YOU WANT TO GET MAD?
(Point One In the Rant)Eric Alterman Reflects in Dec. 2010
Bush V Gore --- Actually I’ve moved on, but even I have to laugh at the line in “Now, you are mad.” If you supported Gore you would, too. If you were for Bush and all the events were the same only we flipped sides, you would laugh as well. A Florida governed by Jeb Gore and a presidential election that was essentially a tie would have taken you down the same emotional path Gore voters experienced. The real problem was the margin of error fell below what a punch card system could handle. Cards do not register votes accurately enough to determine a winner in such a close election. I think no state has ever tried to pursue recounts more scrupulously than Minnesota. In the 1962 Governor’s race Elmer L. Andersen won by 142 votes. After weeks of arduous review, Karl Rolvaag was the victor by 91 votes out of the 1.26 million cast. Then the Franken/Coleman recount of 2008, did you notice, even in a state with more modern election machines than punch cards, there were still many decisions determined by the courts. In elections of this magnitude courts always are involved. Bush first filed in federal court; this filing lead to the Supreme Court.
Gore lost the Florida election long before Election Day, no not because of Elian Gonzalez.