Look out, here comes Al Gore

[kpete]

Look out, here comes Al Gore


...................

The former vice president's slashing attacks on the administration and his stalwart, if misguided, opposition to the Iraq war leave him without the complications and complexes that will devil Clinton as she seeks to appeal to the unforgiving left of the Democratic Party.


And Gore may be a man whose time has come in his party. It was he who warned of climate change and predicted its consequences. Hurricane Katrina was just a fulfillment of the prophesies Gore wrote about in his late-1980s book "Earth in the Balance." He has been an energy-conservation nut for years, and his obsessions with alternatives to oil will play better and better as we come to realize how our addiction to oil has led us to dependency on the dealers of this particular drug - Iran, the Saudi royal family and Hugo Chavez.

The Democratic base's anger at Gore's defeat in 2000 was assuaged by the worse Kerry defeat of 2004. The idea he was an incompetent candidate has been replaced in Democratic iconography by the idea he was cheated out of the presidency. The hiatus has healed his reputation with the base in much the same way the negative rap on Nixon for losing in 1960 was ameliorated by the Goldwater wipeout of 1964.

History indicates that candidates who won the popular vote but lost in the Electoral College have all come back to win revenge in subsequent elections. Andrew Jackson, cheated in 1824, won in 1828. Grover Cleveland, cheated in 1888, triumphed in 1892. Samuel Tilden, who won the popular vote in 1876, never ran again, but he dealt away the White House in a deal for the withdrawal for federal troops from the South, allowing the Ku Klux Klan to take over. (By the way, for a great history of how this era kindled the racism we have lived with since, read Eric Foner's new book, "Forever Free.")

http://www.chillicothegazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060302/OPINION02/603020316/1014

[Norquist Nemesis]

1. Just a note about the "unforgiving left"

How is it that "the Left" is accused of never standing for anything, but we are "unforgiving"? :shrug:

[kentuck]

2. Many Democrats thought Gore should have used Bill Clinton more...

in the election of 2000

[KoKo]

8. I've gotten to the point that I think he just didn't like Clinton....

The Monica thing might have been something that threw him over the edge because he knew what it would do to the party and the country.

In retrospect maybe many of us who defended Clinton because we knew about the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy...didn't really "get it" that to many Americans the Monica thing just was so offensive that it embarrassed them and they really felt it was shameful and that they had to explain it to their kids was even worse. I didn't realize how angry folks were over Clinton until talking to some friends who really hate him because of Monica. They can't see past it and somehow even blamed Gore for it. They will never see how the whole incident was played out in all it's cigar glory...just to hurt the Dems and allow the Bushies to take over. And, maybe they have a point. Why was Clinton so weak that he allowed that to happen to him? And, did Gore feel the same as my friends. He felt it was morally disgusting?

It's taken me a long time to get to the point I could see the Monica thing the way others out there might.
:shrug:

[silverlib]

12. I agree

...and although it did hurt him in the last election not to have Clinton campaigning for him, the history may work to his advantage this time around.

[Ladyhawk]

16. Yes, you see it clearly. I'm not very comfortable with what he did,

either. I never much cared for him as president, but his little indiscretion is nothing compared to what * has done. It's amazing to me that some people think what Clinton did is worse, but in our society people are hung up on sex.

I'm not sure how to get through to folks who don't understand that killing innocent people is worse than a blowjob. If they haven't figured it out for themselves by now...well...:shrug:

I now know about the conspiracy to dethrone Clinton, yet his weakness did help tip power to the Republicans whether folks want to admit that or not. The media wouldn't shut the hell up about it. When I voted for * in 2000 (yes, I did), all I knew is that the VP of Mr. Blowjob was a liar (per corporate media) and * was going to be a "compassionate conservative." I was sick of Monica, sick of hearing about the blowjob. I had no great love for *. I thought he was an idiot even then, but I thought Gore was just as big an idiot and a liar, to boot. Only later did I learn the truth.

I fell for media spin because I really wasn't paying attention. I had my own serious problems. So do a lot of other folks today, but if they haven't figured it out by now, they probably won't. You have to be intellectually curious and open to new ideas and unfortunately, most people are not comfortable examining their own beliefs. I think it's hardwired for folks to be tribal and brutal. This country has become so big that the tribal thing has caused our citizens to turn on each other. So few of us can rise above this programming. I would say, "Heaven help us," but there's no one to help us but ourselves. I'm not sure we can rise above.

[KoKo]

17. Folks like you are the ones who will help clean up this mess....

I just wish there were more...but lots of independents seem to be turning on Bush and many of them went to him...probably because of the way you felt.

The rest of his base will never change it seems...

[adigal]

3. The right wing noise machine has already geared up for Gore

Hannity was screaming a few weeks ago about how he went to foreign soil (a mideast country) to give a speech against this administration - you know the rhetoric: aiding and abetting the enemy, giving comfort to the enemy while our soldiers are in harm's way.


God forbid the right wing addresses the issues of lying to get into war, and breaking down the separation of powers.

[lpbk2713]

4. He's tanned .... he's pissed .... he's ready.

:thumbsup:

[Jackpine Radical]

5. Well, there's Crazy Al for ya.

An energy-conservation nut who's misguided on the war. An incompetent candidate who won the popular vote. Yup--the Chillicothe Gazette's got him nailed, alright.

I'm disappointed they forgot to mention about him inventing the internet and cleaning up Love Canal.

[KoKo]

6. Is it just me...or is this a shot at Gore comparing him to two candidates

who "cheated" and came back. Gore never cheated...it was BUSH...


Andrew Jackson, cheated in 1824, won in 1828. Grover Cleveland, cheated in 1888, triumphed in 1892.

[bunkerbuster1]

9. you're misreading that sentence.

The implication is that Jackson and Cleveland were cheated, having won the popular vote but losing the electoral vote.

[Pirate Smile]

10. This was written by Dick Morris.

[bunkerbuster1]

15. As honest as the day is long!

Dick Morris, noted author for Wingnut Deli, e.g. ...

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=40013

[Don Claybrook]

11. I think they mean that these people were cheated

That's what I get from the comma anyway. Andrew Jackson, (who was) cheated in 1824....Grover Cleveland, (who was) cheated in 1888...

I don't know the history of the elections in question, but it seemed like the article was saying that they were cheated, not that they did cheat.

[harpo]

7. we love Al Gore :)

[stop the bleeding]

13. stay green and listen to reason - Al Gore the Real President

of the US

[demnan]

14. No matter who runs

We'll have to have 1,000 Al Frankens around to debunk their many lies. Just thinking about the way they trashed this honest man in 2000 still makes me mad.

Al Gore did create legislation to fund the interenet.

Al Gore quoted a newpaper article correctly.

Al hugs trees and so should all of us.