Twenty years after he conceded the presidential race to George W. Bush, former vice resident and Democratic nominee Al Gore said Sunday he had no regrets about his decision to accept defeat.
CNN’s Jake Tapper asked Gore on “State of the Union” if he ever had any regrets about conceding.
“No, I have not,” said Gore. “Winston Churchill once said of the American people, he said they generally do the right thing after first exhausting every available alternative. And there were no remaining alternatives, after a final Supreme Court decision.”
“The only intermediate — there is no intermediate step between a final Supreme Court decision on a matter of this sort and violent revolution. And those who talk about continuing the fight after it is over with are being disrespectful of American democracy, which is, in Lincoln’s phrase, the last, best hope of humankind,” Gore added.
Bush won the 2000 election after a month-long legal battle and a Supreme Court decision handed him Florida’s electoral votes.
Gore – who had conceded the race on election night, then withdrew the concession – called Bush to concede for a final time after Florida was decided.
Tapper also asked Gore for his thoughts on the current legal battles Republican leaders have waged to reverse or disqualify the results of the election that gave the win to President-elect Joe Biden.
“Well, many conservative and Republican legal scholars have described that lawsuit as ridiculous and really unintelligible,” said Gore. “And, of course, the Supreme Court summarily dismissed it, with all of the Supreme Court justices nominated by President Trump dismissing it as well. So, that lawsuit got the result that it deserved.”
Gore appealed to those who are still supporting Trump’s re-election to “put the country first.” He expressed hope that once the electoral votes were cast on Monday people would begin to let go of their efforts to overturn the election.