Horowitz has summed up all I find disturbing in the Republicans' post-election arguments -- that somehow, performing a manual recount of votes amounts to theft of an election. This argument had some small weight when Gore had only asked for recounts in select counties (although that was his right under Florida law), but completely evaporated under the Florida Supreme Court's wise ruling last week. The outcome of a full recount of Florida was not a certain thing by any means, as Bush was picking up dozens of votes in some counties, but the Republicans chose from the beginning to run the clock out and take a dirty win.
I'm sure Republicans will continue to attempt to lay the illegitimacy of the Bush presidency at the feet of the Democratic Party, but they have no one but themselves to blame. For people who tout democracy, the rule of law and states' rights, they have shown little regard for any of them when the rubber really hits the road.
-- Dennis Thompson
Horowitz castigates Al Gore for being "greedy and reckless" for not recognizing that "the one who gets the most votes wins." Surely Horowitz must realize that this is just what the Gore side has been proposing all along. Count all the votes; the one with the most wins Florida.
The Bush side has come up with any number of reasons for counting all the overseas absentee ballots that had some problems, but they are clearly afraid of counting by hand the ballots the machines could not read. They have complained that there is "no standard" for counting these. Well then, let them propose one. Maybe like the standard they have in Texas. Then let's count them. Some will surely be "no votes," some will be for Bush, some will be for Gore. Let's just count them and the one who gets the most votes wins.
-- Barry Nolan
David Horowitz's conclusion -- that Gore has done great damage to our government -- is curiously myopic. Nothing in the world, manmade or natural, reaches any level of quality without being tested. In nature, it's called evolution. Perhaps Horowitz thinks our government is perfect as it was created, and doesn't need to evolve. Or perhaps it's so fragile that it shouldn't be tested. How exactly should our government grow to respond to the changing society that sponsors it?
-- Christopher Kenton
I agree with David Horowitz. I have always considered myself to be a moderate Democrat, but Bill Clinton has made me question my loyalty to the Democratic Party. I could not vote for Al Gore, the representative of Bill Clinton, Ted Kennedy, Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton and many other supposed Democrats. I am a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, having served during the Korean Conflict. I believe the Democrats had a concerted effort to take the vote away from our service men who were overseas. I also was frightened by their effort to remove the 25,000 absentee ballots.
Vice President Gore and his army of attorneys say that they want to make every vote count. Surely the electorate of this country is not so stupid as to believe this. "Count every vote," but not those of service men and only those votes that were imagined to be cast for Al Gore. I think the only solution to this mess in future elections is to require that only people who pay taxes should be allowed to vote. Maybe we should also require voters to be able to read.
-- David Shaver
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