I thought (for whatever that is worth) that it was entirely legitimate for
Deb to forward the posting to the list.

It strikes me that while many thoughtful people have serious
reservations about the legitimacy of Bush's election, other equally
thoughtful people would have (will have?) serious reservations about
the legitimacy of Gore's election. Common sense tells us that in an
election this close a thousand "what ifs" (most of them pretty
legitimate "what ifs") might have turned the election the other way. In
the end, the Electoral College or the House of Representatives will
elect a president, I guess. In the end, someone who thinks he has
the moral right to the presidency will lose, and his followers will be
forever certain the election was stolen. It will become a factoid of
our national story.

The drift of Deb's posting, to me, was that international perceptions
matter and we do not control them. As good lawyers, we can all
deconstruct the facts cited and rebuild another story of the election.
And we can refute some of the facts cited. But, in the end, the
appalling inefficiency and inaccuracy of our election system should
be a national embarrassment and humiliation, no matter who wins,
because it erodes the moral legitimacy of our democracy, and that
is a travesty. That is, neither a Gore nor a Bush victory would
exonerate the technological, and therefore political, failures that
came to light because the election was so close.

And then I could go on about the nation that puts a man on the
moon, that fights high tech wars without shedding [much] of its own
warriors' blood, that does the technology economy like no one else,
and so forth, not being able to conduct an accurate and reliable
election. Enough, Ginny.

Ginny

Date sent:              Wed, 29 Nov 2000 08:12:24 -0500
Send reply to:          "Academy of Legal Studies in Business (ALSB) Talk"
                <[log in to unmask]>
From:                   deb ballam <[log in to unmask]>
Subject:                Re: More Election Stuff
To:                     [log in to unmask]

Frank--No, I didn't draft this, but I gather from your response that
you feel it was silly for me to have forwarded the message to the
list.  Many people, who are entirely reasonable and responsible, have
extremely serious doubts about the legitimacy of this election.
Obviously, this message is an extreme expression of that view, and I
am sure not everyone who has doubts about the election agrees with
all, or even most, of the points made.  Nevertheless, many agree with
some of the points made.  Hence, I do feel it was a legitimate
message
to forward to the list.

Deb

At 03:49 AM 11/28/2000 -0800, Frank Cross wrote:
>Deb, Deb, Deb,
>
>I know you didn't draft this, but really: