Election 2004: The War Rages On

When reading or listening to left-wing sources, one might be excused for gaining the impression that "Bush stole the election". Perhaps this impression is also reinforced by pontificating pundits such as Michael Moore, who sat next to Jimmy Carter at the last Democratic Presidential nominating convention.

What are the facts?

(Excerpt)

Why did Moore have to resort to a misdated and re-titled letter to the editor from a local paper in Illinois to back up his claim that independent recounts showed Gore had won? Because the claim is false. In fact, the independent recounts, conducted by several universities and media organizations, showed that in every recount scenario that had been requested by the Gore campaign, Bush actually won more votes than Gore did in Florida, and therefore won the election, regardless of any court intervention. There were two major media investigations of the Florida post-election process. The first, conducted by USA Today, The Miami Herald and Knight Ridder, showed that “George W. Bush would have won a hand count of Florida’s disputed ballots if the standard advocated by Al Gore had been used” The second, conducted by the Associated Press, CNN, The New York Times, The Palm Beach Post, The St. Petersburg Times, Tribune Publishing, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post, likewise showed that by all the scenarios requested by the Gore campaign or suggested by the Florida Supreme Court, Bush would have won The only ways Gore might have squeezed out a win would have involved extremely contrived and unusual methods of counting ballots, which no one had suggested Moore’s claim is misleading and his use of newspaper clippings is dishonest.

(End of Excerpt)

There are numerous political lies that emanate from both sides of the political aisle. Be sure of the facts before repeating them.

Let's all keep in mind that, lately, the volume of political discourse has risen along with the temperature of their exponents. As with all wars, truth is the first casualty.

See: Link.