I'm tired of all the conjecture: what does the evidence actually say about the Bush/Gore race?
Offline ...I'm so exhausted with this topic. I hear nothing but naked assertions and ad hominem attacks from either side of the debate, and continue to do so.
What the fuck actually happened? I understand the following facts:
- The election was called in Bush's favor via supreme court decision
- A number of polling stations in Florida were defective, causing the whole mess in the first place.
...and that's all. Apparently state-wide recounts can be modeled in either candidate's favor (the Bush camp insists that so many were in his favor that the supreme court simply made the logical choice), the company that did the tabulating was somehow on Bush's payroll, black voters were somehow discounted from the vote (again, Bush camp has said this isn't true - that some names were merely identified, not taken off), etc, etc, etc.
What's the evidence? What actually happened? I'm tired of simply nodding in agreement with Democrat supporters who insist GWB stole the election when I haven't even heard a consensus on any facts yet.
"Natasha has just come up to the window from the courtyard and opened it wider so that the air may enter more freely into my room. I can see the bright green strip of grass beneath the wall, and the clear blue sky above the wall, and sunlight everywhere. Life is beautiful. Let the future generations cleanse it of all evil, oppression and violence, and enjoy it to the full."
- Leon Trotsky, Last Will & Testament
February 27, 1940
- Login to post comments
All I can think of to add, Rum-ed out, is the election rules suck.
Gore won the popular National vote, and even in Florida most say. The majority Liberals are getting screwed because the popular 3rd party candidates are mostly liberal and take votes away from Democratic candidate. Had Ralph Nader not run, Gore would have been president.
It would be easy to fix the system, so the bigger question is why isn't it being fixed now ??? A 1st and 2nd choice option is needed and easy.
The electoral college is no longer needed as well .... that's was an old horse and buggy thing in a time of no electric instant communication .....
Atheism Books.
Florida has become the poster child of how to screw up elections.
In several counties such as Seminole the Republican election supervisor allowed the local Republican Party to add voter ID #s to absentee ballots that were missing unsupervised, but did not invite the Democratic Party to do the same. She was obviously in violation of ethics. She was never charged.
See here and here
other counties had issues too, see here
Palm Beach County had the famous butterfly ballot which for the retired people and others that had trouble wandering through a maze was like closing their eyes and voting.
The rules used for the first recount were those Gore wanted not Bush. This resulted in a Bush win. If the rules Bush wanted initially were used Gore would have won, see here post recount section.
All of the official recounts were partial and showed Bush the winner.
A recount of all the state per county rules showed Gore won in all cases. see here. The Florida Ballot Recount Project
The media recounts performed later showed Bush won in all cases except one. In the one case Gore won by 3 votes if the chad had been completely punched out not counting partial dimples, etc.
In the end the Supreme Court declared Bush won by 537 votes.
As a resident of Florida that voted for Gore I felt criminal activity had occured and was ignored. Probably this occur ed every year just as in Mayor Daily's Chicago of the 50's and 60s. The good thing to come out of this was reform and not just on voting machines. Future elections should be more accurate in Florida. I know we had the Primary Election issue this year but it was accurate even if not per party rules.
The claim Bush stole Florida is not a valid argument, rather Florida elections at the time were a complete disaster of fuck ups. As the election was so close it's not possible to determine who actually won to everyone's satisfaction. People see what they want in the recounts and the issues. To this day, I have no idea who really won Florida.
____________________________________________________________
"I guess it's time to ask if you live under high voltage power transmission lines which have been shown to cause stimulation of the fantasy centers of the brain due to electromagnetic waves?" - Me
"God is omnipotent, omniscient, omnibenevolent, - it says so right here on the label. If you have a mind capable of believing all three of these divine attributes simultaneously, I have a wonderful bargain for you. No checks please. Cash and in small bills." - Robert A Heinlein.