I have asked this before, but it bears being asked again. When will American liberals face the facts and admit they were soundly beaten in the last presidential election? I am tired of hearing all the whining and complaining about voter fraud in Ohio and elsewhere.

Why can’t liberals recognize that whining and crying will not change the outcome of the election? Kerry lost in a very convincing way. So please, I’m begging liberals, get on with your lives. It is not the end of the world. There is always 2008.

Now John Kerry has joined the ranks of his fellow whining liberals by crying to the Massachusetts League of Women Voters about his loss to George W. Bush. Kerry told his audience last week, “Last year too many people were denied their right to vote, too many who tried to vote were intimidated.”

In other words, evil republicans rigged the entire election in Ohio and managed to steal enough votes to affect its outcome. I guess secret republican operatives hired goons the size of WWE wrestlers to stand outside polling stations with their arms crossed, daring democrat voters to enter. That explains why Kerry lost to Bush by over a hundred thousand votes in Ohio. I didn’t realize there were that many pro-wrestlers out there.

I challenge John Kerry and his fellow liberals to show proof of just one person, who was denied the right to vote in Ohio. Please don’t count the people who are too ignorant to find their proper voting precincts. That argument does not fly, especially after the historic election in Iraq. Iraqis were not told of their polling places until a couple of days before the election because of security concerns.

Even with major obstacles to overcome, millions of Iraqis were smart enough to find their polling stations. Many of them where “really” intimidated by mortar and gunfire, but they still managed to vote.

Is Kerry implying some Democrats in Ohio are too dumb to find their polling places? I really don’t remember any evil Republican activists firing mortars at Democrats as they made their way to vote, or pro-wrestlers standing outside polling stations for that matter. Maybe Kerry was having a Vietnam flash back or dreaming of the splinter that earned him his third Purple Heart.

Kerry also said, “Leaflets are handed out saying Democrats vote on Wednesday, Republicans vote on Tuesday. People are told in telephone calls that if you’ve ever had a parking ticket, you’re not allowed to vote.”

If this were true, which I doubt, I guess people who received the handouts and phone calls never watch television, listen to the radio or read newspapers. Maybe they are too busy hanging out with their friends on street corners to find out when and where to vote.

I wish John Kerry would just go away. Maybe he can retire on one of his wife’s villas in France. His own party does not even want him. They elected Howard “The Screech” Dean to head the DNC. If his own party does not want him around, why do we need to listen to his complaints?

And why is Dean running the Democrat Party? You would think a war hero like Kerry would be an ideal choice for leading his party into the future. Maybe party insiders do not trust Kerry. They do after all now have a good reason not to trust him.

During the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee questioning of John Bolton on being nominated to be the ambassador to the United Nations, Kerry revealed the name of a CIA analyst who works covertly.

During questioning, Kerry read aloud from a transcript of interviews that committee staffers had conducted prior to the hearing. “Did Otto Reich share his belief that Fulton Armstrong should be removed from his position? The answer is yes,” Kerry also asked, “Did John Bolton share that view?”

“As I said, I had lost confidence in Mr. Smith, and I conveyed that,” Bolton replied. “I thought that was the honest thing to do.”

Smith was the name Bolton had earlier used to identify the CIA analyst since he works covertly. Kerry used the analyst’s real name, Fulton Armstrong, thereby giving away state secrets.

Since John Kerry is a US Navy veteran you would assume that he knows the old saying, “Loose Lips Sink Ships”. I think he is more familiar with the old saying that if you assume something, “You will make an ass out of you and me”. Apparently Kerry made an ass out of the government agency that issued him a security clearance to be a member of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee.

I know John Kerry has a plan for everything under the sun. I just didn’t realize his plan was to expose CIA agents. For the sake of national security, I really think it is time he took an extended French vacation. And please: Stop whining.

— Steve Darnell is a self-syndicated columnist and can be reached at www.stevedarnell.com.