So FLA's Sun Sentinel Reaction to "Recount"

Sunday's South Florida Sun Sentinel enjoyed the film for entertainment value, not factual presentation, but the first paragraph of its critique spoke the truth: 

George W. Bush stole the 2000 presidential election, aided and abetted by a take-no-prisoners cabal of Republican operatives. With the decisive acquiescence of a politically tinged U.S. Supreme Court they thwarted Al Gore's legal team and strategists, who were determined to see that every vote was counted accurately.

Key events are as accurate as he could ascertain them to be after devouring non-fiction books, conversations with their authors, and interviews with some of the key figures.

The print edition of the article is entitled, Recount riveting, but is it realistic? Where the article continues on p. A18, the full page headline screams Recount rough on South Florida politics. 

Not really – the film showed that the Republican party – at the highest levels – did everything they could think of to thwart the will of the people.  And they succeeded. 

The thrust of the Sun Sentinel piece focuses on local politicos' reactions to portrayals of them in the film.  Palm Beach election supervisor, Theresa LePore, was unhappy with being portrayed as someone with emotion, according to Jicha.  LePore SHOULD regret designing the famous butterfly ballot that led to thousands of Jewish seniors voting for anti-semitic Pat Buchanan, instead of Al Gore.  

She should thank the filmmakers for portraying her with a conscience, instead of worrying that her admittedly callous nature was white-washed. 

It comes as no surprise that Katherine the Terrible hated her portrayal – but gawd, you gotta love the comedic talent of Laura Dern.  Hollywood couldn't have made a better choice for the role.   

by Rady Ananda (97 articles, 246 quicklinks, 19 diaries, 696 comments) on Monday, May 26, 2008 at 4:39:16 PM
 

More Research

Karen Renick of VoteRescue Radio provided this today:

While digging into the HBO website about the film "Recount" to prepare for our radio show, I discovered  "Epilogue" at: http://www.hbo.com/films/recount/epilogue/index.html. The text is copied below, but you'll have to go to the website to get the live links. This was the first time I actually read the name of the group that had done the count of the rejected votes after Gore's concession. If you go to the NORC's website, you'll find more info about their counting methodology and the different types of ballots that were counted, among other interesting tidbits. So, HBO at least includes some info on their website about what was discovered after the Supremes gave it to Bush, but it would have been so much better to have included this as part of the film so more would know about it.

I'm glad to read that the movie does a decent job presenting the story, because I was dreading a whitewash.  Now, I can hardly wait to watch it tonight. Thanks for all your comments.

Karen

Finishing the Count Following George W. Bush's inauguration in 2001, a group of the U.S.'s largest media outlets -- including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune, the Associated Press and CNN among others -- formed a consortium to count Florida's votes from the disputed 2000 presidential election. The National Opinion Research Center examined 175,010 votes that had been rejected by machine counters, including those in which no vote was recorded (undervotes) and those in which more than one candidate was recorded (overvotes). The results, according to the Washington Post, showed that "if the two limited recounts had not been short-circuited -- the first by Florida county and state election officials and the second by the U.S. Supreme Court -- Bush would have held his lead over Gore, with margins ranging from 225 to 493 votes, depending on the standard. But the study also found that whether dimples are counted or amore restrictive standard is used, a statewide tally favored Gore by 60 to 171 votes." Additionally, the news media reported, the investigation found statistical support for the claim that misleading ballot design, such as instructions to "Vote Every Page" even though presidential candidates were spread across two pages, cost Al Gore the White House. Of the more than 113,000 ballots that were marked for more than one candidate, 75,000 indicated Gore and a minor candidate; 29,000 were for Bush and a minor candidate. The consortium released the results of its analysis in November of 2001, but much of its impact was lost in the media coverage following the terrorist attacks of September 11. Both political parties claimed vindication. Purging the Rolls In the months after the 2000 election, media reports reported thousands of errors in the Florida Central Voter File, the list created by the Florida state government to purge ineligible voters from the rolls. In 2004, as Governor Jeb Bush and the state government planned to institute a new and "improved" purge list, several media sources, including CNN, sued to view it. Among the findings: of the 48,000 people listed as felons, 22,000 identified themselves as African American and 61 as Hispanic. African Americans have historically skewed toward Democratic candidates in Florida, while Hispanic voters in the state tend toward Republicans. The state eventually abandoned efforts to use the list, and it was supplanted by aspects of the Federal Help America Vote Act in 2006. Carter-Baker Commission Former Secretary of State James Baker, who helped secure the White House for George W. Bush, joined with former President Jimmy Carter in 2005 to form a commission on election reform at American University (PDF). The 21 member commission, which included former members of Congress, scholars, and non-partisan leaders, spent 6 months studying electoral problems in the U.S., and ultimately presented 87 reforms to the president and to Congress. The proposals included recommendations for voter identification cards and auditable trails for voting machines. The effort received extensive news coverage. More recently, the commission has reported that there has been "significant" or "some" progress towards implementing or debating many of the reforms that the Carter-Baker Commission proposed, but that "the future trajectory of reform remains uncertain" as the 2008 election approaches.

by Rady Ananda (97 articles, 246 quicklinks, 19 diaries, 696 comments) on Monday, May 26, 2008 at 5:18:05 PM
 

The film was very entertaining

but I agree a postscript concerning the final analysis and research should have been tacked on the end explaining that even though Gore might not have won if the recount of undervotes would have continued - depending on methodology - he CLEARLY won if you looked at hte overvotes and write-ins. 

It wasn't even close.

by F. Vyan Walton (65 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 12 comments) on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 at 3:29:20 AM
 

GREAT REVIEW

OK, you sold me, I gotta see this movie - I am glad it has a sense of humor, it seems we either laugh or cry about this stuff, and I'd rather laugh, it gives me more energy to continue forward! I even laughed at your review! I can't help but wonder, how would The Appointed One like it -  to have his "hanging chads" removed?

by Meryl Ann Butler (41 articles, 31 quicklinks, 3 diaries, 304 comments) on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 at 4:20:06 PM
 

ROFL!

omg I burst out laughing at your hanging chads suggestion

by Rady Ananda (97 articles, 246 quicklinks, 19 diaries, 696 comments) on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 at 9:28:11 PM
 

Something Crucially Important Omitted

Hi Rady,  Though it wasn't perfect I thought Recount was awfully good and by far the biggest media shot the election reform movement has gotten to date. One of the few but key things missing from both the movie and this little postscript is that the consortium found that if ALL the votes were counted Gore won by any standard you could choose. Apparently this was again just misreported in the NY Times. I can't help but feel this information is crucial in maintaining the myth that Bush won. He has never won the presidency. Americans should know that.
David Lasagna

by David Lasagna (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 1 comments) on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 at 8:14:52 PM
 

Gore Won - studies prove

You're absolutely right, David, and more research is provided in my footnote at the end of the article, beyond HBO's post script.

It's absolutely the most accessible film made to date on our elections - as much as I personally love documentaries, most Americans don't.  I can't help but see this film - even with its failure to come right out and say studies show Gore won - as the best election film made to date because it's historical drama.  Many, many people will see it and will get the point.

In fact, that's what was so great about the Sun Sentinel's article in print.  This HUGE piece - opens on the front page (below the fold) with that first paragraph laying out exactly what happened.

George W. Bush stole the 2000 presidential election, aided and abetted by a take-no-prisoners cabal of Republican operatives. With the decisive acquiescence of a politically tinged U.S. Supreme Court they thwarted Al Gore's legal team and strategists, who were determined to see that every vote was counted accurately.

And really, as much as it sucks that a thief and a criminal and genocidal maniac sits in the White House, when it comes to elxns, the real point is that all votes must be accurately counted - no matter who wins.

That is the most salient feature of democratic elections, and that point comes thru in the film.

by Rady Ananda (97 articles, 246 quicklinks, 19 diaries, 696 comments) on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 at 9:33:28 PM
 

But what about John Ellis?

If the film failed to tell the truth about who called the election at 2:16 AM -- not ABC News, but John Ellis at Fox News.  Mr. Ellis was on the phone all night with his mother's brother's two sons, George and Jeb Bush, and called the election based on Jeb's call, prompting the other networks to chime in.

Fairly important omission, isn't it?  See my take on the film here.

by Barbara Bellows-TerraNova (11 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 33 comments) on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 4:56:21 AM
 

Media Collusion

is a huge issue - and worthy of its own film.  Thanks for your article.

Altho I can't speak for the writers of Recount, I can understand their need to limit the scope of what could be presented in a single film. Their theme focused on all the Repub shenanigans - a huge issue, all by itself.

The gross omission, imo, was that post-election studies by a media consortium, and by the Univ. of Chicago, which proved Gore won.

That was HUGE - and maybe Hollywood lost spine at the end; but I am still very happy with what they did produce.

by Rady Ananda (97 articles, 246 quicklinks, 19 diaries, 696 comments) on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 5:06:40 PM