Al Gore - my impression after his last stint

[Error]

I love Al Gore and I feel he has some of the best progressive ideals. I have always been supporter, even when others gave up.

Unfortunately, I feel Al does not have a macho enough image to appeal to racists, sexists, homophobes, and the generally unsophisticated - in other words, the electorate.

He comes off like he is talking down to you. Surely he is dumbing down his communication for the lowliest to be able to grasp, but it comes off as fake. George Bush really is that stupid, so his dummed down words come off as genuine, because they are.

I think John Kerry had even more of a ballsy appeal than Gore. Dean has plenty of balls to spare.

If we really want to get this country on track, pick some rugged motherfucker who can just get up there and tell all these neocons to go to hell in a handbag and shut the door on the way out. Al Is kind of doing that though, so someone just tell him to quit talking in public like his audience is the 1st grade. Advisors? Get Al on the Gusto train. Give him a Schlitz malt liquor and a moustache and give up the niceities. Say "Fuck You George Bush - I'm going to undo all the wrong you did." Go look at the Dixie Chicks for balls lessons. Get in Bush's face in a rude way and take him on. Call him out. Make it an outrageous media event!

The world has been waiting for this.

[NYCGirl]

1. Thank for your concern. I'll give your post the consideration it deserves. NT

[MissWaverly]

2. the traditional solution, pick a charismatic VP

Look, Richard Nixon was not Mr. Wonderful and never was an aw shucks type of guy, neither was Lyndon Johnson. George Bush
was elected because his Dad was George H. Bush, the former president.

[Kurovski]

42. Hulk Hogan for vice-president!

He should more than compensate, and would be no worse of a choice than Joe Lieberman.

[MissWaverly]

49. Hey, I was thinking more along the lines of Obama

[Kurovski]

55. Well, now I'll have to think about that.

Has he worked with the WWF?

YES! Gore/Obama would be a winning tag-team against Cheney/Bush.

[MissWaverly]

57. Yes, sure, I don't think America is ready for Hulk Hogan

but it would be a hoot, replacing Lieberman with Hulk.

:-)

[still_one]

3. Read his book "The Assault On Reason" /nt

[Lex]

4. People who pick presidents based on ball-size end up with

a ballsy, clueless warmonger evidently.

[Oilwellian]

8. Indeed...take Commander Codpiece for example

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_w0ocdTVqA :D

[Error]

14. But the point is

that is who we have to deal with.

It's not about who you and I choose. We have to consider who the rest of the country will choose, don't we?

[Lex]

24. If we buy into their way of thinking and adopt it for our own,

as it seems is the implication, then this way of thinking will just be bolstered.

[Matariki]

43. Hey there Error - Gore WON in 2000 - so your point is not germane. n/t

[earthlover]

5. so its all about testosterone?

[IndyOp]

6. Welcome to DU earthlover!

Apparently, yes, it is all about testosterone.

:sarcasm:

:hi:

[lonestarnot]

7. Ewwwweee are you ever gona get shit for dis.

:rofl: You do make a point though. A media event get in your bushitler face deal could make for better TV than the missing cute white girl deal and the "surge is working bullshit."

[Egnever]

9. you missed his speech during the run up to the war apparently?

Cause that was balls if I have ever seen them considering the mood of the country at the time.

I agree he isn't the best politician though. His brain is stellar though and he would be probably one of the best presidents we have ever had. Like you I am not so sure he could win though.

[Phredicles]

10. Ooo! Ooo! Is this what people call a "concern troll"?

[DemGa]

11. Sorry, but this reads like right-wing talking points

Thanks for your concern.

[KittyWampus]

15. malt liquor and moustache are right-wing talking points? :-D

the op reads like parody.

[Warpy]

12. The real problem is the bland packaging process

the campaign handlers put candidates through. By the time these witless wonks get done with them, they're not only dickless and balless, they're brainless and heartless and gutless.

What the world is waiting for is a candidate who will tell these corporate lobbyists turned campaign advisers (the truth, look it up) to go straight to hell, build his/her own organization, and tell the truth about the state of the country and what the other party has been responsible for in creating it. A plan to correct it also has to be lined out.

The party can ill afford another bland, business as usual candidate.

[Error]

23. Yeah. that's true

Seems like the bigger they are, the more they are shrouded in stupid decisions forced by their "experts".

[FreakinDJ]

13. Skewed thinking maybe

That is just your perspective

Not that there is any thing wrong with that. But last I heard he could be a sure thing should he decide to run.

And after all the bigoted wishful thinking left wing idiots that have plagued the mis administration as of late, don't you think the White house is ready for a little intelligent thinking

[Error]

17. Consider who our country put in office

that is a plain fact of the matter. That is who we have to reckon with. Just like the weather or global warming. Think of it like global warming. We have to confront "cultural dumbing". And by ignoring it and throwing up someone who isn't a sure shot - that's like ignoring global warming.

I think my point is that we have to be effective and realistic in our choices. I see Al as sometimes offering fodder to his enemies by giving them something to attack with their right wing smear machine.

I just don't see the "talking to first graders" routine as effective, I guess. Time to change course from that strategy. Maybe I'm just imagining it, but I'd like to see something from my side that would allow right wingers like some of the people I work with, to change course and still save face. Otherwise they will just turn off and go back to the most foolish of choices over single issues like immigration.

[NYCGirl]

18. So to confront "cultural dumbing" we contribute to it? Interesting theory.

:eyes:

[Error]

22. You don't do what Janine Garafalo did

She essentially did want the right wing does to the left. She diminished those people in caricature, which is to totally disregard them.

So that was what she offered - just call them names and ignore them. The winner is able to recognize who they are dealing with, treat them with common respect and bring them over. How can you even communicate with someone if you can't even offer them dignity?

If anyone wants to challenge me on that - hey - just come here to Atlanta and live with these people day in and day out. This is reality. You have to be able to confront it and deal with it. Just calling the red states name and ignoring them is not going to make them "go away"...

If you want to flame me - don't be an armchair progressive in the comfort of your blue state. Keep the proper perspective that I'm out here on the front line.

[NYCGirl]

34. And what the fuck does she have to do with anything? NT

[Iris]

37. Garafalo did a lot more than call names.

She pointed out that these people practice "willful ignorance." Quite honestly, I'm sick and tired of seeing the lowest common denominator being catered to in EVERY aspect of life - cheap consumer goods, horrible tv programming, colleges that are little more than degree factories. Your solution is to continue operating at that level. If we elect someone who appeals to all the people who have a 7th grade mentality, what stops us from having another Bush?

Give me a smart man like Gore any day of the week. I'm sick of elections in one of the most powerful (for good or evil) countries in the world being reduced down to junior high antics.

[spoony]

44. They managed alright in 06

And will again in 08. Say what you will about the populace but enough of them have enough smarts and enough heart to win back the WH.

[BeyondGeography]

16. He does come off as condescending; I've concluded he can't help it

When he's making a semi-complicated point, regardless of the intelligence level of the audience, he'll slow down the pace of his voice, tilt his head toward the listener, chin down/eyebrows up, and generally exude an "I know this, you don't, but you should," aura. He has been doing this for decades and it continues.

He's at his best when he throws caution to the wind, as in the last weekend of the 2000 campaign, his early antiwar speeches and his numerous anti-Bush orations in the past few years. There are times when you just want to point him toward the nomination and others when you realize he'll never be as effective on the public stage as his most ardent fans imagine him.

[Error]

19. Exactly

If he can somehow master this and always do his good material... He wouldn't even be giving the smear mongers any ammo. Give up the canned 1st grade lecture and be the impassioned Al Gore. That's a winner.

[Jackpine Radical]

20. I think he'd look good in earth tones too.

[earth mom]

21. Your post reads like something Dennis Miller or O'Lielly or Limbaugh would say.

:eyes:

[sammythecat]

25. I agree

Al Gore is, and was, the best product out there. He did, and would, get my vote. In 2000, he won the popular vote, but only by a slim margin when it should have been a landslide. The tacticians in his campaign did a poor job. They had Secretariat and hired a 200 pound jockey.

If he runs, and I hope he does, he needs to run a much smarter campaign than the last.

[proud patriot]

26. I don't want to appeal to racists, sexists, homophobes

and I think you under estimate the "generally unsophisticated" as you
classify them .

[Skidmore]

27. You must have missed the right turn back there at the

fork in the road. And where'd you get that name?

[bemildred]

28. Nothing personal, but you say:

"I feel Al does not have a macho enough image to appeal to racists, sexists, homophobes, and the generally unsophisticated - in other words, the electorate."

And then you say:

"He comes off like he is talking down to you."

It sounds to me like you are talking down to them too, and much more explicitly that Al does.

[earthlover]

36. Great catch!

[DURHAM D]

29. What a surprise -

Right wing talking points and an incomplete profile...

Talk to my hand.

[Oilwellian]

33. Quack!....quack quack!

:D

[amitten]

30. Well, Clark as running mate solves that problem nicely. n/t

[Mojorabbit]

31. I agree with the op

Look at what a stir Gravel and Ron Paul caused in the debates by speaking the truth plainly. I love Gore. Sometimes he is on his game and relaxed but sometimes he speaks in a monotone and I have to try hard to absorb what he is saying.
I want a straight talker who will call the neocons out and Al Gore could do that easily. He has the smarts, he won the election once, I want to hear him say that the neocons are full of it and challange them forcefully because after all, he does have the facts to back him up. I am not talking being totally rude but some forceful plain talking sound bites would be wonderful.

[tjwash]

32. After you broadbrushed half the country as "the generally unsophicticated", and "lowliest"...

...I ignored the rest of your post as banal and childish. I am also chalking up the time that I am wasting responding to you, as 10 seconds of my life I'm never getting back.

By the way, are you even old enough to vote? Judging by your atrocious grammar and insolent use of words like "balls" and "fuck" it doesn't appear so.

[Avalux]

35. So you think Gore should pander to the idiots of this country?

You say he comes off like he is talking down to you - those are your words, why do you feel like that? Al Gore is who he is - he already won the Presidency and it's absurd to suggest he carry a Schlitz in one hand and spew obscenities.

I am really hoping your post is satire.

[johnaries]

38. You're talking about the backwash, not the electorate.

And there's no way they'll ever vote for anyone with a (D) after their name.

But this time they might stay home, given their current choices.

[kiteinthewind]

39. What a bunch of horseshit. Did you forget * was a freaking cheerleader?

Oh, and thanks for your 'concern'. :eyes:

[shugah]

40. Error - my impression after his/her stint

:eyes:

[Canuckistanian]

41. Why is this attitude even necessary?

I mean, look at all the trouble "macho dudes" have brought to this country.

Reagan, with his "we begin bombing the Soviet Union in 5 minutes", or Dubya for his "with us or agin' us"
rhetoric.

Do you think that the rest of the world is impressed by this?

"Balls" may have created the country, but it sure as Hell hasn't sustained it's current viability.

[deacon]

45. The GOP made 'stupid' as being cool, i guess it's trickled down to

a lot of people. Being smart and being president is uncool i guess. Look where it's got us...

[H2O Man]

46. Gosh n/t

[trumad]

47. What's Gosh's middle name?

[H2O Man]

48. Golly. n/t

[camero]

50. In contrast to most of the posts on this thread I agree with you

I don't think it's the " The bombing commenses in 5 minutes" macho gusto that you're speaking of that most of the posters here think.
It's calling Bush out on his macho act. It's actually what I would do if I was allowed up on that podium beside him.

Something to the affect of, "Well, Mr. Tough Guy, your little act of clearing brush in Crawford just isn't sitting well with alot of people in Peoria when they see you sending other people's kids to die in a foriegn land so you and your buddies can steal some more shit. You've been picking on the little guy your whole time in office. You let Osama go. Your rich buddies in the hedge fund industry get to steal so much that it's created a lawlessness among the rest. You don't even try to collect unearned wealth while you love to take wholeheartedly from the people who bust thier asses on a daily basis. And this shit is gonna stop now and yesterday." "You care about regular people? HA! A fine actor you are."

Really give him the talk any of our parents would have given us if we were pulling this crap.

[rn865]

51. Al Gore v. Fred Thompson poll - go vote!

Whether you like Al Gore or not, he would be a hell of a lot better for the U.S. and the planet than Fred Thompson, right?

So, go freep this poll being run by a Tennessee paper that is unashamedly promoting Thompson.

http://blogs.knoxnews.com/knx/silence/archives/2007/06/fred_vs_gore_an.shtml

Tell your friends, tell your neighbors. Right-wing types are spreading it around their blog circles. Don't let them get away with it!

[gatorboy]

52. That is soooo 2000

And look where that talk got us then.


Next!

[me b zola]

53. Haven't you had enough faux machismo with the chainsaw toting chimp?

The fact that Gore was elected president in 2000 makes your post seem even sillier.

[butterfly77]

54. Someone maybe like....

HARRY REID :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[Kurovski]

56. OMG! I just realized that Harry Reid's name would be great for a

porn star!