Friday, January 07, 2005

An Historic Day

Yesterday was an historic day indeed! Senator Barbara Boxer of California brazenly stepped forward and supported the Congressional Black Caucus in objecting to the Ohio vote count from the Nov presidential election.

"Four years ago I didn't intervene, I was asked by Al Gore not to do so, and I didn't do so,'' said Boxer. "Frankly, looking back on it, I wish I had. I do. I have to admit that. I'm not one that likes to admit mistakes. But, it really wasn't about Al Gore, it was about the voters, and I made a mistake."

Frankly, four years ago, her opposition may have made a difference. This year, however, after less than two hours of debating, most of the Democrats fell right in line in accepting the Ohio certification. Boxer was the only Senator to vote against the resolution to accept the 20 certified electoral votes from Ohio and only 31 House members voted against it.

I listened to a couple of the speeches that were given on C-SPAN radio yesterday afternoon during my lunch. It was extremely enlightening. The parties involved in the objection of the vote knew that they had no chance of overturning the election and instead used the opportunity to shine a bright light on voting irregularities and problems in the US. Jesse Jackson, Jr. went so far as to reccommend ammending the Constitution to ensure a federally guarateed right to vote.

I have to say that the response from the republican speakers was especially odious. They basically accused the Democrats of playing politics. Said things like, "you lost, get over it," "sore losers," "move-on," "American people don't want this." They acted like it was a travesty that anyone would dare raise a question. The official version was already decided. Get over it, move-on, whiners. It was just awful.

Much has been made by the republican party about the Democrats being the loyal opposition party with most of the emphasis being on "loyal." We are the loyal opposition to the party that has control right now, but nobody said that loyalty=silence. I certainly hope that is not the case. I did not agree to be silent. I view loyal oppostion as, loyal to America, oppose republican agenda; will continually work to promote liberal/democratic/progressive values unceasingly.

There is nothing un-American with having a hearty and vigorous debate. The attitude that we all have to fall in line with the official version of events unquestioningly, is.

Needless to say, I was very disappointed that more of the Democratic leadership did not vote against the Ohio count.

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