11/10/00 12:50 p.m.
Bill Daley, Un-Patriot
Put the people first.

By Mark R. Levin, former chief of staff to attorney general Edwin Meese

his is a nation that respects the rule of law, which means we don't need lectures by any of the late Richard J. Daley's children about "the will of the people." After all, it was the Daley machine in Chicago that arguably helped steal the 1960 presidential election from Richard Nixon.

Nonetheless, yesterday, Bill Daley, Al Gore's campaign chairman, made one of the most unpatriotic and undemocratic statements in American political history. He said, "If the will of the people is to prevail, Al Gore should be awarded a victory in Florida and be our next president." In other words, if George Bush wins the electoral vote in Florida, the presidential election was stolen from Gore. He made this comment because he knows that when the final votes are tallied, Gore will lose Florida and, therefore, the presidency. Clearly Daley isn't speaking on his own. He's speaking for Gore.

In the past few days, the phrase "voting irregularities" has become the clarion call of the Gore operatives. It's an intentionally ambiguous phrase of no legal relevance. But its purpose is to create the impression of widespread, systematic voter fraud throughout the state of Florida, where none exists. So far, all the Gore team has offered as evidence of their claims are examples of voters spoiling their own ballots. That doesn't cut it, and it won't with any court.

There are numerous states where the margin of victory was extremely narrow for both candidates, but especially for Gore. Are we now to go into those states and attempt to reverse those results with lawsuits and demands for recounts and new voting? Should we check the historically unreliable ballot boxes in Daley's hometown of Chicago? Is the will of the people any less important there than in Florida?

It's not lost on some of us that many of the same people who trampled on the Constitution for Bill Clinton during impeachment are now willing to do the same for Al Gore in this election. After the recount is finished, and the absentee ballots are tallied, the loser should concede. Obviously, Gore anticipates that he will be the loser, otherwise all of these outrageous devices and demagogic rhetoric would be unnecessary. But Gore will not go quietly. Therefore, it will be up to leaders in his party to urge him to put the country and the Constitution above his personal ambition and step off the stage.