Al Gore, America's last legally elected president that didn't get to be president. What might have been! Thanks Supremes, look at what you have wrought for America. Al Gore, what a Democrat is supposed to look like. Hey Senator Schmoe Lieberman, take a good look at Vice President Gore and take a lesson. What a rousing speech. What a beacon of hope. What an inspiration. Quite possibly America won't implode in on itself under the sheer weight of abysmal corruption and political expedience. America does have REAL leaders and they are not in Babylon on the Potomac.

What a President He Might Have Been

To provide a concrete example: Gore, who had a hand in building up FEMA and staffing it with high quality leaders like Witt, would not have been a party to tearing it down. He would not have dallied for days while New Orleans was swamped, nor abandoned it as Bush has. The effects of Katrina would have been mitigated.

Gore's problem in 2000 was that he believed in the rule of law while the Bush team was determined to rule at any cost and in spite of the law. It was only some time after the election when it became clear that Bush had little respect for the constitution or rule of law. They are machine politicians and it is all about seizing power with this bunch.

This administration does know what democracy is. It is an inconvenience and an annoyance that they have to go around and/or subvert in order to persue their pet interests even in the face of reality.

Bush claims legal authority to disregard the 4th Amendment because we're at war. He reserves for himself the role of sole arbiter on the matter of what constitutes violating the amendment. He says his actions are not to be reviewed, impeded, modified or stopped by either the judicial or leglislative branches of government. I ask, if he has these powers due to the extraordinary and perilous circumstances of war what prevents him from disregarding the 22nd Amendment? He could announce the war made it imperative we have continuity of executive command and authority. He could say we're at a critical stage of operations, on the verge of victory, and passing off his office to a successor without the public given an opportunity to keep him in command is unwise and dangerous. What if the RNC and party apparatus went along, nominating him at their convention? I know it sounds farfetched but so is announcing you're going to pretend the 4th Amendment doesn't exist. Why not also the 22nd?

I like Al Gore as much as the next progressive, but let's be honest -- sometimes, politicians need to leave public life in order to find their true voice. I doubt that Gore's recent speeches reflect the kind of president he would have been. More likely, they represent the kind of president Al Gore would have WANTED to be.

This post-political transformation has made the former vice president a more genuine person and, ironically, a more compelling candidate.

"It is this kind of spirit -- combined with smarts -- that appeals not just to the left that will get a Democrat into the White House."

After the undeniable corruption of two election cycles, that even the GAO now admits, Steve still thinks that election results will be decided by the accurate counting of votes. I guess the problem just fixed itself, eh, Steve? Or are you STILL clinging to your selectively naive mantra of "it can't happen here"?

And how in God's name can you have "enthusiasm" for that mewling inconsequential pissant Kerry, who's balls are hanging in Kenneth Blackwell's office????? What solid stand has that wimp taken on ANYTHING since Blackwell castrated him?

For what it's worth, there is a Draft Gore 2008 petition running here:

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/303874397

I would be happy to see Gore running again. Whoever wins (or procures) the next presidency will need the sort of deeply informed 'wonk' level knowledge of governmental practice, theory, and history that Gore has in order to set the administration to rights. Unless the goal is crude monarchy, in which case any old dumbass will do.

I would imagine that things are so corrupted right now that step one for any president might need to be a Nixon-style demand for resignations across the board in order to rebuild the works. Gonna take some de facto chops to pull off a proper house cleaning.

And how pleasant it would be (would have been) to have a President with basic literacy skills.

JA

Do you think he writes his own speeches? Does it matter?

Your title brings to mind the saying "Johnny, we hardly knew yeh."

It actually brought tears to my eyes. Of course, I'm only a middle- aged woman who worries about the country my children will spend their lives in.

Just want to say thanks for all your work. Oh, and thanks for all the fish too.

If Gore would have exhibited half the bravado he did yesterday in 2000, America would not be the mess we're in today.

The Democratic candidate in 2008 needs to run on a platform that takes the best of FDR and Eisenhower, and especially on Eisenhower's Farewell Address http://www.luminet.net/~tgort/ike.htm and his Chance for Peace Address http://www.eisenhower.archives.gov/chance.htm
Ike over and over warned about the dangers of the military-industrial complex and spoke eloquently about what could be bought domestically for the country in health, education, housing, roads, etc. instead of military weapons.

Also FDR's Economic Bill of Rights in his 4th SOTU when he started thinking about domestic needs that should be addressed after WWII ended. http://www.worldpolicy.org/globalrights/econrights/fdr-econbill.html

Then propose Stiglitz to head the Council of Economic Advisors.

Last week Bilmes and Stiglitz presented all the statistics about the cost of the Iraq War to support this platform. See their op-ed in today's LA Times http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-bilmes17jan17,0,7038018.story?coll=la-news-comment-opinions

Throw in a return to honesty and integrity in government (lobbying and election reform, both finance and voting machines.)

Gore has, by far, the most experience of any potential Democratic candidate and his being away from elected office for eight years could be a distinct advantage.

whether or not gore should run for president in 2008 is entirely beside the point... the point is that a former vice president of the united states and a man who might (and maybe should) be sitting in the oval office right now, put all the credibility and gravitas earned throughout his distinguished career on the line and accused a sitting president of being a criminal... that's major, major news... and where was the media...?? MIA...!! where were the american people...?? MIA...!! gore may have give the most important speech of the 21st century and my hat is off to a man who can stand up and say publicly what a hellish mess the united states is in and just how urgent it is to do something about it...

http://takeitpersonally.blogspot.com/

Al Gore is part of the class that needs to be removed from the DC culture. He had his opportunity but lost to an inept, unconcerned governor who has shifted this country into an Eisenhower nightmare. What the Dems need is an outsider to step out of the shadow and reclaim this country for its people.

I think he is offering us a glimpse into the kind of appealing president he might "be". It's way too early for him to commit to running, but these comments he's making are not just for air time. I think he's the only legitimate candidate for the Dems (for these times in which we live). He's my choice.

Gore does better when he's not constantly surrounded by handlers, when he feels free just being himself.

Al Gore's speech was incredible.

Best quote was when he was talking about thirty second commercials and sound bites--"But folks, those aren't the Federalist Papers."

His best call to action was this...

It is the pitiful state of our legislative branch which primarily explains the failure of our vaunted checks and balances to prevent the dangerous overreach by our Executive Branch which now threatens a radical transformation of the American system.

I call upon Democratic and Republican members of Congress today to uphold your oath of office and defend the Constitution. Stop going along to get along. Start acting like the independent and co-equal branch of government you're supposed to be.

And for those who didn't like it because they are Bush idolators, they should listen to it again, because if nothing else, it was a most instructive history lesson that everyone in this nation needs to know by heart.

It seems odd to see enthusiasm and the names Al Gore and John Kerry used in the same sentence. Perhaps if they'd shown some they might have made it to president.

But instead they took the safe, milquetoast route that lead to failure. I'm glad that Al Gore has found his voice and is coming out passionately for issues now. We need more of that. But if he'd been elected, would he have been convinced that never taking a stand is the safest way to govern?

Steve,

I have tended to agree with you about Gore. True confession: I voted for Nader in 2000 (but since Gore easily carried New York, I didn't help Bush in office.) So I'm not some longstanding Gore supporter.

But I'm supporting him for president now. He has been the conscience of the Democratic Party for the past several years. And he has been really the ONLY Democrat on the national level who has passionately articulated the disaster that is Bush Administration. Every time he speaks the right wingers castigate him and the media ho-hums him, which is about what you would expect. But try as they may, they can't dismiss him. This is the man who got a majority of the vote in 2000. He is someone who can't be dismissed, no matter how much the media tries.

I don't know whether this is a "new" Gore or the "old" Gore finally finding his own voice and not listening to the loser political strategists who are helping to destroy the party. But it is a Gore who is finally the right person for the right time.

We live in strange times. I never thought I'd be enthusiastically supporting Al Gore for anything, but here I am. Gore for President in 2008! Take back America!

I don't know if you watched the Lincoln special on the History Channel last night, but some of the parallels between Gore and Lincoln are pretty striking. Lincoln left elected office (albeit under different circumstances) a few years before he ran for President; Lincoln found one grave issue (slavery) which helped him find his voice while he was "lost in the desert"--the time between his leaving public office and his run for the presidency; and Lincoln's speeches on this issue directly led to his successful run for White House in 1860. Now, I am sure Gore is no Lincoln, but if he is half the man Lincoln was, and Gore sure shows signs of being at least that, Gore might be a solid choice to pick up the pieces after the Bush Debacle. It is truly amazing, though, how being freed from the bonds of strict political association (i.e. not having to worry about elections anymore) can bring out the better nature in some. Too bad Gore didn't show more of this in 2000.

Steve,

I attended Gore's speech yesterday. It was quite an event. Beyond the substance of the text, Gore was relaxed, focused, measured and statesman-like.

Barring some family crisis, in my judgement he is going to run again. It does seem, as so many have noted above, that he has found his voice and persona after being in the wilderness for these long six years.

Regardless of the shameless sliming and dismissing of Al Gore by complicit parrots in the socalled MSM, and the disinformation, propaganda, and information warriors in, and operations of the republican reich and the fascist Bush government totalitarian dictatorship cabals false claims, - Al Gore has emerged on a few occasions to offer voice to the voiceless, and eloquently articulate a reasonalble, intelligent, coherent, and human stream of policy idea's and ideals defining and formulating the voice and platform of theleft.

Some of Gore's quotes are priceless, and this may be one of the most important speeches of the Bush government totalitarian dictatorships reign of terror and neverendingwar. As the divides are clearly defined, and the gauntlet has been indignantly dropped, the complicit parrots in the socalled MSM cannot ignore the fact that Al Gore publically accused the president and the office of the executive of "breaking the law, repeatedly and incistantly".

Gore also sternly warned all Americans of a Bush government "radical transformation" and that the extreme overreach and unsanctioned expropriation and abrogation of political and federal funds, resources, and powers present and pose a dire, unprecedent, and very real "threat to the structure of government".

These are potent and incendiary charges delivered by the former Vice President of the United States of America, against the current President, and office of the executive of the USA, and so these charges cannot be dismissed or ignored. The people deserve the right to accountability and the awarenes and recognition, and right to an examination of the facts relating to these charges.

Simply ignoring these charges, (which represent one small piece of an long and festering litany of abuses, failures, deceptions, acts malfeasance and perfidy, grotesque mismanagment, systemic cronyism, book cooking, woeful lack of accounting, dereliction of duty, and wanton profiteering by the Bush government totalitarian dictatorship fascist cabals, is no way affords or sanctions the office of the executive or the president or vice presiden to imagine or conjure "previously unrecognized" powers and authority.

Fascist cronies in the Bush government are commandeering every mechanism of our government, usurpiing unprecedent powers, exhibiting an obdurate "disrespect of, and for the Constitution", "indifference to the Constitution", and inventing or conjuring the right, - when "no such right exists' to apply or expropriate "previously unrecognized authority", and operate unilaterally above, beyond, outside and in total disdain of the law.

The president is not a monarch. There are no "kings rights', or inherent inafallibility afforded any elected official including the ceasar posing as commander in chief presently in our unique system of government, and every agent or operation in the office of the executive including the President and Vice President and all elected and appointed government officials and employees's are accountable to the people, and beholden to the Constitution and the law of the land.

There is no inherent right for fascist cabals operating in secret within and outside or connected to the Bush government - to invent, expropriate, abgrogate, usurp, or conjure these imagined powers out of the myst without review, recourse, or remedy. Nor is the "radical transformation" of American law by the office of the executive legal under our system of government without review, recourse, remedy.

Simply indignantly repeating this foul and odious heretofore assertion of "unrecognized power" does not afford the office of the executive or the imagined imperial president the right to operate above, beyond, outside, or in total disdaiin of the law. The Bush government is accountable.

Gore also issues a chilling, - and if you watch the video and hear the audio - very impassioned warning that there are "reasons for concern that the equilibrium will not be restored", ('equalibrium; meaning checks and balances and co-equal powers divided by and separating the three branches of American government, which always previously balanced and allayed the occasional "constitutional crisis", and stretching, bending, or breaking of the nations laws or core principles at various times in our history, and always returned to the rule of law and a state of political legal, and democratic "equilibrium) - and that the Bush governments 'misguided moral authority to impose global dominance", and the "radical transformation" of America's core laws and principles, - and the brazen "abandonement" of (these principles) "at substantial loss of the governments' credibility before the court", increase the potential for the extreme and overarching abuses and misuses, and radical concentration of power we witness and endure today under the tyranny of the fascist cabals in the Bush government totalitarian dictatorships reign of terror and neverendingwar.

Gore quotes the British Ambassador to Uzbekistan warning Parliment that regarding America's rendition and torture policies that 'we are selling our souls for dross".

America is fast approaching a crossroad, a threshold, a criticality event from which point and moment all things will be forever changed. There will be no turning back, or rewinding of the powerful and wayward enertia and energetics unleashed at this astounding moment. America will be changed forever.

Congress, en masse is a "willing accomplice in the surrender of it's own power", and both political and judicial "deference to executive decision making" and policy, threaten to undermine the foundation of American democracy.

We (the people) effectively have no representation.

If Ameirca truly intends to form a government where 'all power is derived the consent of the governed", - then the people demand the right to petition the government for redress of grievances, - and the governed - the people petition the Bush government for redress of a long and festering litany of abuses, failures, deceptions, acts malfeasance and perfidy, grotesque mismanagment, systemic cronyism, book cooking, falacious accounting, derelicition of duty, and wanton profiteering.

America must awaken from it's collective torpor, or surrender to and endure the insidious dismantling of our system of government, the systemic dismembering and re-engineering of our democracy and the erection of Novus Ordo Seclorum - a totalitarian dictatorship commandeered by various elements and camandery of the "Bush Crime Family", and the fascist cabals in the republican reich.

Bravo Al Gore!

Steve,

Gore specifically named Eisenhower, not Truman.

Truman officially integrated the military, but Eisenhower actually made it happen.

I'm fond of Ike's second term, since he seemed to have stopped the CIA and overseas adventurism, not to mention the Suez Crisis. Was that the only time in the last 75 years we treated the Middle East decently? Could be.

Could the eventual consequence of Nixon's Southern Strategy, and eventual Southern reversal, be that the "new" Democrats become Eisenhower Republicans?

Why do I think we are living in a parallel universe? DO-OVER 2008!

This is truly exciting and encouraging. I watched the speech on cspan, and I see the thrill I felt is widely shared. I believe this will be looked back on as a seminal speech in the overturning of the Bush regime, maybe THE seminal speech.

And I think the Gore for Prez movement will gather a whole lot of steam. He's got my vote. Obama for veep? Feingold? Clark? Nah, let's save Clark for Defense Sec. OK, OK, I'm getting ahead of myself.

Gore for President in '08! Maybe beth's parallel universe come to pass!

I'm also tremendously pleased to see Harry Reid's straight talk about Republican corruption.

There is an understanding dawning in the minds of some believers in the Constitution that a King George is not to be tolerated any longer. Where have they been these past six long years? Watching torture on television--our torture? Watching smart bombs kill thousands of innocent people--our bombs? Watching the George-who-would-be-King joy ride a nuclear aircraft carrier named after our most precious of documents and congratulate himself on getting our United States into a war of delusion and corruption, the victory of which he crowed to the world, without blinking an eye and without any sign of remorse, pity, or any other sort of human kindness or empathy? Is that what America has been staring at?

Its all a dream; a make believe world! Awake! Awake! Fair liberty, awake! Fair justice, awake! The Constitution is white hot before your eyes! It is an insult to even imagine George the King at the helm our most powerful vessel, let alone explain how he alone is capable of somehow righting her as she threatens to sink due to his incompetence, cronyism, and back alley dealings.

Don't dispair yet! The groanings of the Enterprise are signs of trouble, a trouble anticipated by the Framers of the Constitution. The oaths of allegence have meaning, but perhaps not the meaning the King and his Men should wish. The Commander and Chief is NOT more important than the Constitution, no matter how much He detests it, no matter how many times that He has the power to decide, it is not true. It is only true as long as your Oath to the Constitution and the Enterprise is meaningless, a meaningless that the King's Men attempt to instill at every turn, every campaign.

Lincoln gave power back after the end of our Civil War. Washington declined to be King. George Bush and his Men do not seem so inclined. In fact, they continue to maintain that the current crisis of terror is unending and use this as a basis for their power, not the Constitution that clearly prohibits them from doing what they are doing.

Other vessels of the Constitution are the great battles of the American Revolution: Lexington, Saratoga, Yorktown, and all the others. But these are not the only vessels, they are the ancient vessels. The current vessels are not so clear. The battles for freedom and liberty and a just and fair system of government are not simply won by stating that they will be won. They are won when someone actually applies themselves to winning, not for personal gain, but for the gain of everyone! That includes the weak, the sick, the elderly, the poor, and not just the rich!

That was, until recently, the course of American Democracy. The raising of everyone. The achievement of freedom and liberty through rising equality. Look around you now. Do you see this equality? Or do you see the rise of a criminal class, determined to control our political institutions indefinitely and with no regard to the rule of law?

Only 20 years ago, the behaviour that is seen in the Congress and in this Administration was seen as illegal, immoral, and not to be tolerated. However, through the last six years, there seems to have been a steady erosion of good government, of rising prosperity for all, a decline in the basic living standards of most Americans. And there seems to be no accountability for this decline. No one is paying a political cost for the incompetency, corruption, and greed that has led us to this sad state of affairs.

I recomend that all of us, each of us, to the best of our ability, attempt to give our fellow citizens a helping hand. And that helping hand begins in stopping government handouts to the incompetent, the corrupt, and the greedy men who currently rule us. For, if the hundreds of billions of dollars and tens of thousands of lives were not being wasted in Iraq, what could we do with them? If the incompetence and waste in the current US Administration was effectively ended, how many Americans would be safer, healthier, wiser, and even wealthier? It is not a question of how much, but of how many...

Al Gore is a decent person. He has been misguided at times, sheltered even. However, unlike the current regime, I do not doubt Mr. Gore's patriotism. His growth is that of a great American, perhaps even a great American leader. I have never voted for him in a Presidential race. However, I intend to if I have to. For, if it comes to understanding the Constitution and working to carry out the government it envisions effectively verses the alternative, I for one, will take Mr. Gore's vision of America over *any* Cheney-esque dissembler, lacky, or schill.

Steve,
outside the beltway and blue state reality check please!!! When you state you "couldn't agree more with Gore that Bush does not seem to know the definition of democracy or of checks-and-balances . . . "

The fact that there is so much agreement hides the illusion that the rest of the country is with you. I would wager a large sum that most Americans would want the CIC impeached if we WERE NOT listening in on phone calls with suspected terrorists on the line. And the more one tries to attack the Bush warrantless wiretaps, etc. on any legal basis, the more red state Americans will be convinced that the Democrats don't have what it takes to protect us.

Just my thoughts, Steve. This is a losing issue for Democrats. Read Dick Morris poll analysis of this issue and you will see why it is a loser.

Sean

Sean,
It's not that we don't want the NSA doing their job. We just want it done legally with some form of check in place, formerly known as the FISA court.

However, I get the feeling that this isn't going anywhere unless they can bring forward an innocent face that was listened to. This program has been so secret we don't know if it's been misused or not.

I live in an area with many military bases and I think continued problems in Iraq is still the big bat. And Afghanistan continues to heat up as the Taliban apply the lessons learned in Iraq.

Many military leaders are complaining that the Iraq war is depleting resources and ruining military preparedness.

The fanaticus wingnutsia truebelievers and socalled "red state Americans" are already convinced that the Democrats don't have what it takes to protect us." So no matter what position the democrats take, the socalled redstate Americans will always robopathically hate, dismiss, disparage, discredit, ignore, slime, demonize, and seek to silence or destory Democrats.

This terrible wrong does not make a right, and while ignorance may be bliss, mindlessness is a lethal threat a functioning democracy.

The sad and tragic fact that socalled redstate Americans mindlessly believe and ignorantly accept this slime, disinformation, propaganda and patently false assertions in lockstep unison is a terrifying testament to how far America has devolved, and how wide and seething is the divide of America. Redstate Americans mindless automatic, robopathic lockstep responses and talking points prove the the success and potency of the partisan conditioning of theright, by theright, - exposes an appalling ignorance, apathy, somnabulance, and woeful lack of basic understanding or appreciation of the Constitution, or of America's laws and core principles, or the legal structures of our unique system of government - and reveals a population of fanatical partisan mindless parrots blindly hating, dismissing, sliming, and seeking to destroy their follow Americans on theleft, and tragically incapable of reading, disseminating information, or understanding basic facts, or comprehending simple math, or recognizing the obvious perversion and retardation of factbasedrealities and America's existing standards, principles, and laws.

Redstate Americans lockstep partisan fanaticism and appalling ignorance is no justification for the systemic perversion and destruction of America's laws, core principles, and unique experiment in democracy.

Redstate Americans have no ears, and no eyes, and will never hear or see democrats or support any democratic position. The fanaticus wingnustia redstate Americans are ignorant, robopathically partisan, incapable of reading, or comprehending or understanding basic facts or math, and pathologically obediant, submissive to, and mindlessly exalting of the fascist warmongers and profiteers in the Bush government totalitarian dictatorship.

The sad and lost population of redstate America have "sold its soul for dross."

Sean_

Be careful about polls. All the early polls showed the public in favor of the Iraq War. Where would we be today if some of us had not bucked polls, to hang onto truth in the face of "Facts do not matter- in politics perception is reality".

It is a tough fight when most of the major newspapers are willing to propagandize for the administration. But in the end it is the appeal to man's true soul that is ALWAYS the victor, a fact that Peter Bamm, in the Unsichtbarre Flagge (The invisible Flag) claims was also Hitler's fatal mistake.

I hope Gore runs and behaves the way he is behaving now. If he does then I will vote for him. If he doesn't then I won't.

As Eric Alterman said many times today: "Thanks again, Ralph." The uber-lefties were adamant that Gore was the exact same as Bush. I even heard some say he was worse. If they were that wrong, how can I trust them again?

On a different note, for small, inconsequential speeches the official doesn't necessarily get too involved--when you have several a day, why should you. But for big speeches, officials are often quite involved, even if they didn't pen every single word.

I am sure some of Gore's comments were relevant. However, him calling the Bush Administration criminal, is like the pot-holder calling the kettle black.
Raymond B
www.voteswagon.com

Okay, all together now: When you can't attack the message, attack the messenger.

http://mediamatters.org/items/200405280001

Right-wing pundits play doctor; diagnose Gore as "insane"

Following are some responses to former Vice President Al Gore's May 26 speech (sponsored by MoveOn.org and delivered at New York University), in which Gore called for the resignation of six top Bush administration officials.

Charles Krauthammer, on FOX News Channel's Special Report with Brit Hume, on May 26:

It looks as if Al Gore has gone off his lithium again.

(Charles Krauthammer is a syndicated Washington Post columnist, Time magazine columnist, and FOX News contributor. He holds a medical degree from Harvard and worked as a resident in psychiatry in the late 1970s before moving to Washington.)

Dennis Miller, host of CNBC's Dennis Miller, on May 26:

At one point I respected Al Gore, but I think he's lost his mind. ... I think he's gone daft because he's a sad little man now.

Mark R. Levin, conservative radio talk show host, as a guest on FOX News Channel's Hannity & Colmes on May 26:

He sounded like and looked like [televangelist] Jimmy Swaggart. He really did.

[...]

And half the country thinks he's [Al Gore is] a mental patient. ... They think he should go back to the dayroom he came out of.

(Mark R. Levin is the president of the Landmark Legal Foundation, a conservative legal advocacy group that has received millions of dollars in funding from right-wing financier Richard Mellon Scaife, according to a dossier by Media Transparency: The Money Behind the Media, a website that tracks grants made to conservative organizations. Levin is also a contributing editor for National Review Online. His nightly radio show is aired on 77 WABC Newstalk Radio, which also airs conservative commentators Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and Laura Ingraham. He has also been a frequent guest on Hannity's radio show, The Sean Hannity Show.)

Joe Scarborough, host of MSNBC's Scarborough Country, on May 26:

Well, Al Gore is at it again. He just can't help himself, breathlessly attacking the president in a speech today. But will hate speech like this backfire on the Democrats? [text on screen: "Gore's Hate Speech"]

[...]

You know, Al Gore adds to the global warming threat today with his very own thermonuclear meltdown.

Michael Savage, on his nationally syndicated radio show, Savage Nation, on May 26:

We are all sitting here asking ourselves, was there lead in Al Gore's silver spoon, because of the obvious tilt across the river of sanity. He has definitely pulled his raft across the river of sanity, or he has taken the side of the enemy, there's no other explanation for what he has been doing.

(Michael Savage's radio program, Savage Nation, is syndicated by Talk Radio Network and is the third-largest syndicated radio talk show in the nation, reaching 6 million listeners per week. He is the author of two New York Times best-sellers, The Savage Nation: Saving America from the Liberal Assault on Our Borders, Language and Culture and The Enemy Within: Saving America from the Liberal Assault on Our Schools, Faith, and Military -- both published by the conservative WorldNetDaily press WND Books. Savage hosted a short-lived televised version of his show for MSNBC, also called The Savage Nation, before being fired by the cable channel for referring on the air to a caller as a "sodomite" and saying that the caller should "get AIDS and die.")

John Podhoretz, in a column in the New York Post, on May 27:

[I]t is now clear that Al Gore is insane. I don't mean that his policy ideas are insane, though many of them are. I mean that based on his behavior, conduct, mien and tone over the past two days, there is every reason to believe that Albert Gore Jr., desperately needs help. I think he needs medication, and I think that if he is already on medication, his doctors need to adjust it or change it entirely.

[...]

Gore's speech is the single craziest political performance of my lifetime, and I use the word "craziest" advisedly. The speech, at 6,600 words, was twice as long as Bush's address to the nation on Monday night. The indiscipline shown by the sheer endlessness of Gore's address is a reflection of the psychic morass in which he has become mired.

(John Podhoretz is a New York Post columnist, FOX News Channel contributor, author of Bush Country: How Dubya Became a Great President While Driving Liberals Insane, and former speechwriter for President George H.W. Bush.)

David Frum, in "David Frum's Diary" on National Review Online, on May 27:

Maybe a National Psychological Council would be a good idea after all -- and maybe it could start by advising this former senator, vice president, and two-time presidential candidate that he [Al Gore] ought to seek out for his own good a cool and quiet darkened room.

(David Frum is a contributing editor to National Review, a resident fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, and a regular contributor to National Public Radio and to Great Britain's Daily Telegraph. He is also the author of the 2003 Random House release The Right Man: The Surprise Presidency of George W. Bush.)

Barbara Comstock, in a column published on National Review Online on May 27:

Columnist Charles Krauthammer observed, "Looks as if Al Gore has gone off his lithium again."

[...]

Outside of MoveOn.org, the biggest cheers for Gore must have been coming from caves in Afghanistan and diehards in Fallujah.

(Barbara Comstock was director of the Office of Public Affairs at the Department of Justice under Attorney General John Ashcroft from December 2001 until September 2003 and is currently a principal at Blank Rome Government Relations, where she serves "as a lobbyist and strategic communications specialist." She was director of research and strategic planning at the Republican National Committee during the 2000 election. According to the May 13, 1998, issue of The Hill, Comstock was a "close ally" of David Bossie while both served as aides to Representative Dan Burton (R-IL) on the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee. Comstock "also played a key role in [selectively] editing and releasing" controversial transcripts of former Clinton administration official Webster Hubbell's prison conversations -- the incident for which Bossie was fired from the committee.)

James Taranto, on The Wall Street Journal's editorial page website, OpinionJournal.com, in his "Best of the Web Today" column, on May 27:

An Associated Press account of yesterday's speech notes that "Gore, who served in Vietnam, predicted greater problems for America's involvement in Iraq." The AP apparently means to suggest that Gore suffers from posttraumatic stress disorder, since the Vietnam reference is otherwise a complete non sequitur. But according to WebMD, "symptoms of PTSD usually occur within three months of the traumatic event." True, "they can occur months or years later" -- but three decades later?

We've got a better theory: Gore, in our view, has cracked under a crushing burden of guilt.

Linda Vester, host of FOX News Channel's DaySide with Linda Vester, on May 27:

Some pundits have said they thought he went off his meds.

Oliver North, as a guest on FOX News Channel's DaySide with Linda Vester on May 27 and on FOX News Channel's Hannity & Colmes that evening:
They should check Gore's medications. [from DaySide with Linda Vester]

Somebody needs to check this guy's medication. This guy has got a problem. [from Hannity & Colmes]

(Oliver North is a nationally syndicated columnist and the host of the weekly FOX News Channel series War Stories with Oliver North. North is also the author of a book -- based on his tour in Iraq embedded with Marine and Army units during Operation Iraqi Freedom -- titled War Stories: Operation Iraqi Freedom (Regnery Publishing, November 2003). The book includes a free DVD featuring an hour-long FOX News Channel episode of War Stories: Operation Iraqi Freedom. According to a Publishers Weekly review, FOX shares copyright on the book.)

Sean Hannity, co-host of FOX News Channel's Hannity & Colmes -- in response to guest Oliver North's comment "Somebody needs to check this guy's medication. This guy has got a problem." -- on May 27:

He's [Al Gore's] really nuts.
Rush Limbaugh, host of the nationally syndicated radio show The Rush Limbaugh Show, on May 26:

I guess we can't -- get those -- those naked pyramids just not in the national interest to Al Gore. [laughter]

[...]

"I mean, it says -- it says a lot about Gore. It says he's perverse, that he would be argue to go confer greater rights on those who seek to murder millions of Americans and calling for even tougher actions to seek them out and destroy them before they destroy us.

What really troubles me about these photos, above and beyond what's in them, is how they're being used to undermine our war effort."

I think we tend to greatly underestimate the power of righteous enthusiasm, especially when it is coupled with the truth. People are, for the most part, sheep, and they tend to follow the person who looks and acts like a confident and competent leader. And if this is coupled with an internal resonance with truth, it's a power that cannot be stopped. People of many different incoming political persuasions will be rallied to the cause and its leader.

Gore for President 2008.

I like Gore, voted for him in 2000, but if he's thinking about running, he's going to need to lose some weight. And get a speech coach to help with some of his more annoying mannerisms. Sad, but true. It's an image thing. Truth takes a back seat to image (ref: Bush/Cheney 2000- )

It is the tactic of tyrants and dictators to label their opponents as insane, to laugh at them and ignore them...and finally eliminate them. I do not label opponents of the Constitution insane. Instead, I label them as treasonous and fully culpable. Not only that, but I demand that they be brought before a jury of their peers and judged with all the facts in plain site, not behind closed doors, soundproofed doors, like the opponents of our Constitution demand.

Hey are you guys still accepting commments here?

Gore/Obama 2008 - Ending the Reign of Error