Gore Explains Actions, Bush Starts Transition

* In his speech Monday night, Vice President Al Gore tried once more to explain to the American people why they should continue to support his bid for the presidency--three weeks after the vote was cast and counted and counted and counted. Though I voted for neither of the major candidates, I find something troubling in any person’s claim that the “will of the people” has not been heard unless it has favored him. While George W. Bush may very well be slow-witted, I fear that Gore is beginning to show signs of psychological distress, verging on self-destruction. In his renewed efforts to win the presidency, he seems willing to drag the Democratic Party and the nation with him into the abyss.

JON STONE

Berkeley

*

I fully support Gore in his effort to have a full and complete counting of votes. If the Republicans are so confident of their win, then why have they resorted to mob intimidation and venomous rhetoric? There is nothing to be feared and everything--our freedom--to be preserved by this full count.

If Bush does prevail without a full and fair counting of the votes, then I, along with half the nation, will be singing “Hail to the Thief” come Inauguration Day. I hardly think this suspicion on my and many citizens’ parts serves our democracy. Open the doors; count the votes!

MARY GARRIPOLI

Los Angeles

*

There was a time when Gore could have bowed out graciously and been assured of claiming the Democratic nomination in 2004. That time has passed.

GREG STEINBERG

Hollywood

*

I voted for Gore because I believed him to be the lesser of two losers. What a bitter irony it is to learn I was right.

CAROL SURFACE

Redondo Beach

*

Judging by the growing number of American flags sprouting up behind the candidates in this disputed election--at last count a dozen behind Gore and no less than 14 behind Dick Cheney--it would seem that the candidates are engaged in a new numbers game: He who has the most flags wins.

I, for one, wish everyone would stop wrapping themselves in the flag and count the votes.

TONY GITTELSON

Los Angeles

*

It’s a shame that Florida election officials can’t provide an accurate count of the ballots no matter how many times they recount. In spite of their snafu, they seem to delight in thinking that they can dictate who is going to become the next president for the entire nation. Congress should bring this election to a quick and fair conclusion: On the Dec. 12 certification deadline, disqualify the 25 electoral votes for Florida because of Florida’s failure to determine its voters’ real intent.

STEVE LAU

Huntington Beach

*

One of the most glaring falsehoods heard from Gore recently and now found in your newspaper is the designation “uncounted” for 10,750 ballots that did not register a vote for president (Nov. 28). These ballots have been counted. Gore simply hopes that he can mine these ballots for votes by having biased counters “divine” the intent of voters.

The photographs and TV footage showing the so-called hand-counting operation should cause any reasonable person to doubt the honesty and accuracy of any hand-count results.

SIDNEY HATCHL

Santa Ana

*

Which was weirder: Bush appointing himself leader of the free world on Sunday night, or Cheney announcing the formation of a shadow government by the creation on a Texas nonprofit corporation on Monday afternoon? All of a sudden, I am feeling very queasy.

KEVIN MARTIN

Silver Lake

*

I wish to congratulate The Times on a most thoughtful and perceptive editorial (“Official but Not Over,” Nov. 27), dealing with partisanship in the current election controversy. Quite frankly, I am utterly disgusted with the unfounded, irresponsible and, I might say, unpatriotic drivel and claptrap emanating from the mouths of both Bush and Gore spokesmen. It is blatantly obvious that these individuals are far more concerned with whether their candidate wins than with the fairness of the election.

After seeing the degree of partisanship exhibited by both Democrats and Republicans, I am ashamed to think that I actually voted for one of their presidential candidates in this election.

JEFF BROUDE

Westminster

*

Let’s give credit where credit is due. A complete recount of all contested ballots would have spelled defeat for Bush. Secretary of State Katherine Harris’ strict interpretation of the Florida Supreme Court’s recount deadline thus gave Gov. Bush an appearance of legitimacy. The Republicans stole this election fair and square. No one can argue about that.

TRACY GAY

Long Beach

*

Don’t blame Florida. Neither Bush nor Gore should have been nominated in the first place.

SHEILA SCOTT

Los Angeles

*

Whether Bush or Gore is finally declared president, the electoral college must go. This country has long trumpeted the idea that ours is a true democracy where one person/one vote is what rules. Clearly that may not be the case if Bush is declared the winner. In that case, it will depend on in what state that one vote was cast. Based on the popular vote, where Gore has a lead of something over 300,000 votes, a vote for Bush in Florida is worth 600 votes for Gore in the rest of the nation.

Much has been written and said about the importance of people exercising their right to vote, but I have never heard it suggested that they meant only if you live in the final state where the vote is to be counted. This election will probably make people even more uninterested in voting than they have been in the past, since the popular will can be subverted by an antiquated political device.

GEORGE IVES

Los Angeles

*

Let’s get something straight: There is no such thing as the “popular vote” in our presidential elections. It is meaningless to talk about which candidate received the most votes nationally, since the candidates do not actively campaign to get the most votes. They campaign to get the most electoral votes and once they have a certain state sewn up, they move on to another state. That’s the system. Get used to it.

WADE MAJOR

Malibu

*

Speaking as Gore voters, we feel it is time to remind him of the maxim, “If at at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. Then give up; no use acting foolish.” We feel that Gore can remain an effective advocate for his positions only by giving up at this point and assuming the role of “shadow president.”

PAUL and SHERRY EKLOF

Costa Mesa

*

Finley Peter Dunne opined, in his alter ego as Mr. Dooley, that the Supreme Court “follows the election returns.” We shall soon see.

DAVID R. GINSBURG

Los Angeles

*

The slender prospect of an early resolution of the nation’s electoral impasse, with the epicenter now on legal challenges, reminds me of a Swahili saying that I learned in my adolescence in Africa: “When two elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers.”

We have to be mindful that America doesn’t suffer irreparably.

VARTKES YEGHIAYAN

Glendale