Newsmax reports that Gore campaign aide Chris Lahane attributes the popular vote going the Gore way to the 11th hour DWI charge levied against Bush. Dick Morris agrees. I've always thought that was at least a factor in the Gore surge, though I attribute Gore's victory more to the stellar Democratic turnout that I don't think many were expecting. In any case, Newsmax demands an apology. They point out, quite correctly, that the information was held by the Gore campaign and Democrats until the last minute so that it would have the effect that it presumably had.

C'mon, boys. Aren't we the ones that constantly stress the importance of personal responsibility? Did the Democrats use the information for maximum political gain? Probably, but I honestly wouldn't expect the Republicans do to much differently. That's not the issue, though. It would be one thing if the charges were unsubstantiated. However, they were documented fact. So do we blame the ones who handled a damaging charge to deliver the most damage, or do we blame the one who was guilty of the charges levied and was not upfront about it? It's not a very difficult judgment.

When the news broke, I was eating dinner with a couple colleagues with the Houston Review. Republicans and/or conservatives all of us. We were furious not with the Gore team, but rather with the Bush team. What took place in October was the cultivation of a serious series of errors in judgment. Obviously Bush screwed up with the DWI. However, the American public proved its willingness to forgive by all but ignoring probably cocaine use by Bush in his younger days. The more serious and substantial mistake, that paved the way for the damaging allegation's delivery, was the Bush team's refusal to go forward with it before hand. If Karl Rove didn't know about it, he should have. Every presidential campaign manager ought to know the dirt on his employer, even if it requires an independent investigation. They investigated all the potential VP picks even though ultimately none of them were chosen.

There are a lot of apologies due to those of us who supported Bush and had to deal with the last minute news and possible loss, but it's not the Gore team that owes us the apology.