The Beginning of the End? Or the End of the Beginning?
By MAUREEN DOWD
"...A sour James Baker called the Florida Supreme Court ruling "sad for our democracy." Actually, oh Velvet Hammer, you've got it backward.
When you try to obscure truth, as the Bush crowd has, that is sad for our democracy. When you try to reveal truth, as the Florida Supreme Court did, that is swell for our democracy.
Our unelection is superior to our election in every way. The campaign was never about anything. Lockbox, prescription drugs, blah, blah.
Now we are fighting over bedrock principles. The sanctity of the vote, the idea that every vote counts.
Sadly, the Florida Supremes got slapped a second time by the Big Supremes, who issued a stay stopping the recount yesterday.
The Brethren are supposed to be above politics, even though they are appointed on a partisan basis. But in their Saturday deliberations, the justices split along predictable ideological lines, with the five most conservative justices holding the line for Mr. Bush and the liberal wing going solidly for Mr. Gore. Will the public continue to view a court riven by such partisanship as above the fray, as the final arbiter of fairness? Or will the justices just seem to be looking for a partisan version of the truth, like almost everyone else in this mess?
The Big Supremes will hear arguments on Monday morning. But their stay snuffed out the stab at fairness by the Florida Supreme Court, which said: Let's count all the disputed ballots by hand in every county.
It only lasted a day, but at least the Florida high court's slim majority opinion did strike a genuine chord of principle in a mud bath where the leaders are making phony claims of principle while grabbing at the prize.
Because of the closeness of the race and the messiness of the count, and because of the different and confusing standards for manual recounting, we may never know who won.
But it's the presidency. Isn't that worth the effort to try to get it right?
The Bushes are always gracious, until they need to go ugly.
If Jeb has to ruin his career ramming W. through, he will. If W. has to owe Tom DeLay the world, he will. And if Clarence Thomas can lend a hand to his patrons, will he? " |
