Gore's Crystal Ball

[coda]

Gore's Crystal Ball
Trudi Loh
Fri Nov 18, 9:00 PM ET



As the Democrats rage about the war –- 3 years too late -- and the Bush Administration huffs and puffs about the Democrats playing politics with an issue and rewriting history, I felt the need to re-read some of the remarks made by Vice President Al Gore at the Commonwealth Club on September 9th, 2002, prior to the vote authorizing Bush to invade Iraq.

I believe that 1) It is the Republicans who are trying to rewrite history and have now and always been playing politics with the issue of Iraq and 2) Al Gore must be the smartest man in politics, or he has a crystal ball.

Quoted remarks are Gore’s. Bracketed words mine. Emphasis added.

“I believe we should focus our efforts first and foremost against those who attacked us on September 11th and who have thus far gotten away with it. The vast majority of those who sponsored, planned and implemented the cold-blooded murder of more than 3,000 Americans are still at large, still neither located nor apprehended, much less punished and neutralized. I do not believe that we should allow ourselves to be distracted from this urgent task simply because it is proving to be more difficult and lengthy than was predicted. Great nations persevere and then prevail. They do not jump from one unfinished task to another. We should remain focused on the war against terrorism.”



“I am deeply concerned that the course of action that we are presently embarking upon with respect to Iraq has the potential to seriously damage our ability to win the war against terrorism and to weaken our ability to lead the world in this new century.”




........

http://news.yahoo.com/s/huffpost/010907;_ylt=Au7mLDqrdWmdeKcxPQTu81YDW7oF;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl

[ItsTheMediaStupid]

1. Great article - Gore nailed it in 2002

It's no surprise that the situation in Iraq is so screwed.

I had many reasons to march in protest before that war. The two biggest reasons were that I knew * was lying regarding WMD and that after we won the battle to overturn Saddam it would turn into a guerilla war, a la Vietnam.

Sadly, the guerilla war is killing a number of our troops weekly and an much larger number of innocent bystanders.

As for the meme of "Democrats rewriting history" anyone who's paid attention knows it's just spin.

[coda]

2. It's a great antidote to "Dems rewriting history", too.

Stands up pretty good to the neo's predictions (flowers and candy, 1.7 billion cost to US taxpayer, coalition of the willing, Hans Blix the incompetent, end the terrorists training camps, ad nauseum).

On the other hand, thinking of how they attacked Clinton...imagine how they'd have gone after Gore.

[Cha]

10. Hey, you're right...here's one major

Dem who didn't buy bushit..how convenient little widdle bush doesn't remember Al Gore's Words.

[cal04]

3. Gore had more than that right about Bush

Final debate features tense moments, sharp contrasts
October 18, 2000



All right, here we go again. Now, look, if you want someone who will spin a lot of words describing a whole convoluted process and then end up supporting legislation that is supported by the big drug companies, this is your man," Vice President Gore said of Texas Gov. Bush in describing the competing prescription drug coverage proposals of the two.


At one point, Bush said Gore was proposing the "largest increase in federal spending in years, and there's just not going to be enough money" to pay for it. Gore said Bush was wrong, and his rival's $1.3 billion tax plan would lavish relief on the wealthy while shortchanging critical domestic programs.

But Bush insisted he wasn't wrong. "He proposed more than Walter Mondale and Michael Dukakis combined," Bush said of two Democratic presidential candidates who lost their bids for the White House. "This is a big spender and he ought to be proud of it."

http://archives.cnn.com/2000/ALLPOLITICS/stories/10/17/debate.wrap/index.html

[robbedvoter]

4. Gore always had vision. Not the only one though. Wellstone 2002:

But as General Wes Clark, former Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in Europe has recently noted, a premature go-it-alone invasion of Iraq "would super-charge recruiting for Al Qaida."
Paul Wellstone- antiwar speech in senate 2002
www.wellstoneaction.org

[Uncle Joe]

5. Hear Hear and There There

Excellent post, this was the speech, Al gave when the media whores said he was just ranting.

:kick:

[Larkspur]

6. That was a great speech by Al Gore and yes it was prophetic in many ways

That's why I'd support Gore for Prez in '08.

[Lisa]

7. Gore has a gift for picking out issues far in advance ...

He singled out communications technology (e.g. the Web), global warming, media influence on politics, and agricultural biodiversity -- among others -- as things which could have a significant impact on the world.

I work with researchers who study social and environmental change. Gore has actually been looking at many of these issues, acknowledged today to be absolutely crucial to life in the 21st century, since before many of them were in grad school. They all agreed that picking up on just ONE of those things would be a career-maker, for most academic and policy experts. Al Gore's track record is a lot better than that.

The pattern I've noticed is that if you look at what he's researching and writing/speaking about, 10 years later it's making headlines. He is probably one of the most visionary political leaders the US has had in a hundred years.

Sure, he benefits from having had early exposure to some of these issues (one of his Harvard profs was a pioneer in the study of atmospheric carbon dioxide and the greenhouse effect). But a lot of other people had similar experiences, and never followed them up the way Gore did. When you're being bombarded by information, being able to pick out significant bits and assemble them into a coherent picture is a rare and valuable talent. Arguably, in "the information age", it's more important than ever before. Compare with Bush, who doesn't even try -- the "don't give me any more information, I've already made up my mind" approach.

[JaneQPublic]

8. Gore: "One of the most visionary political leaders the US has had"

Without a doubt.

[Uncle Joe]

11. Well said Lisa and I totally agree. n/t

[Cha]

9. That was a Fantastic Speech by

Al Gore..we Loved it!

And the corporate m$m totally ignored it. More reason to indict them.

[MasonJar]

12. One of the reasons that I despise Stump so much is that he and

SCOTUS and the evil etcs. kept us from having one of the potentially greatest presidents in our country's history. Then they did it again in 2004. John Kerry also would have been an exceptional pres. Instead we got a doofus who does not even read the newspaper and spends more time on his bike than working on the country's business (Thank God for the latter since he governs by the seat of his pants and we know what those pants are like!)

[IndyOp]

13. .

:cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry:

I thought it would be comforting to read Al's wise words.

I was wrong... :(