Gore's speech prevents him from taking any further note of election abuses. It would not be in the interests of national unity. The Dem leadership in Congress will be obliged to follow suit.
Why couldn't Gore have said something like, we have exhausted our remedies. Bush's victory is founded on gross irregularities, though it isn't clear that he is himself to blame. We should dedicate ourselves to remedying these deficiencies in our electoral system and use our democratic system to subject Bush's policies to the utmost scrutiny. Thank you and good night.
Any remedies that are forthcoming -- and I expect there to be some -- will be the work of others. Ad hoc groups, good-government types, newspapers like the Miami Herald, third parties. Dave McReynolds had a good statement. Poor Dave. If not for him, or Monica Moorehead of the Workers World Party, who will be in the next James Bond movie, Al Gore would be president-elect! Nader's piece was the most substantive, verging on wonky as is his nature, regarding electoral reform. I haven't seen any Democratic counterpart yet; I hope I do.
mbs