Political Punch

Jake Tapper wrote:
"That meant that the emotional core of the film makes it, probably, lean a little left. Not intellectually, but emotionally."
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Yes, the film-makers had their hands tied; they HAD to portray Gore's side as the heroes, fighting not to win, but just to make sure every vote counted- god bless 'em. Amazing how often that happens - film and TV producers having no choice but to portray the democrats as the good guys.

I've only seen the movie in parts, but was there any explanation of why Gore's team wanted to exclude military votes, which would have certainly gone disproportionately to Bush? If so, I'm sure Kevin Spacey gave a thorough explanation as the movie's score provided emotional proof to his wounded sincerity.

Or how about the questionable tactic of calling for a recount in four counties where Gore led; even a rudimentary understanding of statistics would tell you that such a recount will give additional votes to the leader in those counties, for purely mathematical reasons. But Gore would not do that, would he? He just wanted everyone's vote to be counted... In those counties where he was ahead... To hell with the soldiers' votes... and the rest of Florida.

It is unfortunate that the people we trust and elect made the wrong decision; to move up the primary date. Obama nor Clinton had any control over this decision. Obama and other candidates removed their names from the ballot in Michigan except for Clinton. I ask this "How fair is it for Hilary to receive delegates from Michigan when his name was not on the ballot" See below: January 15, 2008
Team Obama: Michigan's Meaningless
Emailed a few minutes ago from Bill Burton to reporters with the subject line, "Something to think about as returns come in from Michigan" ...

TO: Interested Parties
FR: The Obama Campaign
RE: Michigan Democratic Presidential Primary

Because Michigan violated DNC rules by placing its Presidential Primary on January15th, the DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee ruled that the Michigan Democratic Party could not use the results of the January 15 Presidential Primary to allocate delegates to the 2008 Democratic National Convention. In other words, no delegates are at stake today in the Michigan Democratic Primary.

All of the Democratic presidential candidates publicly pledged not to campaign in Michigan, none have visited the state, opened offices, hired staff or communicated with voters through television, mail, phones or otherwise. In addition, four Democratic presidential candidates, Obama, Edwards, Richardson and Biden withdrew their names from the Primary ballot in order to avoid participating in the Michigan Primary. Clinton did not withdraw her name even though she publicly committed to not participate in the Primary. Clinton, Dodd, Gravel and Kucinich are the only candidates on the ballot today. The Obama Campaign is not participating in the Primary and has not instructed supporters in Michigan whether or how to vote.

Therefore the results of the primary tonight have no bearing on the Democratic nomination contest.

Florida, whose primary was scheduled for January 29th, is just like Michigan – the DNC applied full sanctions for setting an early primary date and there are no delegates are at stake. As with Michigan, all of the Democratic presidential candidates signed a pledge to not campaign in Florida. Although Senator Obama did not remove his name from the Florida Primary ballot because Florida law did not allow him to do so, Senator Obama is firm in his commitment to neither participate nor campaign in the Florida Primary and its outcome has no bearing on the nomination contest. We raise Florida today because Senator Clinton has scheduled a fundraiser in Florida on Jan. 27th, and there are signs – despite Senator Clinton’s public pledge to the contrary – that she may be planning to campaign in the state – inquiring about large venues and increased organizing activity – ahead of the Florida primary.

Our position and the position of the DNC is clear – neither the Florida nor Michigan primaries are playing any role in deciding the Democratic nominee and we are not campaigning in either state.
http://hotlineblog.nationaljournal.com/archives/2008/01/team_obama_mich.html

Agreements were made between all of the candidates before the campaigns began. I live in FL and I am very disappointed with the people who made decisions for the citizens in FL.

Did I forget to mention the whole part about Bush signing a Bill stating "hand recounts are preferable" in Texas then getting his lawyers to do everything they could to STOP the hand recount in the state he would have lost? Everyone may have acted in their own political interest in that election, but the law was on the side of the legally requested recount that was haulted by our current President. Even the Supreme Court agreed with that but we all know what a bang up job they did to remedy, or should I say IGNORE, that problem. Acknowlege the recount was legit and neccessary, yet deny the recount claiming their hands were tied, then add a disclaimer stating that their action was only legal that one time. Great job guys!!

Google the following quote:

"Gore wins popular vote by more than 2 million"

And also, when you read about Bush "Prevailing" according to counts done by newspapers you must remember that the newspapers could not count ballots found on the side of the road and in dumpsters nor could they count the votes that were never cast due to Katherine Harris not allowing people with names similar to felons being able to vote nor could they count votes mistakenly cast for Buchanan on the FLAWED butterfly ballot. THE SYSTEM FAILED and now we have had a war monger, bold faced liar for a President who has literally destroyed an entire country (Iraq) and hundreds of thousands of it's innocent CITIZENS (women, children, men not in Al Queda or any other radical movement) and thousands of American soldiers (like 3 close friends and family members) all because his Daddy, who won the election for him, lost a school yard fight with Sadam Hussein several years before. Not to mention the state of our economy which was handed to this idiot on a silver platter, or the price of oil shooting through the roof (can you actually believe a man who made his millions by owning OIL COMPANIES could not figure out a way to ease oil prices or that HIS WAR IN IRAQ has nothing to do with this?)
If Gore won the popular vote by over 2 million there is not even a possibility that voting in MANY states was completely accurate and on the "up and up." Gore would have won if not for corruption and/or STUPIDITY. Here is the kicker though...America was so blind and obviously ignorant that half of us actaully reelected this moron. Wow. Shocking what people will overlook just so they can be on the "right" side of a cause.

Virtually everyone in the 2000 election acted according to their political party's best interests: the county canvassing boards, Republican Secretary of State Katherine Harris, Democratic Attorney General Bob Butterfield, the Florida legislature (controlled by Republicans), the 7 Florida Supreme Court justices (all appointed by Democratic governors), and the U.S. Supreme Court justices. That's why it's best to simply go with the machine count and possibly a machine recount. A hand recount of punchcards is very subjective and leads to bias. Machines have no bias; that's why we rely on them to do the counting. Plus they're much faster. I think we can all agree that punchcard ballot systems need to be eliminated because we've proven that they can't reliably be counted by hand.

Google the following phrase and make sure that you include the double quotes at the beginning and end:

"Newspapers recount shows Bush prevailed"

What really gets me is that Bush's little soldiers' only agenda was STOPPING the process of a LEGAL recount. I am not just talking about what was "portrayed" in the film, but what actually happened. Not a single Bush supporter alive can ever say they would not have demanded a recount in the same scenario and that Gore would have "won" the election under the same exact circumstances. It is what it is, but the system is flawed and the law did not protect the voters...Period.

I just find it hysterical that yet again Florida voters are being shunted. All by the Dems. Makes you wonder who is the true villain when it comes to voter manipulation in the state of Florida. After all, leopards can't change their spots. Given the chance, they'll always repeat their actions out of habit.

Elizabeth,

Tell your 90-year old friend she WASTED her money.

What disgusted me the most throughout the entire movie was the 20,000, majority African-American, people that got turned away at the polls because of computer error being accepted.

Allow those 20,000 to vote and lets see the result of the election then.

We all know on average African-Americans vote Democratic 90% of the time.

i don't have hbo and can't to pay for HBO -- and am so frustrated that i could not watch Recount. I wanted so badly to see it. Will it go on regular tv at any time or will be be made as a vhs or dvd?

I want to see the Movie "Recount". Let it be shown everywhere ...

This movie makes me so mad at how the Republicans stole the 2000 election. Gore should have been President.
Then, guess what, we would not be in Iraq, and we would have paid attention to global warming, and I bet you that we would not have the problems that we have now. Do not vote for McCain, because he will only continue the illegitimate and wrong Republican policies that have done so much wrong to this country and hurt us so much.

The voting machines are made by the same people who make slot machines. Can you imagine seeing a Vegas pit boss if someone said we have no way to verify the machine receipts. Voting machines have the ability to tell you what time and who punched what. American public needs to demand accurate election results.

The real lesson here and that people need to remember is that ALL of the 50 states have this VERY SAME PROBLEM. Florida was the unlucky one to get caught. It is important that the will of the people be heard and that the we do a better job with the process of voting to make it as easy and accessible as possible for everyone qualified to cast a vote !!!

It just shows how important even the small swings states are. If Gore won only one or two of them Florida wouldn't have mattered.
The Dems are going to repeat the same mistake.

That the 2000 Fla voting process was irregular and many people were disenfranchised---notable example (discounting chads discarded as "unofficial) the 20,000 "alleged" convicted felons like Pastor White, I believe his name was? who were ordered purged from voter rolls by the Bush-of-FLA administration and never got the CHANCE to vote--- CANNOT be denied.

Moreover, given: along with the nation, Ohio voters were outraged by the result of their own state's election results after widespread dissemination of the document in which Ohio's then governor "promised to deliver Ohio to George Bush" state and as many as 350,000 Ohioans were estimated to have been prevented from having their real votes counted due to various machinations such as backward-counting machines,

there truly can be no doubt that our election process is capable of being completely invalidated by power brokers.

So...those who are determined to defend the corruption of the last two elections are just as guilty as the powers that perpetrated this monumental desecration of our nation's democratic process.

Forget party. Forget personal feelings of embarrassment due to guilt by association with any of those manipulators of our country's democracy.

Look where we are. Look where these desecrated elections brought us.

Look at the men behind the curtain.

WE, the PEOPLE are bleeding in a war Congress did not declare after a tragedy that is STILL uninvestigated.

And WHO --besides corporate America---has the power to manipulate the press as blatantly as what occurred in these two elections?

The media. The lobbyists. those who stand to lose when America votes en masse for change.

Here's a quote from Harper's about the 2004 election:

"As the last polling stations closed on the West Coast, exit polls showed Kerry ahead in ten of eleven battleground states -- including commanding leads in Ohio and Florida -- and winning by a million and a half votes nationally. The exit polls even showed Kerry breathing down Bush's neck in supposed GOP strongholds Virginia and North Carolina.(30) Against these numbers, the statistical likelihood of Bush winning was less than one in 450,000.(31) ''Either the exit polls, by and large, are completely wrong,'' a Fox News analyst declared, ''or George Bush loses.''(32)"
from "None Nare Call It Stolen"

Can anyone, sitting in their own chair, in the comfort of their homes, with no one around to judge...can ANYONE in TRUTH say freedom in America was not hijacked?

I followed the "choices" of Katherine Harris during the actual events, read articles in WSJ, NY Times and other respected publications during that time, and watched her portrayal in the film last night. My opinion has been consistently the same: Katherine Harris is NOT an embarrassment to the Republican Party (she is who she is, just as one can not control that crazy aunt or drunken cousin in the family). Her being a republican has NOTHING to do with her makeup as a human being. To bash the Republican Party over her personality is childish and unfair. What Katherine Harris is guilty of is being an embarrassment to WOMEN. Women who are in leadership roles. Women who care more about the content of their business roledex than the content of their nail salon. Women who work very hard to earn respect in their respective male-dominated field. {Kathy-Democrat in CA{

Imagine what a great world this would have been had GORE been allowed to have his just due. President Gore would be finishing up a successful second term, they'd probably be getting ready to redecorate WINDOWS ON THE WORLD on top of the WTC, and the economy wouldn't be hosed.

Look what happened to our US of A because of this fiasco. If Gore would of won and Bush lost, one billion Islams would not be vying for USA's destruction. This is what happens when the people lose their voice or have it wrestled away and special interests take over.

Your quoting from Wikipedia???

ROTFLMAO!!!!!