News and information from the parallel universe - post 2000 singularity:
If Gore wins the Nobel Peace Prize, will he run for president?
By Christopher Hitchens
Posted Monday, Sept. 24, 2007, at 12:00 PM ET
I am occasionally asked why it is that so many Europeans display reflexive anti-Americanism, and I force myself to choose from a salad of possible answers. One of these is the resentment that I can remember feeling myself when I lived in England in the 1970s: the sheer brute fact that American voters who knew nothing about Europe (and cared less) could pick a president who had more clout than any of our elected prime ministers could exert. America could change our economic climate by means of the Federal Reserve, could use bases in Britain to forward its policies in Asia or the Middle East, and all the rest of it. Americans could also choose a complete crook like Richard Nixon, or a complete moron like Jimmy Carter, and we still had to watch our local politicians genuflect to the so-called Atlantic alliance.
Nowadays, this bothers me slightly less than it used to do. (George Bush at his worst is preferable to Gerhard Schröder or Jacques Chirac—politicians who put their own countries in pawn to Putin and the Chinese and the Saudis.) But I can still feel the old pang gnawing away. And I can still sense the European instinct for revenge or, to phrase it another way, for the chance to influence U.S. politics in return. One of the ways in which this influence can be exerted is the award of the Nobel Peace Prize. (And not just the peace prize, either; the so-called "prize" for literature has been awarded quite openly to figures who earned their reputations as enemies of the American imperium, just as the laurels bestowed on Jimmy Carter were accompanied by explicit remarks from Scandinavia to the effect that this might put a spoke in Bush's wheel.)
On Oct. 12, we shall hear again from Oslo, and I will be very surprised indeed if the peace prize is not awarded to Albert Gore Jr. (Don't ask what a campaign against global warming has done for "peace"; that would be like asking what Mother Teresa or Henry Kissinger had ever done to reduce global conflict. The impression is the main thing.)
So, and if I am right, the former vice president will then complete a year in which An Inconvenient Truth has been awarded an Oscar and he has authored a best seller. Roll it round your tongue again: an Oscar, a best seller, and a Nobel Prize in the space of 12 months or so. Not bad. And meanwhile, the field of Democratic candidates looks—how shall one put it?—a trifle etiolated. Sen. Clinton may have succeeded in getting people to call her "Hillary" and to have made them feel resigned to her front-runnership, but what kind of achievement is that? Sen. Obama cannot possibly believe, and doesn't even act as if he believes, that he can be elected president of the United States next year. John Edwards is a good man who is in politics for good reasons, but there is something about his populism that doesn't quite—what's the word?—translate.
Apart from the awards, not only could Gore claim that he had been a fairly effective senator and a reasonably competent vice president, he could also present himself in zeitgeist terms as the candidate who was on the right side of the two great overarching questions: the climate crisis and the war in Mesopotamia. Should I add that, whether or not he really won the Electoral College in 2000, he did manage to collect the majority of the popular vote? Several people, some of them well-informed, have been saying to me that Gore will wait until the Nobel committee's announcement before he makes up his mind. Should he make up his mind to run, he could alter the entire equation.
Should he make up his mind not to run, he would retrospectively abolish all the credit he has acquired so far. It would mean in effect that he never had the stuff to do the job and that those who worked and voted for him were wasting their time. Given his age and his stature, can he really want that to be the conclusion that history draws?
I am only guessing here, but I think that when Gore wakes up early and upset, he isn't whimpering about the time that the Supreme Court finally ruled against him in 2000. He is whimpering about the time in 1992 when he left the field open to Bill Clinton, a man he secretly despised. Can he really stand to watch yet another Clinton walk away with a nomination that could have been, or could still be, his? To move, then, from a consideration of elevated politics to a reflection upon the baser motives, we have to ask if Gore can possibly be content to be a "citizen" when he could still be a contender.
This consideration might be in his mind already. (It would be astonishing if it were not.) And of course it's been noticed that he coyly refuses to make a Sherman declaration about the possibility or otherwise of a run. That's ordinary—and annoying. What isn't ordinary is the possibility that a boring and cynical election process might be given a jolt and that the current brokers and managers of the Democratic Party might be given a jolt as well.
I remind you that Gore was once a stern advocate of the removal of Saddam Hussein, and that in office he might well not be the coward or apologist that the MoveOn.org crowd is still hoping to nominate. One has the very slight sense that he contains some unexpended political energy and has acquired some dearly bought political experience. At any rate, nothing could be worse than the present dreary political routine, and if it takes a Scandinavian kick-start to alter the odds, then for once one can hope that the heirs of Alfred Nobel will have a more explosive and catalytic effect than they had intended.
http://www.slate.com/id/2174590/
Parallel Universe - Gore Watch
Moderator: Super Moderators
Something new in American politics
by Marta Jorgensen
http://www.opednews.com
"In my heart, I do believe that democracy was harmed by my network and others on November 7, 2000."
-Roger Ailes, chairman and CEO of Fox News Network, February 14, 2001. (How to Steal an Election, David W. Moore)
Most of us remember painfully well the 2000 election. But some of us aren't content to let it be simply a painful memory. We have decided to move past the pain and get active.
The Draft Gore Movement is a labor of love on the part of our rapidly growing membership. Members and organizers do not have deep pockets, we use our own resources and intelligence to try to accomplish what mainstream political parties accomplish with their special-interest money and media spin doctors. We intend to place Al Gore's name on the primary state ballots and put in place a voting base. Just in case.
In California and several other states, we are contacting our election boards, collecting our nominating papers and petitions and hitting the streets. We are taking the 2008 election into our own hands.
Why all this effort? Why not support one of the Democratic candidates who has officially thrown his or her hat in the ring? To put it bluntly, none of them come close to Gore. He has established relationships with numerous world leaders, is well-liked internationally, and is not in anyone's pocket.
Given the Bush administration's unprecedented expansion of the unitary executive and sweeping constitutional changes, our next presidency may mean the difference between preserving our constitution and the principles upon which this country was founded, and losing them forever. Gore put it best himself in his 2006 speech, "Restoring the Rule of Law": "If the pattern of practice begun by this administration is not challenged, it may well become a permanent part of the American system. Many conservatives have pointed out that granting unchecked power to this president means that the next president will have unchecked power as well. And the next president may be someone whose values and belief you do not trust." The Clintons were involved in various breaches of constitutional law while in office, including allegations that Hillary's brothers received large sums of money in exchange for requesting (and obtaining) presidential pardons. Both John Edwards and Barack Obama are too inexperienced to adeptly lead America out of its current constitutional and diplomatic crisis.
Gore would make the climate crisis the number one issue for 2008, a necessary agenda no candidate from either party has adopted. By unifying world powers in pursuit of the goal to save our planet, Gore would restore America's standing in the world, thereby changing the global dialogue on other geopolitical crises as well. If elected president, Gore would: eliminate all payroll taxes and replace that revenue with pollution taxes, principally on CO2; help negotiate a stronger second-generation Kyoto Treaty; create an "Electranet," a smart electricity grid that would allow individuals and businesses to buy and sell electricity, forcing them to monitor their own consumption; and promote profitable alternative energy business models. Gore is also committed to ending the war in Iraq, which goes hand in hand with reducing our dependence on oil.
In The Assault on Reason, Gore stated, "Many Americans now feel that our government is unresponsive and that no one in a position of power listens to or cares what they think. They feel disconnected from democracy. They feel that one vote makes no difference, and that they, as individuals, now have no practical means of participating in America's self-government." Gore is well connected with the citizenry, even engaging in citizens' Web blog discussions from time to time. As president, he would restore public participation in politics. And he's devilishly handsome and a nice dresser.
But there's one other reason... he wouldn't allow the very technology that gives us this freedom to communicate, to be used against us, in surveillance, as with the Patriot Act.
Gore has stated that he can accomplish his goals as a private citizen, without getting caught up in the political game. But that can only go so far. Real change in governance must come from the Executive. Hmm?
No, I take that back. That's the old thinking. Real change comes from the bottom up: from the grassroots, the netroots, from each and every person who has a brain, a voice and a heart.
The Draft Gore effort is insistent and vocal. Members have shown up at all of The Assault on Reason book-signings, have been out meeting people, union leaders, elected officials, have written reams of letters, posted thousands of blogs, we are running a campaign of our own for a candidate of our own choosing.
We are doing ballot drives, planning concerts; we are rewriting the very how-to manual of Democracy, in our own way. If we succeed, it will be a first.
Supporting the Draft Gore Movement is the most logical and moral path to take. It's real democracy in action. Since 2000, a sizable part of the nation has grown from its pain, is less naïve, and more politically active and vocal, thanks to the Internet. Gore has also grown from his pain, as a man and as a leader. Right? But besides that... the very future of our world is in jeopardy. We in the Draft Movement demand a leader we can truly partner with in our efforts to curb the damage brought on by the Climate Crisis.
It's high time the nation and the leader shook hands and finally got together.
And you thought you've seen it all...
America For Gore
Answer The Call...
http://www.americaforgore.org
we are a grassroots coalition
http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne ... in_ame.htm
http://www.opednews.com
"In my heart, I do believe that democracy was harmed by my network and others on November 7, 2000."
-Roger Ailes, chairman and CEO of Fox News Network, February 14, 2001. (How to Steal an Election, David W. Moore)
Most of us remember painfully well the 2000 election. But some of us aren't content to let it be simply a painful memory. We have decided to move past the pain and get active.
The Draft Gore Movement is a labor of love on the part of our rapidly growing membership. Members and organizers do not have deep pockets, we use our own resources and intelligence to try to accomplish what mainstream political parties accomplish with their special-interest money and media spin doctors. We intend to place Al Gore's name on the primary state ballots and put in place a voting base. Just in case.
In California and several other states, we are contacting our election boards, collecting our nominating papers and petitions and hitting the streets. We are taking the 2008 election into our own hands.
Why all this effort? Why not support one of the Democratic candidates who has officially thrown his or her hat in the ring? To put it bluntly, none of them come close to Gore. He has established relationships with numerous world leaders, is well-liked internationally, and is not in anyone's pocket.
Given the Bush administration's unprecedented expansion of the unitary executive and sweeping constitutional changes, our next presidency may mean the difference between preserving our constitution and the principles upon which this country was founded, and losing them forever. Gore put it best himself in his 2006 speech, "Restoring the Rule of Law": "If the pattern of practice begun by this administration is not challenged, it may well become a permanent part of the American system. Many conservatives have pointed out that granting unchecked power to this president means that the next president will have unchecked power as well. And the next president may be someone whose values and belief you do not trust." The Clintons were involved in various breaches of constitutional law while in office, including allegations that Hillary's brothers received large sums of money in exchange for requesting (and obtaining) presidential pardons. Both John Edwards and Barack Obama are too inexperienced to adeptly lead America out of its current constitutional and diplomatic crisis.
Gore would make the climate crisis the number one issue for 2008, a necessary agenda no candidate from either party has adopted. By unifying world powers in pursuit of the goal to save our planet, Gore would restore America's standing in the world, thereby changing the global dialogue on other geopolitical crises as well. If elected president, Gore would: eliminate all payroll taxes and replace that revenue with pollution taxes, principally on CO2; help negotiate a stronger second-generation Kyoto Treaty; create an "Electranet," a smart electricity grid that would allow individuals and businesses to buy and sell electricity, forcing them to monitor their own consumption; and promote profitable alternative energy business models. Gore is also committed to ending the war in Iraq, which goes hand in hand with reducing our dependence on oil.
In The Assault on Reason, Gore stated, "Many Americans now feel that our government is unresponsive and that no one in a position of power listens to or cares what they think. They feel disconnected from democracy. They feel that one vote makes no difference, and that they, as individuals, now have no practical means of participating in America's self-government." Gore is well connected with the citizenry, even engaging in citizens' Web blog discussions from time to time. As president, he would restore public participation in politics. And he's devilishly handsome and a nice dresser.
But there's one other reason... he wouldn't allow the very technology that gives us this freedom to communicate, to be used against us, in surveillance, as with the Patriot Act.
Gore has stated that he can accomplish his goals as a private citizen, without getting caught up in the political game. But that can only go so far. Real change in governance must come from the Executive. Hmm?
No, I take that back. That's the old thinking. Real change comes from the bottom up: from the grassroots, the netroots, from each and every person who has a brain, a voice and a heart.
The Draft Gore effort is insistent and vocal. Members have shown up at all of The Assault on Reason book-signings, have been out meeting people, union leaders, elected officials, have written reams of letters, posted thousands of blogs, we are running a campaign of our own for a candidate of our own choosing.
We are doing ballot drives, planning concerts; we are rewriting the very how-to manual of Democracy, in our own way. If we succeed, it will be a first.
Supporting the Draft Gore Movement is the most logical and moral path to take. It's real democracy in action. Since 2000, a sizable part of the nation has grown from its pain, is less naïve, and more politically active and vocal, thanks to the Internet. Gore has also grown from his pain, as a man and as a leader. Right? But besides that... the very future of our world is in jeopardy. We in the Draft Movement demand a leader we can truly partner with in our efforts to curb the damage brought on by the Climate Crisis.
It's high time the nation and the leader shook hands and finally got together.
And you thought you've seen it all...
America For Gore
Answer The Call...
http://www.americaforgore.org
we are a grassroots coalition
http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne ... in_ame.htm
Re-posted by request...
The Gore narrative: Why he must run
by Barcelona
Thu Sep 27, 2007 at 08:06:36 AM PDT
The "inevitability" meme is beginning to set. Bill himself is being rolled out. Ordinarily this race would be all over but the counting. But the times we live in are anything but ordinary. In fact the urgency and magnitude of the challenge we and the rest of the world are facing call for leadership of historic proportions. I will argue that Hillary is not that leader. Though she is experienced, highly competent and immensely well-funded, she is the epitome of the hawkish, powerfully connected, corporate-funded Washington insider who are masterful only at the art of "politics as we know it". But most of all she lacks an epic narrative, one that taps directly into the Power of Myth. She is no visionary, nor are any of her rivals. And a vision of unprecedented breadth and power is what these parlous times are crying for. The era of business-as-usual, lesser-of-two-evils American leadership cannot continue. The stakes are simply too high.
Barcelona's diary :: ::
Right now public opinion is being stampeded into accepting the impending coronation of Hillary Clinton as the Democratic Party nominee in 2008, a media narrative four years in the making and now being carefully shaped by the power-brokers in the DLC and their fair-weather allies in the corporate media (with a little Rovian reverse-psychology thrown in by the usual suspects, to spice up this all-too-predictable horse race). Indeed, just like John Kerry's in 2004, after the media-fabricated crash-landing of the Dean campaign in the Iowa primary, Hillary's inevitability is wholly manufactured, by the power of money to shape opinion and of insider influence to block out others.
But there is another kind of inevitability, of a far more profound and unstoppable kind, the kind that sneaks up when nobody's looking and then in hindsight, seems blazingly obvious. One that appeals not to one's "lying eyes" but to the intuition, like a nagging certainty of a better tomorrow that fuels even the wildest hopes which even the corporate, consolidated media will eventually be dragged kicking and screaming into recognizing. Because it stems from an overarching narrative, that taps directly into the most ancient of human stories, common to all cultures across the centuries. The saga of the Hero:
Al Gore Rising: The Fourth Turning
The diarist, Bernie Quigley, makes a powerfully eloquent case:
Three more diaries, all from last year, speak more specifically to contemporary American cultural myths:
Al Gore is The Lion King by Dkos diarist allanthus is beautifully written and passionate:
And kossack diarist davefromqueens lists ten reasons why this is so in Al Gore: America's Simba:
Another is by George in AZ, The Return of the King:
Continued Below…
The Gore narrative: Why he must run
by Barcelona
Thu Sep 27, 2007 at 08:06:36 AM PDT
The "inevitability" meme is beginning to set. Bill himself is being rolled out. Ordinarily this race would be all over but the counting. But the times we live in are anything but ordinary. In fact the urgency and magnitude of the challenge we and the rest of the world are facing call for leadership of historic proportions. I will argue that Hillary is not that leader. Though she is experienced, highly competent and immensely well-funded, she is the epitome of the hawkish, powerfully connected, corporate-funded Washington insider who are masterful only at the art of "politics as we know it". But most of all she lacks an epic narrative, one that taps directly into the Power of Myth. She is no visionary, nor are any of her rivals. And a vision of unprecedented breadth and power is what these parlous times are crying for. The era of business-as-usual, lesser-of-two-evils American leadership cannot continue. The stakes are simply too high.
Barcelona's diary :: ::
Right now public opinion is being stampeded into accepting the impending coronation of Hillary Clinton as the Democratic Party nominee in 2008, a media narrative four years in the making and now being carefully shaped by the power-brokers in the DLC and their fair-weather allies in the corporate media (with a little Rovian reverse-psychology thrown in by the usual suspects, to spice up this all-too-predictable horse race). Indeed, just like John Kerry's in 2004, after the media-fabricated crash-landing of the Dean campaign in the Iowa primary, Hillary's inevitability is wholly manufactured, by the power of money to shape opinion and of insider influence to block out others.
But there is another kind of inevitability, of a far more profound and unstoppable kind, the kind that sneaks up when nobody's looking and then in hindsight, seems blazingly obvious. One that appeals not to one's "lying eyes" but to the intuition, like a nagging certainty of a better tomorrow that fuels even the wildest hopes which even the corporate, consolidated media will eventually be dragged kicking and screaming into recognizing. Because it stems from an overarching narrative, that taps directly into the most ancient of human stories, common to all cultures across the centuries. The saga of the Hero:
On Dkos alone, many diarists and commenters have already made the connection between Al Gore and heroism, most notably for his actions in the wake of the catastrophic events in New Orleans in 2005. But several others make an even broader connection to the Hero myth. For readers who, for whatever reason, remain unconvinced of the inherent potency of a Gore candidacy, each of the following is worth reading in its entirety and pondering carefully.(a) character that, in the face of danger and adversity or from a position of weakness, display(s) courage and the will for self-sacrifice, that is, heroism, for some greater good…
Al Gore Rising: The Fourth Turning
We are reaching the end of things now . . . best for Congress to hold quiet. The culture is about to flip. And when that happens everything gets different. The poles reverse their electrical pull. The Emperor becomes the Sith, the Sith the Emperor.
I’ve seen it flip before. Practically in my high school football field in Newport, RI. From Eisenhower Optimism & the Positive Face. Then a little known and undernourished Magical Animal came out of the borderland forest and lake lands of Minnesota. It is said in hindsight that the Sixties started in a minute, when Bob Dylan switched from a wooden guitar to an electric one in Newport, in the summer of ’65. Then everything was different.
And now it is flipping again.
The diarist, Bernie Quigley, makes a powerfully eloquent case:
History has its gatekeepers. They open doors and they also close doors. Ronald Reagan was a gatekeeper to the third post-war generation of culture and politics, now in the last 15 minutes of its 11th hour.
George Bush the Little is gatekeeper too. Since he first arrived in national politics it was clear that his fate would be to close the gate that Ronald Reagan opened.
(snip)
The Strauss & Howe books, particularly The Fourth Turning, are easier to understand than the Vedic wanderings of Spengler, Jung and Toynbee. (...) History comes from its own nature and the seeds of the third generation are sown in the first. The seeds of the fourth generation are sown in the second. In between, the avatar which will rise later lives in shadow. (Like the "Sleeping King" in the Tolkien stories.)
John McCain is exemplar of the third generation, taking his inspiration from the first and finding his "Fathers" in first generation - the WW II warriors. (...) The third generation warrior wants to be like the first: He wants to live again the culture of valor because it is good and true. But first generation didn’t get to valor from book, movies, and memories of blood relatives. It came to them instead direct from necessity and the survival instinct.
The second generation sleeps as the third rises or sends forth it’s sith and its shadow side. It is time for it to rise now and it will rise with this picture: Earthrise. Earthrise is the picture taken from space of the earth rising in the distance with the moon as ground in the foreground. It is time for this to awaken.
The picture was taken in 1968 from the dark side of the moon. Mythologist Joseph Campbell said at the time that this image would change us. It would change the way we would see ourselves, much as the discovery that the world was round changed the way we were centuries ago. The Al Gore movie, "An Inconvenient Truth" opens with this image and the fourth generation will also open with this image and this movie.
(...) The new generation will awaken now with the awareness that we and the planet are in danger. And Al Gore opened the gate.
Three more diaries, all from last year, speak more specifically to contemporary American cultural myths:
Al Gore is The Lion King by Dkos diarist allanthus is beautifully written and passionate:
There is a story I'm sure most people are already familiar with. The receptors are already in place. It's just a question of pouring the candidate into the mold that already fits him like a glove. The story goes like this: The legitimate leader, groomed for the job, is forced into exile by a usurper. There follows a period of near-catastrophic misrule during which everyone suffers but the usurper's minions. The exiled leader hangs out in the wilderness where he gains New Wisdom. Reluctantly he returns from exile and restores balance and health to the kingdom. The story is both ancient and universal. Whether through the intellectual route of Joseph Campbell or the straight-to-the-heart magic of Disney Studios, it has deep and compelling resonance.
(snip)
And what Gift for the People would candidate Gore bring with him out of the wilderness? What is the issue with which he is most clearly associated? Visionary ecology, restoring the balance. What was the title of his first book? Earth in the Balance. What is the over-arching theme of the Lion King? Restoring the balance. What is the one issue that transcends partisan interests? Global warming.
Global warming is the meta-issue that nobody is yet talking about and Al Gore owns that issue. He is, in effect, the only grown-up in the room while everyone else is squabbling over scraps, over stuff that won't even matter when the cataclysmic changes overtake us. It's the only issue that hasn't been kicked around and slobbered all over to the point where it's just an indistinguishable mash of tired rhetoric. It's simple. It's big. It's shiny. It's new. It's tailor-made for New Deal Democrats in need of a goal towards which to mobilize. It's JFK's Moon and FDR's Depression all rolled into one. It has fear and endtimes cliff-hanger drama for those who respond to that kind of stuff, but more significantly it poses the kind of practical problem that Yankee ingenuity thrives on, engaging the optimistic, sleeves-rolled-up, can-do spirit that made this country great. It's a whole a new organizing principle just waiting to emerge from the wings like Simba returning from exile, like the sun rising after a long and agonizing night, clarifying everything, putting the jackals of pettiness to flight.
And kossack diarist davefromqueens lists ten reasons why this is so in Al Gore: America's Simba:
Al Gore's script as to why he'll be President in 2009 (in a huge landslide) was already written in the Lion King. Al Gore is Simba.
The Lion King is a phenomenal animated movie in which a happy place is torn apart by a psychologically deranged brat who wrongfully takes over the kingdom with the rightful heir banished from power. While the deranged brat rules, the creatures of the jungle see their homeland destroyed, their standard of living decimated, and their resources stolen out from underneath them.
What's the only way for the kingdom to be saved? To have Simba come back and take the throne. America faces the exact same situation.
Another is by George in AZ, The Return of the King:
Gore is the only Dem candidate whose comeback would actually be heroic, following the gross injustice that was perpetrated on him and on the country in 2000. There are deep currents in the psyche of the American mind that resonate strongly with the idea of a fallen hero - the victim of treachery - overcoming it and returning to victory.
If Gore were to tap into those currents, which I believe he could, his race would be suffused with an epic excitement among supporters. And his victory would be a moment of profound national redemption that would, on some deep level, satisfy even his detractors that an injustice had been righted, that a national wound had been healed and an epic disgrace in America's politics had turned out well, in the end.
Continued Below…
It is the story of Ulysses, of Odysseus, the hero of Homer's Odyssey, and it is the story of every reluctant Hero since, who, persecuted by Fortune, ultimately triumphs over betrayal and treachery to defeat his enemies, vindicate his name and save his people.
Now, as 2007 winds down and the 2008 presidential race heats up, America stands at a crossroads. The most recent Pew Research Center poll of 46 nations, taken to coincide with the UN meeting on climate change this week puts America's loss of influence in the world in the starkest terms:
Most sensible Americans know that this generalized disaffection, even among America's staunchest allies, is not explainable by some facile talking point or easily dismissed as the work of "Blame-America-firsters". Any American who has traveled abroad in the last few years senses that a historical groundshift may be occurring. To borrow a phrase from climate science, a tipping point may have been reached with regard to international resentment of the American hegemon, and its well-documented heavy-handedness and strong-arm tactics in dictating internal policy to other nations, with the help of international institutions like the WTO, the IMF and the World Bank. For the rest of the world, U.S. militarism, adventurism and de-facto unilateralism has been a fact of life since the rise of the military-industrial complex, which Dwight. D. Eisenhower famously warned about. So-called "regime change" is not a new concept. It has long been a covert policy of the U.S., when and wherever it was deemed in the national interest (Iran and Chile being only two of the most glaring examples). And the world has long held to a sharply different narrative regarding events in the Middle-East than the one embraced by successive Israeli and Us administrations.
Most importantly, of all the candidates currently running for the candidacy of the Democratic Party, none (Chris Dodd would come the closest, if he were better known, notably because of who his father was and because of his stated positions in the current primary race -- it's not surprising that he is the only candidate in the '08 race whom Gore has singled out for any praise ), but no, none can command the level of trust and respect that Gore is reaping and that the international community has been expressing in the form of awards and honours of every kind, the epitomy of which may well come in a couple of weeks in Oslo, Norway, if he wins the Nobel Peace Prize.
For all the conventional wisdom spewing forth in the traditional media from the DC elite and pundit class, the Hillary Clinton juggernaut is not an unstoppable. For all her money, access and power, Hillary herself has not been able to capture the imagination of the American people, let alone the base of the Democratic party. As for Al Gore, his support among grassroots Democrats is wide and deep, and rising among Independents and Repentent Republicans. There is no doubt that leadership is his calling. Not only has he been groomed for it since childhood, his entire experience of life and politics place him at the crossroads where America finds herself at her moment of greatest need. As the great dkosser buhdydharma most eloquently put it, Destiny seems to be calling him.
Right now the nation-wide movement to draft Al Gore is building momentum in many States, gathering signatures on essential petitions to get his name on the ballot, readying to carry him forward when he finally pulls the trigger and announces he is in. When he does, at the time and place of his choosing, he will be running a guerilla campaign, as unconventional, bold and people-powered as Hillary's is safe, steeped in money and politics-as-usual. He will run on ending the war in Iraq, which he warned against before it was launched, and on his signature issue of putting the full power of the world's only superpower behind the Herculean task of addressing the planetary emergency, the danger he has been has been single-mindedly striving to avert for the last thirty years and which is now upon us. He will argue passionately for a Global Marshall Plan, a visionary set of policy solutions first outlined in his ground-breaking 1992 book Earth in the Balance (now available in a new edition)and which he again linked to the global fight for social justice, just this week, during his (grossly under-reported) talk to world leaders at the UN.
Gore is ready. His whole life has prepared him for this moment. I leave you with a prediction from Kos himself, which at this point sounds prescient:
If Al Gore is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, he will have been handed a mighty shield to wear into his battle to restore America's honour and reclaim her soul. In that battle, the future of Earth's children and the ultimate fate of human civilization are at stake as never before. The time has come to put an end to politics-as-usual and this time resist the usual media-generated stampede, based on cleverly orchestrated, consultant-driven "communications strategies". The time has come for Democrats to offer the American people more and better than a pre-ordained outcome, more and better than a choice between the lesser-of-two-evils. Democrats must embrace the people-powered, grassroots revolution spearheaded by Howard Dean in 2003 and fuelled by blogs like Dailykos. You have the Power, Dean famously told his followers and this time the People, not the consultants, not the pundits, not the power-brokers behnd the scenes, the People must decide the outcome of this race and carry the candidate who most inspires them all the way to the White House.
These are extra-ordinary times, that call for extra-ordinary courage, leadership and vision. Only one prospective candidate has it. Please help to spread his urgent message that solving the planetary crisis must be the organizing principle of the next American administration. Talk to your friends, talk to your neighbors. And visit Draft Gore central at America for Gore to find a Draft Gore group near you. And join the My Two Cents campaign. Embrace the dream and get ready to hit the ground running the minute he declares.
Now, as 2007 winds down and the 2008 presidential race heats up, America stands at a crossroads. The most recent Pew Research Center poll of 46 nations, taken to coincide with the UN meeting on climate change this week puts America's loss of influence in the world in the starkest terms:
The survey found that positive attitudes toward the United States had plummeted since 2002, when the first in a series of Pew Global Attitudes surveys was taken. Those with favorable views of the United States have fallen from 60% to 30% in Germany, 61% to 29% in Indonesia and 30% to 9% in Turkey.
More than 45,000 people were interviewed by phone or face-to-face for the survey, which used nearly 60 languages or dialects.
The poll found sharply rising concern about environmental problems as the world's biggest threat. Majorities or pluralities in 34 of 37 countries where the question was asked identified the United States as the chief culprit.
Most sensible Americans know that this generalized disaffection, even among America's staunchest allies, is not explainable by some facile talking point or easily dismissed as the work of "Blame-America-firsters". Any American who has traveled abroad in the last few years senses that a historical groundshift may be occurring. To borrow a phrase from climate science, a tipping point may have been reached with regard to international resentment of the American hegemon, and its well-documented heavy-handedness and strong-arm tactics in dictating internal policy to other nations, with the help of international institutions like the WTO, the IMF and the World Bank. For the rest of the world, U.S. militarism, adventurism and de-facto unilateralism has been a fact of life since the rise of the military-industrial complex, which Dwight. D. Eisenhower famously warned about. So-called "regime change" is not a new concept. It has long been a covert policy of the U.S., when and wherever it was deemed in the national interest (Iran and Chile being only two of the most glaring examples). And the world has long held to a sharply different narrative regarding events in the Middle-East than the one embraced by successive Israeli and Us administrations.
Most importantly, of all the candidates currently running for the candidacy of the Democratic Party, none (Chris Dodd would come the closest, if he were better known, notably because of who his father was and because of his stated positions in the current primary race -- it's not surprising that he is the only candidate in the '08 race whom Gore has singled out for any praise ), but no, none can command the level of trust and respect that Gore is reaping and that the international community has been expressing in the form of awards and honours of every kind, the epitomy of which may well come in a couple of weeks in Oslo, Norway, if he wins the Nobel Peace Prize.
For all the conventional wisdom spewing forth in the traditional media from the DC elite and pundit class, the Hillary Clinton juggernaut is not an unstoppable. For all her money, access and power, Hillary herself has not been able to capture the imagination of the American people, let alone the base of the Democratic party. As for Al Gore, his support among grassroots Democrats is wide and deep, and rising among Independents and Repentent Republicans. There is no doubt that leadership is his calling. Not only has he been groomed for it since childhood, his entire experience of life and politics place him at the crossroads where America finds herself at her moment of greatest need. As the great dkosser buhdydharma most eloquently put it, Destiny seems to be calling him.
Right now the nation-wide movement to draft Al Gore is building momentum in many States, gathering signatures on essential petitions to get his name on the ballot, readying to carry him forward when he finally pulls the trigger and announces he is in. When he does, at the time and place of his choosing, he will be running a guerilla campaign, as unconventional, bold and people-powered as Hillary's is safe, steeped in money and politics-as-usual. He will run on ending the war in Iraq, which he warned against before it was launched, and on his signature issue of putting the full power of the world's only superpower behind the Herculean task of addressing the planetary emergency, the danger he has been has been single-mindedly striving to avert for the last thirty years and which is now upon us. He will argue passionately for a Global Marshall Plan, a visionary set of policy solutions first outlined in his ground-breaking 1992 book Earth in the Balance (now available in a new edition)and which he again linked to the global fight for social justice, just this week, during his (grossly under-reported) talk to world leaders at the UN.
Gore is ready. His whole life has prepared him for this moment. I leave you with a prediction from Kos himself, which at this point sounds prescient:
One reason I'm not jumping aboard any 2008 bandwagons is that I'll wait as long as necessary to see if Gore will jump in. That's ultimately my guy this cycle. And even though I don't think he'll run, he's really got all the time in the world to make a final decision.
Gore was just nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, and while any schlub can get nominated, it's Gore's backers that make his bid impressive -- Conservative Member of the Norwegian Parliament Boerge Brende and Heidi Soerensen of the Socialist Left Party. It's rare trans-ideological support.
The prize will be announced in mid-October. So say Gore scores an Oscar and Nobel in the same year, he can announce in November and still become THE story in the primaries. It's not as if he'll need the full year to get his name recognition up or make the case for his candidacy. He would instantly raise gobs of cash (I'd bet on tens of millions in the first 24 hours) and become the media sensation of the winter. He would instantly make hundreds of millions spent by his primary opponents obsolete. Talent would flock to him, decimating the staffs of his opponents.
Heck, if done right, a serious "Draft Gore" movement could have the shell of an infrastructure in place for him to adopt.
If Al Gore is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, he will have been handed a mighty shield to wear into his battle to restore America's honour and reclaim her soul. In that battle, the future of Earth's children and the ultimate fate of human civilization are at stake as never before. The time has come to put an end to politics-as-usual and this time resist the usual media-generated stampede, based on cleverly orchestrated, consultant-driven "communications strategies". The time has come for Democrats to offer the American people more and better than a pre-ordained outcome, more and better than a choice between the lesser-of-two-evils. Democrats must embrace the people-powered, grassroots revolution spearheaded by Howard Dean in 2003 and fuelled by blogs like Dailykos. You have the Power, Dean famously told his followers and this time the People, not the consultants, not the pundits, not the power-brokers behnd the scenes, the People must decide the outcome of this race and carry the candidate who most inspires them all the way to the White House.
These are extra-ordinary times, that call for extra-ordinary courage, leadership and vision. Only one prospective candidate has it. Please help to spread his urgent message that solving the planetary crisis must be the organizing principle of the next American administration. Talk to your friends, talk to your neighbors. And visit Draft Gore central at America for Gore to find a Draft Gore group near you. And join the My Two Cents campaign. Embrace the dream and get ready to hit the ground running the minute he declares.
Anchors Aweigh!-
Shirleypal
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I just signed up on Gore's site, made a donation and asked to be contacted by the local group here, there are three that live very close to me, the group headquarters is about 20 miles away but hoping to get in touch with those close by and maybe we can travel together to meetings, thanks so much for the infomation Joolz.
Draft Gore Movement Picks Up Steam
Bill Katovsky - Huffington Post Oct 1, 2007
All across America, Al Gore supporters nervously count down the days to October 12 -- that's the day when the Nobel Peace Prize is announced. Many expect the former Vice President to win the award, and if he does it will cap a marvelous year of accomplishments -- Oscar, Emmy, Live Earth, bestseller. It will also immediately fuel speculation that Gore will jump into the 2008 presidential race.
Late last spring, when he was busy barnstorming on talk shows to promote Assault on Reason, Gore was constantly asked by interviewers, "Are you going to run?" Though he always said that he was not, he'd embellished his answer with a coy qualifier that left open a sliver of daylight for a possible candidacy. Like he told Larry King, "I am not thinking about being a candidate. I have no plans to be a candidate. But, yes, it's true, I have not made a so-called Sherman statement and ruled it out for all time. I see no reason or necessity to do that."
Around that time, the New York Times quoted Gore as saying, "Having spent 30 years as part of the political dialogue, I don't know why a 600-day campaign is taken as a given, and why people who aren't in it 600 days out for the convenience of whatever brokers want to close the door and narrow the field and say, 'This is it, now let's place your bets.' If they want to do that, fine. I don't have to play that game."
True to his word, Gore hasn't played that game. Could the Nobel become the catalyst for Citizen Gore to tell America, "I'm in!" Furthermore, will he be able to raise sufficient funds, build a campaign staff with field offices in key primary states, and re-introduce himself to Democratic voters as their next president?
One of Gore's favorite lines which he likes using to warm up audiences during slide-show lectures on global-warming is, "Hi, I'm Al Gore and I used to be the next president of the United States." That line will be pure gold on the 2008 campaign trail.
I know of many Democrats who still get angry whenever the subject of the 2000 presidential election is brought up in conversation. Like them, I believe that the election was stolen, and the wrong man got the job. Some blame for Gore's defeat can be attributed to those vexing butterfly ballots which affected voting in southern Florida. A fair electoral system would have mandated a complete statewide recount, something the Supreme Court wrongly dismissed. And so, all that has happened to our nation since then is straight out of chaos theory: the slight turbulence created by a butterfly flapping its wings can set into motion atmospheric disturbance that results in a hurricane on the other side of the planet. Instead of our country being led by Gore who won the popular vote, we've suffered through eight dispiriting years of Bush/Cheney and a catastrophic war in Iraq.
There are a number of Net activists and grassroots organizations also banking on Gore's rendezvous with destiny. They have kept the faith. They are waiting for Gore. But they have also been busy building an independent infrastructure of volunteers as well as conducting an online petition drive urging Gore to run. The most successful web group is DraftGore.com, which was founded by Monica Friedlander, of Oakland, California, four years ago and is its current chairperson.
Last July, Eva Ritchey, of western North Carolina, who is a member of DraftGore.com's five-person executive committee, hand-delivered 100,000 names and addresses on a computer disk to the Gore office in Nashville. Her visit made national news. Now, over the next several weeks, DraftGore.com will pump up the volume with email newsletters, radio advertising, and help create a national network of volunteers. Its main objectives are threefold: to get the word out, to demonstrate that there continues to be a strong, viable nationwide interest in a Gore candidacy, and to be prepared for instant mobilization of campaign support if he does enter the race.
To date, DraftGore.com has collected over 125,000 signatures in its petition drive. And the momentum is accelerating for this unique kind of presidential outreach. Just this past Friday, its web site gathered 10,000 new signers; yes, all in one day!
While DraftGore.com is certainly the most visible group and the one with most clout, it is just one of at least a dozen online organizations all determined to see Gore become our next president. Pro-Gore volunteer groups also have representation in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New England, California, and elsewhere. Go to AmericaforGore.org to see the full list.
In An Inconvenient Truth, Gore talks about radical climate change that can seemingly happen within the space of ten years-of the Earth going from warm to a new ice age. Gore's late-in-the-game candidacy will be the political equivalent of rapid climate change. It will alter the political campaign environment overnight. It will throw into turmoil the electoral strategies of the Clinton, Obama, and Edwards camps. Hillary's lead in the polls will vanish within weeks, and thus exposing her tepid baseline support. Gore should easily become the new anointed frontrunner by pundits and polls. For Republicans, Gore represents an unbeatable foe in 2008. He's bulletproof on the big issues: experience, Iraq, national security, global warming.
Several potential hurdles, of course, lay in wait for Gore. There is his legendary awkwardness as a political campaigner and whether the fault-finding media will shabbily treat him like they did in 2000.
Gore is the first to admit his own limitations as a crowd-pleasing vote-getter. "Most people in politics draw energy from backslapping and shaking hands and all that. I draw energy from discussing ideas," Gore told New York Magazine in 2006. Yet one of the biggest surprises about An Inconvenient Truth is his persuasive and genuinely captivating performance. He's the best science teacher you never had. Absent is the wooden Democratic nominee clumsily duking it out with his flat-footed Republican opponent in three 2000 presidential debates. The old, stiff Gore is stashed away in a lockbox. The new, limber Gore is a man on fire.
What has been so refreshing about Gore's comeback following his demoralizing defeat in 2000 is that finally freed from the choke-chain grip of consultants and advisers, he could openly express his outrage over a broken political system hijacked by democracy-destroying zealots from the Republican Party.
A pivotal moment of Gore's resurrection was marked by his speech at San Francisco's Commonwealth Club on September 21, 2002 where he voiced strong doubts about the White House's ill-considered decision to go after Saddam Hussein who had nothing to do with September 11. The media did an instant double take. They asked, "Who is this new Al and why didn't he talk like that during the last election?"
He continued giving speeches that criticized the Bush administration -- its frontal assault on civil liberties, penchant for secrecy, institutionalized dishonesty, lack of accountability, endorsement of state-sanctioned torture, and the Iraq War. He astonished listeners with searing eloquence and astute insights. His confidence to let it rip and speak his mind grew with each talk.
It's this type of candor and perspective that has endeared him to Democrats and independent voters. Assault on Reason solidified his wise-man stature and turned more Americans into Gore believers. And it's this groundswell of genuine support that has found voice and hope in groups like DraftGore.com, which, on its home page calls Gore "the conscience of the Democratic Party."
Even if Gore doesn't win the Nobel, it would be premature to count him out yet either. The call of fate, duty, service, and history just might be too great for him to ignore. Gore's entry in the presidential race could be the ultimate October Surprise.
Bill Katovsky is editor of the just-published "The World According to Gore: The Incredible Vision of the Man Who Should Be President,"
http://www.amazon.com/World-According-G ... 323/ref=sr
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-kato ... 66695.html
All across America, Al Gore supporters nervously count down the days to October 12 -- that's the day when the Nobel Peace Prize is announced. Many expect the former Vice President to win the award, and if he does it will cap a marvelous year of accomplishments -- Oscar, Emmy, Live Earth, bestseller. It will also immediately fuel speculation that Gore will jump into the 2008 presidential race.
Late last spring, when he was busy barnstorming on talk shows to promote Assault on Reason, Gore was constantly asked by interviewers, "Are you going to run?" Though he always said that he was not, he'd embellished his answer with a coy qualifier that left open a sliver of daylight for a possible candidacy. Like he told Larry King, "I am not thinking about being a candidate. I have no plans to be a candidate. But, yes, it's true, I have not made a so-called Sherman statement and ruled it out for all time. I see no reason or necessity to do that."
Around that time, the New York Times quoted Gore as saying, "Having spent 30 years as part of the political dialogue, I don't know why a 600-day campaign is taken as a given, and why people who aren't in it 600 days out for the convenience of whatever brokers want to close the door and narrow the field and say, 'This is it, now let's place your bets.' If they want to do that, fine. I don't have to play that game."
True to his word, Gore hasn't played that game. Could the Nobel become the catalyst for Citizen Gore to tell America, "I'm in!" Furthermore, will he be able to raise sufficient funds, build a campaign staff with field offices in key primary states, and re-introduce himself to Democratic voters as their next president?
One of Gore's favorite lines which he likes using to warm up audiences during slide-show lectures on global-warming is, "Hi, I'm Al Gore and I used to be the next president of the United States." That line will be pure gold on the 2008 campaign trail.
I know of many Democrats who still get angry whenever the subject of the 2000 presidential election is brought up in conversation. Like them, I believe that the election was stolen, and the wrong man got the job. Some blame for Gore's defeat can be attributed to those vexing butterfly ballots which affected voting in southern Florida. A fair electoral system would have mandated a complete statewide recount, something the Supreme Court wrongly dismissed. And so, all that has happened to our nation since then is straight out of chaos theory: the slight turbulence created by a butterfly flapping its wings can set into motion atmospheric disturbance that results in a hurricane on the other side of the planet. Instead of our country being led by Gore who won the popular vote, we've suffered through eight dispiriting years of Bush/Cheney and a catastrophic war in Iraq.
There are a number of Net activists and grassroots organizations also banking on Gore's rendezvous with destiny. They have kept the faith. They are waiting for Gore. But they have also been busy building an independent infrastructure of volunteers as well as conducting an online petition drive urging Gore to run. The most successful web group is DraftGore.com, which was founded by Monica Friedlander, of Oakland, California, four years ago and is its current chairperson.
Last July, Eva Ritchey, of western North Carolina, who is a member of DraftGore.com's five-person executive committee, hand-delivered 100,000 names and addresses on a computer disk to the Gore office in Nashville. Her visit made national news. Now, over the next several weeks, DraftGore.com will pump up the volume with email newsletters, radio advertising, and help create a national network of volunteers. Its main objectives are threefold: to get the word out, to demonstrate that there continues to be a strong, viable nationwide interest in a Gore candidacy, and to be prepared for instant mobilization of campaign support if he does enter the race.
To date, DraftGore.com has collected over 125,000 signatures in its petition drive. And the momentum is accelerating for this unique kind of presidential outreach. Just this past Friday, its web site gathered 10,000 new signers; yes, all in one day!
While DraftGore.com is certainly the most visible group and the one with most clout, it is just one of at least a dozen online organizations all determined to see Gore become our next president. Pro-Gore volunteer groups also have representation in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New England, California, and elsewhere. Go to AmericaforGore.org to see the full list.
In An Inconvenient Truth, Gore talks about radical climate change that can seemingly happen within the space of ten years-of the Earth going from warm to a new ice age. Gore's late-in-the-game candidacy will be the political equivalent of rapid climate change. It will alter the political campaign environment overnight. It will throw into turmoil the electoral strategies of the Clinton, Obama, and Edwards camps. Hillary's lead in the polls will vanish within weeks, and thus exposing her tepid baseline support. Gore should easily become the new anointed frontrunner by pundits and polls. For Republicans, Gore represents an unbeatable foe in 2008. He's bulletproof on the big issues: experience, Iraq, national security, global warming.
Several potential hurdles, of course, lay in wait for Gore. There is his legendary awkwardness as a political campaigner and whether the fault-finding media will shabbily treat him like they did in 2000.
Gore is the first to admit his own limitations as a crowd-pleasing vote-getter. "Most people in politics draw energy from backslapping and shaking hands and all that. I draw energy from discussing ideas," Gore told New York Magazine in 2006. Yet one of the biggest surprises about An Inconvenient Truth is his persuasive and genuinely captivating performance. He's the best science teacher you never had. Absent is the wooden Democratic nominee clumsily duking it out with his flat-footed Republican opponent in three 2000 presidential debates. The old, stiff Gore is stashed away in a lockbox. The new, limber Gore is a man on fire.
What has been so refreshing about Gore's comeback following his demoralizing defeat in 2000 is that finally freed from the choke-chain grip of consultants and advisers, he could openly express his outrage over a broken political system hijacked by democracy-destroying zealots from the Republican Party.
A pivotal moment of Gore's resurrection was marked by his speech at San Francisco's Commonwealth Club on September 21, 2002 where he voiced strong doubts about the White House's ill-considered decision to go after Saddam Hussein who had nothing to do with September 11. The media did an instant double take. They asked, "Who is this new Al and why didn't he talk like that during the last election?"
He continued giving speeches that criticized the Bush administration -- its frontal assault on civil liberties, penchant for secrecy, institutionalized dishonesty, lack of accountability, endorsement of state-sanctioned torture, and the Iraq War. He astonished listeners with searing eloquence and astute insights. His confidence to let it rip and speak his mind grew with each talk.
It's this type of candor and perspective that has endeared him to Democrats and independent voters. Assault on Reason solidified his wise-man stature and turned more Americans into Gore believers. And it's this groundswell of genuine support that has found voice and hope in groups like DraftGore.com, which, on its home page calls Gore "the conscience of the Democratic Party."
Even if Gore doesn't win the Nobel, it would be premature to count him out yet either. The call of fate, duty, service, and history just might be too great for him to ignore. Gore's entry in the presidential race could be the ultimate October Surprise.
Bill Katovsky is editor of the just-published "The World According to Gore: The Incredible Vision of the Man Who Should Be President,"
http://www.amazon.com/World-According-G ... 323/ref=sr
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-kato ... 66695.html
-
Shirleypal
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Melissa Etheridge
The Randi Rhodes Show
Randi talks to Melissa Etheridge about her new album, Dennis Kucinich and drafting Al Gore.
Nine minutes
Listen
The Randi Rhodes Show
Randi talks to Melissa Etheridge about her new album, Dennis Kucinich and drafting Al Gore.
Nine minutes
Listen
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Shirleypal
- Pirate
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Jon-Marcus
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Corvid wrote: Heck, Live365..... at least we did not have to translate it from German.
Oh, God.
You never fail me.
God Bless You, Sir.Jon-Marcus. I thought you had a *thing* with me. You then thought I had a *thing* with you. I'm pretty certain our *things* cancel each other out at this point. My only *thing*, is why two different posts in two different threads by two different Pirates would be identical to each other.
Guess I'm just a conspiracy theorist, like that. Can't imagine where I get it from.
Did you ever stop to think, and then forget to start again?
i did it again.