Florida supreme court chief justice Charles Wells, in his dissent: “I could not more strongly disagree with [the majority’s] decision to reverse the trial court and prolong this judicial process. I also believe that the majority’s decision cannot withstand the scrutiny which will certainly immediately follow under the United States Constitution…. I have a deep and abiding concern that the prolonging of judicial process in this counting contest propels this country and this state into an unprecedented and unnecessary constitutional crisis.”
West Wing consultant Pat Caddell, on MSNBC: “I’m a liberal Democrat. I started in Florida politics. I worked for George McGovern. I worked for Jimmy Carter. I’ve worked for Ted Kennedy, Mario Cuomo. Nobody can question, I think, my credentials and my con victions. But I have to tell you, at this point it’s hard to believe that my party, the party I’ve belonged to since my great-great-grandfather of my family, has become no longer a party of principles, but has been hijacked by a confederacy of gangsters who need to take power by whatever means and whatever canards they can.”… Unnamed “Democratic field commander,” on investigating county-canvassing-board members, in Los Angeles Times: “We found out everything we could about these people—everything—and tried to subtly get to know them with this knowledge’’…. Carter Eskew, on Gore’s postelection behavior, in New York Times: “Maybe for the last few weeks he’s been pretty presidential’’…. Sen. John Ashcroft (R., Mo.), who conceded defeat despite voting irregularities, on CNN: “If we just pursue all of our legal rights to the bitter end, we are going to disrupt over and over again a very important process.”
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