-Caveat Lector-
U.S. faces potential 'political civil war'
By Tim Russert
MSNBC
America on the precipice of a constitutional crisis
NEW YORK, Dec. 8 - Now that the Florida Supreme Court has ruled in favor
of
Vice President Al Gore and ordered a recount in Florida, NBC's Washington
Bureau chief, Tim Russert, says there will be enormous consequences. No
matter who becomes the president, it will be a long time before the
institutions, political parties and the people heal.
'Both campaigns are convinced of their righteousness. Both
political parties are convinced of their correctness. There is
very little middle ground.' - TIM RUSSERT
MSNBC:
Tim, the Bush campaign has appealed to the U.S. Supreme
Court already. It takes four justices to commit the court to
hearing arguments. What happens if they take it?
RUSSERT:
What the Bush campaign is really hoping for is for the
U.S. Supreme Court to not only get four justices to agree to take
the case, but additionally, to get a justice to order a stay and
not allow any recount to take place.
If they agree to hear the case, they will certainly ask
for briefs and then perhaps schedule arguments as early as
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday of next week.
MSNBC:
What makes those days so important?
RUSSERT:
Because Tuesday is December 12th and the Florida Legislature is
poised to act. Wednesday, the Florida Legislature will in fact select
electors - 25 in number - committed to George W. Bush.
If, in fact, the Supreme Court refuses to hear the case
and the recount goes forward and Al Gore takes the lead, the
Florida Supreme Court could certify Al Gore the winner and he
would be entitled to the 25 electors from Florida. You'd have two
slates of electors - one from the court and one from the
Legislature.
MSNBC:
What happens then?
RUSSERT:
We go to Washington - to Congress. The House of
Representatives, controlled by the Republicans, would say, give
us the Bush electors. The Senate is 50-50, Democrats-Republicans.
Al Gore (in his role as vice president) would cast the deciding
vote, we think. That would be tested in the U.S. Supreme Court.
Assuming Gore is allowed to cast that vote, the Senate would say,
"Give us the Gore electors."
Which slate is seated then? The law says whichever was
certified by the governor of the state. People say that's easy.
That means Jeb Bush certified Bush electors, they must be Bush.
But the Florida Supreme Court may order Jeb Bush to certify the
Gore electors or be held in contempt of court - even potentially
go to prison.
This is now at a stage where there are hundreds of
congressmen and their staffers chartering aircraft and heading to
Florida. Expect a pitched battle over the next few days, if those
ballots are counted. That battle will rage like a prairie fire
through Washington, where it will be fought out in the corners of
Congress, and then on January 6th, the Congress will decide which
slate of electors.
No matter who's elected president of the United States and
is sworn in on January 20th, I can say with relative assuredness
that Congress is so divided, so poisonous right now, everyone is
looking to 2002 and 2004 - the midterm election of Congress in
2002 and the next presidential election in 2004.
This is as close to a political civil war as I've ever witnessed.
MSNBC:
Is it hyperbolic or safe to say that we're already in
something of a constitutional crisis already, unless the U.S.
Supreme Court snuffs it out early?
RUSSERT:
The Gore campaign believes it won - that more people
intended to vote for Al Gore and count those votes no matter how
you have to decipher the intent of the people.
The Bush campaign says, "We won this vote fair and square
and you can't be counting dimples and have the Florida Supreme
Court interfere by legislating, not interpreting."
Both campaigns are convinced of their righteousness. Both
political parties are convinced of their correctness.
There is very little middle ground and I don't see how
either party can ever accept a winner from the other party as a
legitimate president, because of the process we are going through
to get there.
If that is how you define a constitutional crisis, then we
are on the precipice, yes.
MSNBC:
Are we talking days, weeks or months before this is
settled?
RUSSERT:
It depends on what the U.S. Supreme Court does. If the
Supreme Court says, "Don't start that recount, we're going to
hear this appeal. We're going to hear this early next week." And
then if they decide that George Bush is the winner, then it is
over. People will accept the Supreme Court decision.
If the Supreme Court says that Al Gore is the winner, the
Florida Legislature will have a hard time going forward with an
alternate slate of electors.
If, however, the Supreme Court says, "You handle it
Florida. We've had enough of this." We're going to have two
slates of electors and that guarantees (a fight stretching) on
into January.
MSNBC:
What could the U.S. Supreme Court do? The rap on the
Florida Supreme Court is that it is writing law on the fly - that
stinging dissent by the chief justice of the court, saying you
people are causing a constitutional crisis. The U.S. Supreme
Court will be even more reluctant to write law on the fly.
RUSSERT:
The dissenting opinion given by the presiding justice of
the Florida Supreme Court, Charles Wells, is almost a blueprint
for (U.S. Supreme Court justices) William Rehnquist, Antonin
Scalia, Clarence Thomas - the three judges we know who expressed
serious reservations about the first Florida Supreme Court
decision, saying that the law is very clear, that you can't
change the laws after Election Day.
My sense is that they will seize upon that. Now whether
they will get a fourth vote to agree to hear the appeal, or to
have a stay or stop the recount is still an open question.
But there are federal issues that are being debated. The
Bush campaign insists that this is a case the U.S. Supreme Court
must hear. The Gore campaign says, "No, no, no. There's no reason
for that. The Florida Supreme Court acted entirely appropriately.
The scars from this will play out not only across the
state of Florida, but in the U.S. Supreme Court and in the U.S.
Congress for a long time to come.
There are going to be enormous consequences for what was
the closest election in our American political history.
=================================================================
Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh, YHVH, TZEVAOT
FROM THE DESK OF:
*Michael Spitzer* <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Best Way To Destroy Enemies Is To Change Them To Friends
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