We owe a debt of gratitude to Al Gore..

[sendero]

... sure, he never uttered the words "I invented the internet", but he was one of the few legislators who saw its potential early on, and he took action to fund it.

If it weren't for the internet, democracy in America would be a rotting corpse at this time.

Thanks Al!

[ladjf]

1. And don't forget about the "lock box on Social Security".

Where is the lock box now?

[kittenpants]

2. I'm pretty sure he invented one of the internets.

[theorist]

3. I thank him everyday.

He should also be chosen to lead any movement to thwart GOP attempts at controlling the web. That would really piss off a lot of those bush voters.

[sendero]

5. Exactly...

... we could say "after all, he invented it" :)

[Stop_the_War]

4. THANK YOU AL GORE!

[Lisa]

6. and Al rescued the Kyoto Protocol

Back in 1997, the countries were having trouble coming to an agreement. Gore decided to go over to Japan and help with the negotiations. Even Clinton got worried and tried to talk him out of it (if he failed, it would make the WH look incompetent, and if he succeeded, the pro-oil states would use it against the Dems in the 1998 elections). But he went anyway.

So without him, it's possible that the agreement wouldn't have reached the present stage. (Or if the parties did eventually decide on an agreement, it would have taken a year or more, it wouldn't look like what's there now, it wouldn't be called "Kyoto", and it probably wouldn't have gotten enough ratifications yet to become law.)

[tom_paine]

7. I think i is dead anyway, but the internet at least gives us Samizdat

Although, the current situation begs the question to be asked. What if the Communists had recognized the dangers of Samizdat and created their own "Free Repoublic" to counter the truth found there.

I think the Communists would still be ruling Russia if they had followed the BushPutinist startegy of poisoning samizdat.

[sendero]

10. I think...

... it is gravely ill, but not yet dead.

[49jim]

8. Al Gore was also a strong

supporter of alternative energy....especially for cars...do you think we'd be in the ME trying to take control of oil if he was able to serve his term in 2000?

[BrklynLiberal]

15. Frankly, I don't even think 9/11 would have happened if Al Gore had been

alowed to take the office that he had been rightfully elected to.

[saltpoint]

9. President Gore has my respect, even though --

-- he chose Senator Lieberman for the VP spot -- because a President Gore wouldn't be in Europe now, as Dubya is, trying to smooth over a couple years' worth of anti-European tension.

What a presidential swath Gore cuts next to puny Dubya's.

[sendero]

13. That was one..

... of several key errors he made in 2000. My tsk-tsk to him would be over his forced manner in the debates. I think it was the deal breaker personally, and I cannot understand how anyone could have "let" him do it, much less encourage him to.

Hindsight is 20/20 :)

[Tactical Progressive]

11. That internet slander pissed me off

The internet was America's biggest, shiniest new toy in the late 1990's, and sparked an economic revolution. It can't be overstated. All because Al had the foresight to not only see, but effect its creation. It defined American possibility going into the next century, helped lift America out of its economic hole, and did it retail in a way that enriched everyday lives in a tangible, day-to-day fashion. And America pissed all over him for it.

I watched a panel discussion on C-SPAN deconstructing the 2000 election, and the media whores were smirking about how Gore was such an exaggerator, a liar in effect, and how that whole "I invented the internet" slander made it obvious, when none other than Newt Gingrich stepped in to tell them that Al Gore did indeed see the possibilities where no one else did, and almost singlehandedly created the legislation and sold it to Congress member by member.

That right there encapsulated everything that the media was doing when it took Gingrich, right-wing hit man, to defend Gore against media slander and slime.

[hfojvt]

12. That is so funny

that Gingrich would either be the leftist of the group, or the one with respect for the facts. Okay, maybe it is sad, but it made me laugh.

[theorist]

14. We now know that Bush thought Gore to be quite the liar.

On the Wead tapes, he refers to him as a pathological liar. The irony....