Posted on 08/15/2011 8:09:32 PM PDT by RED SOUTH
In an interview with an Iowa radio station on Monday, the Republican presidential contender explained his role as the Gore campaign’s Texas chairman by saying that “this was Al Gore before he invented the Internet and got to be Mr. Global Warming.”
But in fact, global warming was already a significant theme for Gore in 1987 and 1988 — long before his activism led to several books, a Nobel Prize and a part in an Academy Award-winning film. It was also well before the right gave him the "Mr. Ozone" nickname and talk radio heaped endless mockery on the future vice president.
To say that many of us are unhappy with Perry’s record is not smearing him. IMO, Perry is absolutely NOT the answer to what ails America. His pandering to Islam and Hispanics makes me ill. His support of leftist Democrats throughout his 30’s makes me question his judgment, big time. Bob
Back then being a tree hugger wasn't a radical concept as it is now and Al Gore was not even in the same strata as Colorado's Governor Lamm.
As you might recall, acid rain was a genuine problem back then, and being concerned about it was not a bad thing. Environmental legislation (RCRA, CERCLA, etc.) started in the 60's and was put into the EPA in 1970. There were several environmental crises, some more real than others, in those years. It wasn't considered crazy to want to see smog, acid rain, superfund sites, etc taken care of.
Environmentalism wasn't always the cover for communists, socialists, Liberal extremists and other anti capitalists as it is now.
Portraying the old Senator Gore as being just as radical as algore is today is simply dishonest.
No, the FACT is that Gore had a pro-abortion voting record THROUGHOUT his Senate career, and was in the pro-abortion camp when he ran for President in 1988 (in public, he'd claim to be "socially moderate", but so does every other pro-abortion politician including many Senators today... Mark Kirk has a 100% rating from NARAL but says he "socially moderate") Every source I've read backs that up. If you want to dispute that, feel free to cite all the "pro-life" votes Al Gore cast after 1985. Good luck finding any.
>> Gore and Tipper were also an early Family Values model. <<
Algore & Tipper in the 1980s were best known for only one "conservative" initiative: crusading against "obscene lyrics" in the music industry and arguing with John Denver about whether his song "Rocky Mountain High" promoted drug use. As a result of Gore's hearings on "obscene" music, we have "Warning! Explict Lyrics" labels on CDs, which makes them sell better than CDs without the warning. If that makes him "conservative", then all the other socialist RATs & RINOs who hold hearing on censoring violent video games and protesting Abercrombie & Fitch are "family values conservative" too. Please.
>> Gore was more conservative that you and others on this thread want to admit because it weakens your case against Perry. <<
Sorry, I will not admit that a 9% rating conservative rating from the ACU in 1988 made Gore "more conservative" than he is today. If you want me to use that standard, then you must "admit" Diane Feinstein and Herb Kohl are "conservative Democrats" today, since they earned the SAME score last year. Voting liberal 91% of the time in the Senate makes you liberal. I'm not going to pretend that's "conservative" or even "moderate". Gore was a liberal in 1988 and Rick Perry knew it when he chaired his campaign.
If Perry and his fan club could just man up and ADMIT Perry supported a liberal and get Ricky to say he was wrong humbly apologize for opposing Reaganism, they'd earn a great deal more respect on FR. Nobody is drinking your history revisionism kool-aid.
(who do we trust? Billy Boy or the Director for the National Right to Life PAC?)
Al Gore’s Relentless Promotion of Abortion
By Carol Tobias, NRL PAC Director
Although there are many pro-life Democrats, the national Democratic Party has once again selected a presidential candidate who believes there should be absolutely no restrictions on abortion and would offer no protection for unborn children who are deemed “unwanted.” In the case of Vice President Al Gore, compounding this unfortunate reality is that early in his career Gore voted much differently. As a member of the United State House of Representatives from 1977 to 1984, Gore compiled an 84% pro-life voting record. He also responded to many constituents with letters that appeared to be pro-life.
However, after being elected to the Senate in 1984, Gore switched his position. He quickly began to assemble a strongly pro-abortion voting record.
http://www.nrlc.org/news/2000/NRL04/carol.html
From what I can so far see, most of Perry's detractors don't dig past the sound bytes, they only believe what someone else tells them. In other words, they breath each other's farts.
Using Perry's association with Democrats from 20 years ago in order to develop a guilt by association is dishonest as the Democratic party has totally devolved into its current radical state.
20-30 years ago the rank and file democrat wasn't a socialist or outright enemy of capitalism. Democrats of the 70s and 80s were more conservative than some of the Republicans of today!
No, but Algore had a 9% ACU rating, and I guarantee that Dukakis rated about a 0, as did Mondale and Carter. What do you think his reasons for supporting these numbskulls were? Can’t say “young and foolish”. He was almost 40 when he was Gore’s Texas right hand man. Bob
Huh?
It happened 23 years ago and obviously bothers you a lot more than me.
>> Al Gore’s Relentless Promotion of Abortion By Carol Tobias, NRL PAC Director After being elected to the Senate in 1984, Gore switched his position. He quickly began to assemble a strongly pro-abortion voting record. <<
I trust the Director for the National Right to Life PAC when she said Gore complied a strongly pro-abortion voting record in the U.S. Senate since 1984 . I'm glad she agrees with MY previously stated FACT that Gore was a pro-abortion candidate in 1988 when Perry supported him, and DISPROVES your claim that "Gore was pro life until becoming VP"[in 1993]
FreeReign is right, are you having trouble reading your OWN articles?
Eagle Eye wrote: "Gore was pro life until becoming VP. That is the fact, not my opinion."
Billyboy wrote: "the FACT is that Gore had a pro-abortion voting record THROUGHOUT his Senate career, and was in the pro-abortion camp when he ran for President in 1988"
"Eagle Eye wrote: who do we trust? Billy Boy or the Director for the National Right to Life PAC?"
Excerpt from Eagle Eye's own link says: "However, after being elected to the Senate in 1984, Gore switched his position. He quickly began to assemble a strongly pro-abortion voting record."
Looks like Billy and the NRL director are in agreement. This is not the first time I've seen someone post a link that contradicts their own position. It really boggles my mind how that can happen.
I can't believe we are arguing about whether Gore was a conservative democrat in 1988. When you look at the sky is it red? Purple? Enough of this. Now you can admit you are wrong, there is no shame in that (or don't, just put a sock in it).
Rick was a democrat then and backed a liberal for President, end of story whether you can admit it to yourself or not. I don't have a problem backing a former democrat if they've really changed. Don't expect to get away with posting falsehoods. Someone will call you out for it, each and every time.
Now let's focus on something more important, his mediocre reign as Governor and support for in-state tuition for illegal immigrants. I'd say he hasn't changed much at all. He's another Republicrat through and through.
” Now let’s focus on something more important, his mediocre reign as Governor and support for in-state tuition for illegal immigrants. I’d say he hasn’t changed much at all. He’s another Republicrat through and through. “
This guy hasn’t changed over the years.
No, that's his problem. He changes with the political wind. The only thing consistent about Perry is his proclivity to shift to the populist tremors on any given issue and remain one step ahead of being caught at it. It's only a matter of time before his charade of sudden conservatism gets noticed for the scam it is. The question remains whether that occurs before the primaries go into full swing or after he's selected as the GOP nominee wrapped in Tea Party regalia.
Here is Al Gore’s voting record on abortion while in the House and Senate: http://nchla.org/keyresults.asp?state=&locale=checkcongper&congper=Gore&zip=&plusfour=&year=1975&year2=1992&issue=&terms=-1&bills=-1&vote=&displaysize=10&displaystarts=1&displaystarth=1&submit=Search+Key+Votes&displaystarts=11&displaystarts=21&displaystarts=31&displaystarts=1&displaystarth=11&displaystarth=21&displaystarth=31&displaystarth=21&displaystarth=11&displaystarth=1
As BillyBoy and Impy stated, Gore was generally pro-life in the House (he cast a handful of pro-abortion votes over the years), but within less than a year of joining the Senate he was 100% pro-abortion (he did cast a couple of pro-life votes as a first-year Senator).
But let’s be sure not to judge late-1980s conservative Democrats lest we be judged. The 1988 Democratic presidential field was Left and Lefter, and Al Gore was by all accounts the least liberal of the bunch. Gore had a reputation as a moderate on social and economic issues and as a hawk on defense—I’m not saying that I believe that he was anything but an across-the-board liberal, even more liberal than the overrated Sam Nunn and Scoop Jackson (few people realize that Jackson cast pro-abortion votes in 35 of the 36 abortion-related votes he took, and Nunn voted pro-abortion most of the time and even voted against the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban), but to a conservative Democrat who was trying to lead his party away from its liberalism he was the only game in town. Soon thereafter Rick Perry eventually realized that the Democrat Party was beyond salvation and that he could no longer continue to call himself a Democrat, and switched to the GOP in 1989 (just 6 years after Phil Gramm switched, and 5 or 6 years before Southern Democrats Ed Whitfield, Mike Bowers, Fob James, Richard Shelby, Woody Jenkins, Billy Tauzin, Nathan Deal, Mike Parker and Mike Foster switched; current NM Gov. Susana Martinez also switched from Dem to Republican 6 years after Perry did) without having to change any of his views.
There are several reasons why conservatives should be wary of nominating Rick Perry for president, but I don’t think that the fact that he was a Democrat back in 1988 and supported the least liberal Democratic presidential candidate out there is one of them.
--
"How can Al Gore be a sleazebag?” This question was asked of me recently by a fellow former Republican congressman with whom I served in the early 1980s. This guy was just shaking his head over the transformation of Gore. Back when we were in the House with the then-representative from Carthage Tennessee, Gore was known for being a liberal with honor (a rare thing!). Gore had class and wasn't a low-life like many of the New Left who had come into politics during Vietnam and Watergate. Gore was very proper, well raised by his senator father and educated at good schools. You could say what you wanted about Gore – yes, he was a wacko lefty on the environment who saw the internal combustion engine as the enemy of mankind – but NO ONE ever accused Gore of being a liar or a crook. NO ONE!
http://archive.newsmax.com/articles/?a=2000/3/12/203953
I would dispute that. There's a clip on youtube of a 1988 Gore for President ad, and it showcases Gore running to Dick Gephart's LEFT in a Democrat primary debate and hammering Gephart for repeatedly voting for "Reagan's budget" and against the teacher's unions, etc., etc. I think Gore may have pretended to be moderate in public but the bottom line is anyone with an IQ over 3 KNEW he was a liberal at the time and I'm sure Perry knew it when he campaigned for him. All this stuff about "Gore wasn't an global warming alarmist back then" is false. In fact, given that Perry was a RAT and trying to tout Gore's virtues to other RATs, I doubt Perry c. 1988 would have claimed to 'strongly disagree' with Gore on global warming. Most likely he would have applauded Gore for raising awareness of the issue and cited it as a plus for his fellow Texas Dems. I'm getting sick of this history revisionism. All the Perry camp has to say is "Yes I'm supported Gore's liberal agenda back then, it was a mistake and I've learned from it and regret it." But noooo, they will argue to death that Gore was conservative back then.
>> an across-the-board liberal, even more liberal than the overrated Sam Nunn and Scoop Jackson (few people realize that Jackson cast pro-abortion votes in 35 of the 36 abortion-related votes he took, and Nunn voted pro-abortion most of the time and even voted against the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban) <<
Alot of the so-called "conservative" Dems from that era are greatly overrated. I remember a bunch of freepers who were heaping praise on "conservative" Sam Nunn started whining how they were "disappointed" and "lost alot of respect for Sam" when he endorsed Obama for President in the primary and Obama seriously considered him for veep. Fortunately for me, I had no respect for the pro-abortion, gun-grabbing Sam Nunn to begin with, so there was none to lose. Even Zig Zag Zell Miller was greatly overrated. He didn't vote RELIABLY "conservative" until his final few months in office AFTER he had announced his retirement. Prior to that, he cast the deciding vote to hand over the Senate to Tom Daschle and tried to get Max Cleland re-elected. Some "conservative". At best, you could say he turned out to be far more moderate than any of the other Georgia RATs considered for Senate, but his record still paled in comparison to the Republicans that preceded and succeeded him. In fact, the "RINO" who replaced him had a far more reliably conservative record. I really have to wonder about the Georgia "freepers" who would prefer the less conservative RAT in that seat. If they truly like Zig Zag better, I'd say they're the ones in the wrong party, but that's another topic.
>> There are several reasons why conservatives should be wary of nominating Rick Perry for president, but I don’t think that the fact that he was a Democrat back in 1988 and supported the least liberal Democratic presidential candidate out there is one of them. <<
If it was an isolated incident, I don't think it would play much of a factor, but when you look at the fact Perry was the only GOP governor to endorse Rudy Giuliani for President 20 years later, it looks very bad. Perry has a pattern of supporting liberals for political expediency, he's not the "Tea party conservative" he and his fans tout him as. And I would love to move on from the Gore stuff and discuss Perry's record NOW because that's more revelevant, but these Perry fans won't even admit they were wrong after the facts about Gore's record are posted here. On another thread, some Perrybot is STILL referring to Gore as a "pro-life, pro-gun, pro-family, pro-tobacco, old fashioned conservative southern Democrat who hadn't discovered global warming yet when Perry endorsed him"
I have a real problem with the history revisionists here who outright lie about a candidate's stances to make their guy look better. On the Perry threads, they keep saying "pro-life Al Gore" no matter how many times we prove he was pro-abortion in 1988. On the Chris Christie threads, they keep saying "pro-abortion Chris Christie" no matter how long he governs with a reliably 100% pro-life record in New Jersey. The fact Perry backers and Christie bashers have to continually resort to "accidentally" posting total falsehoods to sell their argument says volumes about the kind of people they are.
I don’t give much of a crap about him being a rat then either but I can’t abide these people spinning their webs of lies to santize their chosen champion’s sketchy past.
Gore may have been the least liberal (my feeling also is that would actually have been pre-leadership Dick Gephardt) but still was one. Point is Perry was an honest to goodness loyal good ole boy establishment democrat not an arch-conservative Reagan-loving DINO from fairytale land.
Backing Rudy just 4 years ago was worse, just going by abortion let alone anything else. One would conclude abortion is not a priority for Rick with him backing the only Republican in the race that wasn’t pro-life and that was pro-gay (and add that to Rick apparently being cool with states choosing to allow gay marriage).
Interesting article
though in reason 10 it regurgitates Perry’s talking points and outright calls Gore “then conservative”.
The single biggest problem with Perry appears to be immigration.
“Sanitize”
Me too - but it happens all the time. Most irritating are the ones that cannot admit even the slightest failing in their candidate's background and will lie and twist to defend them, and if that doesn't work go on the personal attack. It would be nice to be able to honestly compare the candidates on all the issues. I'm convinced that there are one or more things that I don't like about each of the candidates so, for me, 2012 will be another "vote for the candidate who can do the least harm."
McCain did the same thing here to get re-elected. Ran as a conservative....how bout that ?
I also find it outrageous that any pro-lifer could possibly endorse Rudy Giuliani for president (as opposed to for, say, NY governor or senator, where the other viable GOP choices are also pro-abortion), yet Rick Perry was not the only pro-lifer who endorsed Rudy for his “leadership” and took Rudy at his word when he promised to nominate judges like Scalia, Roberts and Alito. Pat Robertson and Luis Fortuño (then Puerto Rico’s Resident Commissioner in Congress, now Governor) come to mind as other prominent pro-life endorsers of Giuliani’s presidential candidacy. I think that Perry’s endorsement of Giuliani *should* be held against Perry, since I think that he was trying to position himself as Giuliani’s “ticket-balancing” VP nominee, but I don’t think that it is evidence that Perry is soft on abortion.
As for Perry and same-sex marriage, he has backed off his federalist chest-thumping about marriage, and clarified that what he meant was that while he supports a Federal Marriage Amendment, until one is adopted and ratified, the 10th Amendment prevents the federal government from forcing NY or any other state to limit marriage to one man and one woman.
Romney is a RINO who pretends to be otherwise, Bachmann struggles to get elected in her very conservative House district and may not be our best general-election candidate(she’s obviously no Sharron Angle, but then again she’s not merely running for the U.S. Senate), and the other candidates running appear unlikely to be able to win the nomination (I’ve always liked Santorum, but unless his standing changes drastically a vote for him instead of for a viable conservative is pretty much a vote for Romney). With Pawlenty out of the race, and with Paul Ryan and Chris Christie unlikely to jump into the fray (although there’s still some hope that at least one of them will change his mind), I am considering supporting Perry. I may end up backing Bachmann instead, but I’m not close to being there yet and I’m glad that I have a few months to make up my mind.
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