Bush Bamboozle Backfires
by David J. Gonzo

Nov. 27, 2000 -- NEW YORK (AmpolNS) -- It wasn't the "presidential" backdrop with American flags on each side. It wasn't the suit.  It wasn't even the specific words he chose.

The most notable factor that identified Bush's so-called "victory" speech last evening as yet another effort to bamboozle the world was the look on his face, the demeanor of the so-called "winner": the poor guy still can't help looking as if he's the main subject of a hostage video, as one perceptive pundit noted about his previous staged news-TV appearance.

The look on his face did not convey victory at all; instead, one got the sense that Dubya is a helpless captive of circumstance, desperately trying to convey the image of a winner as his legal team mounts a flurry of maneuvers from the county level in Florida to the U.S. Supreme Court.

And Bush was undermined, not helped, by media events of the day.  First came the staged disenfranchisement of thousands of Floridians in the form of a "certification ceremony" lorded over by Bush campaign operative Katherine Harris, who has lately been rumored to have had an affair with her boss, Florida Governor Jeb Bush.

But, alas, I digress.

Then came an appearance by superlobbyist James Baker, the new "eminence grease" of Team Bush.

Finally, at 9:30, Bush tried to affirm victory and fool the planet into believing he won the Presidential race.

Bush said, "We were reminded of the strength of our democracy, that while our system is not always perfect, it is fundamentally strong and far better than any other alternative."  That was a howler -- the "strength" of the corrupt county- and state-based system was used to suppress thousands upon thousands of votes -- and not just in Florida.  his Presidential election served as a wake-up call to America, letting them know that federal legislation has been mostly ineffective in eliminating the last vestiges of Jim Crow from our political system.

More from Bush: "The election was close, but tonight, after a count, a recount and yet another manual recount, Secretary Cheney and I are honored and humbled to have won the State of Florida."  Are you kidding?  Two inaccurate counts and an incomplete manual recount that was suppressed by GOP-financed stooges and your lackey-ette Katherine Harris -- who wouldn't even give Palm Beach County a couple extra hours to finish their job -- and you have the nerve to unilaterally declare yourself a winner?

By the way -- if you won, then why haven't you dropped your case before the Supreme Court?

Bush again "Two hundred years ago after a difficult election, President Thomas Jefferson reminded his fellow citizens that every difference of opinion is not a difference of principle."  Then he went back to abusing his slaves, Dubya -- who were only three-fifths of a person under the Constitution.

Perhaps the most important line of Bush's speech was crafted to be the "sound bite" summation of his message: "But now that the votes are counted it is time for the votes to count."  Well, here's a fact: the votes have NOT been counted, no matter what you say.  They have NOT been counted in Miami-Dade.  Harris would NOT let the count in Palm Beach County be submitted.

And you, MISTER Bush, are practicing the Big Lie.  Your grab for the brass ring last night failed to assert anything even remotely resembling the image of a victor; instead, it served to diminish your stature, and exposed you as a self-made prisoner of circumstance, unwilling to rise above the fray in a dignified and ingenuous manner. 

America was not, and will not be, bamboozled.