Don't Let it Happen Again - Maddow & Scarborough: Two Views Of The 'Brooks Brothers Riot' Of 2000 (HQ)

updated: Nov. 9, 2012 after the US election of Nov. 6, 2012.
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After the election in 2000 when a recount was started in Florida the Republicans brought in dozens of paid operatives to stage a faux populist protest to stop the recount and it worked. The protest became known as the Brooks brothers riot or dockers rebellion . So it was decided that the election would go to George W. Bush and not Al Gore though in the real world a judicious recount would have most likely given the election to Al Gore. George W. Bush then became the defacto winner and became president of the USA. The GOP was able to bully the state of Florida and the courts into favoring Bush over Gore. 

Unfortunately for the Republicans and Mitt Romney all of their dirty tricks throughout the campaign and their massive attempts to rig the election through voter suppression using legal and illegal and unethical tactics did not save them from defeat. The issue remaining is that if the Republicans hadn't used these thugish tactics would a fairly large number of votes have gone to Obama and the democrats because it could just as easily have gone in Mitt Romney's favor.  

Surely no political party should be permitted to get away with such anti-democratic strategies and tactics. In the USA it appears that many politicians and voters and the media seem to take it for granted that each party has the right to use whatever tactics necessary to win an election even if that means using dubious ethical tactics or even illegal  that is criminal activities. They believe that election campaigns are like a game and that all that matters is winning and not how you play the game. So as has been noted too many Americans appear to believe that all's fair in love and war and political campaigns and there is no sense in crying over spilt milk.