you are quite right about al gore.
by personality, experience and intellect he would have been a superb president.
i hope america gets another chance to elect him, but i doubt it will happen.
as for george bush
i believe that he really does not like the job of president.
in addition,
his lack of experience as a working politician in a democratic government, his disinterest in policy, his lack of intellectual prepartion for the job of president,
together prety much guaranteed, even in 2000 that he would not be a very good president.
his presidency could however have been saved by choosing really competent staff.
but he did not choose a competent staff.
he chose karl rove and dick cheney. they have run the show and run the bush presidency into the ground.
bush may very well be judged years from now as one of the worst presidents we have had.
if that happens it will be because of his lack of preparation for the job of president, his disinterest in the job,
and for the extraordinary incompetence at governing that his deputies, rove and cheny, have displayed.
Posted by orionATL at March 25, 2006 02:11 PMThinking about Gore-utopia is tantamount to pouring bags of rock salt in open wounds.
HE shunned Clinton and picked a self-rightous Jewish grandmother for a crawling mate. He would have made a great Kama Kazi pilot.
Now we all have to suffer, because of his stupid choices. No reminiscence here, foward thinking only, please.
Posted by TIKI AL at March 25, 2006 02:14 PMYou have to look at the level of emotional maturity (or lack thereof) Gore has when he selected a Clinton-hating republican like Lieberman to be his running mate. When he lets his emotions and specifically hatred towards Clinton control his decision making, he got what he deserves. The rest of the country suffers. Gore has never owned responsibility for his incompetence. It all speaks for itself. 'Nuff said.
Posted by at March 25, 2006 02:23 PMthe conventional media are not getting enough credit for Gore's election "loss"
Posted by klevenstein at March 25, 2006 02:29 PMThe 2000 election WAS decided by the people.
It was decided by the self-righteous Nader leftists who could not lower themselves to vote for a candidate they considered unworthy of their high moral standards. And this includes many readers of your blog.
In 1932, this attitude was known by the shorthand term "Nach Hitler, kommen wir." The idea was to let things get really, really bad, then the people will have no choice but to vote for us morally impeccable Naderite/KPD guys. It didn't work real well the first time either.
Posted by wyneken at March 25, 2006 02:51 PMI don't think that Al Gore should be running for president. Bu$hCo torpedoed him once, and they will do it again. He would serve the cause of saving America much better by being the attack dog that a candidate would be better served not being in order to remain on the high road.
Posted by pessimist at March 25, 2006 02:58 PMAll this romance is killing me.
Go read Jack Balkin
Gore is an adult. George W. Bush is a perennial adolescent. The people who chose him as their puppet thought they could control him. The obviously did not see two sons through adolescence like I did, they can't be controlled. When someone stops maturing emotionally it is frequently the result of drug/alcohol abuse at an early age. But then again who can blame him? If Barbara had been my mother I would have started drinking when I was 12 too.
Posted by Ron In Portland at March 25, 2006 05:45 PMThere is nothing Corporate America wants less than an intelligent and commited Pro-Government President of the United States.
Corporate America desires an Executive Branch that serves only to pereptuate their capital inflows (notice I didn't say profit, but that would be another albeit lower priority). War profiteering, de-regulation, etc.
Corporate America gets what it wants. Why? Because a huge proportion of Americans - Democrats and Republicans - have been brainwashed into believing that what is good for Corporate America is good for them. They reason that since they are employed by Corporations, Corporate success is good for them.
They are wrong. But these Corporatized Human Beings are bombarded by psychological training and re-training in the workplace, advertisments on the radio in their overpriced/overconsuming automobiles that affix Corporate brands on their self-esteem and their ego, and then at home, the Corporate Media trumpeting the virtue of Corporatization and Neo-liberalism while denouncing populist movements worldwide.
Al Gore doesn't have a chance in the next election. Al Gore would've been an above average President, but let's not forget his Centrist DLC roots. He's a politician first and a thoughtful progressive second.
Posted by Tampa Student at March 25, 2006 05:51 PMTIKI AL you rock! Well done post! Agree wholeheartedly. Gore is a pig and all Dems are shit except Russ F. At least this guy has haff a ball.
Y'all don't get misty-eyed over the past, because nothing will change for the better. Today's march in LA filled me with AWE! That's people power! Do you see white Americans getting out against the war in force like that? Not anymore. I marched against Bitch and his war in every single march here in DC and in NYC. The anti-war movement is dead. Everybody is scared.
Anybody heard from Howard Dean lately? When I heard that priests and nuns would be jailed for helping illegal immigrants, I wanted to puke. I'm no Catholic, but Good God...!
Check out V for Vendetta and Inside Man this weekend. Both movies are anti-Bush. Lee cracks me up, look for the scene where Chris Plummer is at his desk, behind him is a photo of George Sr., Babs and W. The Vendetta flick is just preview of what we're headed for; I'm surprised it made it passed the censors. Maybe it just went over their heads.
Posted by Mal Feasance at March 25, 2006 08:46 PMGore won the popular vote nationwide. In Florida 40,000 or so punched the ballot for Gore and wrote his name in. Those ballots were not counted because the were spolied by over voting. Never mind the intent of this voters was clear.
Never forget and never forgive 5 supreme court hacks found a way to get their votes counted twice while 40,000 of my fellow Floridans couldn't get their votes counted once.
You can kick Gore all you want, but the fact of the matter is, he won the most votes nationwide and more people voted for him in Florida, what more do you want?
Posted by molly Bloom at March 25, 2006 09:28 PMpessimist, Yes on the role of attack dog.
People value loyalty, even to those who screw up. Gore showed none to Clinton, even though he brought him to the dance. Ungrateful. Even Bush has done well feigning loyalty.
Mal: I am not now, nor have I ever been a member of the Trollunist Party.
Posted by TIKI AL at March 25, 2006 09:33 PMGore was a bad campaigner but would have been a good president. If he'd just been himself and run on the solid record of accomplishment he and Clinton had, he'd have been fine. But instead, he had to hire a bunch of idiot consultants (yeah, Bob Shrum, that's you) who told him to try to pretend to be someone he was not, which really turned a lot of people off. His uneven performance in the debates was very costly. I can just imagine Shrum..."Ok Al, you're a fighter! Take it to Bush! Don't let him slip away." Followed by, "Ok Al, that was too strong. Next time just agree with most things Bush says and don't be too confrontational."
Posted by Q at March 26, 2006 01:33 AMTiki, excuse me, but I'm an Oppor-Tunist. May I take this opporTUNITY to tell you I've been blogging progressively, under different handles on Left Coaster, before you were born.
Posted by Mal Feasance at March 26, 2006 09:41 AMQ: Don't forget to give Donna Brazil some credit for the campaign disaster of the century.
Mal: Thank you for pointing out that you have been blogging on the Left Coaster since before I was born breech. I am at such a young and impressionable age, that I thought only a Troll would utter such phrases as: "Gore is a pig", and "all dems are shit", forgive me for not recognizing the nuance of a veteran progressive blogger.
And continuing in the vein of my youthful curiosity, why the need for multiple handles?
Posted by TIKI AL at March 26, 2006 01:58 PMMry, s yr wrtng styl gttng shrpr? strtd ntcng Pss kckng ss cpl wks g, nd nw y. Thnks.
Tmp, whr'v y bn? Jst sk Tk, lwys hmmr ths pst t glzd brdm cncrnng ths crprt Lcfr Lvrs rnnng vrythng fr th pst 150 yrs.
[Editor: ignore=off]Handles? Love-handles! I get bored with one handle I go with another.
Posted by Mal Feasance at March 27, 2006 04:22 PMThought maybe you were avoiding lawsuits, loansharks, immigration officials, exspouses, stalkers, and the IRS.
Posted by TIKI AL at March 28, 2006 12:59 AM