Bush v. Gore's Dark American Decade

[kster]

Bush v. Gore's Dark American Decade

By Robert Parry
December 12, 2010

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Everyone immediately understood what the five partisan Republicans – William Rehnquist, Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, Sandra Day O’Connor and Anthony Kennedy – had done: they had awarded the presidency to George W. Bush.

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By virtually all objective measures, the consequences of Bush’s eight-year presidency were disastrous, including massive federal deficits, an economy ravaged by reckless gambling on Wall Street, and two costly wars still hemorrhaging money and blood.

However, after two years of President Barack Obama and the Democratic Congress undertaking emergency (and often unpopular) steps to stabilize the collapsing economy, the Republicans pounded a campaign drum of fiscal responsibility and deficit reduction, deriding Obama’s modest stimulus efforts and health-care reform as costly failures.

In their comeback, the Republicans also were aided by another Supreme Court ruling in early 2010, the Citizens United case, in which two right-wing appointees of President Bush – John Roberts and Samuel Alito – joined with Scalia, Thomas and Kennedy to strike down restrictions on corporate spending for political ads.

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Justice Scalia made clear that the purpose of the court’s action was to prevent Bush from falling behind in the tally and thus raising questions about his legitimacy should the Supreme Court later declare him the winner. That outcome would “cast a cloud” over the “legitimacy” of an eventual Bush presidency, explained Scalia. “Count first, and rule upon the legality afterwards, is not a recipe for producing election results that have the public acceptance democratic stability requires,” Scalia wrote.

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A decade after the fateful court ruling – with the results of Bush’s presidency now painfully apparent and his own appointed justices helping to open the floodgates of special-interest money to further distort the democratic process – Bush v. Gore must be viewed as a moment when the United States started down a very dark road.

MORE http://www.consortiumnews.com/2010/121210.html




Posted by: Hissyspit

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x9762804

[Tunkamerica]

1. Gore's campaign was my first opportunity to vote

and it seems like a lifetime ago now. It's important to remember the actions that lead us to where we are today.

[fasttense]

2. And the Democrats did little to fight back.

Why didn't they hold demonstrations and protests? Why didn't we fight back?

Americans just sat back and let it happen. But the Democrats and Al Gore certainly made it easy for us to remain at home while our justice system turned into a ridiculous parody of itself.

I think Americans are not yet ready to fight for their democracy. I wonder if we will ever be.

[Enthusiast]

3. That is when we fell off the cliff.

That decision ushered in the troubles we live today. They did not steal an election with good intentions in mind. And that is a fact.

[ladjf]

4. Thanks again Supreme Court for subverting Democracy. nt