Election 2000: Joe Versus the Volcano

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By contrast, the notion of Bush's conceding never comes up. Counting votes is seen as tantamount to anarchy. Citizens as corrupt and dexterous as Las Vegas dealers peeling from the bottom of the deck will steal the election. Never mind that manual recounts are routine and that Bush himself is asking for one in New Mexico. Courts such as that of Judge Sauls are praised, despite his refusal to examine the ballots and his applying the wrong legal standard for a recount: evidence that a different outcome was probable rather than merely placing "in doubt the result of the election"--and neglecting the duty of a trial judge to examine the evidence, the ballots. Courts that disagree with Bush are trashed. During the protest phase, Bush argued that there had to be speedy certification to allow for a contest phase, when judicial review would be appropriate. But now, during the contest phase, Bush argues the opposite, that there is no place for the judiciary and no time (a self-fulfilling prophecy now).

The Bush team called Friday's ruling a constitutional crisis. But it is a crisis only if they throw a constitutional tantrum. It's properly assumed that a Bush win after a recount will elicit a Gore concession. It's also assumed that a loss for Bush will occasion a power play by the legislature in a state controlled by his brother and, if need be, a power play by his brother.

The Gore side has made its mistakes. Gore's people should have insisted on a full recount, not cherry-picked counties and a no-dimpled-chad standard. They should have conceded that there is not a remedy for every flaw--the butterfly ballots creating Jews for Buchanan, Republicans being allowed to fix Republican absentee-ballot applications.

Americans don't like games won by faulty scorekeeping. The Florida Supreme Court found this principle enshrined in the state's election code before Election Day, as the U.S. Supreme Court said it must. But that is not enough. It still found that a true count would cause irreparable harm by throwing a cloud over the victory Bush insists will be his by hook or by crook.