Gore: Fight Could Last to Dec. 18 (WHAT AN ASS!)

greenspun.com : LUSENET : Unk's Wild Wild West : One Thread

Thursday November 30 11:54 AM ET Gore: Fight Could Last to Dec. 18

By LEIGH STROPE, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - Al Gore is doing plenty of talking, but not about pulling the plug on his battle for the White House. As running mate Joseph Lieberman put it: ``If we come to that moment we will know it.''

The two men resumed transition planning at the White House on Thursday, meeting behind closed doors with a team of aides.

Gore, accelerating the public relations campaign as the legal wheels on his Florida election challenge ground forward, gave five television interviews Wednesday from his vice presidential residence at the U.S. Naval Observatory. But he sidestepped when asked at what point his legal fight might end.

``I think this is going to be over with by the middle of December,'' Gore told ABC News.

But when pressed for a specific end date, Gore replied: ``Well, you know, under the law, Dec. 18 is the date when the Electoral College meets. And I'm just not going to get into the details. I'm going to leave that to the experts.''

Instead, he talked about 2004 and his hope to be running for re-election, the threat of the Florida Legislature assigning that state's electors and about spending time with his family.

Many in the vice president's camp had previously pegged Dec. 12, the deadline for states to name electors, as the logical end of his challenge of a certified tally giving Republican George W. Bush Florida's decisive 25 electoral votes.

A pivotal moment will be Friday's U.S. Supreme Court (news - web sites) hearing on Bush's claim that the Florida Supreme Court overreached in extending a since-expired deadline for hand recounts of ballots in several counties.

Asked if he would give up if the court rules against him, Gore said: ``Well, I will respect the judgment of the Supreme Court, whatever it is.''

``I will not attack the independent judiciary. I think that is wrong. But nobody knows what the Supreme Court will rule. Nobody knows which questions they will rule on,'' Gore said.

He tried to put in the plainest English why he's asking the Florida court to order a manual recount of some 10,000 disputed ballots in Miami-Dade County. Republicans protest that those ballots were already counted by machine and registered no presidential vote.

Gore countered that the situation is akin to a supermarket checkout scanner failing to read a product bar code. ``What happens when it misses one? Do they give you the item for free? No. They do a hand count of that item,'' he said.

Lieberman supplemented Gore's full-court press of media appearances with his own interviews to National Public Radio and CNN's ``Larry King Live.'' He said he hasn't thought about giving up the fight yet.

``If we come to that moment we will know it. But this is not about fighting on regardless or a refusal to concede,'' he said.

``We're not going to carry this on to a point where it will hurt this country.''

Gore arranged transition planning meetings and some vice presidential business at the White House Thursday.

Gore and Lieberman had lunch and meetings there Wednesday to continue the tentative business of sketching their could-be administration. Lieberman told NPR they were proceeding with such transition activities ``just so that when it is clear who has won ... we'll be ready to hit the ground running.''

WHAT AN ASS!

-- Ain't Gonna Happen (Not Here Not@ever.com), November 30, 2000

Answers

`Well, I will respect the judgment of the Supreme Court, whatever it is.''

Unless of course he doesn't agree with it.

This guy is sad...he is making himself and all around him (Democratic Party) look real bad. Party supporters should start to defect REAL soon.

-- Ain't Gonna Happen (Not Here Not@ever.com), November 30, 2000.


He has some very powerful lawyers who are lined up at the well and until they suck him dry, they will convince him to keep at it. He is listening to the lawyers and not the people or himself. And as far as old Joe goes, he has cooked himself with everyone. He may be the only one with a job to go back to, but his status with the congress will be changed drastically. He was respected by both parties and he did a 180 on abortion and a bunch of other stuff. He rolled over on his back for the position of VP. This has upset me more than anything to find out he really is not the man I thought he was. And I am sure that the Jewish community must be having second thoughts too. A sad affair all the way around. However, I am beginning to think it best that we don't have a Jew as VP. If Gore was killed or died, how in the world would Joe Libiermen negotiate with the Arabs? They dispise the Jews sooooooooooo much that they would literally spit upon him and show him no respect. And then I would have to go out and shoot all the Arabs. LOL Taz

-- Taz (Tassie@RuralFlorida.com), November 30, 2000.

Taz, Ain't, and Uncle Bob - have you guys ever heard talk show host Michael Savage's imitation of Lieberman? A true classic.

-- Dr. Pibb (dr.pibb@zdnetonebox.com), December 02, 2000.

Moderation questions? read the FAQ