From the Smirking Chimp...
(I know I can't be the first to post this...)
(snip)
Now let's try a thought-experiment. Whatever your beliefs about the fairness, or alternatively the fraudulence, of the election, just assume for the moment that the early exit polls were accurate, and that if all votes had been correctly tallied, Kerry would have won with at least the reverse percentages of the "conventional" totals: 51% for Kerry, 48% for Bush, with Kerry carrying both Florida and Ohio. Assume further that these were the totals announced, and that Kerry would have thus been declared the winner, and even now would be selecting his cabinet.
Now imagine what you might in this case be reading now and hearing in the media - right-wing radio and Fox News excepted, of course. In the more responsible segments of the media, Kerry might be portrayed as a politically skillful and popular candidate, there might be an acknowledgment of public endorsement of his program, and there would be numerous columns and commentaries speculating about why Bush had "failed" as a candidate and as a President. The political shift toward the far right would have been arrested. There would be anticipations of balanced budgets, an end of the Iraq war, a restoration of civil liberties and the rule of law, and a rejoining of the United States in the world community. In short, the political landscape would appear radically different than it does today.
I happen to be among those who believe that more votes were cast for Kerry than for Bush in this election, and that with a fair recording of the votes, Kerry would now be President-Elect. Bush, I am now convinced, owes his office to criminal vote manipulation and fraud. I have argued this point earlier, and will soon follow this essay with another presentation of the case that this was a stolen election...more:
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/print.php?sid=19200