Does anybody really believe Vice President Gore when he says that the manual recount in Florida is about the “rule of the law” and the “will of the people”?

These are two things Gore cares very little about. We all know that the manual recount process has been irreparably tainted and is totally unreliable. And yet it continues.

The statutory vote recount deadlines were enacted to prevent the madness that now rules in the state of Florida. Standards for determining exactly what constitutes a vote in the hand recount appear to be completely arbitrary and constantly changing.

As James Baker predicted, there appears to be a concerted effort under way in Florida to simply manufacture votes for Gore by interpreting unclear and disqualified ballots as votes.

And the fact that it’s next to impossible to know the intent of the voter doesn’t seem to deter these people one bit in their search for an Al Gore victory.

This charade must end. If this process were fair and unbiased, most of us would wait patiently until its conclusion. But it’s not. And there is no good reason for subjecting the nation to this fiasco. It’s not a “lesson in democracy.” It’s a thinly veiled attempt to steal an election. George Bush won the Florida vote and the machine recount.

The election should be over. Even many Democrats are embarrassed by Al Gore’s “win at all costs” mentality. David D. Wilson Levant