[nw_politics] NOW They Stand on Principle

The continuing drama of the Washington gubernatorial recount is highly amusing.

You see, when Rossi was called the winner, he and his campaign were big big BIG on getting the results finalized and out of the way. In a perfect world, that would be no issue at all. This, though is not that world. This is a world where the Rossi campaign will go to court to prevent legitimate votes which fell through the cracks from being counted-because they were in King County, which was likely to vote for Gregoire-and the number of found ballots were enough to take his razor-thin lead away.

Then, it didn't matter that a couple of hundred citizen's voices wouldn't be heard despite the fact that nothing made thier ballots invalid. The election was over, as he'd seen it, he won, and that was that.

Fortunately for what's left of the integrity of the voting process in America, the Washington courts saw it differently. And fortunately for Gregoire, the votes did go her way. She is to be certified today.

Now it would seem that Rossi and his campaign have found religion. Now, to them, every vote counts. Noble positions, conveniently held.

To today's Repbulican party, it isn't important that the process runs unimpeachably. It's what's good for the party that counts; as long as they're winning, it's all good, if they're losing, then it's taken as read that somebody is screwing around.

Now Rossi is actually calling for a rerun of the election. Gregiore is justified in disregarding (though our Republican-friendly media is quick to paint it as "balking at") any such call. If there were indications of possible wide scale-or any scale, really-fraud and malfeasance, then I'd be right along there with him.

But Washington isn't Ukraine, and Rossi sure as 7734 isn't Yushchenko.

Gregiore legitimatly won by a nose in a legitimately-run recount. Rossi should concede. Anything else is sore-losery.