Reply #14: Protest - So what?

[ConstitutionGuy]

OK, so people protest and get gassed and clubbed. You think John Kerry will be wisked into the Oval Office on the shoulders of the adoring throngs? You think a few thousand people waving signs in the streets and scuffling with the cops is going to achieve that? We endured years of violent protest during Vietnam but it was Nixon's own malfeasance that took him down - not the mobs in the street.


The only person who can take the office is the one declared the winner at the end of the electoral process. The Ohio results cannot just be thrown out (thereby disenfranchising an entire state), nor can there be a revote (Article 2, Section 1, U.S. Constitution - all electors must be selected on the same day). There must be a declared winner in Ohio based on the vote taken on Nov 2. The fact that some people didn't vote (for whatever reason), is irrelavent. "Woulda, coulda, shoulda" non-votes don't count for anything. The only way Kerry can become the declared Ohio winner is for someone to prove that enough illegal votes to reverse the outcome were placed in the Bush column or that enough legal votes to reverse the outcome were removed from the Kerrry column. I'm personally skeptical that anyone is going to be able to make that case.

So for the sake of argument, assume the results stand and Bush takes the oath of office. Then what? Armed insurrection? Storming the White House? Is that what you're advocating? Anyone can spend a night or two in jail for disorderly conduct, disturbing the peace, trespassing, etc. Are any of you blowhards actually willing to take up arms and launch a no fooling, in your face, combat in the streets, shooting revolution? Are you ready to go toe-to-toe with an M1A1 Abrams tank? Anyone out there willing to step up and sign their name (ala The Declaration of Independence), publicly declaring their intention to engage the government of the United States in open, armed, hostilities? If not, then all this talk about fighting and standing and resisting (blah blah blah) is a bunch of hot wind and horse shit and amounts to nothing more than a self-licking ice cream cone.


Once Bush takes the oath the game is over as far as Kerry '04 is concerned. There is no precedence or capability for "unswearing" the President. He will be the President and any attempt to remove him by force will be met with crushing might. Once Bush is sworn, if he is later driven out of office by revelations of fraud or other criminal activity, presidential succession will proceed according to the Constitution, which will keep the administration firmly in Republican hands.