It occurred to me driving in to work this morning that it is equally fair to
accuse George Bush of trying to steal this election as it is to accuse Al
Gore.
For example, Imus said this morning that the only fair way to do a hand
recount in Florida is to recount all the ballots in every county. The thing
is, though, under Florida law, a hand recount can take place only if
requested by a candidate. The Gore campaign requested hand recounts in
Broward, Miami-Dade, Palm Beach, and Volusia counties. The Bush campaign did
not request hand recounts in any county. Therefore, to blame Al Gore - or the
state of Florida, for that matter - for the fact that the entire state is not
being recounted is either ignorant at best or disingenuous at worst.
Look at it this way. In the NFL, a coach can challenge an official's ruling
on the field by requesting a video replay. If he loses the challenge, his
team is charged one of its three time-outs for the half. Say you have a call
that most people think was a mistake, and one coach challenges it. The
presumption is, the official got it right and can overturn it only if he sees
conclusive evidence on the replay that he was wrong. The coach whose team
benefitted from the ruling is going to want it upheld, even if it's clear
that the official got it wrong. Is he cheating? Is he going for an unfair
advantage?
The referee has only 90 seconds to review replays, and if he can't see
conclusive evidence that the call on the field was wrong, he has to let it
stand. Even if it later turns out that it was wrong.
Okay, an NFL game is obviously not as important as a presidential election.
But my point is, only the side that feels wronged is going to ask for
redress. But that does NOT make the other side fair and noble and honest, the
way the Bush campaign is trying to make itself out to be. They may very well
have benefitted from all kinds of mistakes in Florida - of COURSE they're not
going to ask for recounts!!! They just want it over NOW with their guy
declared the winner. So, saying that there should be recounts all over
Florida is stupid, because the only guy who could ask for recounting every
county's ballots would never in a million years do so - unless HE were the
one behind who thought HE'D been cheated.
But IF there were mistakes in Florida, and the Bush people nevertheless just
want the whole thing over as soon as possible even if it means they win
unfairly - how exactly does this make them fair and noble and honest? It
makes them at LEAST as responsible for the mess as the Gore team, which at
least makes no pretense of their motives for what they are doing.
You get 90 seconds in the NFL, and only things that can be seen on the
replays the TV cameras got can be considered. But that's just a football
game. This is the whole ball of wax. Shouldn't we take the time and do
whatever is necessary to get it right?
Tom Beck
