Message-ID: <21251874.1075854647764.JavaMail.evans@thyme> Date: Wed, 22 Nov 2000 19:23:00 -0800 (PST) From: bushnews@georgewbush.com To: ebass@enron.com Subject: Bush News: 11/22/00 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-From: "Bush-Cheney 2000" <bushnews@georgewbush.com> X-To: <EBASS@ENRON.COM> X-cc: X-bcc: X-Folder: \Eric_Bass_Dec2000\Notes Folders\Discussion threads X-Origin: Bass-E X-FileName: ebass.nsf Unsubscribe/address change links are at bottom. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Want to help? Forward this e-mail to your friends, then, if you have not yet given, contribute to the Bush Cheney Recount here: https://www.econtributor.net/Contribution/Contribution.cfm?AID=IVFFBXFAZHGH AOL contribution link at bottom. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Bush News 11/22/00 http://www.georgewbush.com AOL: <a href=http://www.georgewbush.com>GeorgeWBush.com</a> Contents: 1 Statement by Governor George W. Bush 2 Statement by James Baker III re: FL Supreme Court Decision 3 Gore Has No Chance To Win Unless He Changes The Rules Again... 4 Washington Post: Send in the Thugs 5 Gore's Point Man Argued Against Dimples in 1996 _________________________________________________________________ 1 Statement by Governor George W. Bush November 22, 2000 "I am disappointed with last night's ruling by the Florida Supreme Court. We believe the justices have used the bench to change Florida's election laws and usurp the authority of Florida's election officials. We believe the court overreached. Writing laws is the duty of the legislature; administering laws is the duty of the executive branch. "Two weeks after the presidential election, a court has decided that Florida's deadline for counting votes and certifying votes was not a deadline at all. The court has decided that the selective recounting of votes that have already been counted at least two times, and in some cases three or four times, will continue more than a week after the law says it should. And the court has ordered that the secretary of state must accept all this. "The court had cloaked its ruling in legalistic language. But make no mistake, the court rewrote the law. It changed the rules, and it did so after the election was over. Full Statement: http://www.georgewbush.com/News.asp?FormMode=NR&ID=2130 _________________________________________________________________ 2 Statement by James Baker III, Senior Advisor, Bush-Cheney Recount "At Monday's oral argument before the Florida Supreme Court, Justice Harding asked a key question about Florida's electoral laws and standards: "Is it right to change the rules in the middle of the game?" "The Florida Supreme Court and some Democratic county electoral boards have now decided to do just that. Full statement: http://www.georgewbush.com/News.asp?FormMode=NR&ID=2129 _________________________________________________________________ 3 Gore Has No Chance To Win Unless He Changes The Rules Again To Count Dimpled Ballots, So... ~ For the past week, the Gore campaign has been saying that the Florida Supreme Court would be the final arbiter of this election. But now that they didn't get a decision exactly to their liking, the Gore campaign is backpedaling and saying that they will leave all their options open. ~ In response to inquiries about whether dimpled chads can be counted as votes, the Florida Supreme Court cited the Hartke case in Illinois, but the Illinois case didn't talk about dimpled chads at all. It involved hanging chads, the standard that these three counties began using and the standard that they are now seeking to change. ~ There has been a lot of talk about statutes in Texas governing manual recounts. In Texas this would all be over because Texas only allows one manual recount, and it has very clear and objective standards. The first of those is when you see light coming through, and the second of those is where you have a hanging chad. It's only in the third instance that the statute in Texas speaks about any consideration of a dimpled chad, and it doesn't say that a dimpled chad can be considered standing alone. It says it can be considered only where it also is accompanied by a clearly ascertainable intent of the voter to vote. ~ With its decision, the Florida Supreme Court has decided to 'change the rules in the middle of the game.' ~ The Florida Supreme Court has now assumed the role of both the executive and legislative branches. They effectively rewrote statutes that had been enacted by the Florida Legislature and took over responsibilities that rightly belonged to the Florida Secretary of State. ~ This decision by seven Democrat justices completely politicizes the vote-counting process by putting the fate of this election in the hands of the six Democrats, two independents and only one Republican that control the Canvassing Boards in the counties conducting manual recounts. ~ In a transparent attempt to overturn the results of this election, the Gore campaign is now trying to rewrite the rules in three counties that are still conducting manual recounts. ~ Statistical experts have said that under the current standards, Gore will not get enough votes to overcome Governor Bush's lead. So now the Gore campaign is looking to change those standards in the middle of the process. ~ The Gore campaign wants to count ballots that have only a slight indentation. No hole in the ballot is necessary. No single loose corner is necessary. Not even seeing any light through the ballot is necessary. This lenient standard has been proposed solely for Democrats to invent enough votes to overturn the election. ~ Ten years ago, the Democratic Supervisor of Elections in Palm Beach County issued a guideline about how ballots should be counted that stated, "But a chad that is fully attached, bearing only an indentation, should not be counted as a vote." Now Democrats want to unfairly change those rules. ~ The Gore campaign knows that the only way to get the votes they need is to keep changing the rules. This is unfair and unacceptable. This election must be decided by the rules that existed on Election Day, not the rules rewritten by the Gore campaign in a politically charged environment two weeks later. _________________________________________________________________ 4 The Washington Post SEND IN THE THUGS Michael Kelly 11/22/00 Excerpt: "Even if Gore ultimately loses in Florida, he will have come very, very close to winning. Moreover, he will have done this with his image-skin more or less intact. For Gore has already won an astonishing propaganda victory: With the help of reasonably sympathetic coverage from a largely Democratic and liberal national press corps, he has managed to spin his extraordinary, radical, unprecedented behavior as reasonable - and legitimate. This probably ensures that future close presidential elections will produce future Gore Losers, marching off to the courts and the cameras with their armies of lawyers and thugs, demanding recounts, rewriting the rules and the laws, convincing more and more Americans that their electoral system is, like those in most of the world, just another rigged game. Thanks, Al, we needed that." Full Story: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A49846-2000Nov21.html _________________________________________________________________ 5 The Palm Beach Post Gore's Point Man Argued Against Dimples in 1996 Joel Engelhardt, Palm Beach Post 11/22/00 Excerpts: "Amid the swarm of the world press outside the county Emergency Operations Center, Dennis Newman leads the charge to find new votes for Al Gore in the dimples of the Palm Beach County ballot. "His argument, put simply, is that dimples show the true intent of the voter. Voters caused those dimples. Dimples should count. "Four years ago, in a similar election spat, Newman took a much different stand. Employing his best legal tactics on behalf of a Democrat holding a slight lead in a primary race for Congress, Newman scoffed at the idea of counting the tiny indentations as votes. "Like the Republicans watching now, Newman wondered out loud how ballots that had been handled over and over, in recount after recount, could still be impartially judged. Couldn't the ballots -- and therefore the votes -- be affected by all that touching and grabbing? Full Story: http://www.gopbi.com/partners/pbpost/epaper/editions/today/news_9.html _________________________________________________________________ AOL contribution link: <a href=https://www.econtributor.net/Contribution/Contribution.cfm?AID=IVFFBXFAZH GH>Contribute</a> _________________________________________________________________ Paid for by Bush Cheney Recount http://www.georgewbush.com ============================================================================== To unsubscribe, please go here: http://www.georgewbush.com/unsubscribe.asp?email=EBASS@ENRON.COM To change your e-mail address or any other subscription information, please go here: http://www.georgewbush.com/MyGeorgeW.asp