Recount Page #12

is the rule to counting dimpled chads

varies from county to county.

Broward and Miami-Dade

were counting them, Palm Beach was not.

What would you tell them to do about it?

Well, I think

that's a very hard question.

You'd tell them

to count every vote, Mr. Boies.

Yes, I would tell them

to count every vote.

I think I would say,

if you're looking for a standard,

then the Texas standard,

if you wanted to specify something,

gives you a pretty good standard.

It says dimpled chads should be counted.

Why isn't the standard the one

that voters are instructed to follow,

for goodness' sake?

I mean, it couldn't be clearer.

Why don't we go to that standard?

Well, your honor,

because in Florida law since 1917,

Darby v. State,

the Florida Supreme Court has held

that where the intent of the voter

can be discerned,

even if they don't do what they're told,

their vote is supposed to be counted.

For the last 80 years

the Florida Court has always ruled

that the right to participate

in the democratic process

is more important than a voter's ability

to follow instructions.

Mr. Boies, let's assume

that at the end of the day

counties used different standards

for making their count.

At that point, in your judgment,

would it be a violation

of the Constitution to say,

"I don't care that they used

different standards as long

as they purported to follow

voter's intent, that's good enough?"

Can we do that?

I'll extend your time

by two minutes, Mr. Boies.

I do not believe that violates

the equal protection clause.

It is impossible

to have uniform standards

when different types of voting machines

and different types of ballots

are used from county to county.

Hand-counting and recounting of ballots

under the "intent of the voter"

standard has been the rule,

not the exception,

in this country for generations...

indeed, since its founding.

It is the moment of truth.

The Supreme Court may

use this moment to determine who is

the next President of The United States.

There are many ways

this decision could go.

The two most commonly discussed

are that the Supreme Court could send...

it could ask Florida

to resume the recount...

Does anyone want to play cards?

It's in!

It's in.

Our long wait is over.

Greta Van Susteren, another CNN legal

analyst, is on the telephone. Greta.

Bernie, what it seems

to say at this point is

that we don't know for sure.

"The closeness of this election

and the multitude of legal

"challenges which..."

- What's that mean?

- Just one moment, Mr. Vice President.

I'm gonna put you on speakerphone,

Mr. Vice President.

- Are you still there, sir?

- Yeah, I'm here.

There are two rulings

in this decision, sir...

the first is a seven-to-two ruling

that there is an equal

protection violation;

and the second ruling is the remedy

to that violation,

which is five-to-four.

Yes, I need to speak

to the Governor, please.

The majority has ruled that since

we missed the December 12th deadline

set by the Florida Supreme Court...

then there isn't time to resolve

the equal protection violation

and therefore the recount must end.

The S.C shuts down the recount

'causing us to miss the deadline.

Then they say that we can't start up

again because we missed the deadline?

That's pretty much it, sir.

What you got, Jim? Seems like nobody

can make sense of this thing.

Congratulations, Mr. President-elect.

- Did you hear that?

- That sounds good.

Ron, you gotta read this.

Right there.

What is it, Ron?

The Court has ruled

that this decision is, quote,

"limited

"to the present circumstances".

Unbelievable.

The Supreme Court has declared

that Bush v. Gore only counts once,

and then it never counts again.

Have they ever done that before?

Never once in the history

of the U.S. Supreme Court.

What do you think, David?

I think the ruling

is intellectually dishonest,

but the point is crystal clear...

the recount is over.

Mr. Vice President,

our battle is not yet done.

The majority ruled that there is

an equal protection violation

because different counties

are counting with different standards.

So let's petition

the Florida Supreme Court

and get them to set

exact counting standards.

Under these circumstances,

they might finally do it.

David?

I think Ron's lost his mind,

but I'll drink the kool-aid.

The Florida House has already voted

to award the state's electors to Bush.

Yeah, but then

we just file two lawsuits...

one to set standards,

the other to halt the legislature.

We can do this, sir.

Ron, nobody can fault you

for not trying...

No, Mr. Vice President.

Please, sir, listen to me.

You cannot concede.

Not yet, sir.

I beg of you, sir,

just give me one more shot.

Klain is gonna petition

the Florida supremes to set standards.

Sometimes a soldier

just can't stop fighting

even when he knows the war is done.

I've run over 25 recounts

and it never ceases to amaze me...

the extent that democrats will lie,

cheat and steal to win an election.

I mean, if we hadn't played hardball,

they would've stolen this one too.

Now, Ben, I was a democrat

till I was 40 years old.

I have always wondered

why you switched parties.

My wife passed away... cancer.

I'm so sorry.

Thank you.

Yes, she was...

she was too young.

A very close friend of mine,

who happened to be a republican,

was running for senate

and told me to come work on his campaign

to take my mind off the grief.

I told him I had never worked

in politics before,

and I was a democrat to boot,

but he didn't care. He just...

he just didn't want

to see me sad all the time.

That's a good friend.

He sure is.

The Vice President's on the phone.

- Good morning, Mr. Vice President.

- Hey, Ron.

What can I do for you, sir?

I couldn't sleep last night.

I just couldn't stop thinking,

but then I remembered

what a wise man once said to me.

He said that I have to end this war

when I know I can't win.

Ron,

I can't win.

Even if I win,

I can't win.

I'm sorry, sir. I...

I just...

I just couldn't get them counted.

I'll never forget

what you did for me, Ron.

I will never forget.

Thank you, Mr. Vice President.

Ron, we should still file the petitions.

Let's just see if it works.

We've come this far, Ron.

We can't quit now.

Yeah, we can keep

fighting this thing, man.

I want to tell you all

what an honor it's been to work

with such a dedicated and focused group

as you have all proved to be.

I'm enormously grateful

for everything you did.

But it's time for us to stop.

People are going to say all kinds

of things about this election...

That it was down to 154 votes,

that Bush's brother was the Governor,

that the U.S. Supreme Court

gave it to us,

but I want you to remember

that we won every single recount.

Never once did we trail Gore.

And who knows how many votes we lost

when the networks

called Florida for Gore

before all the polls

were closed on election night?

But more important than all that

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