An Open Letter to Al Gore about running for President of the United States

[adigal]

(cross-posted at DailyKos)

Vice-President Gore,

You get it. You understand what the administration has done to our Constitution, specifically our 4th Amendment. You understand that intelligence was manipulated by the administration, that torture was committed in the name of the United States and that President Bush used the fear of terror and 9/11 to paralyze the citizens of this nation as he erased parts of the Constitution to give himself more power. You are one of the few Democrats who understand what has gone on in the past 4 1/2 years, and you are one of the few with the courage to have called the truth as you have seen it. The abuse of our nation by those who use fear has got to stop.

I understand terror. My husband, a now-disabled NYC firefighter, was working on 9/11, and until late that afternoon, I thought that he was dead. He was then disabled by cleaning up the WTC site, cleaning up in air that Christine Todd Whitman of the EPA said was "acceptable." He now has a permanent lung disease. Another crime of not caring by this administration. I resent how the adminstration has used our tragedy and the tragedy of thousands of other Americans for their power grab. And I know that you resent what they are doing too. That is why I am imploring you to make the personal sacrifice and step up now, and declare that you are going to run for President of the United States in 2008.

Many senators and governors in both parties have already said that they are going to run for President. Only one, Russ Feingold, has actually tried to hold this adminstration accountable for their smashing of our Bill of Rights. We need someone of your stature to stand up and stand with Russ Feingold - someone who a majority of Americans know and a majority of Americans respect. I know that it must be disheartening what the media did to you, what the Republicans did to you. But after the debacles of Bush and Cheney, I would bet that even more Americans are now ready to hear your voice. And we need your voice.

We need your voice, calling this administration to heel on the Rule of Law. We need your voice calling out the violators of our Constitution. Your speeches have been effective, but are not enough. Were you to declare for Presidency, you would get instant attention. An instant audience. Yes, the right wing talking heads would say you are calling Bush out for purely political purposes, but the 34 to 36% of people who still have any good feeling for this administration are the only ones who would listen, and you will never get them anyway.

So I respectfully ask you to consider: consider putting yourself into the tumbrel again, consider putting your life on hold and your beliefs up to the light again for all to see. Perhaps you were too early for our nation; perhaps we had to learn to not take good government for granted the hard way. I know I did. Perhaps it was meant for you to wait and do this now.

Because I really think your nation needs you.

[laruemtt]

1. excellent letter - please send it.

i'd gladly add my name to it. maybe we can get 10,000?

[adigal]

3. I posted it here, because I don't know where to send it

Ideas???

[laruemtt]

6. try here:

http://www.algore04.com/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=78 and go to contact us. the address says '04 but when you get to the front page, it says '08.

[adigal]

7. Thank you!! n/t

[Minnesota Libra]

2. Get this out NOW and add my signature to it too nt

[TallahasseeGrannie]

4. This should be published

in newspapers around the nation... full-sized page ads. Where do I send my money?

[adigal]

5. Maybe just kick it or Recommend it

I don't like to ask for this, but I wish Gore would see this somewhere.

[Sick_of_Rethuggery]

9. There was such an ad that a few of us took out

in 2002 or 2003, I forget, in the Tennessean, I think.

I will see if I can locate that ad and post it here.

He really has the preparation, vision and passion to pull this country out of the abyss that the suicidally short-sighted Rethugs have pushed us into...

[adigal]

11. I would love to see it posted here

Thanks!

[Sick_of_Rethuggery]

17. Here is a link to the pdf version...

GoreAd

[adigal]

25. Nice ad - are you going to rerun it??

If so, let me know please.

[Sick_of_Rethuggery]

30. I would love to rerun it (with a few editorial changes)

in the NYT, WP and USA Today. But I would need someone to organize the funding and I would need the permission of the original DraftGore committee members, I think.

But if we could redesign an entirely new ad to reflect the times, then we only need the funding taken care of.

I will try to do get the words done this week and circulate it here for input...

[Samantha]

36. Write a letter to the editor of the Tennessean

Something tells me he would publish it for free.

[johnaries]

54. The previous editor maybe, but I'm not sure about the current

editor. The Tennessean has changed a lot over the last 5 years. I cancelled my subscription.

[ihaveaquestion]

8. Nice letter, but Gore can't win and I think he knows it.

There are "average" voters out there (I know lots of them) who will only see that Gore "lost" in 2000 and won't vote for him unless the alternative is offensive to them somehow. This is the practical reality and has nothing to do with Gore's qualifications (I think he'd make an excellent president, BTW).

[adigal]

10. Gore did not "lose" in 2000

I was a republican at the time, and even I admitted that much.

And those who see him as a "loser" - they listen to Hannity and drink the Kool-Aid and are part of the lost 36%.

[Stephanie]

12. false

Gore can win. There are many 'average' voters out there with buyers' remorse who would be happy to get a do-over.

[John Q. Citizen]

13. You apparently don't know the "average" voters that I do. Gore is

waaaaay electable.

The average voter knows Gore won. He officially won the popular vote. And Gore also won Florida.

The "average" voter is no where near as ignorant as you make them out to be.

[Clark2008]

20. I know more voters like Stephanie knows.

Unfortunately for this country.

[John Q. Citizen]

31. That's horrible. It means Clark and Kucinich are out of the running

too, because they lost the primary a couple of years ago. And voters would see them as "losers" too.

Bummer for our country...

[TallahasseeGrannie]

14. Perhaps some will now

see that things would have gone a lot better if he had gotten in the White House? A second chance?

[ladjf]

15. If Gore can't win. Who can? He is the best qualified politician

to win the 2008 Presidential election.

[corkhead]

16. had he shown the impassioned firebrand style I have seen

in him since 2000 during that election, a lot more of those voters would have supported him and he would be the one half way through his second term.

Imagine how different the world would be.

I wouldn't have said it in 2001, but I would definitely support him now.

[rateyes]

28. #1. He didn't lose. #2.

Richard Nixon lost in 1960, too. But, was elected and re-elected in '68 and '72.

People need LEADERSHIP and they need CONFIDENCE in the one doing the leading. Gore can provide that, and I believe the American people know it. If he had run in 2004 we would be calling him Mr. President right now, IMO.

[Pacifist Patriot]

41. I agree with Stephanie. I personally know oodles of voters...

who voted for Bush in 2000 and would love to remedy that mistake.

[Turn CO Blue]

18. Kicked, Recommended and Bookmarked! KRB

Run, Big Al, Run!!!

[PATRICK]

19. In the party

In the campaign Gore took an across the board hit from everyone but most of all from the usual suspects when he went populist and fought for the recount. That losing element has never been purged and is more spiteful in action than ever. Outside the party the damage has also simply festered despite rousing brilliant speeches by Gore and his work for a real news network(always his conceptual accomplishments far outstrip political accomplishment). Dean is concentrating honestly on his grassroots crusade for the party- again with the usual suspects unpurged still harboring nasty opposition.

I think if no one other than the DLC types comes froward he should enter, but that his real achievement may not come in strictly politics but in smashing the unjournalistic monopoly over the national consciousness.

Kerry took an even broader across the board hit from all factions from campaign mistakes and the quick surrender(as more hopeless than 2000 because more paperless and rigged).

They and other candidates have kept their diehard supporters and they deserve them. I don't think the presumptive Hillary actually has any diehard supporters, at least not here- correct me if I am wrong. And she takes hits from all directions except the usual Dem suspects who are too cowed even to talk in their own defense.

Wes Clark seems as suppressed as Gore was and is and is simply not part of the political club and not malleable enough to be a humble tool of the usual suspects.

Outside the party they all seem lying under some great oppressive weight with no particular diehard constituency- say like the rich bastards who run the GOP.

I am sure they must be hoping for what the media will not allow and what is not yet there. The atmosphere that ALL these candidates are great and desirable and will have enthusiastic support. That does not operate, apparently, as a default mechanism of hating an incompetent murderous dictator. So someone or everyone all at once must break out of these doldrums. Assuming that some messiah will not suddenly supplant all these worthies one should accept the grousing that none of the candidates is this or that as a sign that the people have to plow the road and unite before we can even ask around who?

A united party leadership not locked in caution, blame and reaction could break out and rejoin the lost
and oppressed people of the overwhelming majority. Thinking and acting in those terms simply might accomplish it better than crafted slogans, speeches or weighted analyses. Then all our candidates would stand punctuated in the single candidacy of the party itself. Divided, we fall. And that goes for each and every one of our possible champions. Losing can become a habit and one thing they know. We beat you once therefore we can well plan on beating you again. And none of our guys is Tricky Dick. he won without having a larger base. He won because the rest were divided and in disarray.

United we will see more clearly and select perhaps a surprising choice now inhibited by a false party and national perspective and dismal fault finding. Fault finding? Look who has unmerited absolute power!

[Uncle Joe]

48. I have to respectively disagree with this statement,

(always his conceptual accomplishments far outstrip political accomplishment).

I believe his successful promotion and championing of the internet to be opened to the American People is the most "important political accomplishment" in regards to bolstering democracy to come down the pike since at least the civil rights legislation of the 60s. He thus empowered all the people closer to Martin Luther King's dream more than anyone I know, for it is on the internet where a person can truly be judged by the content of their thoughts and expressions and not the color of their skin, we are all blog colored here.

I also believe if Al were in the White House where he belongs, much more of his conceptual accomplishments would come to fruition for the benefit of the nation and the planet.

[garybeck]

21. Gore can win, if only one thing

we figure out a way to stop the electronic voting machine companies from stealing the election.

that's all it takes.

[ronnykmarshall]

22. Picture it!

Washington DC, Jan 20th 2009.

President-Elect Al Gore takes the oath of office. Following the oath, President Gore turns to now Former-President George W. Bush and says "I think you're done here, now get your dumb ass back to Texas. Vice-President Feingold and I have work to do and don't need you in the way."

[catzies]

39. Gore-Feingold. I like it.

I really do!

[Senator]

23. PS: But you have to "come clean" about Jan 6th 2001 first

You have to admit that you presided over the breach of the US Constitution, when no Senator (or presiding officer) stood in objection to the clearly unlawful Florida electors. It is the only way we can go forward with you in honesty.

It can be difficult to admit failure, or dereliction of duty. But you must also express your regret for responding to the edict by the Felonious Five in Bush v. Gore with captiulation that was not yours to offer. That you failed to follow the explicit instructions in Justice Breyer's dissent for how to proceed constitutionally even in those dire circumstances.

The (former) American People are very forgiving. They will understand it if you explain to them that you were overly influenced by a DC/Euphemedia Analstocracy whose purpose is to control and manipulate the public, and its servants, rather that see to it that, as sovereigns, their consent to govern be morally implemented.

By doing so, you could re-buttress this single moral tenet on which the nation was founded, and until 2000 still rested.

Senator Barbara Boxer has done her part by standing up to the unlawful Ohio electors on January 6th, 2005 - and expressing her regret for not doing the same four years earlier. But for you to follow in her courageous, historic steps would be so much more powerful and inspiring.

You would then be truly worthy of pastoring the nation to the Redemption of Our National Soul.

--
www.january6th.org

[Alizaryn]

24. Great letter!

Thanks for sharing it.

[rateyes]

26. Send the letter to this address:

The Office of the Honorable Al Gore
2100 West End Avenue
Nashville, TN 37203
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

The Phone and Fax are good numbers, too!

[adigal]

27. Thanks - I am going to mail it today.

[ms liberty]

29. K&R for My President! Great letter - DO send it ASAP! n/t

[sproutster]

32. *sniff* beautiful

He's my hero, and I'm in the reddest of red. The thing you cannot take away, is many of the things he was campaigning on have come to pass and we are the worse for it.

He has vision, he has passion and he does what's right when it matters.

I will vote, and keep on talking... You cannot deny what's right, and Gore is the man.

[Sperk]

33. Count me in, Mr. President! But you must some how figure away around

DIEBOLD, SEQUOIA and ES & S vote stealing machines! If anyone can figure it out...you can.

:loveya:

"I'm the number one fan of the man from Tenneseeeeee."

[byronius]

35. Absentee ballots all around.

[byronius]

34. Al has always been My President. Run with Feingold. You'll win.

[ldf]

37. excellent letter!

i would actually feel hope again... if....

[AuntiBush]

38. May I Join in Calling to Al Gore As Well?

Dear Vice-President Gore,

While I'm not a good letter writer, especially to those I most admire (it makes me nervous as all...), please sir, I beg of thee to come back and run in 2008. You'll not only get my vote, I'll get out and canvas for you if I have to crawl, respectfully sir.

Gore/Feingold 08!

P.S. Actually sir, we need you like NOW!

[SeattleGirl]

40. Excellent letter!

I would definitely be a signer!

Gore has certainly ratcheted things up since 2000. Being out of office, and getting out of spending most of his time in the Beltway has helped him tremendously, I think, in being the firebrand he has become. And you're right, he DOES see how things are, and he speaks of these things. And oh how we need someone like that. I think Gore and Feingold would be a fabulous combination.

:patriot:

[mopinko]

42. put up the bat, al.

i am so very there.

[babsbunny]

43. Remeber after his awesome speech, and we all sent a dollar

to him asking him to run? I got my dollar back and He said he wasn't running. I do wish he'd run! He's the one!

[harpo]

44. I'll agree that he is needed...he has FIRE and PASSION!

[autorank]

45. January 16, 2006 Constitution Hall, Washington DC - The Restoration Starts

One of the boldest political speeches in decades.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0601/S00122.htm

Today’s speech was no ordinary political event. It represented one of the boldest political attacks on the President by a major leader since the Civil War. A former Vice President, Senator, member of the House of Representatives, has just accused the President of the United States of willfully lying to the people of the United States in order to accumulate unconstitutional powers, subvert the Constitution, and change the face of American democracy from a government that seeks the rule of law to one that relies on the rule of men, in this case President George W. Bush. Lincoln was attacked for trying to ruin a way of life and accused of destroying the fabric of the constitution. Roosevelt was charged with trying to create a welfare state. Nixon was accused of specific crimes which violated his oath of office. But no President since the Civil War has been accused by a former Vice President or President of deliberately trying to end Constitutional rule through the unlawful accumulation of power; trying to impose tyranny on the people of the United States.

It was a remarkable speech that will send shockwaves across the political spectrum for years to come.

-----------------------

Test of the speech: Al Gore

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0601/S00121.htm

A president who breaks the law is a threat to the very structure of our government.

An executive who arrogates to himself the power to ignore the legitimate legislative directives of the Congress or to act free of the check of the judiciary becomes the central threat that the Founders sought to nullify in the Constitution - an all-powerful executive too reminiscent of the King from whom they had broken free.

This Administration has come to power in the thrall of a legal theory that aims to convince us that this excessive concentration of presidential authority is exactly what our Constitution intended.

-----------------------

[mdmc]

46. GORE

[WI_DEM]

47. Great Letter! Run, Mr. President, Run!

[Uncle Joe]

49. Outstanding letter!

:kick:

[madokie]

50. Super letter, please send it, I know our country needs him

Looking into the future, Al Gore and Russ Feingold will team up to save our country, I promise.

[mdmc]

51. GORE

russ!

[ThomWV]

52. I would be Proud To Cosign That Letter

Al Gore, once and future President.

[lonestarnot]

53. Pooop! I didn't see in time to recommend, so here's my recommendation!

:toast:

[johnaries]

55. You echoed my own thoughts exactly!

Al, we need you more now than ever!