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As America hurtles toward the next presidential race, the HBO film 'Recount' will relive the fervor of 2000's messy election. Kevin Spacey and Denis Leary take Al Gore's fight to the courts on May 25 - make your own case here on the boards, where the most cogent arguments will be featured in a special poll on HBO.com. And don't worry - this time all the votes will be counted. The question: Do you believe the Supreme Court's handling of Gore v. Bush was partisan?
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Re: Do you believe the Supreme Court's handling of Gore v. Bush was partisa
May 26, 2008 10:43 PM
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This film is actually fairly mutual. It's a movie I wouldn't mind my kids watch when they understand the contents. Actually, it's a must see because it's part of the history I'll definitely group together with Iraq War and the collapse of our country thereafter. Yes, this film is mutual, because I was looking forward to learn a lot more about the laws broken by the Republicans: Source Floridagate The Presidential Election of 2000 was stolen by the Bush-Cheney Campaign and the Florida GOP, Jeb Bush, Katherine Harris, County Election Officials, the U.S. Supreme Court, the Media, and Attorney General John Ashcroft. The list below documents all of the crimes that were committed to steal the election. These were not isolated instances of carelessness - they were deliberate election fraud. We believe these crimes are so serious that they should be given a name: FLORIDAGATE. FLORIDAGATE is the nation's biggest scandal since Watergate. So why isn't the mainstream media reporting the story? Because the media - especially the huge broadcast networks - were participants in the crime, and are now participants in the coverup. So is Attorney General John Ashcroft, who should be investigating these crimes. Meanwhile, Democratic leaders in Washington are afraid to demand a thorough investigation, because they know they would be viciously attacked by the Republican propaganda machine. We demand a thorough investigation of FLORIDAGATE. Sign our petition. We are fighting a heroic battle to bring FLORIDAGATE to the attention of the American people - and the world. We need your support! Please contribute today. To comment on the crimes cited below, click here. Read the Boston Statement detailing how Bush stole the presidency. Bush-Cheney Campaign and the Florida GOP 1. Absentee ballot law (FL GOP) The Florida Republican Party sent a letter with Jeb's signature and the Florida state seal urging Florida Republicans to vote by absentee ballots. But Florida law (which was made even stricter in 1998) is not a "vote-by-mail" system - voters must have a valid reason for voting by mail. The Republican Party was thus encouraging Republican voters to break the law. Florida's absentee ballot laws were tightened because of the 1997 Miami absentee ballot scandal that resulted in the voiding of ALL absentees and the overturn of the election. The man who engineered that massive fraud - Mayoral candidate Xavier Suarez - played a key role in the GOP absentee effort in 2000. 2. Absentee Ballot Law, Voting Rights Act (FL GOP, Seminole County, Martin County) With the active assistance of GOP Election Supervisors, FL GOP officials sent GOP operatives to illegally alter over 2,500 defective Republican absentee ballot applications, while at least 550 Democratic applications were ignored. 3. Conspiracy to Interfere with the Lawful Count of the Votes (Jeb Bush, Katherine Harris) When the TV networks called Florida for Gore, Bush campaign spokespeople (Rove, Matalin, etc.) went on TV to declare the results were wrong and would soon be changed. Was there already a plan to use state and local government powers to interfere with the lawful counting of votes? 4. FL Absentee Ballot Law Pressured canvassing boards in Republican counties to violate Florida's election laws and count clearly illegal overseas Republican absentee ballots, while fighting to prevent Democratic counties from counting similar absentee ballots 5. 14th Amendment, Voting Rights Act Forced hand counting of heavily Republican absentee ballots that the machines couldn't read - while delaying and blocking hand counting of poll-cast ballots in heavily Democratic counties that the machines couldn't read, thus treating ballots differently and discriminating against black voters * GOP Stalling Tactics in Palm Beach 6. Legal ethics Urged courts to block hand counts in Democratic counties in FL while urging courts to conduct hand counts in NM 7. Interference with Administration of Elections; Assault (Rep. John Sweeney, Congressional staff, etc) On 11/21, organized a riot in Miami/Dade County that intimidated the canvassing board into stopping its hand count, and then assaulted Joe Geller, chair of the Dade County Democratic executive committee. This riot was paid for by the Bush recount committee. 8. Abuse of Congressional office for partisan politics; politicization of active-duty military (Rep. Steve Buyer, Rep. Tillie Fowler, Michael Higgins, Rob Carter) On 11/22, Rep. Buyer gave the Pentagon a list of active duty sailors whose ballots had been rejected as invalid, which was provided by Florida Republican operative Rob Carter. Buyer demanded their e-mail addresses immediately. Buyer's aide Michael Higgins then contacted the sailors and put them in touch with Carter, who enlisted these sailors in a propaganda campaign to attack Vice President Al Gore as anti-military, and to pressure county officials to count invalid ballots. Carter also supplied Rep. Tillie Fowler with stories from service members, which she used to denounce Gore at a rally. 9. FEC Disclosure Failure to disclose how the $8 million the Bush campaign raised for its Florida recount effort 10. IRS Disclosure Failure to disclose the occupation and employer of thousands of recount donors Governor Jeb Bush 1. Absentee Ballot Law Letter sent by Florida Republican Party with Jeb's signature and the Florida state seal urged Florida Republicans to vote by absentee ballot, regardless of whether they had a valid legal reason for doing so. 2. Abuse of State Seal Letter sent by Florida Republican party with Jeb's signature and the Florida state seal urging Florida Republicans to vote by absentee ballots 3. Abuse of Office for Partisan Purposes; Interference with Administration of Elections Jeb and his staff made 95 phone calls made to Bush/Cheney Presidential campaign after Jeb said he'd recused himself; he visited the Bush/GOP headquarters in Tallahassee; he participated in at least 1 Bush strategy conference call; 6 of the 95 calls were on the day GOP thugs stopped the Miami-Dade recount 4. Abuse of Office for Partisan Purposes Called special session of legislature to intimidate county officials and judges 5. 14th Amendment (Florida Legislature) 2001 Election Reform law perpetuates the election problems that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled to be in violation of the 14th Amendment. Secretary of State Katherine Harris 1. Voting Rights Act Section 5 (Bucky Mitchell, Michael Cochran, Elaine Baxter) Misrepresentation of the felons list statute, failure to provide available documents directly relevant to the pre-clearance review 2. Voting Rights Act Section 5 (Clay Roberts, Bucky Mitchell) Knowing failure to obtain pre-clearance for significant changes in policies and procedures pursuant to the implementation of the felons list law which resulted in the removal of legal voters from the registration rolls in at least one of 5 pre-clearance counties in Florida 3. Disenfranchisement of Legal Voters Knowingly purged felons from states where voting rights were automatically restored upon release, contrary to clear court rulings. Knowingly included non-felons in its purge through its "wide net" policy (accepting a 90% name-match in 1999, and an 80% match in 2000). 4. Ballot Design Law Sent out a sample ballot design to county elections supervisors that split the 10 Presidential candidates on the ballots onto 2 pages 5. Uniform Administration of Election Law: Assistance to Voters Failure to oversee training of poll workers to ensure proper assistance to voters 6. Americans with Disabilities Act (Jeb Bush, Counties) Failure to make voting machines fully accessible to the handicapped 7. Mandatory Machine Recount Law 20 counties never did the mandatory machine recount as required by state election law. 8. Overseas Absentee Ballot Law Allowed illegal overseas absentee ballots to be counted and included in the certified total 9. Uniform Administration of Election Law Coordination (conspiracy) between Harris lawyers and Bush/GOP lawyers; Deliberate misinterpretation of the law for partisan purposes 10. Uniform Administration of Elections: Hand Recount Law Inconsistent application of hand count law: accepted manual recounts from some counties, but denied Palm Beach permission to conduct hand count 11. Use of Government Office for Politics Allowed Republican operatives Andrew Goodman and J.M. Stipanovich to use her state computers and offices during the recount; Communications Director Donald Tighe admitted writing partisan speeches during the campaign. These political activities were found on Harris' computer. 1) On 1/29/00, a speech written for a Republican meeting that declared: "We are READY TO LEAD!" 2) On 3/14/00, a set of campaign talking points for George W. Bush. 3) On 11/14/00, an examination of the campaign finances of FL Supreme Court Justice Barbara Pariente - who was reviewing important election cases. 4) A list of contributors to Harris' 1998 Democratic opponent, Karen Gievers (undated). Harris claims Stipanovich and Goodman were "volunteers," but Goodman billed Harris $12,000 for his work, and Harris initially approved the bill (Palm Beach Post, 8/23/01) 12. Abuse of Discretion in Violation of Florida Supreme Court Order The Florida Supreme Court ordered Harris to accept the Palm Beach recount until 9 a.m. on 11/27; she refused to accept them after 5 p.m. on 11/26 13. Conflict of Interest; Use of Office for Political Gain While overseeing the recount, Harris expressed interest in appointment as Ambassador under Bush 14. Public Records Reinstalled Windows and erased files on state computers used by Republican operatives Andrew Goodman and J.M Stipanovich County Election Officials 1. Voter Registration Law and Voting Rights Act Failure to process thousands of voter registration forms before the election, including many from historically black colleges 2. Absentee Ballot Law (Okaloosa) Sent hundreds or thousands of absentee ballots to voters who did NOT request one 3. Absentee Ballot Law (Bay) Republicans turned in "handfuls" and in one case a suitcase-full of absentee ballots in defiance of a law that provides people may submit no more than two absentee ballots other than their own or that of a family member 4. Ballot design law (Palm Beach) Butterfly ballot 5. Sample ballot law (Duval) Sample ballot differed significantly from actual ballot - sample ballot listed 10 candidates on 1 page, while actual ballot spread candidates over 2 pages 6. Voting Rights Act Substandard voting machinery in predominantly minority precincts that produced ballot spoilage up to 40%; Failure to provide voter assistance in Spanish (Osceola County) and Creole (Miami-Dade); reports of intimidation of minority voters 7. Voting machine law (Punch Card) Failure to properly maintain machines, including misalignment and accumulation of chads 8. Election Day law Closed polling places without notice; Turned away voters who were on line at 7 pm when polls closed 9. Voting machine law (Miami-Dade) Use of malfunctioning voting machines 10. Voting Machine Law (Optiscan) Failure to provide machine-readable pens 11. Voting Machine Law (Palm Beach) Misaligned ballots, as described by Rabbi Yellin; Use of malfunctioning voting machines in county elections office * Miami Herald 8/28/01: Democratic State Representative Calls for Criminal Investigation of Teresa Lepore 12. Negligence (Palm Beach) Failure to respond to complaints about confusing ballot and voting mistakes 13. Intent of the voter Nearly all counties failed to count machine-unreadable votes where the intent of the voter was clear. This includes "write-in overvotes" that must specifically be counted by law. * Palm Beach Canvassing Board rejects dimpled ballots 14. Mandatory machine recount law 20 counties never did the mandatory machine recount as required by state election law. 15. Racial Discrimination (Escambia) Disabled optiscan technology that prevents errors on poll-cast votes, but "duplicated" (fixed) absentee votes with errors. 16. Different Treatment of Machine-Unreadable Ballots Various Republican counties hand-counted absentee ballots that could not be machine-read (thus favoring Republicans), but refused to hand-count poll-cast ballots that could not be machine-read (thus harming Democrats) 17. Ballot tampering fraud (Escambia and other Northern counties) Estimated 7,100 ballots were destroyed in 11 counties 18. Ballot tampering; Open meetings law (Optiscan) Secret duplication of 10,000 optiscan-unreadable absentee ballots in 26 heavily Republican counties in central and north Florida. These ballots favored George W. Bush by more than 2 to 1. 19. Fraud (Duval) Republican elections supervisor John Stafford lied about the number of under and overvotes to the Gore campaign during the 72-hour window for requesting a recount, telling the Gore campaign there were only 2-300 votes disqualified, when there were actually 27,000. 20. Recount law (Miami-Dade) Refusal to conduct hand count 21. Absentee Ballot Law (Orange) Refused to count stateside absentees postmarked before Election Day, while counting overseas absentees with no postmark or date 22. Public Records Law (Palm Beach) Destruction of computer records of 2000 Presidential vote U.S. Supreme Court 1. Conflict of Interest Four members of the Supreme Court majority in Bush v. Gore had conflicts and should have recused themselves: O'Connor, Thomas, Scalia, and Rehnquist. In August 2001, three Justices recused themselves from the case of Napoleon Beazley, who was sentenced to death for the murder of the father of J. Michael Luttig, a well-connected federal appeals court judge. 2. US Law on Emergency Injunctive Relief Granted emergency relief to George W. Bush to stop the manual 4. Count of 60,000 uncounted votes as ordered by the Florida Supreme Court, on the theory that counting all of the votes would cause "irreparable harm" to Bush. 3. 14th Amendment In Bush v. Gore, the Supreme Court declared the the 14th Amendment prohibited variations in vote counting by county officials, contrary to all precedents - and explicitly refused to set a precedent for future cases. In the same ruling, the Court accepted 2,490 overseas absentee ballots that were counted without any consistent standard and produced a net gain of 630 votes for Bush - greater than his 537-vote margin of victory. 4. Presidential Elections; Appointment of Electors (3 USC Chapter 1 Section 5) On December 12, 2000, the Supreme Court intentionally misrepresented the law as saying that Electors had to be chosen by December 12, when the true deadline was December 18. Media 1. Corporate Contribution to Federal Campaign (FOX) George W. Bush spoke by phone with his cousin John Ellis at FOX News shortly before FOX incorrectly projected Bush as the winner at 2 a.m. on Election Night, which prompted Al Gore to temporarily concede and defined him as the presumptive loser. 2. Corporate Contributions to Federal Campaign; Broadcast License Requirement to Serve the Public Interest (FOX, NBC, ABC, CBS) The broadcast networks consistenly ignored Bush's flaws and inconsistencies, while scrutinizing Gore's flaws and inconsistencies 3. Corporate Contribution to Federal Campaign; Violation of Broadcast License (NBC/Jack Welch) On Election Night, GE CEO Jack Welch reportedly ordered the network to call Florida for Bush, even though the results were too close to call. * Rep. Henry Waxman's Repeated Requests for Videotapes Promised by NBC News President Andrew Lack Attorney General John Ashcroft 1. Failure to Investigate DoJ has received THOUSANDS of complaints, but is investigating only 12. Complaints include serious allegations of fraud, such as pre-punched ballots in heavily African American and Democratic precincts in Miami/Dade and Broward Counties ________ I was also looking forward to a little rub in the face such as regrets of those who helped along the way. Oh, maybe a little brief flash of this failed 2 term presidency. Well, lets just say this film is far more mutual than sensational. -- Edited by infoseek at 05/26/2008 8:16 PM PDT
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Re: Do you believe the Supreme Court's handling of Gore v. Bush was partisa
May 26, 2008 10:29 PM
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> I believe the Supreme Court was very biased. In my > opinion they were "paid" off. They will go down in > history as the justices that helped Bush "steal" the > 2000 election. Who would ever trust those people > again? Look, the Supreme Court was also under pressure NOT to drag that any longer!
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Re: Do you believe the Supreme Court's handling of Gore v. Bush was partisan?
May 26, 2008 9:29 PM
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I believe the Supreme Court was very biased. In my opinion they were "paid" off. They will go down in history as the justices that helped Bush "steal" the 2000 election. Who would ever trust those people again?
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Re: Do you believe the Supreme Court's handling of Gore v. Bush was partisa
May 26, 2008 7:29 PM
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> envirock, > Is this country a Democracy? > Answer: NO. This country is not a democracy. It was > never a democracy. It was founded as a Republic. It > remains a Republic. Democrats and their Idiot Blind > Followers want it to become a blindly run majority > ruled socialistic state. > > The intentions in design to be a Republic is simply > to allow a small portion of independent thinkers to > define the law in a way that it is Right and not > because the majority wants it. > > What if tomorrow, the christian majority stated that > only christians may live in this country? They are > the majority.. by your interpetation they are the > will of the people. If you were not christian, then > you would have to leave. Is that right? Is that how > you want your country to turn into? Majority Rule? A > country who's education cannot surpass that of many > third world countries deciding on lack of knowledge > but the hearts and the will of the people. > Geez, when will people wake up and see where their > hearts are leading them without thinking seriously on > the matter. Many people forgot about this part. However, economic fairness and social wellness are completely different. Jim Webb and Lou Dobbs had a pretty good talk about this.
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Re: Do you believe the Supreme Court's handling of Gore v. Bush was partisa
May 26, 2008 6:45 PM
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> Yes, if you look at which Justices voted which way, > you'd have to conclude that some partisanship was at > work. But the truth is that the actions and > decisions of the key people involved on both sides of > this fray, almost without exception, tended to agree > with the bests interests of their own party. Of > course, you'd never know that from watching this > movie. Throughout the entire movie, the Democrats > are portrayed as seeking truth, justice and the > American way, while the Republicans are portrayed as > the Epitome of Evil, caring not about right but only > winning at any cost. I haven't seen anything so > blatantly one-sided since the last epsiode of Bill > Maher. The last RT episode was actually complicated with very little oppositions' POV to help with the flow. Oppositions' POV makes a big difference. This is not the case here. The Republicans' have one agenda only. How much more reluctances or drama can you do to soften Harris' cert. The rest is history. -- Edited by infoseek at 05/26/2008 6:22 PM PDT
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Re: Do you believe the Supreme Court's handling of Gore v. Bush was partisan?
May 26, 2008 3:49 PM
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Yes, the Supreme Court handling of Gore v. Bush was very partisan. The justices votes beared that out! In my opinion the Court should have rejected the case due to a conflict of interest. Their ruling decided who the president of the United States was going to be. They ruled in favor of Bush who as president would and as we now know has appointed Supreme Court justices to fill vacancies. It is not far fetched to think that the conservative justices would want to have vacant seat filled by fellow conservatives. Having the Judicial Branch of Government influence the election of the president in the Executive Branch most certainly compromises the "checks and balance" setup by the founding fathers of our Nation. Since the Court chose to hear the case their main concern should have been that every voter in Florida was allowed to have their constitutional right to vote and have the ballot count.
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Re: Do you believe the Supreme Court's handling of Gore v. Bush was partisa
May 26, 2008 3:11 PM
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You mean Republicans aren't the "Epitome of Evil"??? When did this happen? The party of "I got mine (usually inherited) & I'm gonna get yours & the government's too!!!". Who murdered Ray Lemme??? -- Edited by s2grand at 05/26/2008 12:12 PM PDT
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Re: Do you believe the Supreme Court's handling of Gore v. Bush was partisa
May 26, 2008 2:48 PM
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envirock, Is this country a Democracy? Answer: NO. This country is not a democracy. It was never a democracy. It was founded as a Republic. It remains a Republic. Democrats and their Idiot Blind Followers want it to become a blindly run majority ruled socialistic state. The intentions in design to be a Republic is simply to allow a small portion of independent thinkers to define the law in a way that it is Right and not because the majority wants it. What if tomorrow, the christian majority stated that only christians may live in this country? They are the majority.. by your interpetation they are the will of the people. If you were not christian, then you would have to leave. Is that right? Is that how you want your country to turn into? Majority Rule? A country who's education cannot surpass that of many third world countries deciding on lack of knowledge but the hearts and the will of the people. Geez, when will people wake up and see where their hearts are leading them without thinking seriously on the matter.
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Re: Do you believe the Supreme Court's handling of Gore v. Bush was partisan?
May 26, 2008 10:12 AM
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Yes, if you look at which Justices voted which way, you'd have to conclude that some partisanship was at work. But the truth is that the actions and decisions of the key people involved on both sides of this fray, almost without exception, tended to agree with the bests interests of their own party. Of course, you'd never know that from watching this movie. Throughout the entire movie, the Democrats are portrayed as seeking truth, justice and the American way, while the Republicans are portrayed as the Epitome of Evil, caring not about right but only winning at any cost. I haven't seen anything so blatantly one-sided since the last epsiode of Bill Maher.
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Re: Do you believe the Supreme Court's handling of Gore v. Bush was partisan?
May 26, 2008 9:14 AM
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Of COURSE it was. Sandra Day O'Connor has even stated publicly that she regrets the decision. (Even though she recanted later, no doubt the Bush people got to her!)
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Re: Do you believe the Supreme Court's handling of Gore v. Bush was partisan?
May 26, 2008 9:07 AM
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It was most definitely a politically partisan decision that was unprecedented, a fact acknowledged in the Court's own ruling that the Opinion never be cited as precedent. It was a travesty in not recognizing the doctrine of comity that would have allowed the sovereign state of Florida to resolve this issue on its own. Apparently the motivating reason behind the decision was that, with so little time to go before the inauguration, if the recount weren't stopped then and there, our whole system of government would suffer a hit in the eyes of the electorate from which it could never recover. Of course, with a government seen as illegitimate by the millions who feel the 2000 election was stolen (not only once but twice thanks to Deibold in 2004), it would seem that the credibility and legitimacy of our government have taken many hits from which it might never recover. Question is, if there is another close election in 2008 resulting in another such debacle, will the legitimacy and reputation of our government be finished altogether? Cleo -- "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." Edmund Burke "I have spread my dreams under your feet; Tread softly because you tread on my dreams." From "He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven", W.B. Yeats -- Edited by CleopatraVIII at 05/26/2008 6:09 AM PDT
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Re: Do you believe the Supreme Court's handling of Gore v. Bush was partisa
May 26, 2008 6:12 AM
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> Any US court that doesn't listen when a majority of > the citizens of a state feel they weren't allowed a > fair vote in a presidential election is partisan. > > There were enough Florida voters that complained > about the voting process as being confused or unfair, > that the supreme court should have listened. > > After all, this country is a democracy. If citizens > ask for a recount, or to do a vote over, the only > reason not to grant the request would be a partisan > one. > > If a Bush supporter was so sure he won, why did the > Republicans fight so hard to stop the recount? If > they felt certain he had won Florida, they wouldn't > have cared if there was a recount or not. > > The same goes for the supreme court. The point is Republicans hung on to Harris' 100% partism politics. Gore can't win, even if he won.
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Re: Do you believe the Supreme Court's handling of Gore v. Bush was partisa
May 26, 2008 3:32 AM
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Any US court that doesn't listen when a majority of the citizens of a state feel they weren't allowed a fair vote in a presidential election is partisan. There were enough Florida voters that complained about the voting process as being confused or unfair, that the supreme court should have listened. After all, this country is a democracy. If citizens ask for a recount, or to do a vote over, the only reason not to grant the request would be a partisan one. If a Bush supporter was so sure he won, why did the Republicans fight so hard to stop the recount? If they felt certain he had won Florida, they wouldn't have cared if there was a recount or not. The same goes for the supreme court.
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Re: Do you believe the Supreme Court's handling of Gore v. Bush was partisa
May 26, 2008 2:00 AM
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> It's The Supreme Court of The United States of > America. > > No partisanship allowed! Little ONE!!!! Let the Grown UPS decide,,,LMFAO -- Woke up this mornin'.....
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