Both warned that dragging an election into the courts was a dangerous precedent. But their initial good instincts have faded with time. After a few days, they settled back comfortably into the mode of criticizing the Republican for seeming not to want an accurate count. But perfect accuracy is a chimera. In every race, thousands of ballots are lost, stolen and disqualified for various reasons.
Paper being what it is, they are particularly unsuited to repeated handling.
And the notion that canvassing boards are going to divine the intentions of voters in doubtful cases is an invitation to fraud plain and simple. If you weren't competent enough to vote correctly, your vote does not deserve to be counted. Sure, bring in the United Nations. According to The Wall Street Journal, he's been looking into the backgrounds of Florida's electors, hoping to find three or four who might be tempted to switch sides and cast their votes for Gore even if the state is eventually certified for Bush. If Bush won Florida, he would have 271 electoral votes.