the "recount" made for TV movie is a timely exercise in arousing the ire of democratic faithful who have never forgiven the republicans for winning the electoral majority but not the popular vote.

it has NOTHING to do wtih acting, or who's skin complexion is too ruddy.

HBO could cast mexican immigrants in the title roles, and broadcast it as a telenova, and the faithful would insist that it immediately be dubbed or subtitled in english so they could wallow in their perceived victimhood.

anyway, we have oliver stone's movie coming up soon. don't forget to review that one. i'm sure the bush/stone film will be a paragon of historical accuracy and dramatic excellence, eh? just like "JFK" . .. .

Hillary Clinton's current mantra of "count all the votes" reminds me a lot of the whole Florida Recount Debacle. Things don't go our way, let's try to parse or change the rules and cry foul at every turn.

The race in Florida turned out to be razor thin, with Bush's lead mere hundreds of votes. So we got armies of lawyers yelling about dimpled chads, hanging chads, confusing butterfly ballots and trying to decipher voter intent. The truth is the electoral system was not designed to handle such slicing and dicing, and the Supremes, in a split desicion, decided to call the game on account of time. No matter how they decided, one side was going to cry foul, and go to their graves claiming they were robbed. Of course, as the Bush Administration has played out, the number of people claiming to have been for Gore has probably grown.

It did not help Gore that the Florida Governors last name was Bush, or that Nader had about 97,000 green votes in FL (yeah, they would have otherwise voted for Bush), or that he could not carry his own home state (how often does that happen).

It's interesting that Florida is again at the center of election controversy. Of course, this time the decisions are being made at the DNC, not the High Court. I suspect the result will be the same, Dean will let the clock run out, and HRC will spend the rest of her life feeling screwed.

Al Gore seems to have moved on with his life quite nicely. Perhaps Hillary will be able to do the same.

Wouldn't it be great if everybody followed Justice Scalia's recent advice "Get over it." I bet he wishes we would. The decision to stay the counting was a black mark on his career. This film was vetted for accuracy before release by multiple journalists who were on the ground in Florida and wrote acclaimed books on the subject. As well as by dozens directly involved in the story in real life. The journalists and the "real" players put their stamps of approval on it. As have near unanimous reviews this week. Also, check out the results of the Media Consortium's study (Wall Street Journal, CNN, New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Washington Post) from 2001 to see who REALLY won, when they counted ALL the votes: <link>

It is good timing and yes, it will help enrage the Democratic voters out there. It should enrage voters, why is that a bad thing? That episode will go down as one of the worst election stories of all time. The SCOTUS took that election away from the voters and gave it to Bush. We all know it was crooked but depending upon your view point, you either excused it or disavowed it. Listening to Scalia tell us to "Get over it", I was wondering if maybe he would have felt a bit chagrined if Ohio had done the same thing to Bush in 04. After all, that election came down to just a few thousand voters going from Bush to Kerry.

I think what's interesting is that HBO has made the determination that, indeed, the Democratic party of the 2000s represents the wealthier segment of the population.

HBO costs additional dollars to purchase as a "premium cable channel." So generally, you have to have more disposable income to purchase it.

If HBO is running this particular movie at this particular time, you have to figure it has an objective interest in playing to the Democrats as viewers (as it also does on a regular basis with the Bill Maher show on politics.) The Republican viewer isn't courted.

Its a sound bet, actually. For pay cable services, the need is to focus on the wealthy viewer. Thus, the focus is on Democrat viewer.

Watched Recount last night, and found it to be pretty good. I felt it captured the cynical approach by both sides in the matter. The Republicans wanted to freeze the game with their guy ahead. The Democrats wanted to "count all the votes", well at least the ones in four counties that were heavily Democratic, and as long as they were not votes cast by military members mailed in from overseas.

The Dems had an overwelming advantage in a partisan Florida Supreme Court, the Republicans had the advantage on the Supreme Court, which in the end called it. I found it appalling that they cast Lieberman as the bad guy for balking at disenfranchising service members serving overseas. If I recall, Joe delivered his home state in that election. The sitting President and Vice President failed to deliver theirs, which is actually what decided the election. How often does that happen? This blaring failure has been overlooked in the film.

In the end, neither side was worried about the truth, unless the truth suited there own self-interest. This year Florida is at the center of another electoral fiasco. What's up with that.

could be spun as a villain is probably a good insight into the philosphy of the film's producers and writers

lieberman was NOT a pariah in 2000 and 2001. he's become one since for abandoning the democratic party and becoming an independent.

the democrats are the political version of radical islam. you're subject to a fatwah if you leave, or even just insult the faith.

I have always seen Joe Lieberman as the reasonable adult in the room. He is the type of person who will choose to do what he feels is the right thing, even if it is not the expedient easy thing. It is a wonder he has survived this long in politics.

I liked "Recount." Not perfect acting or casting or directing, but a good script that recalls for many us the fact that the mechanics and politicization of our election process is appalling; that Republicans will go to any lengths to disenfranchise voters (Did some of you repliers miss the part about the "felony" list?) while Democrats will often lose because they're just not all that evil; that Joe Lieberman is a right-wing politician who was masquerading as centrist Democrat (Unsigned, undated ballots should be counted?! Who is he campaigning for today? I guess many Nader supporters saw through him in 2000 and couldn't stomach him; additionally, he made God & family his cause in 2000 as the standard bearer for the "Clinton's affair is the most egregious thing a president has ever done in office" crowd); that Rep John Sweeney of NY (since defeated by a Democrat and arrested for drunk driving -- not covered up this time -- and widely suspected of domestic nastiness) led the fray of brown-shirt Repubs terrorizing the balllot counters; that Katherine Harris is another great example of a (Jeb) Bush appointee with no talent for or understanding of her job (see W's appointees like head of FEMA during Katrina), just a loyalty to the Party.

I watched it last night and got very, very pissed off. Gore was robbed. The scary part is that I like Laura Dern so much I almost felt sorry for Harris, almost. The lesson it taught us is to fight back hard, ruthlessly but with class. This is another reason I just love Obama. He immediately calls them on their bullshit using facts and very direct messaging. Just wait until he takes Hillary out of the mix on this rules committee nonsense. We are getting smart and its about time we pushed back.