Posted on 08/31/2004 5:51:25 PM PDT by Nanny7
My husband said he heard Tim Russert say on Imus (this morning - 8/31) that "Gore won all the recounts in Florida." Can someone confirm?
I didn't hear that.
No, he said the opposite.
They were discussing Michael Moore's assertion that Gore won all recounts.
That's a lie. In fact, USA Today and one of the Miami newspapers counted all the uncounted votes and Bush actually extended his lead...if I find the article I'll post it for you
Thanks for clearing this up.
Imus was discussing with Russert the conversation Imus had with McCain. McCain said he never saw the Farenheit "movie" , just excerpts. So Imus asked him what was dishonest about the film. McCain replied about how Iraq was depicted as a paradise under Saddam.....& Imus had the impression that was the only thing really "wrong" about the movie. Russert responded with a few other "mistakes" and also added the Florida recount being portrayed falsely in the film as stating that Gore won. Russert said that every single reliable recount had showed just the opposite - that Bush won.
That's two rather significant lies.
no no no
even the NYT had three recounts and Bush won even theirs...
sheeeesh!!
Doogle
My recollection is that the newspaper consortium counted the ballots using 4 different criteria. Bush won 3 out of 4 including the method advocated by the Gore lawyers at the time of the court cases.
would appreciate having that documentation. i'm getting sick of the assertion that Bush stole the election. repub. talking points should include, "that was the election Gore tried to steal."
Thanks, I missed that segment this morning.
BTW, tomorrow, Imus should have a good show considering what happened to Chris Matthews tonight.
Tim Russert - Mr. Potato Head of the election industry!
I have the USA Today article bookmarked...just have to find the proverbial needle in the haystack. LOL
Here ya go!
April 3, 2001
In the first full study of Florida's ballots since the election ended, The Miami Herald and USA Today reported George W. Bush would have widened his 537-vote victory to a 1,665-vote margin if the recount ordered by the Florida Supreme Court would have been allowed to continue, using standards that would have allowed even faintly dimpled "undervotes" -- ballots the voter has noticeably indented but had not punched all the way through -- to be counted.
The study, conducted by the accounting firm of BDO Seidman, counted over 60,000 votes in Florida's 67 counties, tabulating separate vote totals in several standards categories.
While the USA Today report focused on what would have happened had the Florida Supreme Court-ordered recount not been halted by the U.S. Supreme Court, the Herald pointed to one scenario under which Gore could have scored a narrow victory -- a fresh recount in all counties using the most generous standards.
In their reports, the newspapers assumed counts already completed when the court-ordered recount was stopped would have been included in any official count. Thus, they allowed numbers from seven counties -- Palm Beach, Volusia, Broward, Hamilton, Manatee, Escambia and Madison -- to stand, but applied the most inclusive standards to votes in the rest of the state. If those numbers did not stand, the Herald reported, a more generous hypothetical revisited recount would have scored the White House for Gore -- but with only a 393-vote margin.
Under most other scenarios, the papers reported, Bush would have retained his lead.
The newspapers' review did not include the approximately 110,000 "overvotes" -- ballots cast for more than one candidate. Both papers are planning a separate analysis of overvote numbers next month.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/media/media_watch/jan-june01/recount_4-3.html
Report: Bush would win recount of disputed ballots
CNN Interactive, May 11, 2001
Web posted at: 9:18 AM EDT (1318 GMT)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush would have won a hand recount of all disputed ballots in Florida's presidential election using the two most common standards for judging votes, according to a USA Today analysis published Friday.
The newspaper said the study of 171,908 ballots also found that errors by Democratic voters probably cost former Vice President Al Gore as many as 25,000 votes, enough to have decisively won Florida and the 2000 election.
The findings were the result of a study of the state's disputed ballots by USA Today, The Miami Herald, Knight Ridder newspapers and six other Florida newspapers.
The study found that Gore might have won a narrow victory if lenient standards that counted every mark on a ballot had been used, the newspaper said. But Gore could not have won without a hand count of overvote ballots, which he did not request, the report said.
Bush won the state's crucial 25 Electoral College votes only after a ferocious court battle with Gore that was ultimately decided by the U.S. Supreme Court. The divided high court halted hand recounts that Gore had hoped would produce enough votes to overturn Bush's 537-vote margin of victory.
The study analyzed 60,647 undervotes -- ballots that registered no vote in vote counting machines. It also examined 111,261 overvotes -- ballots marked with more than one presidential choice. Under Florida law, overvotes are disqualified.
USA Today said the study found that Democratic voters made far more overvotes than Republican voters.
"Gore would likely have won if all overvote ballots had been properly marked," said Anthony Salvanto, a political scientist at the University of California-Irvine who assisted the news organizations on the study.
He said people who cast overvotes were clearly confused by the presidential portion of the Florida ballot and had few problems casting votes in other races. The paper said voters were confused by a long list of minority party presidential candidates on the ballot.
USA Today said only 6 percent of those who overvoted in the presidential race made the same mistake in the Senate race, which was next on the ballot.
He concluded that the leading causes of overvotes in Florida were ballot design and ballot wording.
USA Today said Florida's controversial "butterfly" ballot was a key problem for many voters. The ballot put candidates' names on facing pages with punch holes in the middle. The alignment confused some voters, who punched holes for candidates they did not intend to choose.
Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, the president's younger brother, signed a sweeping election reform law Wednesday that ended the use of butterfly ballots and punch-card machines in the state.
The governor signed the reform measure in Palm Beach County, where Gore supporters believe the butterfly ballot cost their candidate the presidency.
I heard Russert say Bush won in all recounts,,it floored me.
thanks a bunch. i've bookmarked it in my arsenal of refutable lies. my husband has been duly chastised with a warning to listen more closely next time. you freepers are GREAT.
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