information

© 2000 Peter Langston