Posted on 07/04/2006 11:10:37 AM PDT by Torie
The first pragmatic reason to be for Gore, then, is that he is electable. He won once. {SCOTUS stole the election.] He can win again. That Bush has been such a clot as a president, such a golem magnifies Gore's stature as a thinking person with beliefs he can defend honestly and persuasively.
Hillary starts out with so many in the electorate--left, far left, right, far right, center--nearly half of the public She is just disliked. The phenomenon is actually volcanic. The more she shifts her ground the more shaky it is, and she has shifted her ground aplenty. Why, if Hillary were to run against Mayor Giuliani or John McCain in 2006, she'd likely lose even her "home" state of New York. Now, I disagree with Gore about Iraq ... On domestic economic matters, Gore is a free-market realist rather than a free-market fanatic. The issues he has tended to are issues on which he is truly expert.
He is not afraid of science and technology because he knows science and technology. And, yes, he did more to foster the democratization of the Internet than anyone in public life anywhere.
His film, An Inconvenient Truth has bonded him to so many intelligent and activated citizens of all political persuasions and social strata that it may be the most brilliant campaign-launch in our time.
Let me tell you a few words about the question as to whether Al Gore has changed. Actually, to me he is essentially the same young man I met in a Harvard freshman seminar 41 years ago: inquisitive, respectful of learning and scholarship, emotionally connected, committed to his friends and family, incandescently smart, believing in an order of the universe he still genuinely refers to as God.
(Excerpt) Read more at tnr.com ...
FerCryinOutLoud, this is the twelfth century!
Al Gore is my choice. Who better than a proven loser?
Same to you my friend. Tell John that I will be on the other side of the pond for the next three weeks starting Friday, in case he wonders what happened to me. Maybe I can manage to break my FR addiction!
Al Gore? Wasn't he the senator who proposed a "one-time" 20% tax on every 401(K) in the 1990 time frame? And wasn't he the Democrat presidential candidate who LOST every official and unofficial recount of the 2000 Florida votes? What kind of a fool is this Peretz?
I am a "barf alert" free zone.
Enjoy the wrong side of the pond. :-}
About a month ago, I may have been the first on FR, and may still be alone, to believe that Gore is, if he were the Democrat nominee, a very formidable candidate.
In short I believe his potential rises or falls strictly against the President's popularity.
If the President is unpopular, Gore is a fantasy of turning back time. Correcting a wrong. Nostalgia for the no war and bull market of the Clinton 90's. Getting the country back on track.
If the President is popular, Gore is a loser, a has been.
Barring a political earthquake to the President's benefit, I don't believe Bush will be popular in 2008.
In that event I believe Gore could very well be the next President. Easily defeating all mentionable Republicans except Giuliani and McCain.
I should add that were he to be elected, everything would go rapidly downhill.
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