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on October 31, 2001
No self-respecting Republican, or any patriot who believes in the office of the Commander in Chief, would pay money for Jeffery Toobin's account of the 2000 election fiasco. Unfortunately, while Toobin boasts impeccable journalistic credentials, little credit can be given to "Too Close to Call" as an objective portrayal of the thirty-six days last year that gripped the attention of all Americans.
Toobin's uber-liberal bias is evident from the very beginning of his account. Stooping to perpetuate the stereotype of Republicans as well-heeled and priviliged Machiavellians, he depicts Bush strategist James A. Baker III as floating "from a gleaming party headquarters to the [Florida] governor's mansion" on those first critical nights following November 7, 2000, while Gore strategist Warren Christopher "dodged paint chips [at the Democratic Party's Tallahassee headquarters] in a strip mall." Subtle pot-shots at key Republicans abound in the book.
Worse yet, Toobin manages to do injustice to Democratic players in the election debacle. Gore campaign chairman William M. Daley, who "longs to be a grown-up," is underhandedly accused by Toobin of being unable to match the political acumen and ruthlessness of Bush camp leaders. Gore himself is portrayed as being somewhat of a Christopher-Daley puppet, a politician who had sold his soul to political pundits and journalists, a man who completely lacked fire in the days following the 2000 election. Believers in Toobin's theory that Gore's post-election manuevers lacked inspiration, motivation and verve should also note that the Brooklyn Bridge has been placed on the market, and will be sold to the highest bidder. Gore, after all, once stated that he would "rip the lungs" out of any political opponent.
The timing of Toobin's release and promotion of his book is decidedly unpatriotic. Toobin has made passing comments claiming that Americans should support President Bush now that he is in office. Such comments are merely window dressing, however, in light of Toobin's conclusion in "Too Close to Call" that "the wrong man was inaugurated on January 20, 2001, and this is no small thing in our nation's history." This reviewer's conclusion: stimulte the American economy by spending your money on anything other than the diatribe of this disaffected Democrat.
Toobin's uber-liberal bias is evident from the very beginning of his account. Stooping to perpetuate the stereotype of Republicans as well-heeled and priviliged Machiavellians, he depicts Bush strategist James A. Baker III as floating "from a gleaming party headquarters to the [Florida] governor's mansion" on those first critical nights following November 7, 2000, while Gore strategist Warren Christopher "dodged paint chips [at the Democratic Party's Tallahassee headquarters] in a strip mall." Subtle pot-shots at key Republicans abound in the book.
Worse yet, Toobin manages to do injustice to Democratic players in the election debacle. Gore campaign chairman William M. Daley, who "longs to be a grown-up," is underhandedly accused by Toobin of being unable to match the political acumen and ruthlessness of Bush camp leaders. Gore himself is portrayed as being somewhat of a Christopher-Daley puppet, a politician who had sold his soul to political pundits and journalists, a man who completely lacked fire in the days following the 2000 election. Believers in Toobin's theory that Gore's post-election manuevers lacked inspiration, motivation and verve should also note that the Brooklyn Bridge has been placed on the market, and will be sold to the highest bidder. Gore, after all, once stated that he would "rip the lungs" out of any political opponent.
The timing of Toobin's release and promotion of his book is decidedly unpatriotic. Toobin has made passing comments claiming that Americans should support President Bush now that he is in office. Such comments are merely window dressing, however, in light of Toobin's conclusion in "Too Close to Call" that "the wrong man was inaugurated on January 20, 2001, and this is no small thing in our nation's history." This reviewer's conclusion: stimulte the American economy by spending your money on anything other than the diatribe of this disaffected Democrat.
on October 30, 2001
The title should be, "Damn The Facts: We Know Al Gore Won" or "The Lying, Cheating, Ruthless, Machiavellian Republicans Stole The Election in Florida, Which The Kind, Gentle, Innocent but Tragically Naive Al Gore Won". Toobin, like all his fellow rich, egototistical, elitist New York city left-wingers, believes with all his heart that Gore won, so he works from there to selectively use facts, half-truths, hypothetical conversations and scenarios, gossip, and so on, which reinforce his view. He stoops to the gutter when relating that MODERATE Supreme Court Judge Sandra O'Connor was overhead at a Georgetown party dissin' Democrats because of believing in extreme right-wing gossip. How totally absurd! If I was O'Connor, I'd sue this creep for slander.
Some things glossed over in this book: Bush won the initial state vote and ALL recounts. Even the media recounts show that Bush won. An "ultimate" media recount was completed recently and they didn't even bother to report the results after spending millions. Guess Bush won. Despite Gore and Daley's constant and tiresome exhortations to "count all the votes", Gore's lawyers ruthlessly had thousands of military & overseas votes thrown out on questionable legal technicalities. They only wanted to count Democrat stronghold votes, hence they chose the largest Democrat counties in the state to go after, places where they were able to manipulate the vote-counting so that hanging and pregnant chads were counted as votes, even though they wouldn've have counted as votes before the election.
Also, no mention of the blatant and well-documented fact that thousands of pro-Bush voters in the Florida Panhandle were deterred from voting by the liberal TV networks irresponsible calling of the vote for Gore before the polls had even closed there. No big deal made of the fact that the butterfly ballot was designed by a Democrat and was actually quite easy to read. This ballot had been used in previous elections and circulated in Palm Beach County before the election and nobody had any problem with it. No mention that Democratic operatives phoned various voters the day after the election to make them believe something was fishy with the ballot.
No mention that the Democrats tried to get the votes of criminals and convicts' counted or were bribing streetpeople to vote Democrat by offering them beer. No mention that the African-American votes in DuVall County weren't counted because all the AA's that the Democrats (the "passive" political party, according to Toobin) rounded up and herded onto busses which took them to polls, were illiterate and couldn't figure out how to fill in the voting forms correctly. Instead of blaming the Republicans, shouldn't we be asking why so many African-Americans are illiterate? Also, do we really wish for our President to be chosen in part by convicts and people who can't read and write?
No mention that the charges of African-Americans being pulled over and detained by cops on the way to polling places were never proven.
Toobin also disses the Supreme Court as being criminally unprincipled and being "partisan" for Bush, but finds no fault with the Florida Supremes who literally revised and devised new recounting rules on the spot, rules which circumvented the state's Constitution which stated that only the state govt. had the right to run elections. The Florida Supremes are not dissed as being unprincipled or partisan for Gore, even though all but one of them was/is a Democratic appointee. If the Florida Supremes had merely done their jobs and not succumbed to blatant partisanship, the U.S. Supreme Court would never have to have been involved in the election.
Toobin greatly stresses that Republicans were much more active and ruthless in the election. It is really funny that Toobin accuses the ultimate insider, Gore, and the Democrats of being too kind, gentle, and naive for their own good. And the obviously gentle, good-natured Bush associates with vicious piranhas. This is Alice in Wonderland-type logic.
The reality is that politics is a vicious bloodsport, and both sides fought as hard as possible to win. Unfortunately, Toobin only presents the Liberal view, and not the "unbiased" one which he purports, as if people are too stupid to know Left-wing claptrap when they read it. Only Liberals, who mostly think with their emotions, could devise and believe such fantastic scenarios and ignore so much truth. And the truth will always be that Bush received more votes in Florida than did Gore, so he won the Electoral College vote even though he lost the popular vote. Gore's aggressive, high-priced legal team tried to overturn this vote. The Florida Supreme Court violated Florida state law by acceding to the Gore's team wishes. The U.S. Supreme Court noted this illegality and stated by a 6-3 vote that the Florida Supremes were "out of order" so to speak. The 5-4 vote was only on what to do, regarding the matter.
Some things glossed over in this book: Bush won the initial state vote and ALL recounts. Even the media recounts show that Bush won. An "ultimate" media recount was completed recently and they didn't even bother to report the results after spending millions. Guess Bush won. Despite Gore and Daley's constant and tiresome exhortations to "count all the votes", Gore's lawyers ruthlessly had thousands of military & overseas votes thrown out on questionable legal technicalities. They only wanted to count Democrat stronghold votes, hence they chose the largest Democrat counties in the state to go after, places where they were able to manipulate the vote-counting so that hanging and pregnant chads were counted as votes, even though they wouldn've have counted as votes before the election.
Also, no mention of the blatant and well-documented fact that thousands of pro-Bush voters in the Florida Panhandle were deterred from voting by the liberal TV networks irresponsible calling of the vote for Gore before the polls had even closed there. No big deal made of the fact that the butterfly ballot was designed by a Democrat and was actually quite easy to read. This ballot had been used in previous elections and circulated in Palm Beach County before the election and nobody had any problem with it. No mention that Democratic operatives phoned various voters the day after the election to make them believe something was fishy with the ballot.
No mention that the Democrats tried to get the votes of criminals and convicts' counted or were bribing streetpeople to vote Democrat by offering them beer. No mention that the African-American votes in DuVall County weren't counted because all the AA's that the Democrats (the "passive" political party, according to Toobin) rounded up and herded onto busses which took them to polls, were illiterate and couldn't figure out how to fill in the voting forms correctly. Instead of blaming the Republicans, shouldn't we be asking why so many African-Americans are illiterate? Also, do we really wish for our President to be chosen in part by convicts and people who can't read and write?
No mention that the charges of African-Americans being pulled over and detained by cops on the way to polling places were never proven.
Toobin also disses the Supreme Court as being criminally unprincipled and being "partisan" for Bush, but finds no fault with the Florida Supremes who literally revised and devised new recounting rules on the spot, rules which circumvented the state's Constitution which stated that only the state govt. had the right to run elections. The Florida Supremes are not dissed as being unprincipled or partisan for Gore, even though all but one of them was/is a Democratic appointee. If the Florida Supremes had merely done their jobs and not succumbed to blatant partisanship, the U.S. Supreme Court would never have to have been involved in the election.
Toobin greatly stresses that Republicans were much more active and ruthless in the election. It is really funny that Toobin accuses the ultimate insider, Gore, and the Democrats of being too kind, gentle, and naive for their own good. And the obviously gentle, good-natured Bush associates with vicious piranhas. This is Alice in Wonderland-type logic.
The reality is that politics is a vicious bloodsport, and both sides fought as hard as possible to win. Unfortunately, Toobin only presents the Liberal view, and not the "unbiased" one which he purports, as if people are too stupid to know Left-wing claptrap when they read it. Only Liberals, who mostly think with their emotions, could devise and believe such fantastic scenarios and ignore so much truth. And the truth will always be that Bush received more votes in Florida than did Gore, so he won the Electoral College vote even though he lost the popular vote. Gore's aggressive, high-priced legal team tried to overturn this vote. The Florida Supreme Court violated Florida state law by acceding to the Gore's team wishes. The U.S. Supreme Court noted this illegality and stated by a 6-3 vote that the Florida Supremes were "out of order" so to speak. The 5-4 vote was only on what to do, regarding the matter.
on December 29, 2001
I can't believe that he claims to be fair to both sides in this book. I am a Florida resident and this past election, I voted for all democrats expect for the presidential race, in which I voted for Bush. If for some reason my ballot got tossed and they couldn't make out my vote for "prez", would "they" assume that since I voted for all democrats in the local and state races that I had intended to vote for Gore. I think not!! People have a responsibility to learn how to vote. I thought this book was pretty stupid and very biased towards making the republicans out to be a bunch of crooks. I also don't believe Blacks were stopped at checkpoints to be prevented from voting. Jeffrey Toobin is a terrible writer
on January 27, 2002
This could have been a much more interesting book had the author presented a much more balanced view; instead he chose to present everything that the Republicans did with negative connotations, and never challenged the facile reasons the Democrats came up with for their actions. His end of the book demonstrates the conclusion that the author wanted to come up with, and so the information in the previous chapters was selected to try and drive readers to the same conclusion, versus presenting all view points.
on October 19, 2001
Save your time, and your money.
The scope of this tome and the intricate level of detail achieved within its pages are commendable. Unfortunately, from the very start of the book, Mr. Toobin's raging bias in favor of Mr. Gore ruins the presentation of his thesis and the facts supporting his conclusions. Where the facts are not favorable to Mr. Gore (and the author), they are conveniently omitted or made irrelevant.
Mr. Toobin's book will surely appeal to die-hard supporters of Mr. Gore and partisans of the liberal left in America. Sadly, readers seeking the truth will have to look elsewhere.
The scope of this tome and the intricate level of detail achieved within its pages are commendable. Unfortunately, from the very start of the book, Mr. Toobin's raging bias in favor of Mr. Gore ruins the presentation of his thesis and the facts supporting his conclusions. Where the facts are not favorable to Mr. Gore (and the author), they are conveniently omitted or made irrelevant.
Mr. Toobin's book will surely appeal to die-hard supporters of Mr. Gore and partisans of the liberal left in America. Sadly, readers seeking the truth will have to look elsewhere.
on October 30, 2001
It is too close to call -- whether the author intentionally ignores facts or is too lazy to research them. The only people who will enjoy this book are the ones who already knew what they wanted to read into it. This book represents an arrogant and flagrant denial of truth that would not stand up to any academic scrutiny. An insult to anyone hoping for an in-depth study of the issue.
on October 31, 2001
This book was apparently a joke gift to me and was written by a rabid clinton partisan with a complete disregard of facts. If you want a true account of the democrats dirty tricks and a balanced account to this drivel by Toobin read Bill Sammons' account of what really happened. I can't even in my worst imagination what a disaster it would have been to have Gore as president. One glaring error was that Buchanan "mismarked" votes were mistakes. Completely overlooking that Buchanan had won almost the same amount in the previous presidential run. The real culprits beginning this stunt was the Florida Supreme Court who intervened (illegaly) without being asked to and tried to swing the vote to Gore. Thank God for our Supremes in DC!!!
on December 10, 2001
Unfounded criticism of a system that worked. Biased in his writing. Thought he would join the others in trying to make a buck. Now we know the truth any way. New studies show Bush would have won no matter how it went
on December 26, 2001
This book is blatant democratic propoganda. Democrats are viewed by Toobin as righteous saints simply trying to get the votes counted. Republicans are viewed as evil thieves out to deny Gore his rightful presidency. Don't waste your time reading this drivel unless you're into sadism.
