I just watched HBO's movie 'Recount' and I was stunned.

I'll start with the obvious things. Many bright red Republicans who see the movie will dismiss it immediately for what they call cheap shots at the Bush lawyers, Florida state politicians, and the Supreme Court. But you know in the end the Bush team did steal the election or more correctly steered the right people in the desired direction and spun the rules and laws into entangled dirty webs. It was good politics and Bush stole it fair and square with the help of the legal system. That stands unless you were one of the disenfranchised voters of Florida. Then it's a different story.

I thought the movie was good and worth watching. Having lived through a historic ordeal like that and watching its interpretation in a movie is chilling. The costs of the election were great. If the recount had continued and if Gore won, would the 9-11 attacks have happened? The Iraq war? Would Gore have won his 2004 reelection bid? If not who would have succeeded him? Who would be running for the Democratic nomination today? Would Lieberman have stayed on as his VP in 2004? Would we be seeing a Lieberman candidacy today? Democrats hate Lieberman with severe passion. Now who could love the little guy, John McCain's bestest wittle wittle friend?

Another thing that hit me while watching the movie was Florida's prominence in our politics. It was the big story in 2000 and it is a big story in 2008. Once again a Clintonite is fighting for the votes in Florida to be counted while another Democrat stands in the way of Democracy. Damn Florida! Remember the rules?

It's funny that the same idealistic fellows who have remained disgruntled over the Florida 2000 situation have split in half, one half for Hilary Clinton wants to count Florida's votes and the other half supports Barrack Obama and they don't really want to see the Florida 2008 situation resolved. Funny? A double standard? A paradox?

I guess the privilege of disenfranchising votes in yet another close race comes down to Party. If you are a Democrat, you can have it both ways. Democrats aren't so idealistic about counting votes now, are they?