Al Gore, Progressive Leader of the Moment & Enemy of Big Oil
Last Saturday, Gore enacted that drop-dead hilarious skit on Saturday Night Live, in which he recounted how events of the last six years unfolded following his "overwhelming" victory in 2000. Dan Kurtzman, About.com's Guide to Political Humor, has links to both the video and transcript. (Didn't Al Gore look great sitting behind the Presidential desk?)
Then there's Gore's much acclaimed documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, which opens nationwide on May 24, with the companion book to be published on June 13. The film, which chronicles " one man's fervent crusade to halt global warming's deadly progress in its tracks by exposing the myths and misconceptions that surround it," was the toast of the 2006 Sundance Film Festival. (More than 80,000 have pledged to see An Inconvenient Truth the weekend it opens. CLICK HERE to take the pledge.)
The Al Gore for President in 2008 chatter grows daily. And the chatter comes not just from nostalgic liberal baby boomers yearning to redo election year 2000. Even the conservative, Fox News-friendlyWall Street Journal recently admitted that Al Gore Might Yet Join 2008 Contenders.
Of course, the liberal "anyone-but-Hillary" blogosphere is delighted at the prospect of Al Gore seeking the 2008 Democratic nomination for the presidency. First, there are the grassroot "Draft Al" sites HERE, HERE , HERE, HERE and HERE .
And then there are the bloggers who survive greed and gloom under the Bush Administration only through dreams that their man, Al Gore, will finally ascend to the highest office in our great land, save the day and the decade (and the world's climate, too).
Al Gore has the momentum that Hillary covets but just can't find. I must admit, Gore is doing something very right when Big Oil, the robber barrons of our day, attacks him.
As top blog AMERICAblog explains today , "Big Oil is apparently freaking out that the issue of global warming is getting some traction, so they're pulling out all the stops and attacking Al Gore, who has a movie coming out about global warming. Yes, global warming isn't REALLY a problem. All those drowning polar bears are actually midgets in fur suits. I'm serious, polar bears are DROWNING for the first time in recorded history because of the melting ice brought on by global warming. That's how bad it's getting."
Arianna Huffington summed it up well this week when she wrote, "Gore isn't running for office, and already the negative campaigning has begun. This is what anyone who takes a stand faces these days -- politics as demolition derby -- and why so many politicians operate out of fear. But when I asked Gore about it, he was unfazed....Whether Al Gore ends up running in 2008 or not, he is modeling the way our public figures, and especially our would-be presidents, should be operating -- from the heart and true to themselves. Standing for something more important than just winning, and more powerful than the fear of losing."
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Comments
You missed the fasted growing Draft Gore site, DraftGore2008.org.
Wow, five draft sites from people who didn’t even want to join a draft for him in 2004, and a couple of them who trashed any other effort for this man then. What a difference a movie makes. But it won’t be about the issues, just about them fulfilling their desire for a Gore/Hillary Clinton grudge match. And in all truth, Al Gore won the 2000 election, so you don’t draft winners… you Constitutionally restore the office stolen from them and there is a Constitutional way to do that, only it isn’t as easy as asking Al Gore to run and do all the work. My site is working on that, because we respect Mr. Gore’s desire to devote his time to an issue that is his passion, and one we should all devote a bit more time to supporting… an issue he would have to drop to some extent if he ran in this same corrupted Party system that stole it from all of us in 2000 (which none of these draft sites even comments on,) and we all know that. But people can continue to live in denial of that, and ignore the fact that Al Gore is a great man regardless of what he decides to do. I guess it is just so much more exciting now to ride on his coat tails now, than it was in 2004 to stand up for their convictions.
MB-
Thanks for the tip! I just added it to the list.
I don’t think either of them are deserving of the noimnation. I don’t like Gore’s born again liberal status. Ih he hadn’t stabbed labor in the back with supporting NAFTA, the WTO and other anti-labor measures, he propably would have won in 2000. Artillery Hillary ought to be tried and executed with Bush for sending kids to Iraq. Let’s draft Feingold- someone we can count on.
I admire Senator Russ Feingold greatly, and hope he’s seriously considered for the 2008 Democratic nomination.
Where’s The Beef?
By BOB HERBERT (NYT) 759 words
Published: May 11, 2006
”You can’t think and hit at the same time.”
– Yogi Berra
”One must be something, in order to do something.”
– Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Enough already with the analyses ad nauseam of the strategies and tactics and philosophies that the Democratic Party should pursue to regain power in upcoming elections.
We’ve been listening to this armchair chatter for years: The Democrats need new ideas. They need big ideas. They need to move to the center. They need to wave the flag. They need to go to church. They need the soccer moms and the Nascar dads. They need to run from the blacks. They need to run from the gays.
I have no more patience with this perennially pathetic patient, this terminally timid Democrat who continues to lie cowering and trembling on the analyst’s couch, wondering why the Demolition Derby Republicans control virtually all of the levers of power in the United States.
The Democrats are thinking too much and doing too little. This is a party in need of a moxie transplant. It’s time for the patient to climb off the couch, walk outside and mix it up with the gang that has made a complete and utter mess of the country that was entrusted to it.
The polls tell us that the G.O.P. is ready to be routed. President Bush’s approval ratings are at the lowest levels of his presidency. The war with Iraq is now widely — and properly — viewed as a disaster. Respondents to the latest New York Times/CBS News Poll said they believed the Democrats would do a better job on nearly all of the major issues facing the country.
Now would be an excellent time for Democrats to pounce, to show genuine leadership. This is not the time for yet another round of thumb-sucking, for more mind-numbing nonsense about narratives and framing, for more abstract talk about how to define the party. The public needs to know what you plan to do about the war. What’s your energy policy? How should we deal with Iran?
What the Democrats need more than anything, with midterms coming up in the fall and a presidential election two years later, are personable candidates of strong character who have at least some measure of political courage and are willing to stand up for what they truly believe. This is the stuff that leaders are made of.
In 1948, when Harry Truman had already been dismissed by the political geniuses as a certain loser, he got on a train and took his case to the American people. Truman told his sister: ”It will be the greatest campaign any president ever made. Win, lose or draw, people will know where I stand and a record will be made for future action by the Democratic Party.”
There are no Trumans in sight in this Democratic Party. Democratic candidates and potential candidates are still agonizing with their analysts over exactly what to say about this issue or that. (They’re trying to figure out ways to talk about the war, for example, that will offend neither hawks nor doves.) What’s almost funny is that the patient has been doing this for years, and keeps losing election after election.
Why not try something new and liberating, like the truth? Forget the theorizing and strategizing. Tell the truth about what’s happening now. Let the electorate know how much the Iraq war is really costing — in human treasure, loss of influence around the world, increases in gasoline prices and cold, hard cash. Tell the truth about the monstrous buildup of state power by the Bush crowd, which has undermined the freedom and privacy of innocent people here at home, and angered many conservatives.
Talk straight about the unconscionable assault on working people in the United States.
I remember all the chatter about moral values after the last presidential election, and how the Democrats would have to pump their values up if they were ever to win again. I never bought it. The Democrats didn’t lose the last time around because they lacked virtue. They lost because John Kerry was a lousy candidate.
If the Democrats don’t know what they believe in yet — if they’re still figuring that out — they don’t deserve to win. Politicians are supposed to lead, and the U.S. has seldom been in more desperate need of leadership than now.
It’s time to climb off the couch, Democrats, present yourselves to the public, and take a stand. If you’re personable, and possessed of just a little bit of courage, you’re halfway home.
You forgot to mention Gore’s ties to big oil and the $500,000 he owns in stock in one of these companies.