If you haven't yet, Please Read Pres. Gore's speech!!!

[No2W2004]

http://algoresupport.proboards19.com/index.cgi?board=newsalerts&action=display&num=1085577079&start=0

There was then, there is now and there would have been regardless of what Bush did, a threat of terrorism that we would have to deal with. But instead of making it better, he has made it infinitely worse. We are less safe because of his policies. He has created more anger and righteous indignation against us as Americans than any leader of our country in the 228 years of our existence as a nation -- because of his attitude of contempt for any person, institution or nation who disagrees with him.

He has exposed Americans abroad and Americans in every U.S. town and city to a greater danger of attack by terrorists because of his arrogance, willfulness, and bungling at stirring up hornet's nests that pose no threat whatsoever to us. And by then insulting the religion and culture and tradition of people in other countries. And by pursuing policies that have resulted in the deaths of thousands of innocent men, women and children, all of it done in our name.

(snip)

In December of 2000, even though I strongly disagreed with the decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to order a halt to the counting of legally cast ballots, I saw it as my duty to reaffirm my own strong belief that we are a nation of laws and not only accept the decision, but do what I could to prevent efforts to delegitimize George Bush as he took the oath of office as president. I did not at that moment imagine that Bush would, in the presidency that ensued, demonstrate utter contempt for the rule of law and work at every turn to frustrate accountability...

So today, I want to speak on behalf of those Americans who feel that President Bush has betrayed our nation's trust, those who are horrified at what has been done in our name, and all those who want the rest of the world to know that we Americans see the abuses that occurred in the prisons of Iraq, Afghanistan, Guantanamo and secret locations as yet undisclosed as completely out of keeping with the character and basic nature of the American people and at odds with the principles on which America stands.

[mike_c]

1. this is Gore's best speech, IMO

Absolutely brilliant. My only quibble: he perpetuates the meme that Iraqis fighting to end the occupation are "terrorists." Otherwise, one of the most stirring speeches I've read in recent years.


edit: BTW, I e-mailed the MoveOn link and my comments about the speech to both my state senators, to the White House, and to the DNC, urging them to echo Gore's calls for the resignations of top administration war criminals and that they acknowledge that ending the occupation NOW is an necessary first step that MUST be made to begin restoring U.S. moral authority and international respect. Removing the entire Bush administration won't do more than give people hope-- restoring U.S. credibility will require much more than that.

I'd urge everyone else to do the same: ask your elected officials to endorse Al Gore's call for resignations!

[papau]

2. I printed out the 8 pages - it is a great speech - I hope the media does

not ignore it.

[OneBlueSky]

3. again, a brilliant and powerful address that everyone should read . . .

and pass it on to your friends and relatives, and maybe to a freeper or ten . . . this is the first time that someone has taken BushCo to task for their myriad of misdeeds in this way . . . THIS is how we win the election: by telling the American people the truth . . . BushCo is too dangerous for us to be cautious or polite . . . they must be attacked, and attacked HARD . . . and Al Gore has shown us how to do it . . . he has my greatest respect and gratitude for doing what's needed to be done for a long, long time . . . Thanks, Al! . . .

[Senior citizen]

4. Too little, too late

Gore: "....even though I strongly disagreed with the decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to order a halt to the counting of legally cast ballots, I saw it as my duty to reaffirm my own strong belief that we are a nation of laws...."

Oh yeah? The Supreme Court had never before made a ruling that neither followed nor set precedent, nor had they ever interpreted Civil Rights that way--the only belief possible that could explain the acceptance of the SCOTUS decision is that we are a nation of political dirty tricks, not of laws.

Gore: "I did not at that moment imagine that Bush would, in the presidency that ensued, demonstrate utter contempt for the rule of law...."

Did the riot by Repuke senators to stop the recount look like respect for the rule of law? When somebody is installed in defiance of the rule of law, and in defiance of democratic principles, they cannot be expected to uphold either.

When the electoral votes were counted, The Black Congressional Caucus stood up en masse to protest the counting of the fraudulent Florida votes. Only one other person stood with them, Rep. Bob Filner, D., CA. of San Diego. The BCC needed only a single Senator to sign their petition in order to proceed with their protest. There was not a single black Senator in Congress. There was not a single white Senator, Dem or Rep, M or F, with the balls to sign. As I recall, Gore, who presided over the count, was a Senator. Any belief in the rule of law would have caused a sane person to sign.

I do appreciate that Gore is speaking out long after the damage has been done. That's better than never. I'm voting for Kerry, not Nader, that is, voting against my conscience just to help get Bush out, but I live in California, where Gore carried the electoral vote and the Nader vote was not responsible for Bush getting in, and when I watched Gore on C-SPAN I was damned proud of having voted for Nader.

(I also do not believe that the Nader vote was responsible for the Bush victory anywhere. There were too many purges, uncounted votes, and BBV skullduggery for the Nader vote to have changed anything. The Florida vote, as I recall, was pledged to Bush no matter which way the popular vote went. Another reason to get rid of the electoral college.)

[trumad]

5. Jesus

Your post was all over the place.... Which is typical of a fucking Naderite!

[rhino47]

6. Tru that was a little harsh

Sounded like she was voting for kerry.The post to me reflected
the points relevant to her point by point.

[trumad]

7. No it wasn't

The poster obviously hasn't been paying attention... Gore has made numerous speeches over the last two years blasting the build-up to the war in Iraq, The war itself, the environment and now this speech. I find it amazing that folks think Gore could have won the battle of the recount when ultimately it came down to a repuke Supreme Court. UGG

[Senior citizen]

8. I am not a her, a she, an it, or a she-it

And the more I see such stuff around here, the harder I'll have to hold my nose when I vote for Kerry. You want harsh? Gore waited until the poll numbers dropped before saying anything. You may call that politic, but I call it gutless.

Knocking Nader voters, by the way, is not politic. People who want direct, fair, publicly funded elections, without an electoral college, or BBV, and with the Fairness Doctrine, people who oppose the war and support the environment, people who believe deeply in equality, and people who don't want corporations running the world should not be your enemies. The 2-party system is to blame for the mess we're in, not Nader or Naderites.

Now pay attention: What Gore is saying is good and is welcome, but is still too little, too late.

On the other hand, although I didn't think it was possible, and certainly not here on DU, if you want to push me back to Nader, just keep it up and you might succeed.

[Catherine Vincent]

9. Where in the heck have you been?

Gore has been criticizing this sorry azz administration for some time now.

[HFishbine]

12. "Gore waited..."

"Gore waited until the poll numbers dropped before saying anything."

You're misinformed.

Gore speech on War Lies, Failed Bush Policies and Erosion of Civil Liberties
(August 7, 2003, Bush approval @ 60%)

Gore speech on Freedom and Security
(November 9, 2003, Bush approval @ 53%)



(Historical Bush approval ratings from: http://www.pollingreport.com/BushJob.htm)

[Senior citizen]

18. I looked at the ratings

Bush approval ratings weren't too high after the (s)election, but built up slowly, and were up to around 90% after 9/11. It still looks to me like Gore waited until the ratings were back down to about what they were after the (s)election (and dropping fast) before speaking out.

[fujiyama]

26. Did you expect Gore

to speak out against Bush right after 9/11?

That's ridiculous. For a few days there partisanship was in few people's minds. Gore did speak out when Bush started the run up to the war...and eventually even said that Bush betrayed him and the country. He was absolutely correct.

Gore is also one of the few democrats to take a direct stance against both the PATRIOT act and the war in Iraq.

[trumad]

14. Go back to fucking Nader...I could fucking care less!

Saying Gore waited for the poll numbers to go down proves to me that you don't know what the fuck you are talking about.. Like I said, a fucking clueless Naderite. What, no mention of Gores many past speeches since 2000? Or does that destroy your whole stupid argument. FUCKING NADERITES!

[Cheswick2.0]

16. You obviously stopped listening to anyone but Nader before Nov 2000

And you haven't changed. Gore has been making great speaches against this administration for years. The two evils in 2000 were bush and nader. Al Gore has always been the better man. You have Nader filters on your ears.

[Malva Zebrina]

11. I understand your angst

if someone had stood up, challenged we may not be in the position we are in now. IN any event many of us felt abandoned by all.

We did what we could. Protested, wrote to the Supreme Court, wrote to everyone

and I am NOT a "fucking Naderite".

We must forgive Gore I suppose,and there is nothing to be gained by not doing so. I can forgive him, but still do not understand his taking that subservient position. :shrug:

It seems to me that if a position was taken early on, we would have set the tone to challenge Bush on every thing he foisted upon us after he was appointed by the SCOTUS

For that reason, I am very anxious over having to vote against Bush once more, because I cannot support Kerry with much energy, mainly because of his Iraq war position. If Kerry is defeated, would he just submissively back off? I wonder.

Simply put--I hate having to vote against Bush and not having my full support behind the Democrat candidate, but have to vote for him anyhow, if Bush is to be defeated.

[Cheswick2.0]

17. Gore didn't have any legal alternative

get some facts about Florida law and you would understand this.

[Senior citizen]

19. Florida law

Another oxymoron, right?

[Cheswick2.0]

21. is this comment supposed to add to the discussion?

cause it throws light on nothing.

[Malva Zebrina]

20. I watched the entire thing as many here did

and ran to buy the first book published about the debacle by Vincent Bugliosi,and really it us counterproductive to hash it over now. We cannot change what happened, but we can be aware of the mistakes that were made so that it can not happen again.

My feeling is that someone, other than the very brave and courageous black caucus , could have stood up for the law and did not, and that was a huge disappointment and we know of all that followed that.

No one, to this date, has accepted responsibility for abandoning us in that way.

Which leads me at times, in spite of my admiration for
Al Gore now, to wonder if anyone in poltics is capable of admitting to any responsibility for anything at all.

It all, at this point seems to be such a ruse and a farce with the exception of a few.

[Cheswick2.0]

23. You made a comment, I answered it

If you don't want to hash it out stop making comments about what Gore should have done based on your personal feelings of disapointment. He did everything he could do with in the law and he has taken more responsibilty than most politicians would ever bother with. He did what he thought was right and he loyaly puts himself out there making speeches most politicians don't have the guts to make.

[Malva Zebrina]

25. beats me --just telling you how I interpreted it at the time

:shrug:

I like Gore very much, and think at that time he was actually tied up--having Lieberman as his running mate and virtually no one from the DLC supporting him.

as I said, there is no sense hashing it out now. There is no sense to your hostility toward me. Gore is not running for anything now. I still like him but that has nothing to do with the analysis of how he managed his campaign and the afteraffects of the Bush bullying on the recount.

There is no doubt that we were abandoned by mostly all. And here we are almost four years later, agonizing over the abuses we have suffered under this idiot. And, still, we beg for our Dems in congress to do something other than dance around in their pink tu tu.

[robbedvoter]

15. Gore spoke against the war BEFORE IWR vote. Nader couldn't be bothered

he was reforming NBA at the time.

[NeonLX]

10. What? Ain't you seen that we is gonna be attacked by terrists...

...any second now? Why you listenin' to some pointy-headed librul rip on our wunnerful preznit when there's terrists afoot?

I hope the rest of the Dems grow a spine after that speech by Gore. It was a good one.

[robbedvoter]

13. Speech, schmeech! he should have run. He gave in.

[JHBowden]

22. But..... Gore is Bushlite!

Just like Kerry. :dunce:

[Darranar]

24. An excellent speech. n/t