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One Scene I Wish Had Been in HBO's "Recount"
May 23, 2008 1:28 PM
As we blogged about yesterday, I quite enjoyed HBO's "Recount" movie, imperfect as it may be. (I was one of several journalists who covered the recount who consulted on the film.)
It's a movie, not a documentary, so obviously decisions were made that ultimately meant that, as Kevin Spacey said on MSNBC the other day, "the movie is done from the Democratic point of view, because I play Ron Klain who's Al Gore's former chief of staff, but then again they were the underdogs and, dramatically, that makes more sense."
That said, many Republicans involved in the process have thought the overall treatment was fair to both sides and it's dramatically a good yarn.
**
Spacey, one of the greatest actors of his generation, got it completely wrong, however, when he told Keith Olbermann on MSNBC that "it does seem that on the one hand the Bush people were trying to stop votes from being counted and the Gore people were just trying to get votes counted."
Ugh. No, no, no. That's not accurate.
The Gore people were just trying to get GORE votes counted.
And though HBO makes that clear intellectually, the emotional push of the film can distract from that.
Reviewing my book about the Florida shenanigans, there's one scene that I wish had been in there, one that would have gotten across just how much the Gore team was NOT trying to count every vote.
**
Throughout the campaign, Gore lieutenants referred to the circle of higher-ups as "The Matrix," a reference to the 1999 sci-fi thriller about an evil artificial intelligence computer power that runs the world autocratically.
This was not a compliment.
And when it came time to contest the election, the decision by the Matrix -- in this case, Gore, Klain, Sen. Joe Lieberman, Bill Daley, Warren Christopher, Michael Whouley, Carter Eskew and Bob Shrum -- to not even remotely attempt to attempt a statewide hand recount severely disappointed the Gore lieutenants. It made many of them feel like frauds.
Indeed, the Gore strategy mystified Bush staffers. One of the Bush attorneys, Michael Carvin, wondered how the Gore legal team thought it could secure the presidency based on just some of the 175,000 unread ballots being looked at, from four Democratic counties. It was a strategy so brazen, he was convinced that there had to be more there.
There wasn't. Gore, at that point, was mired in a pool of self-righteous indignation and hopelessness, and so were his staff members. And it caused some bizarre, not to mention disingenuous, behavior.
The Gore team argued in court that there were unread ballots in Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties -- while ignoring the same phenomenon in Republican-leaning counties all over the state. Why couldn't they have asked a judge to examine all of them? There is no answer to this. Practicality is not an argument; all of this was unprecedented, and the Gore team could have certainly asked for a statewide recount during the contest period. What they were asking for -- the inclusion of just enough selected votes from selected counties for Gore to win -- is certainly no more reasonable.
As I wrote in Salon.com in April 2001, the Florida Supreme Court decision to count the undervotes but not the overvotes in that state was completely nonsensical.
Un-counted votes are un-counted votes. Whether they're undervotes or overvotes. Whether they're for Bush, Gore, Nader, or Buchanan.
**
Of the four Democratic leaning counties that the Gore team cherry-picked for recounts in the state -- Palm Beach, Broward, Miami-Dade, and Volusia -- only Volusia was a clean success. It was the only one of the four selected counties to complete its hand recount by Nov. 14, the mandated certification date and the only one to have one clean, clear standard in its counting throughout the process.
Volusia County's canvassing board was run by a retiring, no-nonsense Republican judge, Michael McDermott, who thought that the Republican lawyers sent to the scene were clearly there to stand in the way of the unread votes being counted. So he prevented them from their clear stalling tactic.
Gore lawyer Jack Young, a recount expert, ran the show there for the Democrats, and after the county had completed its reexamination of the Opti-scan ballots (think SAT-style oval fill-ins), Gore had picked up 98 net votes.
That was from both the undervotes and the overvotes. So after the Volusia County canvassing board completed its task, Young called Gore headquarters in Tallahassee, with some suggestions for more recounts.
Here's the scene I would have added.
FADE IN: VOLUSIA COUNTY GOVERNMENT BUILDING, DAY
In a blindingly bright county building, Gore recount lawyer JACK YOUNG, who has been advocating for a statewide recount from the beginning, calls HQ in Tallahassee on a cell phone. Behind him county workers are packing up, shaking hands, finishing up the orderly process.
JACK YOUNG: So we finished up here. Counted 'em all. Gore picked up 98 votes.
GORE LAWYER IN TALLAHASSEE: Awesome. (Yelling to colleagues:) That's 98 for Gore in Volusia!
YOUNG: So listen, I should go to Lake County. There are thousands of undervotes and overvotes there. Then I can hop to Duval County. They got 29,000 undervotes and overvotes combined there. No need to sue anyone or file a formal "protest" or anything like that, I'll just tell them what we did in Volusia and the county canvassing boards will see the logic.
LAWYER: What in heaven's name are you talking about?
YOUNG: You guys keep forgetting, I'm a recount expert; I do this for a living. This is my job.
LAWYER: Waitasec. Lake and Duval….Aren't those Bush counties?
YOUNG: Yes, but as I keep telling you politicos, that's not the point.
LAWYER: Can you guarantee that Gore will pick up votes there?
YOUNG: No, of course not. But we're behind. We need to increase the number of possible votes in the pool. This is Recount 101, guys.
LAWYER: Go to Broward County. That's one of our counties. Supervise the rest of that process.
YOUNG: But, but…
LAWYER: Talk to you later, Jack.
The Lawyer HANGS UP the phone. Meanwhile in Volusia County, Young THROWS HIS CELL PHONE onto the ground, breaking it into a million pieces.
And…SCENE.
- jpt
May 23, 2008 | Permalink | Share | User Comments (33)
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Counting on HBO (and other corporate outlets) is a huge mistake. We all need to do our homework and not just read/listen to those who agree with us.
Posted by: traveler | May 23, 2008 2:46:53 PM
It's estimated that Gore lost at least 6,000 votes to Pat Buchanan in Palm Beach County alone due to the infamously designed "butterfly ballot". No one who has objectively studied the vote fairly doubts that more Floridians cast ballots for Al Gore than Bush. Geez, Gore doesn't even get a break when he has an election stolen from him by the Bush gang.
Posted by: hopesprings52 | May 23, 2008 2:43:49 PM
Long and short...NYT sponsoned an independent recount after the election fiasco was through...Bush still won.
This movie is being produced strictly to influency those fools we call "undecided voters" in this year's election...voters who make their decisions on what the media manipulates them into thinking is right for the here and now, not the future.
If everyone in the US had strong standards they believed in this "Recount, the Movie" crap would be proven futile.
Posted by: pcnav | May 23, 2008 2:40:27 PM
People who try to put an intellectual gloss on the GOP's theft of the 2000 election from Al Gore are right up there with the scumbags who for 40 years told people smoking was fine for you, long after the hard science was out there that proved it kills. It makes me mad when someone tries to suggest that Al Gore and his team were responsible for the flat-out theft of the Florida election. Ask the blacks who were blocked from voting down there, ask the people whose names were purged from the rolls by Katherine Harris, ask the county officials who were terrorized by Bush mobs. Jeb Bush and his apparatchik stole that election.
Posted by: hopesprings52 | May 23, 2008 2:28:24 PM
"The theft of the 2000 presidential election is an established historical fact." Only in the minds of liberal sheep. The only "fact" is that Gore's team tried to change the rules to win. The ACTUAL recount, done by the combined media after the election ended, clearly showed that Bush WON the state of Florida. It wasn't the COURT that decided - it was the PEOPLE, as it should be.
Posted by: Kate Again | May 23, 2008 2:24:46 PM
Gore wasn't allowed to change the rules in 2000, and Clinton shouldn't be allowed to change them now. When will the democrats learn that CHEATING isn't an option? The RULES - agreed upon BEFORE the election, are that MI and FL won't count. Does anyone really think Hillary would demand those "voices be heard" if Obama had carried those states? Can't wait for the big, liberal self-destruct at in Denver!
Posted by: Kate Harris | May 23, 2008 2:19:41 PM
It's unfortunate there wasn't a full statewide recount. The one study of all over and undervotes in the 2000 Florida election has revealed Gore would have won under all counting scenarios.
Just think...there would then be hundreds of thousands fewer dead people in the world right now.
Posted by: GB | May 23, 2008 2:16:37 PM
aaarrrrgggghhhhhh ----
I was just listening to Thom Hartman on AirAmerica (I know AA is a bad habit) and the hourly news report was talking about the vets bill that HRC and others were in DC to vote against...and oh yeah, Barack the Peacock was on Capitol Hill and in the building but was too busy getting photographed TO VOTE.
SKIPPED A VOTE - AGAIN...
DIDN'T TAKE A STAND - AGAIN....
WHY DOESN'T ANYONE CALL OUT THIS EMPTY SUIT???? Most employees who don't do their job GET FIRED... how can a US Senator continue to not show up to do their job????
Posted by: IndigoGrrl | May 23, 2008 2:15:37 PM
Here we had two spoiled rich kids running for the highest office in the land. Both smart guys in their own ways, both with the best advisors money could buy.
After the vote was counted, based on the electoral rules, Bush won.
When Gore started to fuss I could not imagine his motive. Remembering Nixon Saying “not good for the country” after his failed run at the presidency and knowing that the system is imperfect and not well designed for close votes, I felt it best that Gore should get over it and move on, “for the good of the country”
Instead the tone was set for 21 century politics. The system was challenged. What I have come to believe was that Gore had one motive. He intended to destroy the ability of Bush to govern. I think Gore knew from day one after the election that he would not prevail. But I also think his goal was met.
Where would we be if Al Gore conceeded gracefully?
History will judge this event. Some smart folks in future times will look at this watershed election and whatever results from it over the next 50 years. Hopefully we will grow from it positively.
For all his faults Nixon's the one.
And by the way, Kevin Spacey seems to be an upright guy. Democrat for sure but he handled recent interviews with grace in intelligence.
Can’t wait to watch the movie!
Posted by: Smith | May 23, 2008 2:15:28 PM
Your interpretation of what took place is confusing. On December 8, 2000, the Supreme Court of Florida "held that relief would require manual recounts in all Florida counties where so-called “undervotes” had not been subject to manual tabulation. The court ordered all manual recounts to begin at once. Governor Bush and Richard Cheney, Republican Candidates for the Presidency and Vice Presidency, filed an emergency application for a stay of this mandate." The U.S. Supreme Court prevented a full recount. It seems pretty clear that Gore was fighting for a full manual recount and Bush was trying to block it. Florida Supreme Court said yes, while U.S. Supreme Court said no. Do you dispute the official court documents?
Posted by: hopesprings52 | May 23, 2008 2:14:12 PM
Yup. If BHO includes the votes of MI and FL, it still will not affect the eventual outcome. Yet, he is willing to sacrifice FL and MI. Why wouldn't he pretend to give the appearance of "inclusiveness" and "HOPE"? The dems have dug a deep hole that they cannot possibly get out.
Posted by: nobo | May 23, 2008 2:13:36 PM
Why is OBAMA so boneheaded refusing the inclusion of MI and FL votes? This is a terrible boneheaded mistake as he makes in everything he does.
Posted by: fat cat | May 23, 2008 2:01:35 PM
Very different from FL and MI. I can't afford HBO, so I may never know the truth about hanging chads.
Posted by: texasdemocrat | May 23, 2008 1:51:24 PM
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