yesthattom | The biggest mistake we must learn from

And so he improvised, pulling together a team headed by former secretary of state Warren Christopher, now a Los Angeles–based lawyer in private practice. Christopher, Gore felt, would imbue the team with an image of decorous, law-abiding, above-the-fray respectability. Instead, Christopher set a different tone, one that would characterize the Democrats’ efforts over the next 35 days: hesitancy and trepidation.
By contrast, Christopher’s Republican counterpart, James Baker, another ex–secretary of state, dug in like a pit bull. Unlike Christopher and company, Baker spoke to the press loudly and often, and his message was Bush had won on November 7. Any further inspection would result only in “mischief.” Privately, however, he knew that at the start he was on shaky political ground. “We’re getting killed on ‘count all the votes,’” he told his team. “Who the hell could be against that?”

Translation: If the vote is close, the Republicans will try to claim victory. If they do, we must fucking fight like mother fuckers hell bent on winning. We must declare victory and defy anyone to challenge us.

Kerry better know this.

http://www.makethemaccountable.com/articles/The_Path_To_Florida.htm