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So after finally watching: " An Inconvenient Truth"....

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Wetzelbill Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jan-16-07 07:46 PM
Original message
So after finally watching: " An Inconvenient Truth"....
I cannot help but wonder how the hell any voter with an iota of sense could ever have voted for Bush instead of Al Gore six years ago.

Could you ever imagine Bush doing anything as remotely as important as Gore is doing right now with global warming and climate issues? Gore has his problems like any politician he is not perfect, but the man is articulate and visionary. Bush, meanwhile, is at best a fucking idiot.

I think the media owes this country a huge debt for even considering Bush to be a legitimate candidate in the first place. What a terrible price we have paid for it too.
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SCDem Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jan-16-07 07:50 PM
Response to Original message
1. The American people did vote for Gore
It was 5 members of SCOTUS who put Bush in office. I think the American public may have an edge over our Justices.
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Wetzelbill Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jan-16-07 08:02 PM
Response to Reply #1
8. yeah but it has to be close enough to steal
how enough people supported Bush in the first place to have him considered a viable candidate is beyond me. Bush is not a serious person. He's never been good at anything in his life, ever. Guys like Kucinich or Russ Feingold would never in a million years get the support from the press that Bush got, and those are serious guys with definite credentials who know a lot about policy. But somehow then Governor Bush, the idiot son, was taken more seriously on a national stage than people like DK or Feingold ever will be. We live in one weird country.
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SCDem Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jan-16-07 08:44 PM
Response to Reply #8
19. I know it is amazing
or rather depressing.

I was telling my sister of my experience being trained by Gore in Nashville a couple weeks ago. And I was relaying all the great quotes and insights and suggestions and funny antics or as he called them political cheapshots with us. She emailed back and said he sounds actually kind of human and said that if he appeared like that on TV that he would probably be President. I think Al FOre is a great Statesman - he has it all and in spades.

I think she says that because she probably voted for Bush.
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Ron Green Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jan-16-07 07:50 PM
Response to Original message
2. You remember the term "gravitas?"
Why didn't we ever hear that after this guy was installed in office? That was the word, everywhere in the media, during the 2000 Republican primary season. Bush didn't seem to have the "gravitas" for the job. Jesus, people, what that means is HE MAY BE A DUMBASS!!! How come the "gravitas" question went away? Because his "gravitas" never did show up.
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NMDemDist2 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jan-16-07 07:51 PM
Response to Original message
3. I was playing bridge today on the MSNZone where there are people
from all over the world

the ice storms in the US came up and somebody (dunno who or from where) pops on and says "Tell your president to sign the Koyoto treaty. Global Warming is reality!"

then a few lines later same person said "Oh, but that would cut into his oil profits wouldn't it?"


I don't know whether to :rofl: or :cry:

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WiseButAngrySara Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jan-16-07 08:09 PM
Response to Reply #3
11. Oh, that's rich! Laugh or cry, indeed. ....n/t
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IndyOp Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jan-16-07 07:52 PM
Response to Original message
4. Yes, and...
Edited on Tue Jan-16-07 07:54 PM by IndyOp
what do we do with the 10,000's of our fellow citizens who are still worried about surface characteristic stupidity like weight, clothing choice, lack-of-guy-next-doorness?

The media only had the impact that it did because people allowed themselves to be swayed.

Disclaimer: Keeping in mind, of course, that GORE WON IN 2000! GORE WON IN 2000! GORE WON IN 2000!...so, in fact, neither the media nor the "brainless public" really caused our current nightmare.

:hi:
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Wetzelbill Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jan-16-07 07:57 PM
Response to Reply #4
6. well yeah he did win
but the fact that it was even remotely close is what I find perplexing. How this guy could be sold to that many people is beyond me.
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Bjorn Against Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jan-16-07 08:36 PM
Response to Reply #4
15. well the media certainly did not report that Gore won
So yes, I do hold them largely responsible for the mess we are in now. If the US press had reported the Florida theft as well as the British press did Bush would never have been President, and those responsible for the stolen election would be sitting in jail right now.
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troubleinwinter Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jan-16-07 07:54 PM
Response to Original message
5. Ya wanna see articulate and visionary?!
Gore- 1/16/06 (one year ago today) http://www.acslaw.org/node/2096
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WiseButAngrySara Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jan-16-07 08:21 PM
Response to Reply #5
12. Oh, this is a keeper. I remeber this but thanks for the link to
the transcript.

http://www.acslaw.org/files/Gore-1-17-06.pdf

Restoring the Rule of Law

Remarks by Al Gore
As Prepared: January 16, 2006

Congressman Barr and I have disagreed many times over the years, but we have joined
together today with thousands of our fellow citizens—Democrats and Republicans
alike—to express our shared concern that America’s Constitution is in grave danger.
In spite of our differences over ideology and politics, we are in strong agreement that the
American values we hold most dear have been placed at serious risk by the
unprecedented claims of the Administration to a truly breathtaking expansion of
executive power.
As we begin this new year, the Executive Branch of our government has been caught
eavesdropping on huge numbers of American citizens and has brazenly declared that it
has the unilateral right to continue without regard to the established law enacted by
Congress to prevent such abuses.
It is imperative that respect for the rule of law be restored.So, many of us have come here to Constitution Hall to sound an alarm and call upon our
fellow citizens to put aside partisan differences and join with us in demanding that our
Constitution be defended and preserved.
It is appropriate that we make this appeal on the day our nation has set aside to honor the
life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who challenged America to breathe new
life into our oldest values by extending its promise to all our people.
On this particular Martin Luther King Day, it is especially important to recall that for the
last several years of his life, Dr. King was illegally wiretapped—one of hundreds of
thousands of Americans whose private communications were intercepted by the U.S.
government during this period.
The FBI privately called King the “most dangerous and effective negro leader in the
country” and vowed to “take him off his pedestal.” The government even attempted to
destroy his marriage and blackmail him into committing suicide.
This campaign continued until Dr. King’s murder. The discovery that the FBI conducted
a long-running and extensive campaign of secret electronic surveillance designed to
infiltrate the inner workings of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and to
learn the most intimate details of Dr. King’s life, helped to convince Congress to enact
restrictions on wiretapping. .........
......................................

At present, we still have much to learn about the NSA’s domestic surveillance. What we
do know about this pervasive wiretapping virtually compels the conclusion that the
President of the United States has been breaking the law repeatedly and persistently.
A president who breaks the law is a threat to the very structure of our government. Our
Founding Fathers were adamant that they had established a government of laws and not
men. Indeed, they recognized that the structure of government they had enshrined in our
Constitution – our system of checks and balances – was designed with a central purpose
of ensuring that it would govern through the rule of law. As John Adams said: “The
executive shall never exercise the legislative and judicial powers, or either of them, to the
end that it may be a government of laws and not of men.”

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. In the words of James
Madison, “the accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the
same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or
elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.”


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troubleinwinter Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jan-16-07 08:42 PM
Response to Reply #12
18. The video AND transcript are there.
The video is just breathtaking.
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WiseButAngrySara Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jan-16-07 08:57 PM
Response to Reply #18
21. Thanks! I noticed that. I will be sure to view it. His
intelligence is breathtaking, like the absence of B*'s intelligence is breathtaking (but in a polar opposite way)
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snappyturtle Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jan-17-07 10:20 AM
Response to Reply #5
29. This speech you refer to in your link is the MOST....
wonderful prose....I heard it over the radio probably about a year ago. I was sitting in our truck waiting for my husband to return after shopping. It was a cold, dreary day. This speech was the sunshine that day... I was so exhiliated after hearing it that I backed it up for my husband to listen to after his return. Well worth the read. What a stateman Al Gore is! I'd love to see him run again. Thank you so much for the link....the re-read today was just as good as it was a year ago!
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troubleinwinter Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jan-17-07 10:34 AM
Response to Reply #29
32. If you are able to watch the VIDEO
I highly recommend it!! The entire 1 hour & 5 minute speech is given WITHOUT once referring to any notes. It is directly from his head and heart.

You are so right... THAT man is a STATESMAN!
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snappyturtle Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jan-17-07 11:10 AM
Response to Reply #32
33. Thank you we will.....we're "iced" in so this would be a great use
of our down time!
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baldguy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jan-16-07 07:59 PM
Response to Original message
7. Because Bush is a "Man's Man" who a regular guy could have a beer with.



And Gore is an effete intellectual cheese-eating surrender monkey

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GenDem Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jan-16-07 08:07 PM
Response to Reply #7
10. That is one startling comparison
The cheerleader and the soldier.
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WiseButAngrySara Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jan-16-07 08:05 PM
Response to Original message
9. LOL! Gore created the internet(s). B* can't even pronounce
the word. Your post is well taken. I still haven't yet had time to view this film, and I've had it for a month! Gave it away to many friends and relatives this year for Christmas gifts and it's received very positive reviews from my family members thus far!
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tridim Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jan-16-07 08:29 PM
Response to Reply #9
14. I don't think Bush even knew about the Internets until the 2004 debates
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Warren Stupidity Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jan-16-07 08:28 PM
Response to Original message
13. 1.) chop an articulate intelligent man into 10 second sound bites
2.) sit aroud the rove warroom analyzing them for angles to be played.
3.) send out the official talking points along with the selected sound bites to the compliant media.
4.) produce a propaganda barrage - a consenus of directed bullshit - and pour it into every living room in america.

Bingo, out comes one confused electorate and an election close enough to steal.

All I can say is you gotta thank Al for inventing the internets 'cause if there was nothing but tv and newspapers we actually would have that permanent Refuglican Majority that Rove was aiming for.

I remember Al & Dumbass's first debate. Gore wiped Dumbass off the stage. There was no doubt about it. Even the talking heads, immmediately after the debate, were conceding that junior didn't do so well. 24 hours later we learned that Al sighed too much and consequently Mr. Stinky won the debate. It has been the same ever since.
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stonecoldsober Donating Member (411 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jan-16-07 08:38 PM
Response to Reply #13
17. I challenge anyone to debate dumbass
and NOT sigh to holy heaven! The man is one big exclamation mark!?!??!?!
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Lisa Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jan-16-07 09:56 PM
Response to Reply #17
24. that wasn't Al they picked up on the microphone -- that was me!
I was so floored by some of Georgie's answers that I was groaning about how obvious the disparity was. Loudly enough to be heard several hundred miles away, it seems. My bad!
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wabeewoman Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jan-17-07 01:46 AM
Response to Reply #13
26. Gore won every debate
Unfortunately too many people were shallow enough to let the media define things like sighing as making Gore unelectable. I remember when they(rove) were promoting bush as average-a C student- like that was a good thing for. I lost a lot of faith in my fellow Americans that election. Since then I've paid more attention to them and find that many 1. believe faux news 2. don't pay attention 3. some aren't very bright 4. many don't have critical thinking skills. I could go on. My nephew is a great example. He is a proud republican and defends all their mistakes. He'll never be rich but he isn't smart enough to figure out they aren't doing anything for him. I think the mistake Gore made was not realizing that bush and his pals played a whole different game. You might expect them to do dishonest things to win but they took it to a whole new level. And look at what they have done since.
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Kurovski Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jan-16-07 08:36 PM
Response to Original message
16. K&R.
And the price will continue to be paid for the foreseeable future.

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Kermitt Gribble Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jan-16-07 08:56 PM
Response to Original message
20. I watched it
last week for the first time. It totally re-ignited my hope that Gore will run again. I think I'm going to buy a copy just to loan out to people!
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Pacifist Patriot Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jan-16-07 09:04 PM
Response to Original message
22. I consistently reel over the thought of GWB as Prez. Someone wake me up.
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Telly Savalas Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jan-16-07 09:50 PM
Response to Original message
23. If the Supreme Court hadn't handed Bush the presidency
do you think he would be hitting the lecture circuit with a fancy powerpoint presentation demonstrating the need to get bogged down in a bloody occupation of Iraq? Would he make a movie about it called "A Convenient Falsehood"?
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Toucano Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jan-16-07 09:58 PM
Response to Original message
25. The first great tragedy of the 21st century.
What is the George W. Bush inauguration?
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OrangeCountyDemocrat Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jan-17-07 01:57 AM
Response to Original message
27. Re-Elect President Al Gore!!
He's the best qualified for the job, and all the other Democratic candidates are runners up.
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OneBlueSky Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jan-17-07 03:53 AM
Response to Original message
28. Bush can't even spell "inconvenient" . . . and certainly doesn't know anything about truth . . . n/t
.
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davekriss Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jan-17-07 10:23 AM
Response to Original message
30. I felt the same way after watching I.T.
What a shame, Al Gore would've made a wonderful President. We would not be torturing anybody, nor bombing innocent citizens to shreds, nor killing our troops in an illegal war, borrowing massively from the quality of life of future American generations. Instead we'd be inching toward social justice, positive environmental change, and a brighter world for all.
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No DUplicitous DUpe Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jan-17-07 07:36 PM
Response to Reply #30
38. Yup, It made me upset to think what a great man we should have had..
In the White House.

Instead we have an insane idiot.
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Marie26 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jan-17-07 10:23 AM
Response to Original message
31. Especially the Naderites.
Just, why?
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RestoreGore Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jan-17-07 02:40 PM
Response to Original message
34.  But what did it do to inspire you to take action against the climate crisis?
You didn't elaborate on the message of the film. Just curious.
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Wetzelbill Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jan-17-07 05:00 PM
Response to Reply #34
37. I do lots of that stuff already
mass transit and so forth. :) My big thing though is a plan to work in policy and help push green causes from that standpoint.
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porphyrian Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jan-17-07 02:43 PM
Response to Original message
35. Ha! I'll kick that. - n/t
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Nightjock Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jan-17-07 04:43 PM
Response to Original message
36. That movie turned a repug friend
Edited on Wed Jan-17-07 04:44 PM by Nightjock
of mine into a Gore supporter!

And never mind trying to envision bush doing anything about global warming..... can you even imagine bush narrating the movie?!
He could not even do that!
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