Take it back, Al

Al Gore hasn't given up. He's on a mission to "take our country back":

The people of "these United States are going to stand up and take our country back," former Vice President Al Gore said Sunday at a Florida Democratic Party fund-raiser at the Kravis Center's Cohen Pavilion. "Let's start right here in Palm Beach County," said Gore

Ironic, eh? Gore himself tried to take the country from Palm Beach county. But some people don't see it quite that way, like the mayor of Palm Beach:

Before he was introduced, Mayor Lois Frankel said, "I'm not one to hold a grudge . . . but this was the scene of a crime (in 2000). I haven't forgotten it, and you haven't forgotten it."

Three words: Stuck. On. Stupid.

Although this is the standard Gore rant, it might be fun to explore why he thinks the country was "taken" and how he wants to reclaim it.

"How many times have we listened to the current administration and in (state and national Republican offices), and after a few years, we wake up and say that what they have been telling us is completely wrong," Gore said. "I'm not calling it a lie," but a "false impression."

But that doesn't rhyme-- "Bush gave false impressions, people died". They should stick with 'lied'. Gore proceeded to list most of the 'false impressions' he'd awakened to, which mostly revolved around Iraq. Then he compared his own administration:

During the Clinton administration, Gore and the president got regular bulletins about potential terrorist attacks, resulting in a sort of "fire-drill," a soul-searching approach to learn "what else can we do? What are our sources? And make sure we're prepared," he said.

Excuse me, but have you seen my frickin break? During the Clinton years they soul-searched while we were attacked on home turf; while Saddam tossed out the inspectors as Bill bloviated about his WMD arsenal; and while Bin Laden rose to power, stoking his hatred of America even more by our launching of cruise missiles against Talibani tents, an aspirin factory, and (what we're now told were) innocent people in Iraq. Beyond the pale revisionism.

Gore went on to essentially blame Katrina on Bush due to global warming, then said,

"The founders wanted the principles of democracy to live and breathe, by talking about the facts, by reasoning together, by putting partisanship aside as much as possible."

Pretty much complete and total BS. The founders only wanted checks and balances, which would keep the government from getting too powerful, which is what politicians like Gore desire. Is he really telling us he'd run on a concept of limited government, a Jeffersonian approach?

"I truly believe that American democracy faces a time of challenge and trials that are more serious than we have ever faced," Gore said. He pointed to the current White House, backed by a Republican Congress, which allows the government to eavesdrop on anyone's home, "sneak and peek," without a warrant. "It sounds so strange, doesn't it, so contrary to the Constitution?"

The NSA program was designed to listen to calls to/from the very people he's complained we're not doing enough to catch--the people his government allowed to rise to power. Besides, wonder if he thought the country was in similar peril when FDR interned the Japanese and cracked down on many other freedoms during World War II?

The good news, however, is that "America is waking up to their game, to what they are all about,"

No, the good news is someone with that vision didn't win in 2000. He spent a lot of time demonizing the E-vil Bushitlerites, but I didn't see many references to the real threats facing the world today, nor what he would do differently. Maybe this newspaper reporter just left them out?

People say the dems have no vision, no message. Wrong. THIS is their message, and it's been the same going on 5 years now.


A DIFFERENT MESSAGE 3/14

Contrast Al Gore's rhetoric with this man's, also speaking in Palm Beach. Now, I don't know if he's sincere (after all, he is a politician) but he's projecting a message that could be a winner for the democrats.