By Earl Ofari Hutchinson, BlackNews.com Columnist
... Foley well knew that even the smallest change in the vote totals would affect the outcome of the race. A manual recount would have been a disaster for Bush especially if the deeply suspect Buchanan votes were tossed.
During the days the debate raged over the vote, Foley launched a one-man spin crusade against the Democrats. He blamed outside agitators and “political operatives” for interfering in Florida’s vote. He claimed that any suggestion that the vote was unfair insulted his constituents. He downplayed the significance of the vote for Buchanan, and at the same time defended it by implying that there was a stealth core of Reform Party backers in the County.
He demanded an end to the lawsuits, and appeals, and implored the Secretary of State to officially certify the vote. The rest of course is history. Thanks to a pro Bush U.S. Supreme Court decision that specifically tossed the Gore camp’s flagship lawsuit against the Palm Beach registrars, the disputed votes were never recounted, and the controversial ballots weren’t voided. And Bush got his wafer thin 537-vote victory in Florida, and the White House.
Bush paid a huge price for the victory that Foley helped stage-manage. Florida became the eternal symbol of black voter disgust and disfranchisement. That imprinted the indelible image of the Republicans as corrupt, mean-spirited, anti-civil rights, and racially insensitive. The Florida vote hopelessly alienated civil rights leaders, the Congressional Black Caucus, and thousands of black voters. They have waged relentless political warfare against Bush since then. Meanwhile, Foley’s tight toe of the Bush legislative policy line in the House has earned him bottom grades from the NAACP on civil rights, labor and economic issues. He got an F grade on the NAACP’s 2006 Civil Rights Legislative Report Card ...
http://www.blacknews.com/pr/foley101.html
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