Captain's Quarters Blog


« Freakin' At The Freaker's Ball | Main | Merry Christmas! »

December 24, 2004
The Shifting Standards Of Christine Gregoire

Perspective is a funny thing. When one trails in an election by 261 votes, one views the result as a "virtual tie." If the margin narrows to 42, then it becomes a flat-out tie. But when the count reverses in one's favor and amounts to 130, all of a sudden the race is over.

Such are the vagaries of Christine Gregoire, the apparent governor-elect of Washington despite having lost two of three vote counts:

Gregoire said at a news conference in the Capitol last night she would not declare victory until the election is certified next week.

"A lot of heated words have been said during this recount," Gregoire said. "But with the election coming to a close, I am confident that we can begin to move forward as one state."

Gregoire did not call on Rossi to concede, but said she would have conceded if she were the one who had lost the manual recount.

When she was 261 votes behind Rossi after the first count, Gregoire called the race a virtual tie. At 42 votes back after the first recount, she said it was, in fact, a tie. Now, she said, "It's time for this race and this election to be over."

As they paid for the hand recount and filed a lawsuit with the state Supreme Court, Democrats have been highly critical of the counting process, saying local officials chose "expediency over accuracy and equality" and calling Rossi the "accidental governor-elect" and a "thief" trying to steal the election.

If the Democrats have been "highly critical" of the counting process, then why do they accept the results of the process most likely to contain error? The Democrats demonstrate a high degree of moral flexibility in their pursuit of the governor's office, and Gregoire's own statements reflect this.

I doubt that much can be done now, unless Rossi can successfully sue for further recounts. Even a new election probably would solve nothing, as the same people will vote the same way -- and Washington voters will once again find themselves in a morass. The Democrats have managed to recount their way to victory, using the standard-bending and vote-mining methods they tried in Florida until the grown-ups made them stop. Perhaps this episode will wake Washington voters to the fraud of Democratic politics. As one CQ commenter noted earlier, thank goodness the Electoral College acts to contain such shenanigans.

Sphere It Digg! View blog reactions
Posted by Ed Morrissey at December 24, 2004 10:17 AM

Trackback Pings

TrackBack URL for this entry is

Listed below are links to weblogs that reference The Shifting Standards Of Christine Gregoire:

» Captain Ed on the Washington election results from Young Pundit
Perspective is a funny thing. When one trails in an election by 261 votes, one views the result as a "virtual tie." If the margin narrows to 42, then it becomes a flat-out tie. But when the count reverses in one's favor and amounts to 130, all of a s... [Read More]

Tracked on December 24, 2004 1:23 PM

» Is It Over? from CALIFORNIA YANKEE
After counting nearly 3 million ballots three different times, four lawsuits, seven weeks and a series of embarrassing mistakes in King County, Democrat Christine Gregoire finally came out ahead in Washington's gubernatorial election. In the hand recou... [Read More]

Tracked on December 24, 2004 3:34 PM

» Washington, part two. from The Unabrewer
Quoting myself: In 2000, I conjectured that the Democrats wanted to recount Florida until they got the results they wanted, but the Democrats would never admit it. [Read More]

Tracked on December 24, 2004 4:54 PM

» Democrats steal WA governor's election from Ace of Trump
If the GOP can prove fraud, then do it. Otherwise, just accept the fact that the recount was stolen from you and move on. [Read More]

Tracked on December 24, 2004 8:24 PM



Design & Skinning by:
m2 web studios





blog advertising



button1.jpg

Proud Ex-Pat Member of the Bear Flag League!