Blasts From The Past, And Other Places Part 8

Election thoughts…..

Thank God the system works. While we must wait for all the votes to be counted, the legions of Democratic and Republican lawyers have been kept on the sidelines. A flurry of legal activity took place prior and on Election Day, but so far the legal battle lines are quiet. Another legal mess would have sullied America’s reputation around the world. How could we presume to bring democracy to Iraq when our own system was broken?

George Soros can go to hell or a monastery or wherever it is he promised to head off to if President Bush was re-elected. His millions, his moveon.org gave Kerry a boost, but did not prove pivotal in the end. The lesson learned is that foreigners have no place trying to influence our vote.

The same holds true for the Hollywood big mouths. I believe Alec Baldwin still has unused airline tickets to Europe left over from the 2000 vote. Then he promised to move to France if Bush won. Interestingly, Baldwin and his dying acting career are still ensconced in Hollywood. We can only hope LAX is full of the Susan Sarandons, Tim Robbins and Richard Geres of the world heading out for good. At least Bruce Springsteen was smart. He made no childish promise to leave if things did not work out in his favor even if his Kerry push alienated many fans.

However, three cheers to Brad Pitt for telling a reporter that asking him for an opinion on the election was foolish. “I’m a grown man who puts on makeup for a living, what the hell do I know?” was his response.

Now that the election process seems to be back on track, the states and federal government need to perfect the system. We need a national voting system. Every person in every state must use the same voting machinery. Whether it’s a show of hands or compute panel, it is nuts to have everyone on a different standard. The results should be instaneously tabulated, but the final tally held until all polls in all states are closed. It is not necessary for the American people to know the election results before they hit the hay.

The absentee balloting system must be improved. The ballots should be mailed in August and returned by Oct. 1. They should be counted starting two days prior to Election Day and those results should be the first put into the system. The other option for people living overseas is for them to get to the local American embassy or consulate and vote there on Election Day. If you can’t make it, sorry.

Bye, Bye Kerry

Well, it’s all said and done. John Kerry took the admirable course of action and conceded the presidential race instead of turning it into a legal circus.

Good for him. He will go down as a much more honorable person because of this gesture.

Not that he had any moral high ground to stand on to fight for the office in court. Unlike Al Gore four years ago, who held a 500,000 plurality lead in the election, Kerry was down over 3 million votes when he called it quits. Any legal wrangling would create the image of Kerry being a childish sore loser.

Good luck to President Bush and I hope Bin Laden and the folks in Fallujah are busy piling sandbags on top of their bunkers.