Putting different spins on the election
Gary J. Caruso
Capital Comments
Last night I sat a block from the White House at McPhearson Square, waiting in the rain for a friend. Two dozen homeless persons began lining up along the sidewalk waiting for a soup truck to feed them. Eventually, more than seventy men and women of all ages and races had been feed, oblivious to who should or will win the White House located just around the corner.
A "Friends Don't Let Friends Vote Republican" sticker is proudly displayed next to the Gore/Lieberman sticker on the rear of my van. It was my attempt to put a little humor and create a tongue-in-cheek atmosphere around my personal involvement in the presidential campaign. In fact, I got a kick out of driving in front of Texas Senator Phil Gramm's car in October, but the humor has since subsided.
Many Democrats believe, and every top Gore official I've spoken with agree that on election day more voters went to the polls in Florida and cast what they thought were votes for Al Gore. Republicans obviously believe that the total is the total and George W. Bush won. But it is the nasty turn of rhetorical rancor that has poisoned the post presidential contest.
Initially, the Republican T-shirts with "Enough is Enough" and "The Count is the Count" adequately summarized their opinions. Some other cute phrases included, "My child is an honor student at the Electoral College," "Don't blame me, I voted for Gore twice" and "Thank me, I meant to vote for Gore!"
However, the tone quickly changed with such signs and bumper stickers that personally attacked Democrats. For example, "Daley Like Daddy," a Wheaties cereal box with Gore's picture and the word "Cheaties" on it and "Sore/Loserman" signs with the Gore/Lieberman logo on it clearly implied that Democrats were less than honorable. Disrespect for the elderly and certain counties in Florida were evident in "Eye gradiated frum Paum Beech Elementree," and "Vote for Gore: at least three times."
The bitterness escalated when House Majority Whip Tom Delay and Republican Conference Chairman J.C. Watt both flatly said that Democrats were trying to steal the election. The rancor continued to rise when a mob of Republican protesters stormed the Miami-Dade County room where the recount board was meeting. Interestingly, a staff member from Tom Delay's office was in the second row chanting and firing up the troops.
Most Democrats were absolutely livid when Republicans suggested that Democrats were against the military's rights to vote by trying to void overseas ballots. One high ranking Democrat pointed out that the bitterness has exceeded the level during the President's impeachment in 1998. He pointed out that Republicans first quoted statistics that indicated that more than 70 percent of Broward County's absentee ballots were rejected by Democratic challenges and then implied that all of those were military ballots. The fact was that only six military ballots were rejected, some because they were postmarked after election day, which is a clear violation of the law.
Democrats believe that the fiasco with the so-called "butterfly" ballot was a fate that went against them, but was not the deciding factor. The discourse could have gone on about how to count ballots and could have remained somewhat civil. However, when the Bush team challenged the validity of hand counts, and portrayed the Florida Supreme Court as a partisan Democratic tool, they focused their rhetoric not on the rule of law, but at the attempt of stealing the election.
As a result, the old scorch-the-earth approach to politics we thought had ended with New Gingrich's departure was the business as usual. Should Bush become president, the Delays and Watts of the congressional arena have done no favors for him in extending across the aisle to Democrats. Ironically, it did not have to become such a spin of rhetoric over the recount. Until the Florida Supreme Court ruling, it was a matter of waiting for the judicial process to decide.
Another irony in this saga is the reversal of the party's support. Usually, Republicans believe in states' rights, until now. They want a federal standard to overturn the local and state laws that purposely leave wide discretion to the county recount boards. Democrats usually support federal standards in favor of a universal, across-the-board leveling of the field. Yet Republicans have chastised Democrats about using the Florida election law which relies on local decisions.
We are truly witnessing an historical period. The election recount had been keeping the nation transfixed, but is now slowly losing that level of attention. Regardless of who eventually wins the contest, public opinion is not the deciding factor, the law is. Soon we will know the outcome of Florida according to the law, and half of us will not like the decision.
The next couple of years are going to be difficult for everyone.
Gary J. Caruso, Notre Dame '73, is currently serving in President Clinton's administration as a Congressional and Public Affairs Director and worked at the U.S. House of Representatives for seventeen years. His column appears every other Friday, and his Internet address is Hottline@aol.com.
The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer
All Viewpoint Stories for Friday, December 1, 2000
