Re Recount: Remiss! Excellent Op-Ed

by Barbara Bellows-TerraNova Page 1 of 2 page(s)

http://www.opednews.com

When I read last week that James Baker III hosted a preview of the HBO film http://www.hbo.com/films/recount/">Recount at the Baker Institute for Public Policy at Rice University in Houston, I knew that this dramatic interpretation of the 2000 election would disappoint those who long for historical accuracy.

And it did.

Not in all ways, mind you, but in some extraordinarily essential ones.

On Sunday morning, I wrote in an email that a true telling of the 2000 election had to include at least two points. An excellent telling would include a third. I finished with "Let’s see how HBO does."

Within minutes of the start of Recount, I yelled out, "NO!" That’s not right!" They blew it coming out of the gate.

The film showed that at 2:16 AM, the vote in Florida, which would be the deciding factor for the entire country, was called by ABC News for George W. Bush, immediately followed by the NBC, CBS and CNN.

But that is simply not the case. History has shown that the first call at 2:16 AM came from Fox News – conveniently omitted by HBO. The person who made that call was John Ellis, the son of former President George H.W. Bush’s sister Nancy, first cousin of both Texas Governor George W. Bush and Florida Governor Jeb Bush. He later reported to The New Yorker how "cool" it was to be on the phone with his two powerful cousins, going over the numbers all night and into the morning, until the moment the numbers showed that George had won and Ellis made the fateful call for Bush. Though Ellis claimed he had done the calculations, the actual election projection expert at Fox, Cynthia Talkov, sitting with him, has since reported that Ellis simply gave the call on Jeb’s say-so.


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http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_barbara__080526_re_recount_3a_remiss_21.htm

Be sure to DIGG IT!

now my instinct about NOT wanting to watch it was right-Still too painful for this disenfranchised 2000 PB County resident democrat...and the scab may have gone away but the scar will be there forever...

Even so far away, I was absolutely heartbroken. It wasn't until much later that I found out what happened. Here is a REALLY good documentary - the most fascinating part was about the paper used for those ballots and how the supplier had been changed for that election:

http://www.hd.net/drr227.html

happening down here you wouldn't believe helder...roadblocks in black neighborhoods, roughnecking...names being taken off the rolls-mine included...operatives working the polls who conveniently couldn't seem to get through to the DNC to "straighten it out" on their cell phones

:cry:

looking up at the stars wondering what is going on and why. I asked God why did He let these things happen, the Bush disaster, 9/11, this war and a calm would come over me in hopes of a better day will come-maybe a President Obama will be His answer and His instrument TO that better day. Sorry to get all religieous on you but that's how I think sometimes

cannot be stolen. 2008 must not be close. I have hope, real hope, that President Obama will change the world.

to bring us BACK through the looking glass those planes smashed through on 9/11...Obama? even better...

I don't believe either the 2000 OR the 2004 election were as close as "they" say. With the ability to alter the e-voting numbers, and to control the MSM, they can tell us anything they want. We will probably never know the extent of the manipulation in those elections. What have we actually "won" from the 2006 election? They threw us a few crumbs to give us the illusion that our votes counted, but nothing is being fixed, and nothing has changed.

now if all the close races weren't stolen.

From the ballot mess to the paper issues to every single person in there trying to help steal the election, it was almost a foregone conclusion that they'd steal it. If only the rest of us had known.

they could to steal that election too, and that the machines would make it even easier. I watched the exit polls and knew Kerry had won, but I just couldn't shake the dread that they would steal it. I broke down in waves of despair and sobbed when they announced Kerry had conceded.

I knew Kerry had won. The numbers were there. When he conceeded, especially after all that fundraising for lawyers, I just felt crushed.

In 2004? Obama and Clinton that is who. I guess they were not so crushed that Kerry was out of the way for 2008. We were crushed, they saw an open door.

As did EVERY one of them except Boxer, as I recall. That was the most crushing blow of all... devastating

Obama was not elected to senate until 04. I'm not sure he would be in a position to certify. And if this was a party thing rather than a senate thing, there were surely many more people who voted for that cert. Singling out Hillary and Obama for this is probably not apt because they weren't the only ones voting for certification. The certification blame lies more squarely with Carville and the then head of DNC, McAuliffe, who were busy sweeping things under the rug.

That said, I too am dissappointed that the descision was not fought tooth and nail and an investigation made immediatly and publicly at the time. I felt the dems as a whole collapsed too fast. Of course this was not Dean's DNC either. May things go better this year.

This was a Senate vote. Obama as a senator was certainly in a position to vote whichever way he chose (correct me if I am wrong). Not to single him out-- they ALL failed us, all but Boxer.

Most of us were caught off guard that time, though the more savvy were talking about it before that election...

:(

elections are essentially decided by large corporations.

remember when Rove said he had 'the math'??

they set the machines too low and the margins were large enough to overcome the % set

It's a tangled web, but we need to do it again.

I'm a poll worker, are you? we all need to be. It's worth taking a day off to protect the election in your neighborhood. if we all do it, the chances of theft are greatly reduced.

better yet, run for County Clerk in your home and make sure the elections are fair and transparent.

but I'll probably have to tape my mouth shut ... tend to blurt controversial things out when I am in that room ;)

that will set me up to be on the Election Board (poll worker) for November

and thank you for your suggestions.

for the movie. and was saddened by the omission of, or the brief careening by of certain relative facts surrounding FLA 2000.
i find it interesting as to how We on the left are disappointed in the accuracy of the telling of this shameful point in our history.

The absolute tragicomedy of the whole thing is how HBO skipped the fate of the actual ballots... How Ol' Jeb destroyed them sooner than law allows.

I take heart and am rejuvenated at the knowledge of rethugs abhorrence of the telling the story at all. no matter how the story gets told or how "centrist" its telling. the republicans will tout it as leftist propaganda. as they know just how badly they undermined Democracy.

One of the better columns I read about the 2000 vote was by the late, great Hunter Thompson:

Where did Gore think he was -- in some friendly Civics class?

Toronto Globe and Mail February 26, 2005:
by Paul William Roberts
Hunter telephoned me on Feb. 19, the night before his death. He sounded scared. It wasn't always easy to understand what he said, particularly over the phone, he mumbled, yet when there was something he really wanted you to understand, you did. He'd been working on a story about the World Trade Center attacks and had stumbled across what he felt was hard evidence showing the towers had been brought down not by the airplanes that flew into them but by explosive charges set off in their foundations. Now he thought someone was out to stop him publishing it: "They're gonna make it look like suicide," he said. "I know how these bastards think . . ."

that all of it was planned and anticipated. FL 2000 was a criminal conspiracy. And guess what, Joe LIebrman was Gore's point man in Florida.

Too distasteful as well as inaccurate

... the Republican, with 30 years of experience, who ridiculed their charges of criminally "eating chads" and said such blasphemous things as "let the chads fall where they may" and that "both sides" were making objections to clear votes (and yes, "both sides" is GOP-speak for "we're doing it").

Still, such latent rationality and failure to "get with the program" often causes sudden "health" concerns and a need to "spend more time with family" (in California).

So out with someone who spend decades ripping off any loose chad to avoid problems and in with former-judge-turned-Republican-turned-reappointed-by-Jebbie-judge Rosenberg:



Clown Prince of Vote-Count Mockery

---

all the polishing took off the sharp points.

and they were WAAAAAAAY to nice to the Republicans, no matter how they whine .

kick

"So, in retrospect, is the much-publicized telling of the story of an historical decision -- using respected actors and an occasionally daring network, without revealing key plot points that reveal the dark misuse of power, scheming and theft -- still useful?"

I don't think so. I think glossing over the dark misuse of power gives people a safer story to "put to bed" and move on, without taking any truly corrective action at all.

misrepresented tells me that there are forces TRYING to fictionalize history. This could not have been a mere oversight.

government stole the election in 2000.

That a partisan, EXTREMELY biased RELATIVE of a presumptive presidential nominee can simply ANNOUNCE that his candidate has won.... and it immediately becomes "common wisdom", the "gospel truth" and an undisputable talking point.

But then the system was DESIGNED to do this, wasn't it?

It was hard to watch this movie but I found James Baker's tactics especially disturbing.

With him as bu$h's reptilican spokesperson, it was as if we were being taken over by truly evil forces... and sure enough.

k&r

:hi:

..anyone watch it on HBO?
If you are a Dem like me, it just brought up every corruptable moment in the 2000 election, between Gore and bush and the lawsuits that preceeded it.
The telltale part of the movie was when the lead character played by Keven Spacey walks up to James Baker and ask him,"Do you think the better man won?" Baker replies yes as sure as you think about yours. Spacy replies are you sure? The rest is history. All horrible, corruptable history. And Bush has been circumventing the Consitution ever since.

Within hours or a day, after a protestor on OUR side called it a coup d'etat on TV (which it WAS), Baker called a news conference and said the DEMS were trying to pull a coup d'etat. Within HOURS... My eyes popped out of my head and my jaw hit the floor. Where is that P.O.S. now? Paraguay?

Great piece, thank you for posting.

peace~

When i saw Kevin Spacey all over the TV dial talking about how fair the movie was going to be, I knew that I would dislike it. I waited all through the movie for the epilogue at the end to say that the newspapers did an independent investigation and found that Gore had won. That is a fact most people did not know, right? Well, they still don't know, as there was no epilogue at all. The scenes showing Republicans sincerely and earnestly afraid that the Democrats were going to steal the election as the reason for all their actions were mortifying. The movie added nothing to our collective knowledge--whatever opinion you had going in, you had coming out of it. More than a waste of time, it cemented people's wrong opinions.

All they had to do was put up a paragraph stating the what the count was on September 12, 2001.

Just state Gore was voted president.

Not just "x candidate is awful" or "x candidate is awesome."

Good for you!

:kick:

Thanks for the thread, helderheid.

This is a great opinion piece... I wanted a viewing guide...

But I wanted to note that there is a bad link in the text... the one linking to Dan Rather's Trouble with Touchscreens

Please fix it. Everyone should see it.