R Is for Recount

I don't have HBO and haven't seen Recount, but any occasion is good to remind Americans that the 2000 presidential election was stolen and that the administration we are suffering was not elected, but installed in a coup d'etat. Digby's post about the nightmares of 2000 is worth reading (as are her posts generally).

And yes, I remember that Bush was elected more-or-less legally once in the meantime, in 2004. I have acknowledged that by referring to him as "President", something I absolutely avoided throughout his first term. But he won that election as as the incumbent, a significant advantage which he gained as a direct consequence of his illegal 2000 power grab.

What has made me sad for the past seven and a half years is how little outrage and protest there was when Bush stole the election. I didn't live in the DC area at the time, but I came to protest against the inauguration. Sadly, there were only a few thousand (5000 would be my estimate) mostly mild-mannered protesters. In a vital democracy, millions would have taken to the streets and/or refused to cooperate with the administration. I learned then that our democracy is ill; the only question is, is the illness terminal, or will democracy recover?