pyesetz | The election

I was going to write about the election, but the facts I intended to cite have been "altered". Last night I was looking at this exit-poll page, which clearly indicated, hours after the polls closed, that Kerry won 50.5% of the vote in Florida. Now that page says Bush got 51.4%, which still fails to match the "official" 52.6% victory for Bush. When I was a kid, the exit polls matched the official counts, so everyone could be confident that the votes were being counted accurately. I suppose I could check every state's exit poll to see whether Bush got extra official votes in any systematic way (e.g., in states with e-voting, or with Republican governors, etc.) But it would just be too depressing. Don't bother me with facts, my mind is made up: this election was cooked. Remember, it was bloggers who forced Trent Lott to resign, and exposed that the CBS story about Bush's non-service in the guard was planted by a Republican operative. Next stop: Watergate redux!