Sorry for the duplicate post, added an article from the New York Post for your education.
The Hijacking
Of the Presidency The theft of the presidency proceeds apace.
A hand count of electoral returns has either begun or is about to begin in several heavily Democratic Florida counties — a shockingly subjective undertaking, front-end-loaded to deliver the Sunshine State, and thus the White House, to Vice President Al Gore.
But before that happens, the veep and his high-powered sidekicks need to think long and hard about what they'll do with a presidency that would amount to stolen property.
That is, a presidency devoid of moral authority to govern — a prescription for civil dissonance that will make the Clinton years seem like small beer in comparison.
We understand that the counting of ballots is part of the political process — that politicians are, of necessity, involved.
But too much is enough. The "recount" is swarming with Democratic Party operatives — not one of whom had the decency to do what George Bush's brother, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, did at the outset: recuse himself to avoid the appearance of impropriety.
By now, all America has seen the result: the Florida "hand recount."
This involves putting a disputed ballot up to a lamp and attempting to divine what it was the voter intended to do — as opposed to what he or she actually did.
But that's not a recount.
That's egg-candling. And mind-reading.
There's nothing objective about it. Or fair.
And it's wholly unacceptable as the means by which title to the presidency of the United States of America is delivered to anyone — let alone the guy who lost the state to George W. Bush, pending the opening of absentee and overseas ballots.
Bush won the state on the up — by a nano-whisker, to be sure. But he won.
Then he won the various recounts.
And that should be good enough.
But, of course, it's not.
Not to Al Gore. And not to Bill Daley of Chicago, the head mechanic in this broad-daylight effort to hot-wire the presidency and drive it off to Nashville.
Happily, lawyers for Gov. Bush will be in federal court this morning. Their mission: to stop this sham, and to freeze the process in place until Friday — when the absentee and overseas ballots are opened and counted.
And that should be the end of it.
Would that be fair? Yes.
Would it be perfect? Of course not.
But compared to what was going on all day yesterday — Democrats combing through their most reliable precincts, grubbing for the handful of votes they need to elect their candidate — it is the difference between night and day.
Between right and wrong.
Between a legitimate presidency and electoral piracy.
Between a domestically governable country and ceaseless political discord.
Between the beacon of democracy and reason that America has long been in a fractious, dangerous world — and the abyss.
That much is at stake this morning.
Nothing less.
Eagler
[This message has been edited by Eagler (edited 11-13-2000).]
