http://www.thestate.com/mld/state/news/opinion/10104228.htm Let's give some credit to the Senator from Massachusetts.
He should not have conceded until all the votes were counted. He gets a pass because that has not been the tradition, although in the light of 2000, what he said he would do, and what Edwards said they would do, he should have established a new tradition, established a real democratic example, and simply said "In America we count everyone's vote, we get a final number, those numbers tell us who won, and then we call each other on the phone to congratualte or commiserate. Period." Kerry was enough a product of the system, and not enough a product of our anger at BushCorp. to fail to even consider that, really. I wouldn't want that form of democracy "exported" to me, where voting is central, but (even symbolically) waiting until each vote is counted is not central. Kerry should have established a new tradition, but I'm not hating on him because it's how he was politically raised.