Former Democrat presidential nominee Al Gore told CNN’s "State of the Union" on Sunday that he had no regrets about conceding the presidential race to George W. Bush 20 years ago after the Supreme Court made its decision regarding Florida's controversial counting of its votes.
“Winston Churchill once said of the American people, he said they generally do the right thing after first exhausting every available alternative," Gore said. “And there were no remaining alternatives, after a final Supreme Court decision.”
He emphasized that “there is no intermediate step between a final Supreme Court decision on a matter of this sort and violent revolution. And those who talk about continuing the fight after it is over with are being disrespectful of American democracy, which is, in Lincoln's phrase, the last, best hope of humankind.”
George W. Bush won the 2000 election when the Supreme Court ruled that he had captured Florida’s electoral votes after a month-long legal battle. Gore, who had conceded the race on election night, and then withdrew it, conceded to Bush again after the court's decision.
Commenting on President Donald Trump’s current efforts to challenge this year’s election, Gore said “many conservative and Republican legal scholars have described that lawsuit as ridiculous and really unintelligible. And, of course, the Supreme Court summarily dismissed it, with all of the Supreme Court justices nominated by President Trump dismissing it as well. So, that lawsuit got the result that it deserved.”
The former vice president added that “I would encourage those who are still supporting the lost cause of President Trump’s reelection, to put the country first,” saying he hopes Monday’s Electoral College vote will be “a point, at which some of those who have hung on, will give up the ghost.”
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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