Letter: Bush wants it all his way

Tuesday, Nov. 14, 2000 | 10:39 a.m.

He failed to point out in the Florida suit filing that in a previous election in a Texas county he stated in his position as the Texas governor a "manual recount would be preferable to an electronic count."

It is OK for Texas but not Florida because Bush says we should "trust the people," meaning apparently the people of Texas but not the people of Florida. In Seminole County, Fla., the Bush campaign gave its approval to a partial manual recount, a fruitful decision because the Bush Presidential Transition Express gained 98 votes in that manual recount. It is OK to manually recount in largely Republican Seminole county, but not in largely Democratic counties.

The Bush people warned the Democrats not to draw this process out by filing lawsuits and then filed the first lawsuit themselves. Al Gore, they say, should concede and spare us a vote recount. Did George Bush forget he lost the popular vote? He frequently reminded us in the election to "trust the people," "bring the American people together" and to "tell the truth," because "it's a question of leadership." Then he forgot.

STEVEN C. WILSON