Screw Paul Begala who trashed Gore right along with the Conservative guy

[flpoljunkie]

from the Human Events, Terry Jeffries, for criticizing the country while speaking in Saudi Arabia. Read this Paul and show me one word that Gore said that is not the truth. Grow a pair, Paul!

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1107AP_Saudi_Gore.html

Gore decries treatment of Arabs post 9-11

By JIM KRANE
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

JIDDAH, Saudi Arabia -- Former Vice President Al Gore told a mainly Saudi audience on Sunday that the U.S. government committed "terrible abuses" against Arabs after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, and that most Americans did not support such treatment. Gore said Arabs had been "indiscriminately rounded up" and held in "unforgivable" conditions. The former vice president said the Bush administration was playing into al-Qaida's hands by routinely blocking Saudi visa applications.

"The thoughtless way in which visas are now handled, that is a mistake," Gore said during the Jiddah Economic Forum. "The worst thing we can possibly do is to cut off the channels of friendship and mutual understanding between Saudi Arabia and the United States."

Gore told the largely Saudi audience, many of them educated at U.S. universities, that Arabs in the United States had been "indiscriminately rounded up, often on minor charges of overstaying a visa or not having a green card in proper order, and held in conditions that were just unforgivable."

"Unfortunately there have been terrible abuses and it's wrong," Gore said. "I do want you to know that it does not represent the desires or wishes or feelings of the majority of the citizens of my country."

[Hissyspit]

1. It was pretty sickening. None of the three men quoted accurately or

gave context. Pathetic.

[NYCGirl]

2. Looks like it's open season on Gore for the right and the near right wings

He must be threatening to them.

[dflprincess]

3. To be honest, I like Gore and

I don't disagree with everything he's is saying (though I kind of wonder about those "channels of friendship and mutual understanding" and if other immigrants can be arrested for overstaying a visa or not having a proper green card, why can't Saudis?) BUT I don't like him sucking up to the Saudis. It seems soooooo Bushco to me.


Flame me if you must.

[NYCGirl]

6. Unlike Bushco,

Al Gore cares about the regular people, not the Saudi royalty.

[tularetom]

4. Beluga's 15 minutes of fame were over

5 years ago. Only people as clueless as CNN would actually believe he had any relevance at all. He makes me ill, writing a book saying Democrats have to be "tough" and then sucking up to a wimpy winger like that Jeffreys guy. I can still remember him kissing Ted Nugent's ass on crossfire. He ain't a democrat he's a media whore like the rest of em.

[chaumont58]

5. Terry Jeffries? Good God, I wouldn't want to be on the same tectonic ....

plate, let alone the same room!!!

Carville and Begela have spent too much time inside the beltway. They are part of the dark side now.

[wisteria]

7. He is a Hillary operative wanna be. I wish him and Carvelle would

go away or better yet, work for the Republicans.They are so good at trashing Dems.

[sasha031]

8. Begala offered his assistance to Kerry during the campaign

Kerry declined, didn't want the weasels help...

I have lost so much respect for Carvelle and never cared for Begala

[corporatemedia]

11. Yeah, Kerry stuck with Mary Beth "Campaign Kill" Cahill...

who ceded the month of August to the Repugs so they could "swiftboat" Kerry. Didn't even send out surrogates to defend his record. The campaign was over by Labor Day. All we could do was keep it close. Yeah, maybe even close enough that we actually won, but it should have been a blow out.

[blm]

13. Actually, Kerry made a speech to Firefighters Convo. attacking Swiftliars

that August but corporate media refused to cover his speech. Only Cspan covered it. Corp. media didn't even report on his speech.

[Kagemusha]

9. He's making it sound like the Japanese internment

he knows that "terrible abuses" has been used specifically to refer to WWII internment of Japanese. This is more Red Scare than WWII internment. So, I can see how Paul (who understands what I mean here) might not think this is the best use of Gore's speaking abilities.

But it's not like Gore represents the US... that's so painfully obvious, it's a burden Gore no longer has to carry.

[flpoljunkie]

10. I disagree that "terrible abuses" must be used only for WWII internment of

the Japanese--this abuse of the Japanese was considerably more than "terrible." The word disgraceful springs to mond.

[Kagemusha]

12. You really didn't get what I said...

Not like that's a big deal...

What I said was, terrible abuses is a term that has been applied to the WWII internment. Not that this term is sufficient or just. It is simply to say that the words are known to have been used for something of that level. Gore is, therefore, comparing the two, and saying treatment of Arabs is terrible and disgraceful (I see no particular difference between the words in this context). So people see Gore saying the nation has behaved terribly and disgracefully and aren't happy about it. I can understand their being unhappy about it.

I just don't think their being unhappy about it matters anywhere near as much as people might try to argue. Gore's a political corpse. What he says is not going to "bring disrepute" to the US. It just won't. He has no such power and should say what the hell he likes. Begala should leave him alone, really, for that reason alone.

But I was not in any way, shape or form trying to say that "terrible abuses" must be used ONLY for WWII internment. We're not discussing some event people hold uniquely horrible like the Holocaust. But Arabs were not rounded up like the Japanese. Gore's making a rhetorical point, and that's his right. But I need not accept his point uncritically.

[flpoljunkie]

14. Arabs were indiscriminately rounded up after 9/11. This should not be

happening in our country. Did we learn nothing from the internment of the Japanese during World War II. I do not link this disgraceful internment of the Japanese people with the words "terrible abuse"--terrible, as it was. We can agree that Begala should shut his mouth.

Although I do not support Gore for 2008, I applaud him for having the guts to speak out about our "terrible abuse" of innocent Arabs in our country, after 9/11. We, meaning our government, have evidently learned nothing after all these decades.

[Doctor_J]

15. Paul has to trash Dems to keep his MSM job

no real Dems are allowed anywhere near a camera.

[lyonn]

16. Let's put it this way, Begala will not be asked to be a

stratigist or advisor to any Democrats.

[peacetalksforall]

17. Begala does not represent Democrats. There needs to be a label for

someone like him - other than Democrat. No way. He is never going to come through.

We are really screwed when it comes to spokespeople that get to appear on tv.

Maybe we should call it what it appears to be - a vast left wing conspiracy.

[tn-guy]

18. I'm not Paul, but I'll take a stab at it

"The thoughtless way in which visas are now handled, that is a mistake," Gore said during the Jiddah Economic Forum. "The worst thing we can possibly do is to cut off the channels of friendship and mutual understanding between Saudi Arabia and the United States."


Call me crazy but I think if we had cut off some of "the channels of friendship and mutual understanding" by deporting some of the 19 hijackers who had violated the terms of their visas it may have helped prevent 9-11.

[thebigidea]

19. take that up with the shithead-in-chief

who not only keeps the channels of friendship and mutual understanding open, he holds their fucking hands and cavorts on his ranch playset with them.

It hilarious the way the FOX-types are spinning this: ignoring years of the Bushies' "special" relationship with the House of Saud. Funny, you never hear a peep from them about that. Oh, wasn't that because some Saudi type bought a big chunk of FOX?

[tn-guy]

20. Now you've got me confused.

Is the S-i-C keeping the channels open and going beyond that as you assert or is he cutting them off as Gore said in his speech. It seems to me that it would be hard to do both at the same time.