NEEDED: Instances of Republicans requesting recounts, complaining...

[bbernardini]

...when they don't get their way. Thanks in advance!

[Squeech]

1. WA-Gov

Last time around. Ultimately their guy lost. I understand he's still complaining about it.

[pnwmom]

7. The Washington state gubernatorial was a case of rank hypocrisy

on their part.

Among other things, they argued that overlooked votes should be counted in Republican majority counties, but NOT in Democratic ones.

When the results of machine count and recounts were extremely close (less than 100 votes), they argued that a hand count was LESS accurate than any machine count.

Fortunately, the REPUBLICAN Secretary of State had integrity and ran the election fairly. In the end, the Democrats squeaked by in the hand count.

[benddem]

2. the 2004

Washington State Governor's race. They wanted recount and recount and recount

[NYCGirl]

3. Kennedy-Nixon 1960? You might want to check into that. NT

[TlalocW]

4. During the Florida 2000 fiasco

Either New Mexico or Arizona looked like it could go either way, and the Bush team was mobilizing in those states to demand a recount - and they were going to argue for a recount by hand, something they said in Florida wasn't as accurate as computer voting.

TlalocW

[bbernardini]

5. How about non-election instances of them complaining when they don't...

...get their way?

[Sydnie]

8. Ted Stevens meltdown on the Senate floor over

the sneaking in of Anwar. That's a classic!

[bbernardini]

6. Kick!

[Emit]

9. This nut case in Nevada

http://news.yahoo.com/s/cq/20060817/pl_cq_politics/gopprimaryrecountpossibleinnevadas2nddistrict

Sharron Angle

[Jacobin]

10. Well, I remember a doozy

In 2000, when the Bushistas thought they might win the popular vote, but lose the electoral vote, prior to the election, they were making noises about going bananas and insisting that Bush had won....I remember them doing that.

Bottom line was those in power and the media and the Supreme Court were going to appoint Bush president REGARDLESS of what happened on election day, and by damn, they did it.

[bbernardini]

11. Kick!

[bbernardini]

12. Kick!

[bbernardini]

13. Kick!

[bbernardini]

14. Here's a response I got. Please help me refute this!!!

Anything without a ">" in front of it is what the guy wrote in response to me.

Brian Bernardini wrote:
> In article <[e-mail]>,
> [e-mail] wrote:
>
> > <<Right, and Republicans NEVER do that.>>
> >
> > you are absolutelt right. You never or hardly hear of republicans
> > demanding recount after recount after recount and blaming a 'hidden'
> > conspiracy or racism or whatever else.
>
> Nice try, but your original statement was about Democrats complaining
> when they don't get their way, not specifically about elections.
> Republicans complain constantly when they don't get what they want. For
> example, Ted Stevens' legendary 12-minute meltdown on the House floor
> when he was defeated in an attempt to allow ANWR drilling.
>
> You'll also find that Republicans have demanded recounts numerous times.
> For example, the 2004 Washington state governor's race. The Republican
> candidate was defeated after two recounts (demanded by the Republicans),
> and refused to concede,

This is false.

Rossi, the Republican candidate was the certified winner of the state.
Why would the certified winner call for a recount?? The fact is he
didn't, it was the Democrat who refused to concede and then called for
a recount.

"Rossi, a 44-year-old former state senator from suburban Seattle, led
by 261 votes after the initial count, a margin small enough to trigger
an automatic statewide machine recount. After the second tabulation, he
led by 42 votes, and Secretary of State Sam Reed certified him as
governor-elect.

But 57-year-old Gregoire, a three-term state attorney general, refused
to concede, and the state Democratic Party put up a $730,000 deposit to
pay for a statewide hand recount. If the final result makes Gregoire
the victor, the Democrats will get their money back, and the state will
pay for the recount.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/12/22/washington.governor/

> even calling for a revote after the REPUBLICAN
> Secretary of State concluded that the Democratic candidate was the
> rightful winner. He continued to call for a revote after the winner was
> sworn in.
>
> Nixon and other republicans also called for (and received in 11 states)
> recounts in the 1960 presidential election. This recount actually
> resulting in Kennedy gaining another state.

The state that Kennedy gained was Hawaii. And, you make a false point.
It was the Democrats who called for the recount in that state, not
"Nixon and other republicans".

"Immediately, Democrats demand a recount. After all, they know that the
Republicans, led by their national chairman, Thruston B. Morton, are
battling to overturn Kennedy's victories in 11 other states. In the
off-chance that Republicans should eke out upsets in Illinois and Texas
(where they are fighting most avidly), Hawaii's seemingly trivial three
electors could prove decisive."

http://archive.salon.com/politics/feature/2000/12/13/hawaii/index.html

> In 2000, the Bush team were going to argue for a hand recount in New
> Mexico and Arizona if it didn't go their way, despite the fact that in
> Florida, they claimed that hand recounts were not as accurate as
> computer voting. There was also the "Brooks Brothers Riot," during which
> Republican House aides from Washington posing as Florida residents tried
> to stop the recount in Miami-Dade County. (Three of them went on to
> positions in the White House, and most brag of their participation on
> their resumes.) Gee, that's not complaining at all.

The Repubicans were correctly complaining about the change in the
counting standards, which would be a violation of 3 U.S.C. section 5.
The courts noted these changes in both Palm Beach and Miami-Dade
counties. Justice Souter called the counting standards in Miami-Dade
"wholly arbitrary".

"......But evidence in the record here suggests that a different order
of disparity obtains under rules for determining a voter's intent
that have been applied (and could continue to be applied) to identical
types of ballots used in identical brands of machines and exhibiting
identical physical characteristics (such as "hanging" or
"dimpled" chads). See, e.g., Tr., at 238-242 (Dec. 2-3, 2000)
(testimony of Palm Beach County Canvassing Board Chairman Judge Charles
Burton describing varying standards applied to imperfectly punched
ballots in Palm Beach County during precertification manual recount);
id., at 497-500 (similarly describing varying standards applied in
Miami-Dade County); Tr. of Hearing 8-10 (Dec. 8, 2000) (soliciting
from county canvassing boards proposed protocols for determining
voters' intent but declining to provide a precise, uniform standard).
I can conceive of no legitimate state interest served by these
differing treatments of the expressions of voters' fundamental
rights. The differences appear wholly arbitrary."

http://straylight.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/00-949.ZD1.html

Further, the Miami-Dade canvassing board illegally took the recount
behind closed doors. Even the press complained about this violation of
the law.

"Leahy had an idea to save time. Several days earlier, the county had
started separating undervotes from the other ballots, but never
finished the job. Why not move up to the Tabulation Room and start
counting while the machines separated out the rest of the undervotes?
(The board was required to supervise whenever the counting machines
were running.) At 8:50 a.m., up the elevators they went."

"That's when things began going wrong. Following the board to the 19th
floor was a crowd of Republicans, upset that the proceedings were
moving from the large public space on the 18th floor into the smaller,
sealed space on the 19th. There were windows in the Tabulation Room,
but access beyond the doors was limited. Reporters were also angry at
the sudden shift, and circulated a petition threatening to sue the
board if it didn't let them in the room."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A4787-2001Jan30?language=printer

> Here's another one. Since I know you're too lazy to cut-and-paste, I've
> also provided a shorter version of the link:
>
> http://news.yahoo.com/s/cq/20060817/pl_cq_politics/gopprimaryrecountpossi
> bleinnevadas2nddistrict
>
> http://makeashorterlink.com/?R4AA21BAD

[bbernardini]

15. Kick!

[bbernardini]

16. Kick!