Reply #53: point of fact

[Apollo11]

"Do you remember him standing with gavel having to quieten senators who opposed the outcome of that election."

In January 2001, some Members of the Black Caucus in the House of Representatives did try to speak out against accepting the slate of electors from Florida. No Democratic Senator spoke out. If one had stood up, there would have been a debate. Although it's true that Al Gore did not ask Senate Democrats to speak out, because he knew that the Republicans had the votes they needed in both houses of Congress, so it would have been an unwinnable fight that would create a lot of bitterness. From Al Gore's perspective - his decision to accept the SCOTUS ruling on December 13th 2000 was his final word on that election.

Senator Barbara Boxer says she regrets not standing up at that time, and 4 years later she did stand up which meant that both houses of Congress had to debate the "irregularities" in Ohio in November 2004. This helped to raise the profile of "electoral integrity" issues nationwide, although we are still a long way from ensuring clean and fair elections.