He won the election in 2000 and should have been named president at that time. Well, no use crying over spilt milk. Let’s simply do the right thing and elect him again, this time making sure he makes it to the Oval Office. There is simply no other Democrat out there with the experience, intelligence, honesty and leadership qualities Gore possesses. Back in the Clinton days I never thought of Gore as charismatic, but he has pleasantly surprised me in recent years, finally and almost magically displaying the charm, grace and magnetism required to be a great president. If this excellent article is right (as I think it is), I’m not alone in hoping Al throws his hat into the ring soon.
The outcome of the 2000 presidential election looks increasingly like not just a fiasco, but a tragedy. Whether or not one concurs with the judgment of the historian Sean Wilentz that he may be the “worst President in history,” George W. Bush has already done enough damage to America’s position in the world and its economic future to earn a spot on the bottom tier. And whether or not Al Gore would have been a successful president, it’s improbable that he could have made any mistake as disastrous as Bush’s unplanned, go-it-nearly-alone occupation of Iraq.
Gore is clearly savoring his moment of vindication as he tours on behalf of his new film An Inconvenient Truth. At each stop, he entertains questions about whether he might run again in 2008. Gore at first acts coy, feigning annoyance with his questioners’ focus on “politics” while he is merely trying to save planet Earth. He then offers a calibrated demurral that does nothing to damp down speculation. At a post-screening party in New York last week, he said he’s happy being out of politics. He has no plans to run but he doesn’t rule out doing so. The premise of the exchange was that we made a big mistake not electing him the last time, and we’d be lucky if he gave us another chance.
I couldn’t agree more with the first statement. About the second, I continue to have my doubts. The recent, carbon-neutral Gore boomlet misses a curious aspect of his political career. As his movie unintentionally illustrates, the farther the former vice president gets from electoral politics, the more he seems to accomplish in his principal cause, raising the alarm about global warming. If you care about this issue—and the film makes an overwhelming case that everyone must—you should hope he continues his crusade from outside the White House.
I see Gore as the perfect antitdote to the Dems’ misery, and the best hope for keeping Hillary where she belongs, out of the the White House. (If nominated, however, I’ll probably endorse her anyway; the thought of another Republican presidency is simply too agonizing.)
No one has been treated more shabbily than Gore, who was the victim of the most shameful clusterfuck in the history of our glorious “liberal media” during the 2000 election. He deserves much better. He deserves to be president. Just thinking of the way the world might be at this moment had Katherine and Jeb and a host of other scoundrels not used dirty tricks to rob him of his victory….well, let’s just say it hurts, even more today than it did six years ago. Here’s our chance to turn things right again. It’ll be a hellish battle; we are FUBAR on so many levels, I wouldn’t envy anyone who has to step in and clean up the mess Little Boy George is leaving behind. But if anyone can restore us to sanity, it’s Gore. I am hoping and praying he takes up the challenge, and I will do whatever I possibly can to help him succeed.
1
By OtherLisa
If Gore were President:
1. No War in Iraq
2. US would have signed Kyoto Accord
3. The US government would not be torturing in the name of the American people.
Anyone want to add to this list? I think it’s enough right there, but I’m sure there’s more.
May 31, 2006 @ 11:13 pm | Comment
2
By OtherLisa
Oh, one more. No multi-trillion dollar budget deficit.
May 31, 2006 @ 11:14 pm | Comment
3
By Ivan
The US wouldn’t be such a laughing stock around the world as it is now.
May 31, 2006 @ 11:40 pm | Comment
4
By Ivan
Probably 9-11 would have been prevented. At least Gore would have read the August 6 memo and actually devoted some thought to it.
May 31, 2006 @ 11:43 pm | Comment
5
By Ivan
Probably 9-11 would have been prevented. At least Gore would have read the August 6 memo and actually devoted some thought to it.
May 31, 2006 @ 11:44 pm | Comment
6
By OtherLisa
I agree, Ivan. I didn’t list that because I was sticking to the things I was certain would be different. I am coming around to believing that there was a damned good chance 9/11 wouldn’t have happened either. But the other stuff I said, I commit to with certainty.
June 1, 2006 @ 12:10 am | Comment
7
By Ivan
Also, his daughters are really hot AND they have real class.
I don’t think the Gore daughters will ever be caught on film doing “the butt” dance on all fours, like Jenna got caught doing.
June 1, 2006 @ 12:19 am | Comment
8
By Ivan
ps, she was filmed doing “the butt” dance naked.
June 1, 2006 @ 12:21 am | Comment
9
By OtherLisa
One of the Gore daughters worked for Matt Groening. I mean, that’s pretty cool!
Gore actually did a cameo on FUTURAMA that was pretty damn funny, as Al Gore’s Head.
June 1, 2006 @ 12:32 am | Comment
10
By Ivan
If Gore were President, English would be the official language of the White House.
June 1, 2006 @ 12:53 am | Comment
11
By richard
I have to honestly say that I felt the Kyoto Protocols were flawed, and perhaps backing out was necessary. But that’s not really the point: it was THE WAY we backed out – sneering at our allies and appearing aloof, defiant and eager to break our word and commitment. It was an ominous sign of worse things to come, and Al gore would never have allowed it to happen. GWB: Worst. President. Ever.
June 1, 2006 @ 1:03 am | Comment
12
By bert
All slippery slopes, people!
Dan Quail is the real victim of the most shameful clusterf**k in the history of our glorious “liberal media”.
Anyway time for a change! How about being real “liberals” and trying to get someone from the Libertarienes (spell?) in the White House?
June 1, 2006 @ 1:11 am | Comment
13
By OtherLisa
Yikes…
June 1, 2006 @ 1:20 am | Comment
14
By richard
Dan Quayle really couldn’t spell “potato.” There were no lies or false accusations about him. Gore was the victim of an unparalleled smear campaign, an early warning of the power of the great GOP Wurlitzer. It sounds as if you are ignorant of this, Bert. Tell us, Bert, how did the media smear Dan Quayle? Quayle tried to win the presidential nomination last time, and I don’t recall any smearing whatsoever. Again, to what do you refer? Links, please.
June 1, 2006 @ 1:36 am | Comment
15
By Sojourner
“Dan Quail [sic] … Libertarienes [sic.]”
Remedial spelling lessons for you, meladdio!
June 1, 2006 @ 3:16 am | Comment
16
By Ivan
if you think yur so smort then may bee you shud muv to frans may bee you ar not so funy now?
June 1, 2006 @ 3:30 am | Comment
17
By bert
Okay, so I didn’t bother to check the spelling. My mistake! But some of you don’t need to be pricks about it…yikes indeed!
Potato. Al Gore has also made some silly remarks or “mistake” that received very little coverage. I recall Gore going to Monticello and seeing a bust of Jefferson stating “now who is this?”But if Quayle ever did it man oh man it becomes hunting season. I am not taking political sides just making a comparison.
Again some people would tend to be on the left show their lack of humour. I wasn’t REALLY trying to defend Quayle.
I wasn’t trying to be a smart ass but it seems some of you need to be. Chill, Richard or should I say Dick?
Richard tell me how you know the future and how you can predict Gores moves during a term he has never had? “He (Gore) would never had allowed that to happen.”
Anyway everybody Speels some wurds wrong sometims. They don’t need to be crucified for it! Elitists!
June 1, 2006 @ 10:28 am | Comment
18
By OtherLisa
Sorry, Bert, whatever humor you intended didn’t come across in your comment. And the comparison of Gore, who is a very intelligent guy, to Quayle, who is…um…well…anyway, it didn’t make much sense to me. And the Libertarian reference was just wacky.
But hey, aren’t we all happy campers? Happy campers we are, and happy campers we shall be.*
(*authentic Dan Quayle reference)
June 1, 2006 @ 10:33 am | Comment
19
By Damned Pesky Facts
Ahem, the US did sign the Kyoto Protocol.
The US Senate refused to ratify, by a vote of 95-0.
And Lisa calls Dan Quayle dumb.
June 1, 2006 @ 2:50 pm | Comment
20
By Ivan
“Elitists!”
Yeah well, after 6 years of a shamefully ignorant and intellectually lazy troglodyte in the White House
making America a laughing stock (and a bankrupt one too), we could do with a bit more elitism.
June 1, 2006 @ 5:56 pm | Comment
21
By OtherLisa
My bad.
I was writing that list at 2 AM, not that this is a good excuse.
I think the larger point(s) I was making still stand, however.
June 1, 2006 @ 6:00 pm | Comment
22
By richard
“Facts”: George Bush made campaign promises in 2000 to regulate carbon dioxide as a pollutant. However, in 2001, George Bush pulled the US out of the Kyoto accords as one of the first acts of his presidency. Bush dismissed Kyoto Protocol as too costly, describing it as “an unrealistic and ever-tightening straitjacket.” Lately, the White House has even questioned the validity of the science behind global warming, and claims that millions of jobs will be lost if the US joins in this world pact.
Link
June 1, 2006 @ 6:15 pm | Comment
23
By Ivan
Ahem, dear “Damned Pesky Facts”:
That “95-0” Senate “ratification” you’re talking about, is the Byrd-Hagel Senate Resolution, which was not a “refusal to ratify”, but a statement of Senators’ reservations about the wording of the protocol.
That means it’s still up for debate in Congress. Clinton signed it, and then Bush has refused to submit it to Congress for further consideration.
It’s in Bush’s court.
Now call me an elitist. You cretinous blowhard.
June 1, 2006 @ 6:16 pm | Comment
24
By OtherLisa
Appreciate that. I’m at work – no time for fact-checking.
June 1, 2006 @ 6:32 pm | Comment
25
By Ivan
Oh and speaking of how Americans could do with a lot MORE “elitism” – where literacy is concerned – here’s an AP headline I’ve just found:
“Bush admin wants to cut meth use 15 pct.”
Ahhh, so THAT’S why Condi’s teeth are so bad….
June 1, 2006 @ 7:04 pm | Comment
26
By Laurie
christ, i hope he gets back and becomes president. The only lingering respect i have for the incredibly corrupt nation of yours was Clinton. who cares about what was done under the desk? JFK did it too. But clinton was a president with perspective and conscience. all there is now is corruption.
As Bill Hicks said
“and if you will (become president), you go in a smokey small room with the thirteen major world industrialists, and the lead one nods his head as he puffs on his cigar. A projector starts, and a film plays. Its of the JFK assassination, but its a new shot, looking suspiciously like behind the grassy knoll. The film ends and the lead industrialist says “any questions”.”
Its seems your nation, if not the whole world has died; conscience and integrity are unprofitable. So fuck it, lets blow shit up and try to get that sports car that you’v always wanted. Essentially and over-elaborite combination of metal and plastic that is a symbol of social class and wealth, utilised by the human being who owns it to make himself feel better about his hollow existance.
And thus the world dies.
June 11, 2006 @ 7:01 am | Comment
27
By Ed
Sorry Bert, but you’ve been HanNITWITized by the CON$ervative smear media.
Gore asked the curator to ID the busts of Lafayette and John Paul Jones at Monticello, THERE WAS NO BUST OF JEFFERSON! It was Jefferson’s home.
If the media is so biased, why didn’t they expose this RNC scripted slander of Gore, that you were gullible enough to swallow whole?
September 22, 2006 @ 1:46 am | Comment