HBO's "Recount" Rips Open 2000 Wounds

Wounds from the Florida recount, still healing for many Democrats, are being ripped open again for some prominent former advisers to Al Gore. They say that a coming HBO film dramatizing the ballot battle after the 2000 election unfairly blames them for the Democrats' failure to secure the White House.

Warren Christopher, the former secretary of state who served as the public face of the Gore team in the early days of the recount effort, said this week that he believed the film, "Recount," was "pure fiction" in its portrayal of him as a weak strategist unprepared to stand up to the aggressive tactics of James A. Baker III, the former secretary of state who was the chief Republican adviser.

William M. Daley, Mr. Gore's campaign chairman, who helped to lead the Democratic recount team in Florida, said the film created misperceptions about the Gore team's decision-making process. Mr. Gore, who oversaw the team from Washington, is largely absent from the film.

Read the whole story here.

Comments

[Ramirez]

The scientifically conducted Florida recount study shocked the nation with its findings.
From CNN:
*****

"The National Opinion Research Center (NORC) at the University of Chicago conducted the six-month study for a consortium of eight news media companies, including CNN. ..."

Read the whole thing at:
http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2001/florida.ballots/stories/main.html

[Kundera]

Please don't confuse the Democrats with facts, they enjoy being victims. It's their reason for existence.

[RoloTomassi]

Hide, wait and watch, asshat; see who feels like a victim come November.

[BeamMeUpScotty]

Nearly 180,000 legal votes cast in Florida were not counted because they would have made Gore president. Five Republican Supreme Court justices chose partisianship over the rule of law. They are a disgrace to this nation. History will not judge them kindly. Karma is a beautiful thing because it's 100% fair 100% of the time. They'll get theirs.

[KarlaElisa]

The ONLY film that has addressed what happened in 2000 AND 2004 is the documentary "UNCOUNTED".
If you are interested in learning what really happened and how an election is stolen track that film down and take a look.
It's shameful and that Diebolt, the makers of ATM's that give paper receipts, are allowed to continue to do business with the government is bullshit.
But then again, everything about this government is bullshit so why am I surprised?

[mark4009]

Funny as the notion of Christopher vs. Danny Strong/Buffyman is, the NYT story establishes that Strong focused on "drama" to the exclusion of the "docu," and in the process did substantial harm both to the historical record and to the reputation of an American icon. Strong's "research" was targeted exclusively on finding shreds of support for his dramatic arc. He wanted to make a film purporting to be factually accurate that established the Dems lost the battle because they had weak leadership, most prominently Warren Christopher and Bill Daley. If, as someone wrote on another blog, Strong did "a ton of research," why didn't he devote four ounces to finding out what Christopher knew? In the NYT story, Danny admits to waiting to contact Christopher until the the day the Christopher scenes were shot. Lots of time to take new information on board, eh? Of course, he had the time to find and commission Christopher's tailor to make a suit for Christopher's character. The Bufferman was so bent on avoiding a Christopher interview that he didn't even call to make sure he got Christopher's measurements right. I guess authenticity has to stop somewhere, and what better place than with the guy the screenwriter decides should take the fall. Strong needs a Buffy revival to reengage with an honest day's work. He sure as hell shouldn't be trusted to get within a thousand miles of another "docudrama," unless Ken Burns--not Jim Baker or Ron Klain-- has script approval.

[mark4009]

Further to the above, from 5/18 Baltimore Sun review:


"The fact is that a lot of people will watch this HBO movie and assume it is not a docudrama, but a documentary, " says Philip Seib, a media historian and professor of journalism at the University of Southern California. "A lot of viewers will assume that the filmmakers have stayed within the historical record, when in fact they haven't -- and that's a problem."

Mark Feldstein, associate professor and director of the Journalism Oral History Project at George Washington University, says that, while he has come to accept certain techniques of the genre, he remains "troubled" by Hollywood producers and writers thinking it acceptable to invent words and put them in the mouths of historical figures.

"It's one thing to invent dialogue out of whole cloth for a fictional character, but it's another thing to do with a historical figure where there is a written record of what Warren Christopher or Ronald Reagan said that can be consulted," says the two-time Peabody Award winner and former investigative reporter for ABC and NBC News. "It amazes me how Hollywood will spend millions of dollars on expensive production effects and then blow it when it comes to just simply being accurate about something as important as our national past."

[bushflipflops]

I also hope the movie explains under what legal rationale the Republicans were allowed to count military absentee ballots POSTMARKED AFTER THE ELECTION.

[1will]

Do you have a link backing up your claim?

[bushflipflops]

Certainly.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9507e0d8133bf936a25754c0a9679c8b63

[bushflipflops]

I hope the movie shows the brooks brothers riot where paid Republican staffers somehow gained access to the building where the recounts took place in order to shut it down. Meanwhile, the average Joe protestor had to stay behind police lines outside the building.

[bushflipflops]

It is a fact that if the recounts had included OVERVOTES, where the voter punched a hole for the candidate and wrote the same candidates name in, that Gore would have won the Florida. Florida law says that if the intent of the voter can be established on their ballot then the vote must count. Well who do you think they were intending to vote for when they punch the hole for Gore and then wrote in "Al Gore" on the same ballot? But when have Republicans ever cared about the peoples votes?

[rwe]

and remember , not one legit media ever said Gore came out ahead in any recount....and again, it was the Fla Supremes that were stopped trying to steal the election by the US supremes

[bushflipflops]

How was the Florida State Supreme Court trying to steal the election, by making sure every vote in the state was counted? You are retarded.

[LeoMarvin]

The U.S. Supreme Court said that the recount ordered by the Florida Supreme Court was unconstitutional. Whether that's the same as saying the Florida Court was trying to steal the election is questionable, but it's certainly too close to justify calling rwe retarded. It makes us (liberals) look bad when any of us resorts to name-calling. But it's especially obnoxious when the other guy isn't even being all that unreasonable, so we're the only ones embarrassing ourselves.

[Avedon]

The US Supreme Court has no authority to interfere with a state's decision in how to choose its electors.

[bushflipflops]

The US Supreme Court ruling would have made every election from every state unconstitutional under their use of the equal protection clause, hence the majority declaring that for the first time in the Courts history, the ruling can't be used as a precedent for any future case.

And rwe is retarded for saying the Florida Supreme Court was trying steal the election.

[cw9580]

Sorry to say that the Democrats need to be goaded into being alpha-pols. Campaigns require relentlessness they've been lacking. Who thinks the party that took control of the congress actually took control?

Your accountant could give you the story of what happened in 2000: The Bush team spent $22 million on the Florida fight and the Gore-Lieberman team spent $5 million. What were the dems saving it for?

It was "take no prisoners" vs. "Let's be reasonable".

Another slam-dunk!

[SharonB]

I think I would be safe in saying how can wounds over the 2000 election heal when every day the news from Iraq is more and more human suffering and death?

[Kundera]

It's not well known, but the original title of this film was "wha wha wha wha"

[Kundera]

The sequel is in the works: "Nader lost it for us, wha wha wha wha!"

[huffposeur]

yeah and the pre-quel is al gore announcing for the presidency and declaring that he sees no need to win his home state of tennessee or clinton's state of arkansas. he says he has faith in florida election officials to determine whether a chad is hanging or not.

[trollsbwild]

Trust me. The "wounds" from 2000 have never healed. There was never any closure, just the SCOTUS F'ing us to put their lemming in office.
Looking forward to an attempt to re-create the facts.

[JerryTheAngel]

No chance of watching this garbage and trashy fictional movie. Why would I want to relive that nightmare all over again?

[BurtR]

the so called "wounds" of the florida "election" have been replaced by real wounds of our soldiers and Iraqi collateral damagees.
and don't forget that W has been so traumatized by news of the war that he has given up golf for a few months

[protagonia]

It is NEVER voter fraud.

It is always a case of election fraud.

[ctbutte]

Poor Poor dems. Still crying about the truth. Gore LOST. Get over it!

[pbfishtaco]

ctbutte, Are you really Antonin Scalia?

[magneato]

The truth is, ctbutte, Gore ended up with more votes than Bush, look it up anywhere.
Bushco stole the election, and spent the subsequent eight years further shredding the ideals our country was founded on. Sorry the truth hurts.(all of us)

[WilburM]

"The truth is, ctbutte, Gore ended up with more votes than Bush, look it up anywhere. "

apparently your "truth" could use some updating:

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/media/media_watch/jan-june01/recount_4-3.html

"In the first full study of Florida's ballots since the election ended, The Miami Herald and USA Today reported George W. Bush would have widened his 537-vote victory to a 1,665-vote margin if the recount ordered by the Florida Supreme Court would have been allowed to continue, using standards that would have allowed even faintly dimpled "undervotes" -- ballots the voter has noticeably indented but had not punched all the way through -- to be counted."

I'm no fan of Bush but I thought, strictly based on the facts at the time... Christopher's "high road" strategy would have been best. I thought Gore embarrassed himself and opened the door for the Supreme Court shenanigans by taking so long to concede.

[WilburM]

listen, focher (sorry, just joking with the meet the fochers reference)

I'm in no way defending the Supreme court decision. I'm merely pointing out that, the best recounts available show that Bush would likely have carried the state, and therefore the election.

truth is, because of the mathematics of probability and margin for error, the election in florida was a tie. I believe the Supreme Court choosing to hear the case and rule on it was probably legal to that point. voting on party lines was the travesty.

[focher]

This always amazes me that people use an actual recount to justify a Supreme Court decision which explicitly blocked a recount that was under way.

It was pathetic that everyone could not agree that we should find out who actually had the most votes. Process matters, and by making efforts to stop the recount, Bush merely reinforced his opposition to making sure that the votes were properly counted. It was a win at all costs strategy.

The Supreme Court, by supporting that position, tainted itself as a political body and will forever be scarred by the decision.

[WilburM]

haha reading that last paragraph reminded me of another postponed concession circa 2008.

[trollsbwild]

Good. Take your own advise when it comes to this November.
PUTZ!

[rini]

Thanks, Scalia.

I'd get over it if weren't a subversion of our democracy that has led to eight years of horror. I'd get over it if over a hundred thousand people hadn't died in Iraq. I'd get over it if our middle class wasn't disappearing.

Maybe you don't care about these things, but many do. We are trying to change things and refuse to let this be the story of our great country. We are going to do our best to make this country great again.
I know it's possible.

Yes we can!

[mcartri]

This HBO story was mistitled. A truthful title would be: "Five Robed Fascists Spit on the Graves of the Founding Fathers".

[WilburM]

the most amazing thing to me is that the Supremes could have diffused a lot of criticism and cynicism about their 5-4 vote if they had simply agreed on a vote swap ahead of time. a 5-4 vote not along party lines would have carried a different message than the one they sent.

a politicized Supreme Court would have to be one of the Founders' nightmare scenarios.

[kellygrrrl]

that works

[RGKahn]

"Wounds from the Florida recount, still healing for many Democrats, are being ripped open again..." am not sure about anybody else, but I have not been healed by time. After the schrub leaves office in eight months the healing might start at that point. I want impeachment hearing for both the President and vice-president. I won;t tell you that is not to punish these people but to make sure another Presidents doesn't try the same thing. That would be partially correct. Of course it would be to punish the president and vice president for their criminal and corrupt actions that have done for the past seven years. It also to draw the proverbial line in the sand for future american dictators to have to cross in their quest for power. We have lost over 5,000 men and women in our armed forces because nobody in Congress had the courage of their convictions. I could go on for pages and days about my feelings and thoughts about this president and this Congress. I was hoping to see this man impeached and thrown out of office and then tried as the criminal that he is.

[kellygrrrl]

I personally have only grown more angry and wounded with time

I cannot think of any possible way the Bush Admin could have been any worse

[hip dibler]

it's a joke. our democracy, i mean..

[Pquilson]

Maybe so, but it is the best one around.