Ever the dutiful soldier, John Kerry delivered the most painful speech of his life Wednesday, choking back the tears and the bitter aftertaste of defeat as he appealed to fellow Democrats to work to heal America's divide.
Amid the raw emotions that occasionally overwhelmed him, forcing Kerry to gaze up at the ceiling for composure, the Senator was careful to tell the faithful that he had thoroughly explored the prospects of a legal challenge and recounts before giving up on the election.
"In America, it is vital that every vote counts and that every vote be counted, but the outcome should be decided by voters, not a protracted legal fight," Kerry said.
"I would not have given up this fight if there was a chance we would prevail, but it is now clear that if all the provisional ballots were counted, which they will be, there won't be enough outstanding votes for us to win Ohio, and therefore we can't win the election."
It was in many ways, Kerry's finest appearance -- the flinty New Englander's feelings on full display for perhaps the first time in his candidacy.
Wednesday's concession speech, delivered in the 18th-century splendor of Boston's Faneuil Hall meeting place, was a rare encounter with failure for Kerry.
The product of a privileged New England upbringing, a graduate of Yale, a Vietnam war hero and husband to two heiresses, Kerry has lost just one election in his political career, and that was some 30 years ago.
But in ending the quest that has consumed him for more than half of his lifetime, the Democratic leader remained mindful of the extraordinary passions unleashed during the course of this election season, and the dangers of leaving his supporters to nurse their resentments.
And so Kerry extinguished the last hopes for Democrats that, even in the face of a convincing re-election victory for President George W Bush, somehow the results could be salvaged.
That was the rationale for his running mate, John Edwards, when he appeared in the dark hours of Wednesday morning, and promised thousands of supporters that the campaign was not ready to admit defeat -- at least not yet.
"We will fight for every vote," he said.
For several hours, it seemed that this election would be a re-run of the 2000 vote -- albeit with a change in venue from Florida to Ohio -- with recounts, and legal challenges, and no clear election victory for days to come.
Edwards sounded the same theme again Wednesday afternoon.
"We will continue to fight for every vote," he said. "We will honor each one of you who stood for us and stood in line."
But in the harsh dawn of the day, it was clear that victory was beyond Kerry's grasp. Even the Democrats' 11th-hour scenario of demanding a count of the provisional ballots cast in Ohio would not bring home the votes that Kerry needed.
After studying the returns, and consulting with Republican as well as Democratic politicians in the state, Kerry's aides advised him to surrender.
Shortly after 11am, Kerry made a brief phone call to the Oval Office to offer Bush his congratulations. Democratic officials said he praised Bush as a worthy opponent, and urged him -- twice -- to heal the divisions in the country.
Kehinde Sanni spends his days smoothing out dents and repainting scratched bumpers in a modest autobody shop in Lagos. He has never left Nigeria, yet he speaks glowingly of Burkina Faso military leader Ibrahim Traore. “Nigeria needs someone like Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso. He is doing well for his country,” Sanni said. His admiration is shaped by a steady stream of viral videos, memes and social media posts — many misleading or outright false — portraying Traore as a fearless reformer who defied Western powers and reclaimed his country’s dignity. The Burkinabe strongman swept into power following a coup in September 2022
‘FRAGMENTING’: British politics have for a long time been dominated by the Labor Party and the Tories, but polls suggest that Reform now poses a significant challenge Hard-right upstarts Reform UK snatched a parliamentary seat from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labor Party yesterday in local elections that dealt a blow to the UK’s two establishment parties. Reform, led by anti-immigrant firebrand Nigel Farage, won the by-election in Runcorn and Helsby in northwest England by just six votes, as it picked up gains in other localities, including one mayoralty. The group’s strong showing continues momentum it built up at last year’s general election and appears to confirm a trend that the UK is entering an era of multi-party politics. “For the movement, for the party it’s a very, very big
ENTERTAINMENT: Rio officials have a history of organizing massive concerts on Copacabana Beach, with Madonna’s show drawing about 1.6 million fans last year Lady Gaga on Saturday night gave a free concert in front of 2 million fans who poured onto Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro for the biggest show of her career. “Tonight, we’re making history... Thank you for making history with me,” Lady Gaga told a screaming crowd. The Mother Monster, as she is known, started the show at about 10:10pm local time with her 2011 song Bloody Mary. Cries of joy rose from the tightly packed fans who sang and danced shoulder-to-shoulder on the vast stretch of sand. Concert organizers said 2.1 million people attended the show. Lady Gaga
SUPPORT: The Australian prime minister promised to back Kyiv against Russia’s invasion, saying: ‘That’s my government’s position. It was yesterday. It still is’ Left-leaning Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday basked in his landslide election win, promising a “disciplined, orderly” government to confront cost-of-living pain and tariff turmoil. People clapped as the 62-year-old and his fiancee, Jodie Haydon, who visited his old inner Sydney haunt, Cafe Italia, surrounded by a crowd of jostling photographers and journalists. Albanese’s Labor Party is on course to win at least 83 seats in the 150-member parliament, partial results showed. Opposition leader Peter Dutton’s conservative Liberal-National coalition had just 38 seats, and other parties 12. Another 17 seats were still in doubt. “We will be a disciplined, orderly
RSS