> > > I have one question for you all. Just how silly does this make America look? We have become one of the world's "Super Powers", but have trouble electing a president. Does that make us look dumb/vulnerable/[insert your's here], or is it seen as the mistake that it was and not really paid attention to?
> > >
> > > Drac "Ok, that's 2 questions" imaS
> >
> > It isn't like you need to invite criticism since criticism is heaped on us both externally and internally without prodding.
> >
> > Before we hear what the international community has to say, let's look at the facts. This election has had a higher turn out than we've seen in quite a while. This is definitely one of the closest Presidential elections in our history. We still have a President in office, so it isn't like we've truly been left hanging. The reason we have a re-count in Florida is because of internal safeguards in that state that require a recount if the difference is less than one half of one percent. That is good and I would hope that a recount would take as long as necessary to make sure the count is accurate. And because of the scrutiny of this vote, inconsistencies and problems are more likely to come to light.
> >
> > Fer"I don't mind if you criticize the candidates"rick
>
> My reason for "Inviting criticism" was purly to find out how the international community sees how this went. Our media is the only access they have to this and it is the media, in my opinion, that is to blame for how we will look to those on the outside looking in. If it were simply the automatic recount in Florida, I would think it would show just how compitent we are as a nation and nothing would ever be thought of it. But it is all of the problems that happened before, and in light of the recount that I am worried about. The media gave Florida to Gore, then recanted, then gave it to Bush, and actually named him Pres. then recanted. Then there were the bad ballots, the lost ballot boxes and the numerous problems that have come about that otherwise would not have been reported on except that the media was alerted and already looking for something else juicy to report. There have been threats of litigation, and even a republican being interviewed on Larry King that said that anyone voting for Buchannon was a "Deginerate". All of this is going outside of the US and I am interested in seeing how that makes us look. I would hope everyone understands that it IS the biggest election in decades, and that there are always problems of this nature in any election. But the press has been all over this and with todays technology, things like this cannot be kept confined to the US. Combine that with the fact that the press feels the need to compete for being the first on the air with information more than having correct and accurate information and we have cause to wonder what the international community thinks.
>
> Drac "Not trying to "Invite criticism", just extremely curious" imaS

I haven't seen any "how stupid is this" news coverage of the election at all. The media coverage here could be described as intense interest, but I think we are remote enough from the events that there isn't enough emotional significance in them for the New Zealand media to bother getting a handle on. Believe me, the media is the same all over the world, and if they thought the NZ public would go for a huge blow-up about how incompetent Americans (or any other foreigners) are, they'd be doing it by now. The TV and newspaper coverage has pretty much been straight reporting of the events, overlaid with a feeling of "this is so amazing, look how close it is, aren't you excited?"

About any mistakes/problems/accusations concerning the election, I doubt a lot of people here know or care about that side of it. There's been a little coverage of what various Americans think about it, but so far I've heard more controversy at Rinkworks than I have from the media here. Of course, a New Zealand horse winning the Melbourne Cup, and the IDIOTIC and ANNOYING hype building up to David Tua's match against Lennox Lewis, edged out trivialities like the election of the most powerful man in the world several days running. ;-)

Brunnen-"TUA! TUA! TUA!!!!!!!ohyeah, and in later news, apparently there's some sort of election going on"G