San Diego (special) -- The drama over the Florida recount found Jewish attorneys on both sides of the question. Alan Dershowitz, author of Chutzpah , represented Al Gore, Joe Lieberman and the Democrats, while Ben Ginsberg represented George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and the Republicans. I've always admired Dershowitz, but I must admit I was shocked by the ferocity of the personal attack I watched him make against Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris. 

In an interview with anchorman Bernard Shaw of CNN, Dershowitz not only suggested that Harris as a co-chair of Bush's campaign in Florida should recuse herself from decision making in the vital state contest to decide the presidency, he also contended that she previously had engaged in "money laundering" and had been guilty of "criminal" conduct and therefore was morally disqualified from participation. 

I don't know the basis of Dershowitz's latter allegations, but raising them so heatedly on television in the context of the closest presidential contest in history was inappropriate to the extreme. What we saw from Dershowitz was a raw display of political hatred. At a time that our American democracy is being tested, all of us should put a premium on civility. 

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In a lighter take on the presidential election impasse, local Democratic stalwart Murray Galinson commented to Paula Siegel he was pretty sure he knew a way that Gore could persuade Bush to concede: Gore could promise to appoint Bush as the commissioner of baseball.