… December 11, 2000. “Our consideration is limited to the present circumstances”….

Peabody Statement, LOL!

OK, I’ll support Creative Commons by not grabbing the image.

We. Are. Going. To. Die. We must restore hope in the world. We must bring forth a new way of living that can sustain the world. Or else it is not just us who will die but everyone. What have we got to lose? Go forth and Fight!—Xan

From the WaPo article:

His award, however, is based largely on his advocacy work. In that regard, he joins the company of Americans such as anti-landmine campaigner Jody Williams (1997), Holocaust survivor and human rights activist Elie Wiesel (1986) and civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. (1964).

An “advocate,” eh? Look’s like Gore’s in pretty good company. Despite what Nance might say about “advocates”.

We. Are. Going. To. Die. We must restore hope in the world. We must bring forth a new way of living that can sustain the world. Or else it is not just us who will die but everyone. What have we got to lose? Go forth and Fight!—Xan

Al Gore join’s Burma’s elected leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, chosen by the people and denied the right to the office they won, by war criminals.

Ruth

as ’the former future president of the USA.’
Self-disparaging.
I think Al’s gonna wait.
The next president, no matter who s/he is, no matter what they do, will be charged with the ’loss’ of Iraq. It is unavoidable, if the US does, in fact, withdraw its troops to bases and the periphery. No matter how it’s spun, the Pukes/Fascists will blame the NEXT (Dem) president for everything.
And it’ll stick, thanks to the right-wing media-whore echo chamber.
In addition, especially if there’s a Dem in the WhiteHouse, there WILL be another ’terra’ attack, to test whether the Dems have the ’courage’ to bomb brown people for the hell of it. (And no other response will be acceptable.)
Plus the climate crisis will be ignored by bidness, and this in turn will eviscerate any Govt initiatives.
Plus the health crisis will escalate.
Plus the economy’s gonna tank.
Not a job I’d want, frankly…

Me? A Quick Study, But A Slow Learner

This post and the one just before, about why Politicians Are Politicians NOT Leaders Dammit, aka The Toxic Leader Meme tie together nicely.

Al Gore used to be a politician. Now he is a Leader. He understands the difference between the two roles whether he explicitly articulates it or not.

I wish everybody would stop trying to force him back into a role he has moved beyond. Anybody can be a politician. Sometimes politicians can move beyond that role (cf Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton) and become Statesmen. One can become a Leader without ever holding public or elective office (M. L. King, Gandhi) but achieving influence over a wide range most often requires media attention.

To move from the Politician role to the Leader category is especially difficult since it is (as we see in the case of Gore) very easy to assume that the actions taken are intended to rebound to some sort of personal benefit. We distrust altruism, or at least those who claim to be motivated by it, having been burned by similar claims so often in the past. “I want only to help you” too often turns into “I’m only doing this for your own good”, with unfortunate results, or “They say to send your money to God but they give you their address” as the old song has it.

I ramble. Point is, if Gore were to step back into politics to any slight degree at this point the cloak of Leadership would drop instantly from his shoulders, burst into flame and vanish forever, as would his ability to wield the influence he now has.

The cry would go up throughout the land: “See, he was just a lyin’ bastard politician all along, I toldja so. Just in it fer hisself.”

Nope, Al has moved beyond this. Stop trying to drag him back into it and work in the political field with what we have.

You make some fair points, but we are truly in a state of Constitutional crisis, and — barring Edwards suddenly getting the wind at his back — Gore looks like our only hope of salvaging America’s integrity, economy, environment, and what we used to call “the rule of law.”

Reach our hands up, together, and bear him to the halls of power! Perhaps, if he still declines to run, President Hillary Clinton(!) will find an appropriate spot for him in the government. One can hope.

++++

If Hillary wins, you can bet Al will be as much the voice of reason in her administration as he was in her husbands, whether she gives him the Secretary of State job or not.

But I’m with Xan on this. The man can do more good outside the Beltway than he can do inside it. The difference is in the Oval Office he is in a better position to put the brakes on the deterioration of Constitution government.

Until the Company does what it does to all who would govern instead of rule.

No Hell below us
Above us, only sky

and while those prizes are not the ones we might want for him, they are indisputably and ineluctably valuable. The man has outgrown the proto-fascist puerility of American domestic politics, and we should wish him Godspeed as he does everything he can figure out how to not just to put this pathetically badly-led nation back on a track towards Constitutional government (inarguably the job of its citizens, damn it, which we are NOT doing adequately), but to actually literally save the world so that his, and by the way our, grandchildren aren’t left with a cinder floating in a sewer.

Run Al Run — FAR AWAY and HIGH ABOVE!!

Congratulations to the man who was, actually, elected in 2000.

Gore spent some serious time out of the spotlight, making the decisions that have taken him to the heights of esteem, influence, and world-wide ability that open before him now.

Yes, he is like Aung San Suu Kyi in that he has transcended the derisive, anti-intellectual cruelty of the current White House mob; no, he is not like Aung San Suu Kyi, because Al Gore didn’t choose a quiet martyrdom under house arrest. He looked at the avenues and the consequences and he chose directions that would take him above and beyond the reach of the petty puerility of protofascists like Limbaugh and Coulter, the animus of cretionous capitalist capos like Rove and Cheney, the utterly insupportable incuriously unimaginative Bush, and all their ditto-head warmongering fans.

It would not be fair to drag him back into a fray no longer truly worthwhile, force him to abandon the very real commitment to a vulnerable wider world, just to
derive a moiety of comfort for our infantile souls.

Let him fly. Let him lead. Let him be.

Break whoever wants to take us farther down the Bu$hco road of the delusions driving that, once the election is settled, by whatever means we the people must break whoever tries to further corrupt our nation.

Mr. Gore has overcome enough.

May the wind be at John Edwards’ back — although, in a photo I noticed the other day how fatefully he looks like RFK.

We can admit that we’re killers … but we’re not going to kill today. That’s all it takes! Knowing that we’re not going to kill today! ~ Captain James T. Kirk, Stardate 3193.0

..although politicians have their leadership roles and moments.

But all this acclaim and desire for him to vie for the presidency-that-should-have-been comes a bit late. The time to be on his side was in 2002, when he was making his decision on whether or not to run again in 2004. He had already reentered the political arena with his astonishing San Francisco speech in Oct, taking a clear stand against invading Iraq.

I wondered then how my liberal compatriots weren’t as excited as I was at the changes in Gore, his new relaxation, and his new determination to run on his own terms, which meant a much clearer embrace of is own liberalism, without apologies.

He was almost as ignored on the left as he was ignored and made fun of by the media, following, as always, the lead of the RNC. And the media was led in their contempt by our old not-friends, MoDo, and Frank Rich, who sneered at Gore’s pretenses that he had not yet made up his mind whether or not to run when it was obvious that he had, just another example of Gore’s phoniness. This was when Gore had already come out against the invasion of Iraq, but making fun of Gore was more important to that great liberal patriot, Frank Rich, than even mentioning Gore’s position on Iraq in a column,every word of which dripped with unalloyed loathing. When it turned out that Gore hadn’t yet made up his mind, and announced, during the Christmas holiday that he would not be running, Rich felt no need to notice that he was dead wrong about where Gore was at in his decision-making.

Tell me, Nader is threatening to get in the race again if Clinton is the Democratic nominee, would he do the same, again, if Gore were to be? What does that say about Nader’s political and leadership acumen in 2000. I cede to no one in my admiration of Nader as one of the great persons of the 20th century, but in the 21st century, not so much. I didn’t choose Gore over Nader to send any kind of message, though I think the lesson that some Nader voters were trying to send the Democratic party, especially those who only did so in safe states for Gore, was an important one. I didn’t vote for Nader because I thought he would be a God-awful President.

No one wanted Gore to run in 2004, when he more than anyone else could have galvanized the growing dislike of Bush rule, not the netroots, mostly, not the poobahs of the Democratic Party, okay, the SCLM would have liked it, but only as another occasion to destroy Gore, on behalf of a Bush presidential campaign…hey, everybody, we, the people, got what we wanted. Not me, personally. But I was a lonely voice, although I was comforted by noting Avedon was seeing what I thought I was, not a reinvented Gore, instead, an Al Gore who had dug deep and learned much from what had happened to him through-out 2000.

We are the ones who haven’t learned much from that experience, including what our own surprise that it was Al Gore, of all people, who emerged to be a lonely voice standing up to Bush depredations of constitutional government and sound foreign policy, even when Bush’s poll numbers were high. What does it say about our own evaluation of politicians that so few of us saw those possibilities in Gore, who was talked about in 2000, and continues to be disparaged in some liberal quarters, as the lesser of two evils, not really that different from Bush and the Republicans.

I don’t have a neat answer to those questions, but they are ones we should be thinking about again, in this primary season.

What a nice pay off for taking a dive. Lilly livered @%#*^%@*&#(^@#(!!

This is some straight up Bullllllll shit! This is a soap opera, I swear to god if he runs for president, I’m gonna puke! This potemkin village Bullshit that passes for democracy is Ahhhhhhhhh!

OK I’m good. Had to get that off my chest.

’cause if you say Michael Vick, we’re done.

And by the way, I hope my alma mater discovers its institutional spine and throws out that stupid fraternity kid who drew up and started selling those god-awful “Vick Em” T-Shirts.

Geoffrey Candia should be expelled. Stupid little Fu**er.

Advocating animal cruelty is NOT what a college education should be about, and anybody who thinks animal cruelty is harmless fun or humorous or entertaining, is subhuman.

Any. Body.

We can admit that we’re killers … but we’re not going to kill today. That’s all it takes! Knowing that we’re not going to kill today! ~ Captain James T. Kirk, Stardate 3193.0

You mean not running for Pres in 2004? 2008?

Do you mean in Florida, 2000?

Hey Xenophon good call!This guy is/has been on the sidelines of the power elite for ages and, though I do appreciate the attention is brings to the environmental issues that face us I still somehow can’t see that all this marketing of Gore came from compassionate honest people-Where did the money come from to promote his message? We should follow the money.But I too smell a rat-A leopard can’t change his spots-Perhaps save the environment=hike the gas prices,etc. The Nazi party used to have a green component to it too.Sorry if this offends everybody but we should be wary of the motives before once again we are too far down the garden path too turn back.Thx Xenophon I was scared to post for fear of verbal small arms fire-at least I won’t get shot alone….

of the climate crisis, it could quite easily be subverted to underwrite an authoritarian/fascist programme. The Third Reich was also a “moral crusade.”

Me? A Quick Study, But A Slow Learner

Gore said approximately this:
The American system does not provide an intermediary step between the Supreme Court and violent revolution, and I couldn’t do that.

Me? A Quick Study, But A Slow Learner

And he was correct. Whether there was another solution short of that… I don’t know. I certainly didn’t hear anybody advocating one at the time. Nor, absent the blogosphere back in 2000, was there anywhere such a message could have been heard. Or any way for us to, well, put on our Nixon masks and become entartistes.

We. Are. Going. To. Die. We must restore hope in the world. We must bring forth a new way of living that can sustain the world. Or else it is not just us who will die but everyone. What have we got to lose? Go forth and Fight!—Xan

But I too smell a rat-A leopard can’t change his spots-Perhaps save the environment=hike the gas prices,etc. The Nazi party used to have a green component to it too. - Uncle Alice

Yeah, and the Nazis liked movies and ballroom dancing and hiking and eating wiener schnitzel in the beer garden on warm evenings while listening to Beethoven’s ’Moolight’ sonata.

Obviously anyone today who drives their Volkswagon to a movie theater to see a movie (especially one starring Greta Garbo!) after an afternoon of hiking around the lake with a knapsack on their back is clearly a Nazi. Don’t get me started on mass transportation systems, Francisco Franco and the Catholic Church, or Walt Disney’s Tomorrowland.

Speaking of “components”; “Uncle Alice”, did you know that the children of top Nazi officials (Bormann, Speers, Goebbels…) would routinely address Hitler as “Uncle Adolph”? Yup, they did. Called him “Uncle Adolph” …know what I’m sayin’, “Uncle Alice”?

- smarter monkeys please.

*

count the logical fallacies
Submitted by anonymous coward.

sorry, that one is mine.

*

… doesn’t seem to have made the same impact on him as it has on you.

In fact, Moore has gone from lashing out at Gore and throwing his support behind Nader to looking at him this way:

Thank You, Al Gore … a note from Michael Moore

Things on which we no longer allow ANY debate: Slavery, child labor, the existence of the Holocaust, women being allowed to vote, Trent Lott’s hairpiece.

Add now to this list: Global Warming. No more debate. Not another word. Zip it. The planet is in a state of emergency.

Al Gore has performed an incredible humanitarian service. Go see An Inconvenient Truth. This is a great documentary. And bring your conservative brother-in-law.

Thank you, Al Gore. We are all behind you. We are all with you.

— Michael Moore

And from this May 25, 2007 appearance on Bill Maher’s Real Time (around the eight-minute mark):

I would say that there is someone who isn’t running yet, someone who’s been [Bill Maher interrupts, jokes that Moore wants him to be president]. You also don’t have a Tennessee accent, and I’m not referring to Fred Thompson. I think, I really hope he gets into this race, because not only because he’s right about global warming, right about the health care issues, he was right about the war in Iraq before it began, he was out there on the limb saying those things that the other candidates now are trying to catch up to. But, I also think the country maybe would like a moment of redemption to right the wrong that happened.

Apparently, some think the wrong that happened was that Gore wasn’t compared to Hitler enough.

If Maureen Dowd and Frank Rich are still offering up bile on this subject, and the mere thought of Al Gore running for Prez brings a surge of vomitous to others, perhaps a Putrid Pundit Puking Party could be arranged? Those so inclined could all ralph their innards into a communal pit while the Supreme Court exchanges its ebony robes for white sheets?

We can all agree to disagree, but perhaps it would be less convulsive if we fasted first.

++++

Just perusing the headlines on TPM, well, it makes me want to self-medicate.

“McCain: Gore Shouldn’t Have Won Nobel”

“Fox Says Give Nobel to Petraeus Instead”

“… incensed some CNN.com readers while pleasing others … “

Reach me that bucket, wouldja, MJS? No, the other one. The one that’s not already full.

We. Are. Going. To. Die. We must restore hope in the world. We must bring forth a new way of living that can sustain the world. Or else it is not just us who will die but everyone. What have we got to lose? Go forth and Fight!—Xan

Of course, this was all BTWR (Before The Waters Rose).

I love the idea of people being “incensed” about Al Gore winning a peace prize. Boy, it really got my dander up when Gore won that prize…fit to be tied, I was! Fit to be tied!

McCain, FOX…punch drunk dinosaurs, bellowing in the marshes, sinking, sinking, sinking…

++++

and work out their aggression that way.

The horrible thing is that the 2008 campaign hasn’t even really started yet. We’re just getting the first taste of what it’s going to look like.

We. Are. Going. To. Die. We must restore hope in the world. We must bring forth a new way of living that can sustain the world. Or else it is not just us who will die but everyone. What have we got to lose? Go forth and Fight!—Xan

This campaign or the way the media will rip the flesh off a Democratic president this time around?

some ballot initiatives for Constitutional amendments.
Congress must bow if 3/4 of the states ratify amendments.

I propose these:
1. Limit all campaigns for political office to no more than 30 days in length and SHUT DOWN ALL MEDIA ADVERTISING 48 HOURS BEFORE THE POLLS OPEN. Texas has in its constitution a proviso that a person holding one elective office must resign before actively campaigning for another, and I can see no harm in enacting that across the nation. I simply don’t see how a Senator or Congressional Representative can adequately perform those important duties while simultaneously trying to campaign for the Presidency. Texas also prevents campaign signage and workers within 75 feet of the polling place (usually that means the edges of the lawns of the schools), and I see no reason not to include this proviso in the national policy.

2. Demand written ballots counted by human beings for all elections. (Early voting is fine — have it go for 10 days, and end the Saturday before the polls open officially; any ballots mailed from US citizens overseas — serving military or not — get free overnight mail and need only be postmarked before midnight, local time, the Saturday before the election in the US).

I have a long string of other ideas to reform government, but if I’m right about how fed up the public is, these would be slam-dunks.

We can admit that we’re killers … but we’re not going to kill today. That’s all it takes! Knowing that we’re not going to kill today! ~ Captain James T. Kirk, Stardate 3193.0

Betting he won’t run.

Yeah, it’s Uncle Alice-Like Uncle Sam…..Come on now the price of freedom is eternal vigilance.etc.etc..If we don’t look at these jokers(at best,crooks really) with hard eyes we’ll just get it again..The devil always lines his lies with truth-and I really wish you wouldn’t make fun of my monkeys..coward

Michael Vick is a football player. Why would I even consider him for anything other than running a football?

I would love to see Mike Gravel at 1600.

You do realize Bill Maher and Michael Moore are entertainers. Perhaps it doesn’t have the same impact because they weren’t the ones who were disenfranchised from their vote. Plus they got invited to Gore’s Oscar party. Who gives a shit about what impact it had on them. If you’re looking for a comparison for Gore - try Alger Hiss.

When he ratified the vote and squashed the investigation into voter disenfranchisment. Ask Pelosi. Washington DC 2001.

Gore declined to plunge the country into civil war over what would have been universally regarded as spite over losing a close election.

Every once in awhile—which is to say probably a couple of times in every election cycle in every state—some race comes up a dead even tie. Votes are recounted repeatedly and it stays a tie. The outcome is settled by random chance, from a flip of a coin to a little dice game called “pea pool.”

That’s what it would have looked like in 2000. Go watch “Fahrenheit 9/11” again and remember what it was like at the time. Hell I was paying close attention and *I* didn’t know half the shit that went on because our wonderfully thorough, fair and attentive media didn’t tell us. (grrrrr….)

Gore followed the rules.

Had he not done so we could very, very easily be in a vastly worse situation now than even the one we are actually in. Because if Gore had been the one to break the Constitution first….? jesus christ, we would truly be up shits creek.

Yeah he probably fucked up strategically, most assuredly fucked up tactically. He isn’t a fucking saint and he isn’t a fucking genius either and he definitely lacks magical powers.

I’m gonna suspect you too have some incidents in your life you look back on and torment yourself late at night listing all the aspects thereof that you wish you had handled differently. Most of us do. At least we can console ourselves that it was only our own lives we fucked up. The fact that he was —maybe— wrong in the decisions he made does not mean that he is crooked.

the price of freedom is eternal vigilance.etc.etc..

Well then, sweet Uncle Alice, that’s all very gloriously heroic, and noble-like and all, but while you’re keeping a hard eye on the path of freedom why don’t you find something else to scribble into this notebook here besides tired school-girl rhetorical cliches (“A leopard can’t change his spots”) etc. etc.; or decorating your tattings with fruity fallacious boing-eyed anologies to Nazis. (here’s another clue, again, Alice, for example: just because the Nazis liked to have parades doesn’t mean that St Patricks Day is a Nazi holiday.) Okie dokie! Get it? Know what I mean? You think about it a while. Of course, by all means let us know if ya if ya spy any Nazis disguised in Sierra Club t-shirts sneaking around the fuel depot and i’m sure someone will call in a jellied gasoline attack on their position.

*

True enough.

But the question Xenophon hasn’t asked but maybe wants to ask is: has the civil war come anyway?

If Gore ran, and won by a real margin of 70%, but the Rethuglican used their disinformation machine, claimed all the votes anyway and refused to surrender Washington, would Gore let loose the the dogs of civil war?

Would he allow himself to be arrested and send to prison for refusal to capitulate? Would he avoid arrest and continue the fight underground? Would any of us?

Or would he be called unreasonable, impractical, and delusionally paranoid?

Xan, the civil war is here already. I think that’s what Xenophon believes. I do. It just hasn’t shown up at your door yet.

No Hell below us
Above us, only sky

As you know, each and every one of the 100 U.S. senators (or however many were present) took a pass at taking action on that issue.

VP Gore was the one person in America for whom attempting — almost certainly in vain, given the makeup of the Supreme Court — to open a new can of uncertainty about the election would have been the most freighted. It not only wouldn’t have worked, he would have been crucified as history’s sorest loser, abusing his usually ceremonial role in the Senate for his own interests.

But, of course, fuck him and all the worthy things he’s done and advocated for.

I’m with Xan and VL.

I can’t see a way that Gore could have overturned Bush v. Gore at the time. Now, I know this is a “keep your powder dry” argument, but unfortunately, sometimes that’s the right thing to do, unless the “Charge of the Light Brigade” is your model for strategic success.

The best case scenario is… What? Bush v. Gore overturned? Not likely. Successful street violence in favor of overturning the election result? Not likely. Insurrection? Feh. The very best outcome that Xenophon can envision, in his alternative scenario, is hearings. And so what?

And I can very easily see the outcome of those hearings: The Dems force the issue, lose again—they can’t get anything close to fair coverage, and at that point, there’s no blogosphere, remember—the election result is ratified again, and the whole topic becomes totally unmentionable, ever again, in any venue. Right down the memory hole. Then we truly are in “boot stamping on a human face forever” mode.

In other words, the only path to overturning the results of Bush v. Gore turns out to at the ballot box, as we at present in some hope of doing.

And I’m with VL: “Fuck him and all the worthy things he’s done and advocated for.” Stupid.

UPDATE A better argument to make against my position (and Xan’s and VL’s) would be to say that we today, and Gore et al in 2000, were essentially falling back on the process dodge when the Republicans were viciously and ruthlessly manipulating the process to achieve desired outcomes. However, I think that the same “the only response is the ballot box” argument applies. I think it’s incumbent on the proponents of the alternate future to give more detail on what could, as well as should, have happened.

We. Are. Going. To. Die. We must restore hope in the world. We must bring forth a new way of living that can sustain the world. Or else it is not just us who will die but everyone. What have we got to lose? Go forth and Fight!—Xan

Hey Farmer You ever wonder why the MSM has allowed Gore’s message to travel like it has? How many other environmentalists (with way better environmental credentials)have gotten their films played at your child’s school- a la propaganda-Or maybe we shouldn’t question at all-I’m not denying that there is an environmental crisis,and I’d like to beleive that this movement is fully in the interest of the greater good,but I think that it is has the potential to be exploited,just like our blind trust of it- I thought about your last comment, and googled “Nazi Green Party”. Try it. You’ll Poo. Or you should. I don’t think I’m the first to make comparisons between todays societal changes and the Third Reich and I only wish I was the last.Sorry if my cliches offend you,I’m no writer,fine,and Gore and many others may be sincere in their goals.I’m still thinking there’s a hidden agenda. You think about it.

Yes, I’m going to tip the ol’ recliner w-a-a-a-y back, have a glass of Feral Liberal’s wine handy, hit mute to kill the screaming, and… Enjoy. Gawd knows we need our enjoyment, these days. Over to you, farmer.

We. Are. Going. To. Die. We must restore hope in the world. We must bring forth a new way of living that can sustain the world. Or else it is not just us who will die but everyone. What have we got to lose? Go forth and Fight!—Xan

While murderous thugs take a blowtorch to the Constitution there’s at least one guy keeping an eye on a cereal box, puzzled by the fiber content numbers, pretty sure somebody at the shredded wheat factory has a hidden agenda…

++++

I saw a little shred of the Fourth Amendment in my breakfast bowl. Didn’t taste too good having to swallow it.

Second Amendment fans should try the cereal shot from guns.

We’ll since I was getting phone calls from jails in Florida where friends of mine had been arrested for voting, cops were cordoning off neighborhoods, and they were shifting polling places, I rally can’t see how the magical “dead even tie” wasn’t contested. Of course it was just black folk, and old folk. Their votes really don’t count. Naw Xan. The election was stolen, suck it up, the Diebold counting manipulation happened in 2000. Gore declined (for real??). You know there is a bridge I can sell you – call me. Gore cut a fucking deal. Look at Argentina, Columbia, any third world Banana Republic coup and you’ll understand Florida. Civil war? The war is over, Bush won. And Gore was complicit as is Clinton. Why? Because when it mattered Albert opted for a Nobel Prize and an Academy award. I ain’t mad at him, rich people stick together. I just can’t drink the Kool-Aide. Fuck him. All the good he did? See you in the KBR work camps.

Like Ben Franklin said - use it or lose it.

Let’s use our democracy to stew in conspiracy theories against the best statesmen we’ve got.

On two levels:

Trivially, Gore’s not dead, and that makes him a politician, not a statesman. That said, he’s the best politician we’ve got.

As far as CT: I think we can leave aside the notion that Nader was plotting with a splinter faction of vegan greens to bring down the Republic because Hitler was a vegetarian.

But Xenophon is right to remind us that the burden of contesting the vote theft fell on the black, the old, and the poor.

But as far as Gore cutting a deal? I need a little more evidence. What did he get for it? The Academy Award? The Nobel? We know the Republican playbook pretty well now, so where’s the signature that a play like this was in operation?

Je repete:

When you get into that mindset, what do you do? “Pessimism of the intelligence, optimism of the will.” The “no difference” riff is corrosive and destructive because it provides no strategic or even tactical insight for the intelligence, and induces a sense of helplessness in the will.

Which is what the “Gore made a deal” boils down to, IMHSHO.

As I asked: If there was a better option, given the givens at the time, say starting with hearings, what’s the positive scenario that plays out?

We. Are. Going. To. Die. We must restore hope in the world. We must bring forth a new way of living that can sustain the world. Or else it is not just us who will die but everyone. What have we got to lose? Go forth and Fight!—Xan

For the democrats vast. If you have an argument by all means make it. Save the knob polishing for Gore. If Gore is the best statesman we’ve got. We’ll all be picking tobacco, excuse me, ethanol friendly hemp at Gore plantations soon.

Stop. We (America) lost its vote in 2000, so technically the democracy has been over for a few years now. What you want to argue but can’t is that the vote was not manipulated through coercion, intimidation, fraud, and theft.

There was voter intimidation, fraud, coercion and manipulation.

There was evidence of tampering with a federal election and violation of the civil rights voter legislation.

Nancy Pelosi was going to second the motion to have evidence admitted (caging voters, Diebold insecurity, police harassment, etc. in 2000). Al Gore told her not to. The democratic party told her not to. Al Gore told the democrats not to make sure that the election of the highest office in the land wasn’t stolen. That the security of the individual vote the cornerstone of democracy was protected by the “rule of law.” Al Gore did this.

Seven years later he gets an Oscar and a Nobel Prize from the largest campagin machine in the world - Hollywood.

I can’t prove he cut a deal, yet. But, historically, this sounds a lot like the agreement between Hayes and Tilden.

You may not remeber that compromise, but I do.

Grow up.

“Our Democracy” is a catalog of conspiracies. Remeber the one in 1776 to overthrow the rule of the King of England?

Excellent precedent.

That said, you write:

Nancy Pelosi was going to second the motion to have evidence admitted (caging voters, Diebold insecurity, police harassment, etc. in 2000). Al Gore told her not to. The democratic party told her not to. Al Gore told the democrats not to make sure that the election of the highest office in the land wasn’t stolen. That the security of the individual vote the cornerstone of democracy was protected by the “rule of law.” Al Gore did this.

Evidence? Reasoning? Links? Signature of play from Republican playbook?

UPDATE I mean, sweet Jeebus, if I suppressed the memories of this… Well, I can always blame the brown acid, I guess, but still.

We. Are. Going. To. Die. We must restore hope in the world. We must bring forth a new way of living that can sustain the world. Or else it is not just us who will die but everyone. What have we got to lose? Go forth and Fight!—Xan

Right now I can’t seem to search function to work.

My bad on the search function…

UPDATE And I didn’t say get get me a clue, dammit. Just some context. Acid victims like context.

We. Are. Going. To. Die. We must restore hope in the world. We must bring forth a new way of living that can sustain the world. Or else it is not just us who will die but everyone. What have we got to lose? Go forth and Fight!—Xan

Probably somewhere in the comments, either on gore or voting or the Gonzales thing. It was about 3 months back.

I used my powers to go into the database and this is what I find (various, concatenated, in no particular order). Does this help?

How close Bush v. Gore comes to the 14th amendment. But yeah, the equal protection clause does apply to the “differential” like transmission or calculus. While we are “equally protected” we are not equally prosecuted. Selective policing and selective sentencing.

…

“Meyer was arrested on charges of resisting an officer and disturbing the peace, according to Alachua County jail records, but the State Attorney’s Office had yet to make the formal charging decision. Police recommended charges of resisting arrest with violence, a felony, and disturbing the peace and interfering with school administrative functions, a misdemeanor.”

Pretty soon we’ll be like Singapore, where chewing gum can get you thrown in jail.

So they guy asks “Why did you pull an Al Gore and concede an election wraught with fraud?”

Is treated as if he just said the earth is flat,

Appears to be tazed after he is cuffed.

while a room full of people let a handful of cops take him away.

This is really sacry. The only place in history when I’ve seen american totalitarianism cross the racial divide so fast is reconstruction. That is the one time in history barring the draft riots of the civil war where the interest that control the state just cut loose. CD, Soon as I get some breathing room … this is fucking fascinating.

…

When he ratified the vote and squashed the investigation into voter disenfranchisment. Ask Pelosi. Washington DC 2001.

…

Gore could have not ratified the 2000 vote and investigated the charges of voter irregularity. The second most powerful man in the Democratic party couldn’t find a way to launch a slam dunk case against voter fraud and supression in Florida? That was the step he couldn’t take on his own behalf. How selfish is that?

“You can’t get lard unless you boil the whole Hog!!!”

…

How about this. The scene from F/911. Gore sold out the republic. What he construed as personal (I’m sure he got a nice pay off – An Inconvenient Truth) was THE issue at THE moment. Yes, it would have been ugly. It would have delayed the appointment of a president for at least a year. The country would have been on pins and needles. But this wasn’t just about disenfranchised voters in Florida or sore loser black folk. What African Americans were trying to tell the country is “We have seen this shit before and no good will come of it, you must at this moment go through the agony of the process” not to ensure that Gore gets into office but to ensure that the constitution remains in force. That way we wouldn’t have ended up with “special” one time only Supreme court decisions. A move used again in the Schiavo case. A move we almost saw with Padilla, a move we will see again. If the manner in which Bush has consolidated power doesn’t tell you why we were mortally wounded when Al Gore sold out then … I’ll put it this way. Florida that day, was “How many Bubbles in a Bar of Soap?” Al Gore ushered in this new Enron style Jim Crow. Where the rich have rights and those under ten million suffer what they must. Al Gore is either a coward, an idiot, or complicit in treason – a traitor. I’m so glad that moment is on tape. There was no easy way out. Now there may be no way out.

…

I think what you are trying to say is isn’t a system of proportional representation better than straight majority rule. If you are an ideological minority yes. If you are a racial and numerical minority no. Racism and minority are not the same thing. Dick Cheney and George Bush are a minority. Black folk are a racialized minority.

This is my thing about Gore and Florida. That was the moment when a republican form of government was supposed to protect the minority (disenfranchised voters) from the tyranny of the majority (the masses clamoring for an easy continuity of government). Instead racial prejudice, in the guise of expediency, destroyed the fabric of the constitution by subverting the rules of the presidential election. Al Gore was bound by the constitution to go to court and see the decision through. He had no right to forfeit, it wasn’t his fight. Republic or democracy, if it’s racist it’s always tyranny. At least if it’s a democracy it’s not hypocritical.

If you’re going to have a Civil War, then being in a position to win it would be a really good idea…

Not seeing links, though. If 9/11 makes that case, I’m not remembering it. I remember the gavel, and being glad, too, that the moment was taped. Hmmm… Let me go look for a transcript.

We. Are. Going. To. Die. We must restore hope in the world. We must bring forth a new way of living that can sustain the world. Or else it is not just us who will die but everyone. What have we got to lose? Go forth and Fight!—Xan

From the F9/11 transcript, though the Congressional Record would be better, assuming it hasn’t been filleted:

On the day the joint session of both the House of Representatives…

… and the Senate was to certify the election results…

… AI Gore, in his dual role as outgoing vice president…

… and president of the Senate…

… presided over the event that would officially anoint…

… George W. Bush as the new president.

If any congressman wanted to raise an objection, the rules insisted…

… that he or she had to have the signed support of just one senator.

Mr. President, and I take great pride in calling you that…

…I must object because of the overwhelming evidence…

…of misconduct, deliberate fraud and an attempt to suppress voter…

The chair must remind members that under Section 18 of Title 3…

…United States Code, no debate is allowed in the joint session.

Thank you, Mr. President. To answer your question…

…the objection is in writing, signed by a number of members…

…of the House of Representatives, but not by a member of the Senate.

Mr. President, it is in writing and signed by several House colleagues…

…on behalf, and myself, of the 27,000 voters of Duval County…

…in which 16,000 of them are African-Americans…

…that was disenfranchised in this last election.

Is the objection signed by a member of the Senate?

Not signed by a member of the Senate.

The Senate is missing.

It is in writing and signed by myself…

…on behalf of many of the diverse constituents…

…especially those in the 9th Congressional District…

…and all American voters who recognize that the Supreme Court…

…not the people of the United States, decided this election.

Is the objection signed by a senator?

Unfortunately, Mr. President, it is not signed by one single senator.

I have no authority over the United States Senate…

…and no senator has signed.

Mr. President, it is in writing and signed by myself and several…

…of my constituents from Florida. A senator is needed, but missing.

Is the objection in writing…

…and signed by a member of the House and a senator?

The objection is in writing, and I don’t care…

…that it is not signed by a member of the Senate.

The chair will advise that the rules do care…

…and the signature of a senator…

Not a single senator came to the aid of the African-Americans in Congress.

One after another, they were told to sit down and shut up.

It’s a sad day in America, Mr. President, when we can’t find…

…a senator to sign the objections…

- The gentleman will suspend… - New Democratic senators won’t sign.

- I object. - The gentleman will suspend.

Gack. Not one Senator.

No mention of Pelosi, though, and that’s your argument. Or of a payoff, for that matter. Somehow, can’t see An Inconvenient Truth being a pay-off, at least as I understand the term.

Over to you…

We. Are. Going. To. Die. We must restore hope in the world. We must bring forth a new way of living that can sustain the world. Or else it is not just us who will die but everyone. What have we got to lose? Go forth and Fight!—Xan

1: one versed in the principles or art of government; especially : one actively engaged in conducting the business of a government or in shaping its policies

2: one who exercises political leadership wisely and without narrow partisanship

Excellent advice, which might include rejecting delusional theories claiming a man who’s spent decades cultivating an admirable political career conspired to cheat himself out of the most powerful job in the world.

You know the saying: “A statesman is a politician who is dead.”

We. Are. Going. To. Die. We must restore hope in the world. We must bring forth a new way of living that can sustain the world. Or else it is not just us who will die but everyone. What have we got to lose? Go forth and Fight!—Xan

I’ve had others argue that you’re not a statesman if you’re not in office.

and the Vice President is NOT a Senator — the role of the VP, as “president of the Senate,” is to preside in a lawful manner and, should a vote result in a tie, cast a tiebreaking vote.

No vote was offered Gore.
No Senator stood up.
Not Pelosi.
Not Reid.
Not Byrd.
Not Ben Nighthorse Campbell.
Not, to my shame, Daniel Inouye.
No
single
serving
Senator
signed
to stop
the coup.

Is that what you want us to acknowledge, Xenophon?
Because, dude, that is so frakkin’ obvious …

But Al Gore was not eligible to open that can of worms as the only interested member of the Senate, and anybody who had any self-esteem AT ALL was not going to stand up there and throw a hissy fit to no purpose — I say again, to no purpose whatsoever — that day.

We can admit that we’re killers … but we’re not going to kill today. That’s all it takes! Knowing that we’re not going to kill today! ~ Captain James T. Kirk, Stardate 3193.0

The real thing is colorless, odorless, and tasteless.

Accept no substitutes. Okay, maybe peyote if you can get a competent shaman to clean it for you. Remember, the white fibers are toxic.

That being said, CT or not, Democracy in the United States ended in November, 2000. I’m with Xenophon on that point.

Whether or not we can win it back remains to be seen. Personally I wonder if it’s gone until the labor camps on Europa revolt in 2176…

No Hell below us
Above us, only sky