Posted on 05/13/2006 10:13:42 AM PDT by LdSentinal
He served two terms as vice president under a popular president. He then lost the presidency in a razor-thin election. After eight years, he repackaged himself and won the race for the White House and was re-elected in a major landslide.
That person was Richard Nixon. What Nixon did in 1968, Al Gore could repeat in 2008. Like Nixon, Gore faces a nation divided by an unpopular war. And like Nixon, Gore could transform anti-war anger and general public malaise into votes. Moreover, Democrats, moderate Republicans and independents are eager for a change, and Gore could emerge as a central agent for change in 2008.
A number of Americans strongly believe that Gore was unfairly robbed of the presidency in 2000. Two terms of George W. Bush have demonstrated that almost every point Gore raised in the 2000 election -- the dangers posed by global warming, the criticality of alternative fuel sources, the foolishness of tax breaks for the ultra-rich, the need for international diplomacy and consensus building, prudence in Supreme Court nominations, and a commitment to civil liberties -- were right on target.
Gore has learned the hard way about the extreme right-wing that now dominates the Republican Party. From being singled out for a special baggage search and frisking at Reagan National Airport in May 2002 to being one of the first to respond, on his own dime, to the plight of Hurricane Katrina victims on the Gulf Coast, Gore understands how the Bush administration and the Republican Party have destroyed the America in which the vast majority of citizens once believed.
And that gives Gore a unique perspective on matters of war and peace, civil liberties opposed to totalitarian rule, and a caring and service-oriented government as opposed to a detached bureaucracy only interested in lining the pockets of big business and political cronies.
Statesmanship is an earned attribute, and a Gore presidency would not require any on-the-job training on domestic or global policy making. The former vice president would be welcomed by a world eager to see America once again become a force for diplomacy and human rights and not a promoter of pre-emptive war and torture flights and secret gulags.
There is no doubt that Gore made a drastic mistake in selecting a neoconservative Democrat, Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, as his running mate in 2000. Gore understands his mistake more than anyone else in America.
Gore, who has made no secret of his distaste for neoconservative policies at home and abroad, will be extra careful to ensure that his next running mate reflects the true values of the Democratic Party and not those of the pro-big business and neo-conservative aligned Democratic Leadership Council.
A Gore administration working with a Democratic Congress would reverse the dangerous actions incurred under eight years of right-wing misrule and deception. Gone would be the unitary executive and presidential signing statements, the weakening of Social Security and Medicare, and windfall profits for the oil industry.
Furthermore, Al Gore, more than any other potential candidate for the presidency, understands the importance of every proper vote being counted fairly and accurately. Who better could use the White House as a bully pulpit to demand fair and fraud-free elections? That is something that would benefit democracy and every political party and candidate.
Born into a famous Washington political family, Al Gore now "gets it" about being an outsider. It is rare to find someone running for president as an outsider with the "inside the Beltway" experience of Al Gore.
The Democratic Party has the opportunity to nominate a candidate who has the right stuff and someone who could go down in history as a rare statesman-president. The Democrats would be foolish not to recognize such potential in a candidate.
>>Would have to be a Southern state governor, no? I don't see that happening.
Hillary is a nice target, but I don't see any serious push. As for Kerry, he's the type of guy who gets appointed to posts. That he's been elected at all, I consider a fluke.<<
Yeah, I don't know who they would get - Democrats are short on southern governors with good reputations.
"The Democratic Party has the opportunity to nominate a candidate who has the right stuff and someone who could go down in history as a rare statesman-president. The Democrats would be foolish not to recognize such potential in a candidate."
Should be repeated early and often. Run, Al! Run! ;)
This author is delusional. But, that's SOP for the GoreBots.
Difference is that Mr. Nixon was perhaps the best president we ever had when it comes to foreign affairs.
While Mr. algore is nucking futs.
We can only hope so.
You really hit on it. The Dem ranks have been enormously thinned out over the last few years. They don't have a "farm team."
Yes, Gore is THE MAN! Totally sane, highly intelligent, extremely competent, completely honest. This is definitely the next President in the alternative universe of the left.
There, I fixed that for you.
Separated at birth?
I hope so, so that we can steal the election from him a second time. If it made him into a lunatic the first time, this should send him over the edge.
Sounds good to me.
Who says the Left has no sense of humor? The Republican Party is dominated by its left wing, while we on the Right are outside looking in.
Gore understands how the Bush administration and the Republican Party have destroyed the America in which the vast majority of citizens once believed.
Yes, he and his Lefty buddies understand it. Their ideology is why it's circling the bowl.
And that gives Gore a unique perspective on matters of war and peace, civil liberties opposed to totalitarian rule, and a caring and service-oriented government as opposed to a detached bureaucracy only interested in lining the pockets of big business and political cronies.
Right again. Gore certainly knows about bureaucracies lining the pockets of political cronies. Can you say Marc Rich, the Chinese, et al, ad nauseum?
a caring and service-oriented government
I get that warm and fuzzy feeling every time I go to the driver's license office to get mine renewed. Government employees who are tuned to satisfying my every want and need.
That`s what I thought, that it wasn`t him, but it is. This guy gets more and more nuts looking everytime I see him.
There is precedent for a former vice president running for the office again: Adlai Stevenson (grandfather of the Democratic nominee in 1952 and 1956) was Grover Cleveland's VP in his second term, and ran again in 1900, and Charles Fairbanks, Theodore Roosevelt's VP, ran again in 1916. Neither had run for President in the meantime.
If the Democrats regain the House in November and make a big to-do over impeaching President Bush, would that hurt Hillary? It could remind people of the impeachment of Bill Clinton and by extension of the multitude of Clinton scandals.
... well!!
. . . waited up , for my teenager to come home
... watched a little of Saturday Night Live
. . . Al Gore just did a short globalWarming skit on their Weekend Update
>>. . . Al Gore just did a short globalWarming skit on their Weekend Update<<
Yeah, that's probably a "preaching to the choir" kind of audience for him.
There used to be a joke circulating:
Q: How do you tell Al Gore from the Secret Service agents?
A: He's the stiff one.
Apparently that's no longer the case. Word has it that he's lightened up considerably. And if he runs it'll be a hardball campaign.
If Gore runs it will be a hardball butterball campaign.
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