Dan you believe what the Palm Beach County elections supervisor said?
What?s that?
He said that every voter had a right to have their vote counted. That?s why they?re doing the recount.
What?s wrong with that?
What?s wrong? It?s not the law, that?s what?s wrong! Voters only have a right to have their vote counted if they cast that vote responsibly and properly!
What do you mean by that? Vote properly? What do you mean vote properly?
Look, the Florida Appeals Courts have already ruled on this. The courts said that voters go into the voting booth with the responsibility of searching for their candidates name on the ballot and then casting a valid vote for their candidate. And that?s not all. The Courts as much as said that the voters need to be smart enough and responsible enough to find their candidate and to cast their vote in a responsible manner. The voter only has a ?right,? as you said it, to have his vote counted if he follows the law in casting that vote, and I just told you part of that law.
Well these poor old voters in Palm Beach County were to frail ? too old ? to push that little needle through the ballots! That?s what the Democrats say. They just couldn?t do it right!
Sorry. Doesn?t wash. There were signs all over the polling place that told them how to push that pin through the ballot. It even said that on the ballot! If they were that weak they should have asked for help. There were plenty of people there to help --- and there?s not one single report from one single precinct in Florida of a person asking for help because they weren?t strong enough to push that pin through the ballot.
And they were confused. The ballot was confusing. That wasn?t their fault, was it? Their vote should count.
Confused? Didn?t you understand what the appeals court said? In order for a person?s vote to count that person needs to assume the responsibility of finding their candidates name on the ballot and casting a valid vote for that candidate. If they?re confused and don?t ask for help, then they?ve failed to meet that standard! Voting isn?t a subjective exercies, pal. It?s very objective. You follow a set of instructions ? and you follow them concisely ? or your vote doesn?t? count. It?s that simple! We?re operating under the rule of law here. The law is specific. You exercise your voting duties responsibly and your vote gets counted. Do we want the next leader of this country to be chosen by a bunch of people who can?t follow a simple little arrow and push a pin through a piece of paper?
Well, that?s why they?re doing the hand recount.
What?
That?s why they?re doing that recount thing.
What are you saying? ?.. Wait. Let?s do it this way. Tell me just why you think they?re doing a hand recount in, say, Palm Beach County.
Because they want a fair and accurate count of the votes. That?s why. That?s what Bill Dailey says. That?s what Al Gore says. All they want is a fair and accurate count of the votes. What?s wrong with that?
What do you mean by fair?
Fair. Everybody knows what fair means!
OK, let me ask you this. Which do you think would be fairer? A machine with no partisan feelings and no political philosophy counting these votes, or people with a personal stake in the outcome of this race ? one way or the other ? counting the votes. Which is fairer, as you put it? Having machines count ballots that are designed to be counted by machines, or having people count ballots designed to be counted by machines.?
Well the machines didn?t do it right? That?s why they?re counting by hand!
Where did you hear that? Did you know that they counted all of these ballots by machine twice, and there were no reports of malfunctions or erroneous counts? There is not one single allegation out there that these machines did not do the job they were designed to do when counting these ballots. There is not one single charge being made that these machines didn?t count every properly voted ballot!
Then why are they counting them by hand?
Exactly! Why ARE they counting them by hand? You DO know why, don?t you?
Well why don?t you just tell me?
They?re counting them by hand because the Gore campaign ASKED them to count them by hand. It?s simple, really. Palm Beach County is huge. Almost a half-million voters. And Palm Beach County is very strongly Democratic. Gore knew that the only way he was going to win the election is if he gets the State of Florida. So, he hired a telemarketing firm from Texas and had them start making phone calls to Palm Beach County voters. Those who had already voted were asked if they might have made a mistake and voted for Buchanan instead. Those who hadn?t voted were told to rush to the polls and make sure to punch the ballot for Gore.
Well, what?s wrong with that? It?s only ?getting out the vote? isn?t it?
It was more than that. The biggest reason for the calls was to create a sense of hysteria around the vote in Palm Beach County. The Gore people started making phone calls to the press about ?mass confusion? at the polls. They even trotted their attack hound Robert Wexler to seek out some television cameras and spin tall tales about crowds of voters wandering around parking lots sobbing and wailing because they were afraid they had wasted their votes because the ballot confused them.
So, how do you know that Wexler wasn?t telling the truth?
Do you remember seeing any photographs of sobbing voters? Have you heard any reports of voter hysteria anywhere else in the media? Come on! Wexler was reading the script the Gore people gave to him! There were no sobbing and hysterical voters, but the media was sure soaking up Wexler?s story while the Democratic telemarketing firm was busy trying to rustle up some distraught voters with their phone calls though.
See! That?s why they need this hand recount. It?s only fair. If these people were confused and they intended to vote for Gore ? then that?s the way their vote should be counted.
Is that what you really want? That?s the way you think government should count votes? You want the government to go get those ballots after the voting is done and then make some sort of a subjective decision on how you intended to vote?
Well, ?. no ?.
Look .. the Democrats don?t care about those voters who might have been confused. At the most it would only have been three or four percent of the Palm Beach County voters. The Gore camp just used them to build the sense of hysteria ? then they move in after the recount to demand that all ballots be counted by hand.
What recount?
What recount? The recount they did of every ballot in every County in Florida, that?s what recount! People seem to have forgotten that. You did. There?s already been a recount, and guess what? Gore lost ? again!
Well, the recount wasn?t fair. That?s why they need to count by hand.
County by hand where? Only in the three heaviest Democratic counties in Florida? And who says the recount wasn?t fair? If it wasn?t fair how come we haven?t seen one single allegation from anywhere in Florida of vote-count irregularities? Where are the charges of fraud? Where are the people responsible for the fraud? Where are the bad guys? Come on --- you?re so hot on this hand count. Tell me just one piece of evidence you have that the vote that was counted by the machines in Palm Beach County wasn?t a legal count. Just one reason.
I can?t
There were two machine counts. The results were essentially the same. Now tell me why they should be counting by hand?
To be fair! They need to count all of the votes!
They HAVE counted all the votes! Twice! They counted the votes the way they were designed to be counted ? by machine? Remember? I already asked you if you thought it would be more fair for people with their prejudices to do this job machines are supposed to do? You want to answer that now? Which way is more fair? An impartial machine, or partisan humans?
But the machines ??.
Don?t start that again. We?ve been there. You claim the machines didn?t do the job right, but you can?t cite one specific charge that has been made that the machines didn?t count the vote right!
Look, all they want is a fair and accurate count!
Please don?t read your Democratic focus group lines to me! You sound like every other Democratic party elected official spouting the same Gore-approved focus group line about ?fair and accurate.? First --- there has been no charge that the machine vote was inaccurate --- so drop that line, OK? Second, you?ve already tried to define ?fair? and you can?t. Fair, in this regard, is when every voter goes into the voting booth subject to the exact same laws and the exact same standards as to whether or not their vote will count. They?re given a chance to read the ballot, find their candidate, and make a proper indication of their choice. They have the same chance as anyone else in Florida to make a correct vote. They do it right ? their vote counts. Do it wrong, vote doesn?t count. Follow the law. Follow the instructions. That?s the only way to be ?fair? in counting votes. If you have a better definition of ?fair? I?d sure as hell like to hear it!
Well, you don?t have to get all pissy about it!
Pissy? Pissy? Hell, at least I?m not sitting here trying to use focus group homilies and millionaire lawyers to steal an election!
They?re not trying to steal an election! How can you say that. The people voted for Al Gore. Gore won the popular vote. He should be the next president.
Look, I don?t expect you to really care, but the so-called popular vote has absolutely no constitutional significance at all. It doesn?t matter. These candidates didn?t campaign for the popular vote. They campaigned for the electoral vote. If they had campaigned for the popular vote they would have handled their campaigns completely differently, and who knows who would have won. Besides, there are hundreds of thousands of absentee ballots across this country that won?t even be counted because they couldn?t make a difference in any elections. Are you so sure that Gore would still have the popular vote if these absentee ballots were counted?
Well, uhhhhh ?.
Come on, Mr. Fairness. You want those votes in Palm Beach County to be counted and included ?. What about all those absentee ballots across the country? Let?s get out there and count them all!
You?re trying to change the subject. This is about Florida, not those absentee ballots.
Actually ? this whole thing may be about the national popular vote. That?s what?s driving your pals in Florida.
What do you mean?
You know Bill Dailey, don?t you? He?s the boss down there. Gore?s campaign boss. This man comes from a family with a rich history of vote fraud and fixing elections for Democrats ? so we have to give Gore some credit for his staff recruiting. He really knows how to find the right person for the job. Anyway, this Bill Dailey character said the other day that ?if the will of the people is to prevail Al Gore should be awarded a victory in Florida and be our next president.? He said ?steps should be taken to make sure that the people?s choice becomes our president.?
What?s the matter with that?
Elections aren?t awarded, pal. Elections are won. Bill Daily really exposed the Gore campaign strategy with this one. That ?steps should be taken? nonsense is all about what they?re doing in Florida. They absolutely believe that they have every moral right to pull any strings they can to make sure that Gore wins in Florida because it?s necessary to make sure that the ?people?s choice,? as they phrase it, becomes president. They?re ignoring the Constitution. The Constitution doesn?t say anything about the ?people?s choice.? To the Gore crowd, this is all about mob rule, not the rule of law. They have one goal and that goal isn?t to get that ?fair and accurate? county they?re whining about. That goal is to bend the rules, demagogue their opponents, and manipulate recounts until they get a count that says Gore wins. When that happens they?ll demand that all counting cease and Gore immediately be declared the winner.
You?re just a sore looser.
What do you mean sore looser? I didn?t vote for either one of them. I just want to see the Clintonista era end. I want to see our laws followed. I want to see our Constitution honored. I want to see our politicians tell the truth, and I want to see the people of this country open their eyes and see what these power hungry politicians are trying to do to them.
What?s that?
He said that every voter had a right to have their vote counted. That?s why they?re doing the recount.
What?s wrong with that?
What?s wrong? It?s not the law, that?s what?s wrong! Voters only have a right to have their vote counted if they cast that vote responsibly and properly!
What do you mean by that? Vote properly? What do you mean vote properly?
Look, the Florida Appeals Courts have already ruled on this. The courts said that voters go into the voting booth with the responsibility of searching for their candidates name on the ballot and then casting a valid vote for their candidate. And that?s not all. The Courts as much as said that the voters need to be smart enough and responsible enough to find their candidate and to cast their vote in a responsible manner. The voter only has a ?right,? as you said it, to have his vote counted if he follows the law in casting that vote, and I just told you part of that law.
Well these poor old voters in Palm Beach County were to frail ? too old ? to push that little needle through the ballots! That?s what the Democrats say. They just couldn?t do it right!
Sorry. Doesn?t wash. There were signs all over the polling place that told them how to push that pin through the ballot. It even said that on the ballot! If they were that weak they should have asked for help. There were plenty of people there to help --- and there?s not one single report from one single precinct in Florida of a person asking for help because they weren?t strong enough to push that pin through the ballot.
And they were confused. The ballot was confusing. That wasn?t their fault, was it? Their vote should count.
Confused? Didn?t you understand what the appeals court said? In order for a person?s vote to count that person needs to assume the responsibility of finding their candidates name on the ballot and casting a valid vote for that candidate. If they?re confused and don?t ask for help, then they?ve failed to meet that standard! Voting isn?t a subjective exercies, pal. It?s very objective. You follow a set of instructions ? and you follow them concisely ? or your vote doesn?t? count. It?s that simple! We?re operating under the rule of law here. The law is specific. You exercise your voting duties responsibly and your vote gets counted. Do we want the next leader of this country to be chosen by a bunch of people who can?t follow a simple little arrow and push a pin through a piece of paper?
Well, that?s why they?re doing the hand recount.
What?
That?s why they?re doing that recount thing.
What are you saying? ?.. Wait. Let?s do it this way. Tell me just why you think they?re doing a hand recount in, say, Palm Beach County.
Because they want a fair and accurate count of the votes. That?s why. That?s what Bill Dailey says. That?s what Al Gore says. All they want is a fair and accurate count of the votes. What?s wrong with that?
What do you mean by fair?
Fair. Everybody knows what fair means!
OK, let me ask you this. Which do you think would be fairer? A machine with no partisan feelings and no political philosophy counting these votes, or people with a personal stake in the outcome of this race ? one way or the other ? counting the votes. Which is fairer, as you put it? Having machines count ballots that are designed to be counted by machines, or having people count ballots designed to be counted by machines.?
Well the machines didn?t do it right? That?s why they?re counting by hand!
Where did you hear that? Did you know that they counted all of these ballots by machine twice, and there were no reports of malfunctions or erroneous counts? There is not one single allegation out there that these machines did not do the job they were designed to do when counting these ballots. There is not one single charge being made that these machines didn?t count every properly voted ballot!
Then why are they counting them by hand?
Exactly! Why ARE they counting them by hand? You DO know why, don?t you?
Well why don?t you just tell me?
They?re counting them by hand because the Gore campaign ASKED them to count them by hand. It?s simple, really. Palm Beach County is huge. Almost a half-million voters. And Palm Beach County is very strongly Democratic. Gore knew that the only way he was going to win the election is if he gets the State of Florida. So, he hired a telemarketing firm from Texas and had them start making phone calls to Palm Beach County voters. Those who had already voted were asked if they might have made a mistake and voted for Buchanan instead. Those who hadn?t voted were told to rush to the polls and make sure to punch the ballot for Gore.
Well, what?s wrong with that? It?s only ?getting out the vote? isn?t it?
It was more than that. The biggest reason for the calls was to create a sense of hysteria around the vote in Palm Beach County. The Gore people started making phone calls to the press about ?mass confusion? at the polls. They even trotted their attack hound Robert Wexler to seek out some television cameras and spin tall tales about crowds of voters wandering around parking lots sobbing and wailing because they were afraid they had wasted their votes because the ballot confused them.
So, how do you know that Wexler wasn?t telling the truth?
Do you remember seeing any photographs of sobbing voters? Have you heard any reports of voter hysteria anywhere else in the media? Come on! Wexler was reading the script the Gore people gave to him! There were no sobbing and hysterical voters, but the media was sure soaking up Wexler?s story while the Democratic telemarketing firm was busy trying to rustle up some distraught voters with their phone calls though.
See! That?s why they need this hand recount. It?s only fair. If these people were confused and they intended to vote for Gore ? then that?s the way their vote should be counted.
Is that what you really want? That?s the way you think government should count votes? You want the government to go get those ballots after the voting is done and then make some sort of a subjective decision on how you intended to vote?
Well, ?. no ?.
Look .. the Democrats don?t care about those voters who might have been confused. At the most it would only have been three or four percent of the Palm Beach County voters. The Gore camp just used them to build the sense of hysteria ? then they move in after the recount to demand that all ballots be counted by hand.
What recount?
What recount? The recount they did of every ballot in every County in Florida, that?s what recount! People seem to have forgotten that. You did. There?s already been a recount, and guess what? Gore lost ? again!
Well, the recount wasn?t fair. That?s why they need to count by hand.
County by hand where? Only in the three heaviest Democratic counties in Florida? And who says the recount wasn?t fair? If it wasn?t fair how come we haven?t seen one single allegation from anywhere in Florida of vote-count irregularities? Where are the charges of fraud? Where are the people responsible for the fraud? Where are the bad guys? Come on --- you?re so hot on this hand count. Tell me just one piece of evidence you have that the vote that was counted by the machines in Palm Beach County wasn?t a legal count. Just one reason.
I can?t
There were two machine counts. The results were essentially the same. Now tell me why they should be counting by hand?
To be fair! They need to count all of the votes!
They HAVE counted all the votes! Twice! They counted the votes the way they were designed to be counted ? by machine? Remember? I already asked you if you thought it would be more fair for people with their prejudices to do this job machines are supposed to do? You want to answer that now? Which way is more fair? An impartial machine, or partisan humans?
But the machines ??.
Don?t start that again. We?ve been there. You claim the machines didn?t do the job right, but you can?t cite one specific charge that has been made that the machines didn?t count the vote right!
Look, all they want is a fair and accurate count!
Please don?t read your Democratic focus group lines to me! You sound like every other Democratic party elected official spouting the same Gore-approved focus group line about ?fair and accurate.? First --- there has been no charge that the machine vote was inaccurate --- so drop that line, OK? Second, you?ve already tried to define ?fair? and you can?t. Fair, in this regard, is when every voter goes into the voting booth subject to the exact same laws and the exact same standards as to whether or not their vote will count. They?re given a chance to read the ballot, find their candidate, and make a proper indication of their choice. They have the same chance as anyone else in Florida to make a correct vote. They do it right ? their vote counts. Do it wrong, vote doesn?t count. Follow the law. Follow the instructions. That?s the only way to be ?fair? in counting votes. If you have a better definition of ?fair? I?d sure as hell like to hear it!
Well, you don?t have to get all pissy about it!
Pissy? Pissy? Hell, at least I?m not sitting here trying to use focus group homilies and millionaire lawyers to steal an election!
They?re not trying to steal an election! How can you say that. The people voted for Al Gore. Gore won the popular vote. He should be the next president.
Look, I don?t expect you to really care, but the so-called popular vote has absolutely no constitutional significance at all. It doesn?t matter. These candidates didn?t campaign for the popular vote. They campaigned for the electoral vote. If they had campaigned for the popular vote they would have handled their campaigns completely differently, and who knows who would have won. Besides, there are hundreds of thousands of absentee ballots across this country that won?t even be counted because they couldn?t make a difference in any elections. Are you so sure that Gore would still have the popular vote if these absentee ballots were counted?
Well, uhhhhh ?.
Come on, Mr. Fairness. You want those votes in Palm Beach County to be counted and included ?. What about all those absentee ballots across the country? Let?s get out there and count them all!
You?re trying to change the subject. This is about Florida, not those absentee ballots.
Actually ? this whole thing may be about the national popular vote. That?s what?s driving your pals in Florida.
What do you mean?
You know Bill Dailey, don?t you? He?s the boss down there. Gore?s campaign boss. This man comes from a family with a rich history of vote fraud and fixing elections for Democrats ? so we have to give Gore some credit for his staff recruiting. He really knows how to find the right person for the job. Anyway, this Bill Dailey character said the other day that ?if the will of the people is to prevail Al Gore should be awarded a victory in Florida and be our next president.? He said ?steps should be taken to make sure that the people?s choice becomes our president.?
What?s the matter with that?
Elections aren?t awarded, pal. Elections are won. Bill Daily really exposed the Gore campaign strategy with this one. That ?steps should be taken? nonsense is all about what they?re doing in Florida. They absolutely believe that they have every moral right to pull any strings they can to make sure that Gore wins in Florida because it?s necessary to make sure that the ?people?s choice,? as they phrase it, becomes president. They?re ignoring the Constitution. The Constitution doesn?t say anything about the ?people?s choice.? To the Gore crowd, this is all about mob rule, not the rule of law. They have one goal and that goal isn?t to get that ?fair and accurate? county they?re whining about. That goal is to bend the rules, demagogue their opponents, and manipulate recounts until they get a count that says Gore wins. When that happens they?ll demand that all counting cease and Gore immediately be declared the winner.
You?re just a sore looser.
What do you mean sore looser? I didn?t vote for either one of them. I just want to see the Clintonista era end. I want to see our laws followed. I want to see our Constitution honored. I want to see our politicians tell the truth, and I want to see the people of this country open their eyes and see what these power hungry politicians are trying to do to them.
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