Democratic Childishness and Republican Grace in Defeat

Is it just me or do the Dems always seem particularly childish and gloating when they win presidential elections?

In 2001, the Clinton administration turned the White House over complete with $20K of stolen keyboards, cellphones, doorknobs, presidential medallions, etc. This year, there have been no such reports.

Five EOP staff told us they observed damage, vandalism, or pranks in the
White House complex when they worked there during past transitions.
Regarding the 1993 transition, an EOP employee said that she observed five
desks containing prank pictures of former Vice President Gore with written
messages on them and a banner on a balcony. In addition, two EOP staff (a
different employee for each of the following observations) said he or she
observed 1 to 2 poster-sized signs, and 5 to 10 missing office signs. Another
EOP employee showed us writing inside a desk that was dated January
1993.

Incidents such as the removal of keys from computer keyboards; the theft
of various items; the leaving of certain voice mail messages, signs, and
written messages; and the placing of glue on desk drawers, clearly were
done intentionally. Any intentional damage at the White House complex,
which is a national treasure, is both inappropriate and a serious matter.
The theft of or willful damage to government property would constitute a
criminal act in violation of federal law. Although it is clear that some of the
reported incidents were intentional, such as the removal and damaging of
keys on computer keyboards, it was unclear whether, in all cases, the
reported incidents occurred, when they occurred, how many occurred, and
who was responsible for them.

The EOP and GSA provided documentation indicating
that at least $9,324 was spent to repair and replace items that were
observed broken or missing in specific locations and for cleaning services
in offices where observations were made.

EOP and GSA officials also provided estimates of $3,750 to $4,675 in costs
that could have been incurred or may be spent in the future to replace
missing items for which no documentation, such as facility request forms
or purchase records, was available.

Based on what the White House said were extremely conservative
estimates and straightforward documentation, the White House said that
the government incurred costs of at least $6,020 to replace missing
telephone labels and reroute forwarded telephones.

Seven EOP staff and one former Clinton administration employee who had worked in the White House complex during previous transitions made comparisons regarding the condition of the space during the 2001 transition with conditions during previous transitions. Six EOP staff said that the condition was worse in 2001 than previous transitions, while one
EOP employee and one former Clinton administration employee said the office space was worse in 1993 than 2001. Because of the lack of definitive data available to compare the extent of damage, vandalism, and pranks during the 2001 transition with past transitions, we were unable to conclude whether the 2001 transition was worse than previous ones.

The only protests of any significance at all yesterday were not from the right side of the political spectrum, but rather the left (Code Pink took to throwing shoes, and others of the extreme left screamed about the need to arrest Bush and Cheney).

$20K of stolen keyboards, cellphones, doorknobs, presidential medallions, etc. This year, there have been no such reports.

However, both the orders listed on the closed orders log and the individual
work orders, as well as the blanket work orders, cited other services
besides labeling, and it was not clear to us from the documentation
provided the extent to which relabeling was done solely to replace missing
labels or would have been necessary anyway due to changes requested by
new office occupants. None of the documents provided specifically cited
correcting forwarded telephones. Thus, while we do not question that
costs were incurred to replace labels or reroute forwarded telephones, we
do not believe the documentation provided is clear enough to indicate what
those costs were.

Or is simply that Republicans go into defeat with much more maturity and grace.