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| THE DENVER GROUP | |
 December 20, 2000  |
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Elizabeth Farnsworth discusses the legitimacy of Bush's presidency with a group of citizens from Denver.
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ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: Thanks for being with us again.
REV. PAUL MARTIN, Democrat: I believe that we have had quite an experience. With these past few days, few weeks, and from my perspective I believe, that quite a bit of damage has been done. ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: What damage has been done? REV. PAUL MARTIN: I think that the integrity of the political process -- I believe the fact we still have a question about whether or not all votes were counted and all people who had been given the right to vote but not promised that the votes would be counted was actually a fact that we can live with during the new administration. ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: Jake Zambrano, do you think damage was done, permanent? JAKE ZAMBRANO, Republican: You know, I kind of think the exact opposite. I think... You know our country's early history, there was a lot of bloodshed in this country and a lot of people fought for the freedom to be able to vote, and in these last 36 days, not one shot was fired, not one major riot ensued, not, you know, no uprising of any sort. For the most part, people were respectful of their fellow American. They may have disagreed, but they were reasonable people that agreed to disagree. And we came to a conclusion in a peaceful manner. And I think that's important. ANN PADILLA, Republican: I don't think this is such a bad thing for our country. Look what happened. Now we all know as citizens of this great democracy that we have an obligation when we go vote. We have an obligation to be educated, to be responsible, and to vote, and that our votes count, and that the system works. It's not perfect, and maybe we didn't want it to go to the Supreme Court, but it was forced there. And in my opinion, it was forced there because of all the legal... legal maneuvering that the Gore team did immediately after the count. DEE CLINTON, Democrat: I feel that the integrity of the U.S. Supreme Court has suffered. I'm very upset because they selected the man of their choice, not what the electors would have. They usurped all the election, the entire election, and decided who they wanted, not who we wanted. So I was very upset about that. I still feel bitter, and I'm very unhappy because they showed as much compassion as those voting... as the counting machines - the way the counting machine was spitting out all those ballots that didn't have... That still had some chads that were loose, and that's.... I'm still upset about it. PATRICK VANN, Democrat: I agree. I agree with Dee. I mean, I can't understand why the U.S. Supreme Court actually even heard the case, when all they did was use up valuable time that should have been used to count the people's votes. And then in the end, all they did was send it back to the state Supreme Court of Florida. It was a state issue. The United States Supreme Court should not have heard it. And even one of the Justices said that this would cast... One of the dissenting Justices said this would cast a shadow on the presidency. LINDA HOUSTON, Republican: I kind of disagree with the feeling about the Supreme Court because the U.S. Supreme Court... I think they did the best they could do. There weren't any good standards for counting those votes and had there been good standards that had been developed by the Florida Supreme Court, I think it would have been a totally different system. But I think that they had to do the best they could with... how can you count those over and over again, and probably come up with the same results? ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: Dennis? DENNIS COUGHLIN, Republican: You can't please all the people all the time and you can't have a perfect system. But I think that the system that we had in place ran its course, and in the United States Al Gore says he is our President and support him. So the great thing about America is we can agree to disagree. But nevertheless, when the... when it is finally decided, we will support it. And that's the best part about democracy. ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: Eric, how did you feel about the Supreme Court? You're a Democrat, but you were sort of relieved, I think you said. ERIC DURAN, Democrat: Well, I was relieved that it was over. I thought that I was afraid that something like this would happen where, you know, the highest court in the land is now... you know, being considered a partisan institution and, you know, I really felt that at some point the whole counting needed to end and come to some type of resolution. You know, I felt like it dragged on, but I think the country has been hurt by this whole process. There's so much cynicism now about government, and I think this just added to the cynicism and so, you know, we're not hurt now through bloodshed or coup de tat, but I think, you know, psychologically the country's on edge. LINDA HOUSTON: I think that actually the outcome of the election has done just the opposite. I think to think that our election was really 50/50, right down the middle. It's been exciting... That means everybody is thinking very similarly and I think that's an exciting place to be instead of just opposite poles that never get anything done. ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: Reverend, you were shaking your head. REV. PAUL MARTIN: Yeah. I'm just afraid that we're trivializing a very - situation. I'm awfully afraid that the real issue is what's going to happen to America when t the newspapers get a hold of the ballots and find out that maybe Gore did win and how with are we going to deal with that inequity? BOB GRABOWSKI, Republican: I think that we would make a serious mistake to release the ballots to whomever wanted to look at them, play with them, and count them. The issue is over. The issue has been decided -- those ballots should be destroyed because the activity, the -- call it surreptitious, the activities that be going to happen with that. ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: The ballots can't be turned over to just anybody. They are... They are being looked at with the help of election officials. They don't turn them over. REV. PAUL MARTIN: It's a matter of public domain. ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: You still think they should be destroyed? BOB GRABOWSKI: I think they should be destroyed, because if we don't do that, this issue is going to be rehashed for the next four years until what end? It's not going to change the decision. It's truly going to create more animosity. Whichever way it comes out, there's going to be more wrangling, more haggling going on. To what end? They are wasting time and energy. ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: Farnsworth: Eric? Destroy them? ERIC DURAN: Well, I think you know it's... It's the whole thing about what the truth is. I mean... And doesn't the truth matter and what type of, you know, if you're afraid of the truth, then there's something wrong with our country. BOB GRABOWSKI: Well, I'm not afraid of the truth. ERIC DURAN: Well, if you burn the ballots, that surely indicates that you're afraid of the truth and finding out what's there. REV. PAUL MARTIN: The counties that were suspicious were heavily populated by African Americans. And our interpretation of that process is very simple. We fought a long time. See, we've only voted for Presidents within the last 35 years of American history, and we fought a long time to get the right to vote. But what we made a mistake about I believe is that we did not... we were not assured that they had to count our votes. And I'm not trying to scare anybody-- I'm just simply saying there's a lot of emotion behind it. I like the word psychological. You know, there's going to be a real conflict I think down the road. ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: Okay, what should come out of this? DENNIS COUGHLIN: There should be better voting machines. In the precinct that I voted in, it was electronic and you punched the yellow button and your vote was counted. There was no chads, or hanging chads or dimpled chads. ERIC DURAN: Another thing that is missed is a lot of African Americans and Latinos and folks like that just don't vote. I think they'll vote next time around. I think that is a more important issue. I think that is a more important issue. L.P. LOCKETT, Democrat: In the black or African American community, it was a big thing starting all the way back last spring to get out and vote. We have education issues; we have medical issues, we have job issues. We have issues concerning employment. We all know that discrimination is dead, right? Yeah, right. SARAH BAY, Independent: I just think it's interesting that there is a large focus on minorities, but we are missing a focus on younger voters. I mean, there is a huge population that is just not getting out there. I think in part, at least where I voted, the cards seemed very old fashioned to me -- not up to date. I was not sure that it was going to be read correctly. Now that all the dimpled and chads and nonchads come out, it makes we wonder whether this really counted my vote. I think the new electronic way will not only appeal to more people and to the younger voters because it's going along with how our generation is leading... ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: All right. Let me ask you this... President-elect Bush - DEE CISNEROS: Select. ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: What? DEE CISNEROS: He was not elected. He was selected by that group. MEMBER OF GROUP: Ooh, serious statement. MEMBER OF GROUP: There's the cynicism. MEMBER OF GROUP: There it is. DEE CISNEROS: He was selected by this small group, five Supreme Court judges, not... DENNIS COUGHLIN: You're assuming that Gore had more votes than Bush in Florida. But, when you went into vote in Florida, they clearly told you how to operate the butterfly ballot. And if you did as they instructed, your vote counted. If you punched it all the way through, your vote counted. Now, are you saying that... DEE CISNEROS: It was a confusing ballot. ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: Now you will have very soon a new President. Can you... Can you let him be your President? ERIC DURAN: I'll accept him as our President and we'll have to go forward and hopefully the truth will find out and maybe he will be vindicated. I hope that he will continue to work with Al Gore and some of the more prominent Democrats to reach across partisan lines. ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: Sarah? SARAH BAY: George W. Bush promised bipartisanship. And I think that if he can go through with that promise, I think that a lot of people will take... take him in as our President, as long as he stays with that promise of bipartisanship. ANN PADILLA: I think all Presidents have been Presidents of all the people. They're not representative of just one group of people. They are representative of the people of America and sometimes we agree with them and sometimes we don't. L. R. LOCKETT: I can support him. But I will be very cautious in what he does. ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: In watching what he does? L. R. LOCKETT: In watching what he does. I hope he proves me wrong, I sincerely do. I don't - I don't know - I have a very uneasy feeling, but I will support him. DEE CISNEROS: I think I can let him be my President. I have had many Presidents that I didn't vote for and I have accepted him. He is my President and I'll accept him. ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: Great to see you again and thank you all for being with us. |
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