[StBernard] Recommend watching "Recount"

[Westley Annis]

I have just finished watching the made-for-HBO movie "Recount."  The film
stars Academy Award winner Kevin Spacey and an all-star cast depicting the
events surrounding the Florida recount in the 2000 Presidential election.
Overall, I thought it was well done, solid performances and very
entertaining history - if the "behind the scenes" events did in fact take
place.  I highly recommend watching it. 

If nothing else it did a good job reminding those of us here in Louisiana
that there are some elected officials in other states who are more
incompetent than our own - hard to believe, but true.

My main point here is to make a single, but significant criticism of the
film's producers, who primarily were Kevin Spacey, Director Jay Roach and
Academy Award winner Kevin Pollack - all BIG Democratic Party supporters.
While they attempt to give the viewer the impression the story is told in an
impartial, non-partisan tone, nothing could be farther from the truth.  They
might have gotten away with it if not for one small exclusion at the story's
end.

They leave you thinking that if all the votes in Florida would have been
allowed to be recounted, then very likely Al Gore would have won.  So easily
they could have stated in text after the movie's last scene what the Miami
Herald did soon after the election.  The newspaper got a court order and
spent millions of its own dollars to hire individuals to personally inspect
and "hand recount" every ballot just so we could all know the truth as to
who "really" won the state of Florida, and thus the Presidency. 

After taking more than half a year to complete its task, the Miami Herald,
who endorsed Al Gore and stated it believed he actually won Florida,
announced on its front page that after ALL the votes were recounted George
W. Bush won the state of Florida - and by a few thousand votes more than
what was originally declared by then Secretary of State Catherine Harris.

Funny how the producers conveniently left that out at the end of what they
propose to be a "complete" telling of what happened in Florida.

John Scurich