In Focus

In response to Mr. Alt's article about Gore having "no case," I would like to contend that if the tables were turned, George W. Bush and his constituents would be "sending lawyers to Florida" in much the same manner as has been done by Al Gore.

This is not about Gore's "test of administrative decision," which Alt audaciously defines in his article Pontius Lewis as such: "so long as it favors [Gore], it's gospel; if it doesn't, then it's off to court." This is about media interference and premature projection, lack of communication, and the intensity that exists and has increased because of such a close popular vote. To point fingers at Gore and the fact that he has "no case" is one thing. But to proclaim that his legal team "[continues] to invent legal errors" (as stated in Alt's article "Florida Legal Lies") is outrageous and is merely adding fuel to an already surging fire. Meanwhile, Bush was ready to call for similar recounts in Iowa and Wisconsin had the Florida recount not gone his way.

Is it really rational for anyone to believe that Bush, if he were in the exact circumstance in which we now find Gore, would have just turned the other cheek and let the votes go uncounted? I highly doubt it. It is absolutely inevitable that we would be seeing the exact same situation in Florida if it were Bush requesting the recount; and it could just as easily be fabricated that in the reverse scenario, Bush would also "invent legal errors" in similar fashion...or better yet, that he would make sure he sat in on a few extra executions while he was down in Florida helping to count ballots--to make up for the ones he would be missing while he was away.

Deb Küntz,
Class of 1997