“Republicans Urging Coleman To Keep Fighting Attacked Gore Over Recount”

Aaron Keyak — April 6, 2009 – 2:11 pm | Democrats | GOP Hypocrisies Comments (0) Add a comment

In Sam Stein’s most recent Coleman piece for The Huffington Post he notes, “just how far the Republican Party’s position has evolved from the last big poli-legal recount drama: the 2000 presidential race in Florida.”

Sounds reasonable. Lots of GOP positions have “evolved” over the years. (See: “How many ways can Senate Republicans show intellectual hypocrisy?”)

I’m sure this evolution has some intellectual basis beyond partisan opportunism.

“The court’s decision in Minnesota [ruling against the examination of thousands of contested ballots] leaves no other choice but to continue the process to ensure that every legal vote is counted,” he said late last week.

Slightly more than eight years ago, however, the longtime Kentucky Republican was calling on Al Gore to be a “statesman” and “give it up” a mere three weeks into his recount. “Enough is enough,” McConnell said. “Where do the interests of the country begin and the interests of the campaign end?”

Then the head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, McConnell sent an email to supporters, threatening to target Democratic Senators if they did not “denounce Gore’s blatant attempt to steal this election.” The most hyperbolic assertion came in early January, when he said that Al Gore was becoming “the Tonya Harding of presidential politics.” He will, McConnell added, “contest this until he runs out of lawyers, and there are lots of lawyers down in Florida.” Five days later, he told reporters that “there’s an important responsibility for the loser to lose with grace,” referring to Gore.

But there aren’t that many similarities between the Minnesota race and the 2000 recount right? Well, one case was to select the leader of the free world while the other was to select the 100th Senator. This is a big difference for sure, but how similar are they?

Of course, 2000 and 2008 differ in many respects. A smooth presidential transition takes logical precedence over the presence of a 100th Senator. The legal arguments between the two are also different, though it is telling that (1) Coleman is relying on Ben Ginsburg, the same lawyer used by George W. Bush in 2000, and (2) McConnell declared that Republicans would employ a Bush v. Gore style defense to appeal on Coleman’s behalf.

From a strictly numerical standpoint, however, the cases are remarkably similar. Minnesota was decided by a margin of 537 votes—or 0.0009 percent of the state’s electorate—Florida by 225 votes, or 0.0007 percent of the state’s electorate.

Okay, but at the very least, Coleman has maintained the same principled position since Election Day.

Considering the closeness of both these elections, the urge to squeak out victory can certainly compel politicians to take contradictory positions. Sometimes the change comes within matter of months.

“If you asked me what I would do, I would step back,” Coleman said of a recount, the night of the election, when he was ahead. “I just think the healing process is so important. The possibility of any change of this magnitude in the voting system we have would be so remote—that would be my judgment. Mr. Franken will decide what Mr. Franken will do.”

Present-day Coleman should take Coleman’s, circa 11/08, advice: 

“I would step back…The possibility of any change of this magnitude in the voting system we have would be so remote”

Flip-flopping on Gore’s 2000 race is one thing, but doing so on your own race - give me a break.

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