NEW YORK (Reuters) - Sandra Day O'Connor was upset during an election-night party
when she heard Florida was first called for Gore, exclaiming, ''this is terrible,''
according to a report in Newsweek magazine released on Sunday.

The report said O'Connor made the comment at about 8 p.m. on Nov. 7, and declared
that meant the election was ``over'' because Gore had also won two other key states.

Quoting two eyewitnesses to her comments, Newsweek said that O'Connor then walked off
to get a plate of food, and her husband, John, explained to friends and acquaintances that she
was upset because they wanted to retire to Arizona and a Gore presidency meant they would
have to wait another four years because she did not want a Democrat to name her successor.

Not long after Florida was called for Gore, news organizations retracted the call and said Florida
was too close to be awarded to either candidate. The state was then called for Bush, but again
that call was retracted and the race remained in limbo for five weeks.

O'Connor, 70, had been Republican majority leader of the Arizona State Senate before being
appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court by Reagan in 1981.

Editor's note: How could anybody think O'Conner could be non-partisan?

The magazine said in its edition due out on Monday her remarks would likely fuel criticism
that high court justices ''sought to influence'' election returns in their ruling in Bush v. Gore
that ended the impasse over the presidential election.

Newsweek, seeking a response from Justice O'Connor to the accounts of her election-night
comment, said that a high court spokesman said she had no comment.

In its story, Newsweek noted that Justice O'Connor had no way of knowing when she let
her guard down that the networks' early call that Gore won Florida's key 25 electoral votes
was premature and that five weeks later she would play a direct and decisive role in the
election of his Republican rival. The magazine added that O'Connor could not possibly have
foreseen that she would be one of two swing votes in the court's 5-4 decision.

(That doesn't matter in the slightest. Her outburst proved she had very strong feelings
 about who SHOULD be president.  She's very partisan. The SC's claim that they were
 apolitical has been proven to be a lie, that is, if Newsweek can be trusted.)

The Newsweek report came a day after the magazine released a poll that said Americans
remained deeply divided over the Supreme Court's ruling that gave the presidency to Bush,
and nearly two out of three thought politics played a role in the decision.

While 51 percent said the court's decision that hand counts of contested ballots in Florida
could not resume was fair, 44 percent considered it unfair, Newsweek said.

Sixty-five percent of those surveyed believed politics or partisanship played a role in the
U.S. Supreme Court justices' decision, according to the poll.

A larger proportion -- 81 percent -- saw politics playing a role in the decisions of Florida
state courts, which in some cases ruled in favor of Gore during the legal battle to determine
the 43rd U.S. president.
 

Well, that goes without saying.
The lack of liberal voices in the media has led the country to the conclusion that if a court
rules for the Democrat, they are lying partisans, but if they rule for the Republican,
they are merely honest jurists doing their non-partisan jobs.

Bush has the White House, the Congress, the Supreme Court, the military and the media.
The only thing Gore had were the votes.

This truly is not America anymore.