You're quite right. I also didn't acknowledge that while we can now suggest 'he woulda won anyway' that wasn't the case back in 2000. Bush did everything in his power to stop the recounts that he thought he might have lost. All about winning the vote -- and nothing about finding out the true count. And the money he spent on his campaign -- obscene. As I've said before -- lots to dislike about the man. And the whole process around the 2000 election was embarrassing to anyone from a 'western democracy'. I just think it’s petty and misleading to say he 'lost' the election or that he is an illegitimate president. And I found the WSJ article interesting. I do think that most americans believe W is the first president to lose the popular vote, and still win. If George didn't win, then who did?
I've posted this before, but it's interesting (to me at least )... Scientifically, nine out of nine scenarios show that the Florida vote was dead even within the uncertainties of the measurement. Our system has no good way of dealing with natural uncertainties. If I ran things, a state's electoral votes would be tossed or shelved for a run-off every time the results were even to within a certain miniscule percentage like this. It's actually the only fair and honest way to do things, but it would be very controversial, and it will never happen.
Actually, the constitution provides a way out of such a scenario, but the problem in 2000 is that it was also disadvantageous to gore, and that's why he resorted to the courts. it bears repeating, there was a legal, legitimate way to resolve such a statistical tie, but gore couldn't risk it so he went to wourt to try and obtain another result. in the event the state is unable to choose a slate of electors via the vote, either because there's a tie, or because the process drags past the date by which the law says the vote must be certified, the state legislature shall choose the electors. in the event there are competing slates chosen, ie the florida supremes say you have to recount one way and the recount is finished too late and the florida secretary of state certifies anothe slate, once again the election goes to the state legislature. the problem for gore, was that the florida legislature was/is overwhelmingly republican. so if gore had followed the procedures laid down by law, he still would have lost.
I do have to say that people who oppose Bush's policies would be better served by letting the whole Florida thing go. Was it an election as we would desire it? No. Was it an accurate reflection of the will of the majority? No. Was it legal? Probably, but if it wasn't, the fault is not Bush's. Making it part of the reason for objecting to Bush policies only makes the argument which follows seem partisan, bitter, and subjective. His polcies are worhty of concern enough without blaming him for flaws in the electoral system which, while he may have benefited from them, can hardly be said to be his responsibility. He used the sytem to best serve his purposes, as Gore would have.
I agree, further I don't know how the stupid article that is the basis of this thread has anything to do with it anyway.
I have never been one to complain in a post about the outcome of 2000. But it has been brought up and so I have to make a few points. The Miami Herald article only mentions the undervotes being counted. If you count the over votes where people voted for Gore, and then filled the blank under write-in where it says 'write the name of your candidate in the blank, Gore wins. The supreme court did a strange thing when ruling on the Fla. recount. It said that their ruling ONLY applied to Florida. Why? Because if they didn't every single election we've had in recent times could be overturned using the standard they set. All voting machines would have had to be identical in all elections to live up to the standard. There is also the point that one of the judges should have stated his conflict of interest since he had two family members working for the law firm that filed the case on behalf of Bush. It's not as cut and dry as some would have it, but it doesn't behoove anyone to complain about it.
