I just met AL GORE!

[StellaBlue]

Just got back from Al Gore's first US book tour talk in Houston, Texas, which was sold out at the Hobby Center. Saw the global warming slideshow (excellent). Enjoyed his delivery style (earnest yet sarcastic). Especially enjoyed the several standing ovations and the couple of times people yelled out ("Run, Al, run!" and "We need you!" from the upper seats).

When asked if he was going to run, during the staged Q&A (all questions asked by the host, off index cards), he said he was a recovering politician and he 'is not planning on running.' That was it. The program talks about his book, his background, then goes into a four-line reminder of the Clinton years ("presided over the longest period of economic growth in US history, managed the budget down to a zero deficit", etc.). My feeling? He's totally running.

When asked about Iraq, he said:

"This was the single worst strategic mistake in the nation's history."

and

"We need to get the troops home as soon as possible."

He also gave the corporations and lobbyists hell. Strong words about the auto and petroleum industries. That's the only thing that made me think maybe he isn't running. He went mildly Nader on us (which, IMHO, is a GOOD thing!). Overall, it was a tone of hope, as he emphasized that these changes present an OPPORTUNITY.

The best part was staying afterward to get our books signed. We saw Tipper, talking to some people (very friendly, approachable), but we didn't want to lose our spot in line. She was gone over to a small table where she was talking quietly with friends by the time our books were signed, so we didn't meet her (didn't want to interrupt).

So when we finally got to meet Al, we were line 30th from the end - and they sold all 1,000 copies of the book they had, I couldn't resist. He signed the book, then looked up and right at me, smiling, and I said, "We would really like the chance to re-elect you in 2008, I just have to say it." He put his hand over his heart and smiled (like he no doubt had the previous 970 times he'd heard that tonight) and said, "Thank you, thank you." I got a quick, blurred photo taken by my friend (not posed, just me shaking his hand - very reminiscent of JFK/Clinton, I told her! hahahahaha!), and that was that.

It was electric. I am so excited.

I am going to bed now, but I will be back midday tomorrow to answer any questions anyone who's curious might have, and to post the photo!!!

Love Al Gore. Love him.

[Dead_Parrot]

1. You lucky, lucky...

I hate you. :D

:bounce:

[Erika]

2. How wonderful it would have been for an intellectual Gore

to be our president versus a dwarf "bring em on" frat brat.

The sadness brings me to tears. So many lives lost so W could reward his friends.

[gkdmaths]

3. music to my ears...

"This was the single worst strategic mistake in the nation's history."

I havent heard such a sweet sound in quite some time. So nice to know someone else is saying it too.

(I know DU is saying it, but my town (largely a military town) has become ultraconservative and ultramilitant lately, and I'm drowning in it)

[blogslut]

4. My heart breaks

for what could have been.

I hope he runs. I'm so glad you got to meet him. :)

[satya]

5. Lucky you -- I'm so envious! Your comment to him was perfect!

I'm going to steal it if I ever get the chance to meet him! I've said several times I'd work my butt off for him if he decides to run -- hope that happens. We need him now more than ever.

Love the Nader-esque comments too -- gotta admit, I was a reluctant Gore voter in 2000. I found Nader's anti-corporate rhetoric very tempting, but in the end I went with Gore. Now I'm a very enthusiastic Gore supporter; his MLK day speech was magnificent. I wish everyone in the country could see that one.

Loved Inconvenient Truth, too.

[cboy4]

6. Hey! You got to say something to him!! And that was perfect.

You know that makes him feel wonderful, no matter how many times he's heard it already. :)

What a road trip! Good for you :bounce:

[Viva_La_Revolution]

7. Like you're going to be able to sleep after that!

I would be laying awake, dreaming with my eyes open.

:bounce:

you are SSOOOOO lucky. :)

[libodem]

8. too cool

I'm very happy for you.

[swimmernsecretsea]

9. I am so jealous of you!

But you said exactly what I would have said if I'd had a chance to meet him also. It's no exaggeration to say he's been my hero for years, since I read "Earth in the Balance." Alright, I can't be seriously jealous. I'm just happy that you met him. I'll tell you, when I meet people whom I admire, I become incoherent or even struck dumb. I would've just babbled something and fled out the door.

Hope you have great dreams tonight! Thanks for sharing.

[file83]

10. Kick you to 5 - I'm jealous!!! Also check out this Al Gore video...

...if you haven't seen these already, it's the documentary by Spike Jones during the 2000 Presidential campaign:

Part 1
Part 2

I love this video!!

[IndyOp]

11. I LOVE THIS VIDEO!! "Unseen Al Gore Campaign Video" -

Links in File83's reply just above this one!

:bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

[IndyOp]

12. He put his hand over his heart??

Swoooooooooooooooooooon....

:loveya:

[durrrty libby]

13. "We would really like the chance to re-elect you in 2008,"

Good job. He needs to hear that over and over until he can no longer ignore the drum beat.

I dream of the day he announces his candidacy, and of the seismic eruption that will follow.

[Bamboose]

14. I know it's gonna sound shallow

but is he as cute in real life as I bet he is?

[StellaBlue]

28. According to my companion for the evening,

Who had an erotic dream about him the night before the 2000 selection, YES.

He was lovely, just in general.

[helderheid]

15. You are SO LUCKY!!!!

[Swamp Rat]

16. Wow!!!

:bounce:

AL GORE 2008!!!

[Tsiyu]

17. Thanks for what you said to him

We sure could use him.

Why is it that most of our leaders are distinguished, intelligent and compassionate people, while the Repuke leaders are all Neanderthals with Tiny Peepee Syndrome?

I've been wondering why the Righties- who are big on "ordered civilization" and White intellectual supremecy and stomping down "savages" - elect the most savage, uncivilized, disordered idiots to lead them? It seems they are attracted to and support the very qualities they claim to disdain.

And why are our leaders civilized and decent and educated people?

I would be embarrassed to have dumbass *, or Messiah Complex Frist or corrupt Delay held up as my heroes.

I am proud to call Gore and Kerry and Carter my heroes.

Lucky you, StellaBlue :thumbsup:

[BrklynLiberal]

59. ROTFLMAO!! But soooo perfectly accurate!!!!!

"the Repuke leaders are all Neanderthals with Tiny Peepee Syndrome?"
:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[StellaBlue]

18. Okay, so I want to post the photos, but I am on a friend's Mac

How do I get the photo URL? I cant' seem to right-click. Nothing happens.

[NYCGirl]

19. "Control-click". Press down the "control" key as you click the mouse on

the image, and that should give you a drop-down menu — pick "view image", which should give you the URL.

[StellaBlue]

24. Thanks!!!

[StellaBlue]

26. Actually, it's not working!

It gives me a "Copy Image" option, so I chose that, nothing happened, and I went back into my DU message posting window and hit Apple+V, no luck.

:(

[LSK]

29. is the picture on a website such as photobucket??

Or is it actually on the computer still??

[StellaBlue]

31. yeah, it's on a web page already~

:(

[NYCGirl]

32. Can you give me the URL of the website (if there's personal stuff on there

etc. you don't have to). Maybe I can grab it and post it for you.

[NYCGirl]

30. Do you have the pics posted somewhere on the web? If they're just on the

computer, they can't be posted here.

[deaniac21]

20. He is just positively DREAMY!

[sonias]

21. Excellent report StellaBlue

Glad you got to go. Sounds like you had a great time. Good for you.
:applause:

Sonia

[Scout1071]

22. I cannot find his tour schedule anywhere! Anyone know where to find

it?

[StellaBlue]

33. I was wondering that myself, because I didn't really want to go to Houston

But he did tell us the site for the book/movie:

www.climatecrisis.net

[Scout1071]

37. Thanks. I've checked that site several times, but no info on

book signing appearances.

[Minnesota Libra]

23. OMG, I am so jealous!!! THANK YOU for that reelect line, my sentiments...

.....exactly!!! The more I hear from people that meet him the more I'm convinced he is running in 08. Plus, the stars are going to be shining very favorably on :patriot: Al Gore :patriot: from now until after 08. It won't be an easy job to run against the neocon/fundie machine but I'm convinced he will do it and will win - big time.

[LSK]

25. wow that is very cool

Cant wait to see the photo!

[StellaBlue]

27. Another thing about the event...

At the end, when he was all angry and closing, he went back to his first image - the first picture of the earth taken from space.

I said to my friend, "Wow, this is refreshing. A great change from all those giant American flags and shitty graphics of the White House propaganda team. I like the whole earth better."

[NYCGirl]

34. StellaBlue asked me to post this picture for her of her meeting with

VP Gore. Way to go, StellaBlue!

[StellaBlue]

35. THANKS SO MUCH, NYCGirl!!!!

:yourock:

This was me saying to Al, "We'd really like the chance to re-elect you in 2008."

I thought the WE part was important. I felt like I was representing DU! And plenty (millions) of other people. I had to say it. Even though he'd heard it a thousand times already that night. If that's what we have to do, well, we have to do it!!!

[NYCGirl]

36. You're welcome. And kick and recommended. NT

[wordpix2]

52. nice! My first cousin used to date his cousin, we could have been family

:grouphug: Nice story!

[JNelson6563]

38. How exciting!

After reading your closing about going to bed I had to laugh. As if you could trun off that energy and get sleep anytime soon after all that!

Ah well, if one must be tired from not enough sleep, having met President Gore would make it worth it!!

Thanks for the great report! :toast:

Julie

[dogday]

39. Thank you so much for sharing

your story. I hope he does run, I would totally vote for him.. :hi:

[Uncle Joe]

40. Thank you for sharing StellaBlue.

Kicked and recommended!

:kick:

[ronnykmarshall]

41. Isn't he handsome?

I met him and Tipper a couple of years ago.

I felt like a groupie!

[janx]

42. Is there a schedule of the rest of the book tour?

What an excellent story--and your comment to him was perfect.

[mandyky]

43. Wow WTG!

I hope if he runs he keeps his newer way of speaking.

[NYCGirl]

44. KICK.

[Just WTFisWTF]

45. I love him too, and I'm a guy!

He's got to run. Can't we draft him somehow?

[sellitman]

46. I got to meet the Big dog once and will never forget it.

I am jealous.

Imagine if these past 5 years were under Gore not the *Moran* we have now.

[2bfree]

47. How cool is that?

I wish he would run again. :)

[NastyDiaper]

48. (Amazon.com) Items shipping soon:

Items shipping soon:
Delivery estimate: June 20, 2006 - June 22, 2006 1 of: An Inconvenient Truth

Argh. I was thinking it was shipping earlier.

[mnhtnbb]

49. "We would really like the chance to re-elect you in 2008,"

Great line!

Let's bombard him with that line!

[Tactical Progressive]

50. Oh he's so wooden.

Did he change into his brown jacket before he signed your book?

Just thought I'd reprise some of the media's anti-Gore bullshit from 2000. They actually covered a Presidential election campaign that way. When they were bothering to be even moderately honest that is. Hard to believe.

Consider this a booster innoculation, and congratulations.

[JuniperLea]

51. YAY! Yay for StellaBlue!

You are so lucky! Can I touch the hem of your robe?

Heh!

Wow.

[StellaBlue]

53. Two more (funny) pics

http://www.google.com/base_image?q=hand-4789943701115142050&size=6

My friend with Al (my hand was shaking).



http://www.google.com/base_image?q=hand-1566544798369390416&size=6

My friend pointing at Al from the street outside, afterward.

[joeunderdog]

54. Two questions: Why Lieberman? Why?

Of all the runningmates...:puke:

And where can I find a list of book tour dates?

[heartofthesiskiyou]

57. I don't remember from where

but I read it was a Clitonian push for a conservative (promoted as moderate) on the ticket. More DLC "activity".

[StellaBlue]

55. PDittie's report from the trenches:

It was quite an evening. June 7, 2006, the Hobby Center in downtown Houston was SOLD OUT. Ok, it holds ONLY 2600 people, but there was not an empty seat in the house. People forget that 40% of this city voted for Al in 2000 and that translates to around 300,000 votes.

The private reception before the slide presentation was very well done: a well-mannered line snaked in to meet Al and Tipper, who also was there, with hors d'oeuvres from the restaurant Artista which is located in the same building. I saw several people that I hadn't seen in quite awhile there, including three co-workers. I know there were more than a few oil company engineers in the crowd. The local Oil Patch Democrats are a large and growing group. http://oilpatchdemocrats.blogspot.com /

My wife got to Al first and shook his hand for what seemed like a long time. Al is very personable. Not stiff or cold at all, contrary to the constant media harping. When my wife told him we went to see the film in Dallas, he became very animated, grasped both her hands and wanted to hear what she thought about it. He held her hands all the while she gushed and gushed about the movie and about how she has been a longtime fan of his, easily for 30 seconds. I wish I had turned on my audio recorder, but I guess I was flustered. (I took a camera and took a couple of shots, which came out really crappy, dammit!)

When it was my turn, I told him that the whole nation suffered a horrible injustice in 2000, and somehow, we had to make it right. He gave that look of acknowledgement while shaking his head. I babbled on about how he needed to add the two of us to the long list of people hopeful that he would run for President in 2008 and restore some sense of justice to this country. All the while, he shook my hand, at least for another 30 seconds. A 30-second handshake might normally feel uncomfortable, but with Al, it just seemed comfortable and right. He stated the familiar, "Well, I don't plan on running, but I truly appreciate your sentiment." I might have been imagining it, but I swear he winked when he said that. I told him that this country was in a deep, dark hole and there didn't appear to be anyone who knew how to get out of it, except perhaps for Al. He granted that we are in trouble and said "bless you." At least, that's how I remember it. There was more but my heart was racing and there were a couple of hundred people in line behind me, so we had to move on.

I got to Tipper and I gave her one of my webcards, which is a card the size of a business card that lists five websites on it. The heading reads, "DON'T TRUST THE CORPORATE MEDIA! Try these websites instead." Included on this special card I made just for this occasion was the address for MediaMatters.org, Truthout.org, AirAmericaRadio.com, Bartcop.com and the web address for a Forum supporting Al that I frequent. I told Tipper about the Forum and she said she'd get Al to check it out. We'll see. I thanked her for standing by Al for so long and complimented her on her children and that Karenna's book seemed to be doing very well. She seemed to blush a bit and said I was very kind.

The glow lasted quite awhile. I gave out the rest of my 20 webcards to random people in the crowd that we happened to be near.

They chose Houston as the first stop on this book tour. We got an autographed, first-edition, right-off-the-press copy of the book as part of the "Patron" package. It's beautiful. Since we got two of them (one each), some family member or friend is going to get a very special gift soon.

He opened up with the rather familiar story about his and Tipper driving the rented Taurus, with no motorcade, in Tennessee and stopping at Shoney's. Judging from the raucous crowd response, a lot of those in attendance hadn't heard the story.

Tonight was his usual slide presentation, but updated (and combination book tour). We saw the movie in Dallas last weekend, and while the presentation covered a lot of ground that was in the movie, there was quite a bit of other material that was not in the movie. He went through the whole two hours without referencing one written note. Sure, he's given this slide presentation enough times to memorize everything, but he mentioned several things that had just happened. For instance, another round of Kyoto talks was just concluded this past Friday, with the U.S. trying to throw a monkey wrench into the process, again. He also referred to a new study (and had some slides) on coral reefs that has just been published that shows that, if CO2 emissions are left unchecked, all the coral reefs could be dead within about 25 years. The CO2, when immersed in water, forms carbolic acid, which eats thru coral reefs. There were a few other newer slides in the show too.

Al acknowledged the special place that Houston holds in the country. We are the capital of the oil and gas industry. We are the nerve center that put a man on the Moon. We are the CO2 capital of the nation. We are George Bush's backyard.

As usual, he opens with those special photos of Earth taken from space on trips to the Moon. They are truly awesome. Al called us to our better natures tonight, something I just can't imagine Chimpy McFratRat ever doing.

The guy is so engaging and impressive. Several times during the presentation, I got shivers thinking about how thorough and concrete this information was, how serious this threat is, but then remembering that we have a pathetic anti-science, anti-intellectual cabal running this country. Towards the end of the talk, he started to get really passionate and animated about how this country can SURELY rise to the occasion and accomplish incredible things, because we've done it before - like founding this nation, abolishing slavery, giving women the right to vote, eradicating diseases - and we can solve this crisis, and the crowd erupted in cheers (it suddenly felt like a campaign rally) but at the end I felt real anger and bitterness about how Bush seems to be about the opposite of Gore in every respect. Here Gore is highlighting the obvious, scientific problem, actually giving real hope that we can overcome this, but then I remember Bush and my mood just crashes back into reality.

Definitely go see the movie, and if you have the chance, see his presentation in person. They say that repetition is the key to learning, and while I doubt that anyone here needs persuading that global warming is real, as much exposure to the concepts as possible will help in the solution. And then I remember again, Bush and his criminal brother Jeb say they won't see the movie, or read the book. God, they make me want to just ...... &!$%!(*!

The moderator, Randall Morton, founder of the Houston Progressive Forum ( http://progressiveforumhouston.org / ) read a few questions from the crowd afterward and Gore displayed his usual thoughtful style in answering. (Another contrast to the simple-minded, good 'ol boy A-Hole Bush.)

Yes, there was one question that approached the idea of Gore running for President, which elicited several yells of "Run, Al!" and "The country NEEDS you!" and "Please, run, Al," but he gave the standard answer that he has no plans of running, but thank you very much. It's not a total denial, not that "Shermanesque" statement by any means, but in person, it actually left me with a feeling that he truly is not going to run, which saddened me.

It was a magical, frustrating, hopeful, sad, energetic, inspiring and bitter experience, and I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

Peace to all.

PDittie

[WinkyDink]

56. I shook his hand as he walked into the "CBS Early Show" last week!

Just enough time to say, "God bless you!"

He is HANDSOME!

[blm]

58. I can feel your happiness - good report.

.

[BrklynLiberal]

60. Kicked and rec'd

[StellaBlue]

61. Thanks for that!

:hi:

[BrklynLiberal]

62. My extreme pleasure.