Bush Really Did Win
The election is finally over.

By NR Editors
From “The Week,” December 3, 2001, issue of National Review

fter nearly a year of work, several of the nation's top media organizations, including the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Wall Street Journal, have finished their recount of the Florida results. And the winner is . . . George W. Bush! The media chad-counters found that Bush would have won even if the Supreme Court had not intervened to stop the examination of so-called undervotes that Al Gore so desperately wanted. That's nice, but it's old news: The Miami Herald and USA Today published a definitive undervote recount months ago. As it turns out, the only news in the new recount is the claim that Gore "might" have won if a statewide recount of both undervotes and overvotes had been conducted. Unfortunately for Democrats, that was something Gore did not want, that his lawyer specifically rejected in court, and for which there was no provision in Florida law. The media recount almost disappeared amid real news about war, terrorism, and plane crashes. But no doubt President Bush, busy as he is, appreciates the fact that the Times, the Post, and the Journal have said he may remain in the White House.