**Official AL GORE ON CSPAN2 Discussion Thread**

[Viva_La_Revolution]

[Viva_La_Revolution]

1. oh goody. Newtie up first

that man makes me wanna :puke:

[chimpymustgo]

3. Harry: I recently lost an election and I'm growing a beard. Al: Was the Supreme Court involved?

Didn't miss a beat. Funny as hell.

Also..."An Inconvenient Mighty Wind"!

Cooking with gas here.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

2. On now

[IndyOp]

4. I'm here!

Someone introduced them as "Harry Gore" and "Al Shearer"... ?

:rofl:

[IChing]

5. Harry Shearer is great thanks for

putting the tread up. Of course Gore is my choice.
Spinal Tap will reform their band.

[tridim]

39. I always hear Smithers when I hear Harry Shearer

So in essence Smithers is interviewing the next President of the US! :)

[IChing]

87. Kent Brockman news reporter

[Viva_La_Revolution]

6. Spinal Tap will play at Live Earth Concert!

[IndyOp]

7. Rob Reiner re-united "Spinal Tap" for the Live Earth concert!

Come on July!

[IndyOp]

8. Florida 2000 --

Sigh. Was there a discrepancy between the Gore campaign's statement "Count Every Vote" and the fact that the Gore campaign only requested a recount in 4 counties in Florida?

No - Gore asked on national TV for a statewide recount. Florida law requires that BOTH candidates request a statewide recount or they, otherwise, have to go county by county.

I did not know that.

:cry:

:puke:

[IChing]

9. I like the channel that Current TV replaced

Shearer is making a good point.

[IndyOp]

10. It is sad that an international news channel was lost...

There weren't any 4th rate shopping channels available.

[IChing]

21. I was able to get CBC news and other sources at that time.

1/3 of the content on current is from the people.
I guess I need to watch it more.

[helderheid]

11. JUST tuned in - how much did I miss???

[IndyOp]

12. Just intro ideas -- right now is where they dig into the book!

:hi:

[helderheid]

13. Excellent!! RECOMMENDED!

[Viva_La_Revolution]

19. Rejoining the conversation that is Democracy!

:applause:

[Viva_La_Revolution]

14. Now this is a man I would LOVE to have a beer with!

He and Shearer are great together. I'm :rofl:

[IndyOp]

17. You want to have a beer with someone who is smart and funny?

You are un-American!

:sarcasm:

[Viva_La_Revolution]

46. There's a whole group of smart and funny DU'ers I get to drink beer with regularly...

Al would be a great addition to the discourse!

[WinkyDink]

41. Me? I'll have some good Freedom wine! LOL!

[IndyOp]

15. Printing press brought about revolutionary changes in

political and public affairs...

[Uncle Joe]

90. Nice photo of a printing press IndyOp, you are ready!

:thumbsup:

[helderheid]

16. He is so articulate, so intelligent, so endearing...

[chimpymustgo]

23. Sorry, folks. Al Gore is too goddam SMART to be allowed to be President of the USA.

I am so loving just listening to him talk about the freaking history of communication - the printing press for cyring out loud!

What a gift. I fear even if Americans have come to their senses and overwhelmingly re-elect him, the powers-that-be won't let it happen. He cannot be controlled.

[lovuian]

31. So true I agree

He should have been our president in 2000 and we had criminals take over our country

it was the Supreme Court
Florida Jeb Bush
Congress

and the CIA and Military

well they got Bozo the clown and he destroyed any legacy they ever had

anybody who touches Bush is poisoned with evil

its sad but true

[L. Coyote]

18. People sit and listen, but do not move. The One-Eyed Baby Sitter is One-Way

Unless you are simoultaneously blogging on DU!!

"Television has a quasi-hypnotic appeal" Great Hypnotist, eh?

[IndyOp]

24. In the book he talks about learning how to hypnotize chickens as a kid...

:rofl:

He says that people aren't hypnotized the same way chickens are but the implication is there...

[Straight Shooter]

57. Has bush ever mentioned that he learned to hypnotize sheep as a kid? n/t

[Viva_La_Revolution]

77. ...

:rofl:

[IndyOp]

20. People sit and listen, they don't move or speak...

TV is one-way communication.

Current TV is based on a vision that it is possible to recreate a meritocracy of ideas. More than 1/3 of the content is made by the viewers. http://www.current.tv/

Breath new life back into democracy by allowing we the people to rejoin the conversation of democracy!

:hi: :hi: :hi:

[helderheid]

22. someone please put this on the greatest page...

pretty please??

[IChing]

25. I put the first vote in

OK, here we go on to 911 and misinformation.

[IndyOp]

27. Someone did! Not me, I already voted. (n/t)

[helderheid]

30. thanks for #5 whomever you are!

[L. Coyote]

26. "We are all responsible for the decisions our country makes."

"more than 2/3 of the American people were convinced that the person responsible" was Saddam.

Taxpayer $millions$ buying LIES = Pentagon aimed to control Iraqi media during war
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x980430

BUSH's LIES have a price---and not just in hundreds of thousands of lives after the LIES.
First, the taxpayers have to pay--up front--for the creation and propagation of the LIES.

[IndyOp]

28. Critical - "we are all responsible" -

Our nation was in a long downward slide to get to the point that Bush could steal two elections in a row.

Gore HAS to keep pointing back at us to make this expedition effective - we are the ones who have to make the change.

[L. Coyote]

36. We must overthrow the Propaganda with TRUTH every day and instantly

by calling out every LIE.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x975882

[IChing]

29. "Why is there no accountablity for mistakes and crimes"

"The Congress aloud it"

[blm]

33. The allowing started in 75 and got worse in 93 - THAT was precedent setting, imo.

http://www.consortiumnews.com/2006/051006.html

I am thrilled that Gore is now speaking publicly about the NEED for the American people to get the TRUTH - the whole truth to make decisions as voting CITIZENS. He has come a long way and opened his eyes to the danger of secrecy and I hope more follow.

Let's GROW the anti-corruption, open government wing of the Democratic Party. And thankyou to Al for coming over to our side and speaking to our values of open government.

[chimpymustgo]

34. And reporters and anchormen were worried about being called unpatriotic.

Everyone who has not spoken out about the warrantless wiretapping, global climate change - we will fix our democracy when we restore the way we communicate. Restoration of reason, fact and truth.

[Tatiana]

32. This man has the greatest understanding of the principles of American government

with the exception of Robert Byrd.

He should be the leader of our nation.

[IndyOp]

35. I did not know in the run-up to the war that Gore was speaking out against it -

I wasn't yet at DU and I did not get that information from the media I was exposed to at the time. I was participating in the MoveOn meetings with Senators and attending my first protests to try to keep the invasion from happening, so I was paying attention.

[dogday]

37. Many were, you just could not hear them because

the cry for war was all the media would show.... People blocked the streets before this war in protest... Much was done, but nothing ever heard or seen...

[IChing]

38. The media didn't give our side a voice, I heard Gore speak out

He was portrayed as a raving lunatic by the media

[Uncle Joe]

91. Yes, ranting was the key word describing his speech, with

no discussion of the points he was making.

[WinkyDink]

47. I heard Kucinich and Sharpton. In person. In NYC. They literally walked their talk.

[NYCGirl]

48. Here's Gore speaking against pre-emption in 2002:

http://archives.cnn.com/2002/ALLPOLITICS/09/23/gore.iraq/

[WinkyDink]

53. Well, good! Then Gore DID have MSM exposure. Still wish I'd have seen him with the marchers.

[IndyOp]

55. I love Al and I am hoping to hear new insights from him on this:

I don't want him to be a hawk - we need anti-hawks. A BIG part of what we need to do to become a truthful, sane nation is to tell the truth about our nation's use of military to dominate -- over 250 military and CIA interventions since World War II & over 700 military bases now...

From the CNN story you linked to........

'Hawk' on foreign policy issues

The Democrat went to some lengths, however, to emphasize his credentials as a "hawk" on foreign policy issues, especially Iraq. He noted that he was "one of the few Democrats in the Senate" in 1991 who crossed party lines and supported the war resolution introduced by the current president's father.

Gore is well aware of the political pitfalls of openly questioning military action. His own father, the late Sen. Albert Gore of Tennessee, a vocal critic of the Vietnam War, lost his re-election bid in 1970, largely because of his position on the war.

[Straight Shooter]

63. If you want to know which state really controls the world, look at Tennessee.

Gore did not carry Tennessee, which would have made his victory in 2000 undisputed if they had chosen him. They stabbed him in the back, AFAIC.

Tennessee did not vote for Ford, which weakened us considerably in the Senate. Lieberman's grip would be seriously weakened.

==========

I once lived in Tennessee, it's a beautiful state with a lot of wonderful people, but I swear there is something wrong with a state that won't support the man who served them in Congress. I bet if Gore runs in the 2008 election, that Tennessee will betray him again.

[IndyOp]

40. Why do other nations with TV as news source still have strong democracies?

Nations put protections in place regarding news broadcasting -- U.S. removed ours -- other nations still have theirs.

Other nations have public stations - BBC, Australian Broadcasting Company, Canadian Broadcasting Company - and on those stations they found out the names of leaders of their intelligence agencies who were saying that there were no WMDs.

[IndyOp]

42. Why were WE so shockingly vulnerable to being manipulated by the media?

Go, Al!

[L. Coyote]

43. "we were so shockingly vulnerable to being so easily manipulated" AND STILL ARE???

US Journalist Quit Pentagon Iraqi Media Project = $96M Propaganda Project
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=980363&mesg_id=981252

[WinkyDink]

44. Didn't Al just kind of blow off that question about subpoenas and the Niger forgeries?

[eleny]

50. I didn't get that impression

It appeared to me that Shearer was embarrassed when Gore told him that the Dems are looking into the issue of the forgeries. I would like to have seen this fleshed out more with details on Conyers and C-Span's coverage. That would have certainly fit into the context of how we get information here in the U.S. But Shearer was sort of dumbstruck. So I think the conversation went off in a different direction.

[IChing]

45. Shearer also knows the facts, I would suggest listening to his program

le Show.
He is asking the motivation to go into Iraq.

[IChing]

49. He is talking about Cheney's energy task force

and Cheney's involvement. The timing of the war for pure political purposes.
Andrew Card committed Candor. "When you have a new product do it after Labor Day"
The old product was war on terror and the new product was the invasion.

[IndyOp]

51. What does Al think was the motivation for going into Iraq?

Answering with a metaphor - from "The Perfect Storm" - Three different weather fronts came together to create the storm off New England.

Often, the worst mistakes come about because of a confluance of many different influences:

1. Legitimate concern that Hussein was a brutal dictator who had brutalized his people, who was not fully in compliance with UN mandates, and a worry that overtime the ability of US to continue to enforce these sanctions could be undermined...

2. Ideological vision of why U.S. should have a more permanent presence in the Persian Gulf to prevent loss of access to oil reserves. V.P. Cheney was making speeches for years before election about how critical it is to keep access. Energy Task Force married to Rogue States Task Force.

3. Timing of decision to go to war after Labor Day before first off-year election when President's fortunes were declining precipitously. Andrew Card committed candor when asked about timing and said that when you have a new product, it is traditional to roll it out after Labor Day. What was the old product? The war against terrorism had begun to lose it's political pop, so Iraq invasion... :cry:

4. Believed it might be possible to bring about a strategic re-alignment in the whole region.

Regarding WMDs: Paul Wolfowitz committed candor when asked about WMD messages -- they had done a careful study of what would work to convince people of the need for invasion and WMD was the message.

The whole process, including General Shinseki being punished for speaking out about needing more troops during the invasion, illustrates the complete absence of reason!

[Viva_La_Revolution]

54. "committed candor"

brilliant phrase.

[KoKo]

52. I don't like Harry Schearer's interview style. It's about him as a cynical jokester

putting in his points to get a laugh. He's got an antagonistic interview style that doesn't seem to draw out his points...but makes the points a joke line. Or, he tries to do "gotcha."

I've not seen him before but read he has a popular show on PBS. He just gives me the willies.

[chimpymustgo]

56. Virtually all the 9-11 hijackers were easily identifiable. Some in the phone book.

Not like looking for a needle in a haystack. Markle Foundation study? We need to check this out.

Harry following up: God-awful incompetence, or are we looking at something else?

Are you implying a conspiracy? Al does not - way out of the realm of possibilty.

******

Oh, Al. Your heart is too pure.

[WinkyDink]

59. And Atta's passport was found on the street! Bwahahahahaha!

[IChing]

58. "I've not seen him before"

Where have you been hiding? Good Grief.

[IndyOp]

60. I like the fact that he has criticized Gore -- this is part of a conversation...

We have too, too many "journalists" who just kiss ass.

I knew I liked Amy Goodman the day Bill Clinton called DemocracyNow! to give a get out the vote message on election day -- Amy didn't know he was going to call, but she NAILED him with tough questions and he answered the first the first few and then told her she wasn't being very polite. :applause:

[IChing]

61. Yes it is, Harry also believes with the facts he has been presented on 9-11

Gore wouldn't go there.

[IndyOp]

64. Gore should be cautious - there are already DUers who are claiming

that Gore is LIHOP and he has NOT said that at all.

[IChing]

67. I think without a true investigation it would be an assault on reason

He smiled knowingly when Harry asked or implied the connection.

Is this a campaign book????? The crowd is screaming for him to run.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

66. it works for Gore though...

he's obviously very comfortable and has a good repartee with him.

[KoKo]

81. Gore did great at getting his points across..

even with the interview style. At one point he said "maybe we can get on the same page" to Schearer that made me think even he had a problem with his jokey questions. DU'ers here seem to know who Schearer is...and maybe that's always his style. Not having seen him before I found him abrasive and would have felt uncomfortable with his jokey style.

Anyway...Gore did great...and thanks as always, for your Book Notes Alerts!

[IChing]

84. You probably listen to Harry Shearer everyday as

Mr. Burns, Waylon Smithers, Ned Flanders, Reverend Timothy Lovejoy, Kent Brockman, Dr. Julius Hibbert, Dr. Marvin Monroe, Lenny Leonard, Principal Seymour Skinner, Otto Mann and Rainier Wolfcastle.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Shearer

[IndyOp]

62. Perfect - Bush's incuriousity pre-9/11 and pre-Katrina reflect the fact that

he is not worried about being held accountable by the media, the Congress, or the people.

:spank: us...

[L. Coyote]

65. I appreciate how he does not allow this event to become a cheering fest.

Reason at work, not crowd mania!!

[chimpymustgo]

69. Torture unAmerican. After the "divine right of Kings, to the rights of the people governed

It is un-American to strip the people's rights.

[IndyOp]

72. Agreed and the audience reaction is, in part, due to The People's strong

desire to participate in the conversation.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

68. Crowd screaming for him to Run!

I love it. :)

[IndyOp]

70. We believe that all men are created equal and that they are endowed by their

Creator with...

Historically, the "Divine Right of Kings" - the belief that a ruler was ordained by God and one cannot protest the rulers action without acting against God - was replaced by the statement above with the believe of the Dignity of the Individual.

Sweet. THE RIGHTFUL PLACE OF GOD IN GOVERNMENT is Dignity of the Individual.

God in Government is NOT King George. This is a great statement that puts into perspective why the GOP has been desperate for us all to recognize God in government -- they want a KING atop their rigid, authoritarian hierarchy.

:applause:

[helderheid]

71. And the crowd goes WILD!

[Viva_La_Revolution]

75. Standing ovation and more chants!

:bounce:

[L. Coyote]

73. Wiretapping again mentioned. HUGE illegality by BUSH

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x925247

[IChing]

74. It is over and way too short.

[senseandsensibility]

78. I hope they will replay it.

Sigh. I missed it all.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

82. Video isn't up yet, not on the schedule again that I can see.

but I'll let you know if I find it. :)


don't miss this! -

Tuesday, May 29
Fmr. Vice Pres. Al Gore Lecture on "The Assault on Reason"
On C-SPAN2 at 7pm ET
I'm pretty sure this a different program, at least I hope so.

[senseandsensibility]

86. Thanks for the heads up

:)

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

76. Thank you Viva for the heads up. My President was spectacular!

Al, I :loveya:

[Viva_La_Revolution]

79. it was a selfish act...

I love watching great stuff with you guys. :hug:

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

85. You're making me cry here Viva. I am working in my office today and

it really is very special to watch and share these moments with other DUers and to know that I am not alone. :hug:

Meanwhile, Al has to run again. Ok, I'll say it upfront, my kids are great. My youngest will be old enough to vote in 2008 and both of them want to vote for Gore. People talk about kids being ambivalent, well I think Gore is enough of a "rock star" that the youth will come out and vote big time for him. I don't think our country or this planet can survive without him. We are that far out on the precipice.

[Skip Intro]

80. He didn't rule out running.

I only saw the last few minutes, but he was asked if the book was a campaign book and with chants of "Run Al Run" he went on to explain why he wrote the book now instead of earlier, but never took advantage of the opportunity to dispell hopes that he will run.

Did anyone else get that impression?

[Viva_La_Revolution]

83. yes.

I bet he's a great poker player.

[Labors of Hercules]

89. Oh yes, and every time his responses get more and more brilliant...

That's why my intuition screams that he is making sure the table is set just right before he sits down for dinner... *wink*

[L. Coyote]

88. K&R