An Open Message to Chris Matthews regarding Gore in 2000

[Samantha]

For more than four years, Mr. Matthews, you have distorted the actions Al Gore took in 2000 in his approach to contesting the election results in Florida. You said just today what pulverized Gore in the eyes of the observers of that contest was Gore's decision to ask for recounts in a handful of overwhelmingly Democratic counties, thus downplaying the voting irregularities in the rest of the state. This is simply a variation of another General Electric-sponsored political commentator's distortion, Tim Russert's, in which he repeatedly accused Gore of "cherry-picking" for votes. Unbelievable.

At the time Gore carefully chose his approach, there was no venue in Florida to ask for a statewide recount. The only way a statewide recount could be achieved was via two avenues: Permission of the Governor (and we all remember who that was) or via a court order. James Baker constantly taunted Gore into going into the courts to challenge the election knowing should Gore take the bait and prevail, his presidency would be considered "illegitimate" by the bulk of the voting public. Gore refused to take the bait, thus forcing Bush* to appeal to the courts. Through the ultimate interference of the Supreme Court, seven of whose judges were Republican, Bush* prevailed through one of the most controversial, partisan decisions rendered in these United States' judicial history, thus shouldering the mantle of illegitimacy himself that Republicans attempted to saddle on the back of Al Gore.

Gore religiously followed the law of the State of Florida's constitution in choosing simply a handful of counties which might have uncounted Democratic votes that should have legally been counted. There absolutely is no unscrupulous taint to the approach he assumed inasmuch as that very approach was the one meticulously outlined by that's State's governing law.

Read the law in place at that time. In the meantime, consider the words of Jeffrey Toobin, in his book Too Close to Call, on this subject:

"By law, Gore could not make a single request for a statewide recount; rather, he had to ask each county individually, which meant sixty-seven separate proceedings in which the local canvassing boards would decide whether or not to recount the votes. It was a recipe for chaos." (at page 38). Mr. Toobin, as you are well aware, is a highly respected political and legal analyst often featured on MSNBC.

You when interviewing Gore some months ago opened your commentary with words to the effect "Everyone who knows you personally says you are a man of the highest personal integrity." His highest personal integrity, Mr. Matthews, was prominently on display when he simply chose to contest this disputed state by the letter of the Florida law. Please go back and review that law before continuing to disparage one of the most revered Democratic statesmen, let me rephrase, one of the most revered, American statesmen, speaking out against Bush* policies in the Country today.

Another panelist on your show jumped in stating Gore's attempt to suppress the military vote in 2000 absentee ballots to effect a win is another atrocious rendition of the truth. Gore wanted ALL LEGAL ballots counted, regardless of their origin. With the history previously reported by Ann Richards of Texas as to Bush's win in the taking of the governorship from her being executed by an influx of suspect absentee ballots, only an idiot would have allowed a multitude of absentee ballots flowing into that tight race to be counted which contained no postmark, no witness's signature and dates beyond the cutoff for submission of votes to be let stand on a wholesale basis. While this discussion was in hot and heavy play in 2000, the Republicans likewise were weaving into Democratic counties trying to suppress the counting of absentee ballots in those areas, some of which were military ballots, but you repeatedly omit this discussion.

Simultaneously, while the controversy over the Florida recount was in full rage, during which time the Republicans overtly tried to suppress the counting of all legal votes while making assertions Gore was trying to steal the election, they were on the road to New Mexico in a last-ditch hysterical maneuver to do exactly the same thing in that state Gore was doing in Florida. The hypocrisy of the Republicans during this time was so outrageous yet for some reason their actions never seem to make it to your political microscope during your commentaries on that controversial election.

Another salient issue in 2000 which never seemed to hit any commentator's political radar is this question: Why was the discounting of suspect active military absentee ballots more politically volatile than the discounting of legitimate votes of veterans residing in Palm Beach County? The Republican Secretary of State and co-chair of Bush's campaign could not see her way clear to keeping her office often just a few hours longer so that the veterans' votes in Palm Beach County could be legally included in The State of Florida's certified count.

I do not feel you have the capacity to responsibly report the 2008 campaign should Gore enter the race. You should abstain from doing so if you cannot see your way clear to interject the truth in your political commentary. Regardless, those of us who closely followed the 2000 election, not to mention the entire career of Al Gore, will not tolerate from herein out any untruth, lie by omission, egregious distortion of Al Gore's record from you or any other corporate media propagandists. We will defend him.