The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #28688   Message #358616
Posted By: flattop
17-Dec-00 - 02:27 PM
Thread Name: BS: AND WE HAVE A WINNER part two
Subject: RE: BS: AND WE HAVE A WINNER part two
You got a tie in the election. The quibbled part is less than any margin of error, machine error, errors from human judgement and errors from our natural human tendencies to be dishonest, be we of the right or be we of the left.

It would have been nice for folks to feel that their vote counted but close outcomes upset people. Researchers found that most people would be more upset if they missed a plane by 5 minutes than if they missed a plane by 30 minutes. (I believe the study was on game theory and gambling addictions.) Democrats missed the plane to Florida by a second or two.

I once heard a hockey coach tell a room full of grumbling kids between periods, "When you get a five goal lead, the refereeing won't matter." Similarily, if a few thousand of those who forgot to vote Democrat had voted in this election or if they had earlier elected a Democrat government in Florida so that the Democrats in their unquestionable wisdom and fairness controlled the cheating in Florida, we'd have a different hockey game.