Get your Al on...The truth about Iraq war and Al Gore...great blog

[ourbluenation]

"...on September 23, 2002, in a speech at the Commonwealth Club -- long before the invasion of Iraq and before members of Congress voted to give President Bush authority to invade -- Vice President Al Gore unequivocally and emphatically stated his opposition to a War in Iraq and set forth a multitude of reasons why.

Among his reasons were that

1) We should focus our efforts on building a multinational coalition to fight terrorism and the enemies who were responsible for 9/11 and not become distracted;

2) A war with Iraq had the potential to seriously damage our ability to win the war against terrorism and weaken our ability to lead the world in this new century;

3) Although Iraq's search for weapons of mass destruction would continue for as long as Saddam was in power, the existing U.N. resolutions passed 11 years ago were completely sufficient to contain that potential threat; and,

4) We should focus on stabilizing Afghanistan so that terrorists would not be able to slip back across the border and set up camp there again.

Al Gore told the truth despite the political costs. In contrast, members of Congress checked President Bush's poll numbers before deciding whether to vote to authorize a war in Iraq. Al Gore took the unpopular position, but clearly the correct one. He took no small amount of flak from his own party for raising the pressure on them not to issue a blank check and to at least require the administration to put forth the an assessment of how it thought the course of a war would run. Instead, Congress rushed to vote yes, to show its patriotic bona fides -- just in time for the November election. Not that you would know any of this by reading or listening to the mainstream press such as Scarborough Country. They gloss over or ignore Al Gore's courageous and insightful (and early) opposition to the War. So it is up to Blogworld to set the record straight. Blog on."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/trudi-loh/the-truth-about-the-war-i_b_20645.html

[ourbluenation]

1. get your blog on....eom

[Spiffarino]

2. It's time to give Al Gore his due

He ran a terrible campaign in 2000 and should have wiped the floor with the "Texas Souffle." However, there is no denying that, in most cases, he's guided by principle as much as a modern politician can be - with the notable exceptions of Russ Feingold and the late Paul Wellstone.

I hope at last he has reached into his soul and decided to get rid of spin doctors, poll-takers and Washington image makers. If he stands on his own merits he could become a great president.

[calmblueocean]

4. I've never bought the line that Gore ran a terrible campaign in 2000.

People remember all the anti-Gore smears in the media, and forget about the Clinton fatigue that really existed back then. The people that voted for Bush and put him over the top largely did so because Bush pretended he was going to bring "integrity" back to the White House, and people thought that since the Soviet Union was gone, there was no real possibility that even some frat boy son of an ex-president could really screw things up.

And aside from all that, Gore freaking won. He won the popular vote, and when all the votes in Florida were finally counted by a consortium of national media, Gore won under EVERY standard. Hanging chad, pregnant chad, dimpled chad... Gore won under all of them.

Gore won in 2000. That's a fact. His rightful victory was stolen by a corrupt Florida electoral system and a corrupt Supreme Court. Out of all the people I blame for Bush being president, Gore isn't one of them.

[calmblueocean]

3. This comment deserved quoting too!

Al Gore should be president. He is eloquent on the Iraq War, global warming, and Bush's undermining of our democracy. He is not a sell-out like Hillary or a coward like Kerry. He has grown into his own skin. He no longer seems wooden. He is no longer trying to be an Everyman. He is the son of a United States Senator and was born into wealth and privilege. He is not a phony like Bush, pretending to be of the working classes. Gore allows himself to be eloquent and intelligent. His recent speeches are of the caliber of FDR and Lincoln. We should all fight to make him the nominee in '08.

By: Daedalus on May 08, 2006 at 10:04pm

Couldn't have said it better myself! (Okay, I wouldn't have called Kerry a coward (!) but other than that... :))

Someone should make a poll asking how many DUers actually think Gore will run. I'd like to know what the consensus is.

[ourbluenation]

5. bumping for the morning crowd...start spreading the news!!!

[bigendian]

6. bumpity bump bump n/t

:kick: