Poor Recall
The New York Times published a half page of excerpts from the Ninth Circuit opinion and focused on what the appellate judges had gleaned from Bush v. Gore. The Tribune did not. Its “legal analysis” sidebar by Jan Crawford Greenburg was heavy on what “legal observers” had to say about the opinion and featherlight on the opinion itself. Greenburg’s observers disagreed on whether the Ninth Circuit had produced a “clearly erroneous” interpretation or a “plausible extension” of Bush v. Gore. But readers weren’t going to be allowed to reach opinions of their own. The Tribune offered a few very brief, scattered quotes from the Ninth Circuit opinion, and none showed the judges citing Bush v. Gore.
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But though we weren’t shown, we were told. We were told by the editorial page that while the recall election itself might be a “farce,” the laws of the state had been followed and therefore “millions of voters [would] be cheated by a court ruling that vastly changes the calculus of the election.” Cheated of what wasn’t clear, since these millions of voters will be as free to vote against Governor Gray Davis next March as they would have been on October 7.
“About five four or five six,” she says.
“Don’t quote me on this,” says one of the candidate’s political lieutenants in LA when I call, “but I think he’s six two.”
Mathews commented, “Such embellishments, to be effective, require not only changes in the numbers, but daily use of special footwear. I see nothing wrong with this.”
