No, you did not imagine it. Al Gore delivered a
transcendentally truthful and righteous speech this
week. Those of us who have lived this struggle for
four long years of the Bush cabal's incomprehensible
ignorance and cruelty should keep it alive in the
psyche of the US electorate...SeeNotNews did not give
the story the respect it deserved (i.e. lead headline
and endless debate among talking heads), afterall it
was a former two-term Vice President of the US calling
for the resignation of numerous high-ranking
abomination officials, and challenging the CHARACTER,
CREDIBILITY and COMPETENCE of the incredible shrinking
_resident himself, BUT at least they ran a story, and
selected the most powerful passages to include in it.
I doubt, however, that Gore's speech (remarkable for a
US statesmen in modern times) will be the subject of
propapunditgandists on the Week In Revision, SeeBS
Fork the Nation, NotBeSeen Meat The Press or
SeeNotNew's Lost Edition with Wolf Bluster, but it
should be...Al Gore, the man elected President of the
US in 2000, has done several fascinating and inspiring
deeds over the last few months. He has delivered
powerful speeches articulating the hell into which the
Bush cabal is dragging America. He even brought the
vital term "Orwellian" into the mainstream dialogue.
He endorsed Howard Dean (D-Jeffords) at an important
moment, offering respect and support to the only
viable candidate who was demonstrating the political
courage to excoriate the Bush cabal and take a direct
and defiant stand against the war in Iraq. Gore also
recently donated $6 million to the Democratic campaign
and led a group of investors in the successful
purchase of a cable TV network. Al Gore is alive and
well and on his game, and if the unthinkable happens,
Al Gore is ready to lead in the UNcivil war that
will follow.
CNN: In a searing indictment, Gore said President
Bush's "arrogance, willfulness and bungling" in Iraq
have put Americans at risk around the world, and urged
voters to oust him in November.
"The unpleasant truth is that President Bush's utter
incompetence has made the world a far more dangerous
place and dramatically increased the threat of
terrorist attacks against the United States," said
Gore, Bush's Democratic rival in the 2000 election.
"He planted the seeds of war. He harvested a
whirlwind," Gore added. "And now the corrupt tree of a
war waged on false premises has brought us the evil
fruit of Americans torturing and sexually humiliating
prisoners who are helpless in their care."
Gore said soldiers who abused prisoners in the Abu
Ghraib prison scandal were acting on policies
"designed and insisted upon by the Bush White House,"
including attempts to evade the Geneva Conventions'
rules on the treatment of prisoners. The scandal, he
said, has dragged America's reputation "through the
mud of Saddam Hussein's torture prison."
Restore the Timeline, Show Up for Democracy in 2004:
Defeat Bush (again!)
http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/05/26/gore.iraq/index.html
Gore calls for resignations in Bush administration
Former veep blasts 'utter incompetence'
Thursday, May 27, 2004 Posted: 11:28 AM EDT (1528 GMT)
Vice President Al Gore speaks before an audience at
New York University on Wednesday.
NEW YORK (CNN) -- Former Vice President Al Gore on
Wednesday called for the immediate resignations of
several Bush administration figures, blaming them for
"the catastrophe that we are facing in Iraq."
In the speech at New York University, Gore singled out
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and national
security adviser Condoleezza Rice.
He also included his former Clinton administration
colleague, CIA Director George Tenet, even though he
called Tenet "a personal friend" and "a good and
decent and honorable man." But he said the U.S.
intelligence community needs new leadership as well.
In a searing indictment, Gore said President Bush's
"arrogance, willfulness and bungling" in Iraq have put
Americans at risk around the world, and urged voters
to oust him in November.
"The unpleasant truth is that President Bush's utter
incompetence has made the world a far more dangerous
place and dramatically increased the threat of
terrorist attacks against the United States," said
Gore, Bush's Democratic rival in the 2000 election.
"He planted the seeds of war. He harvested a
whirlwind," Gore added. "And now the corrupt tree of a
war waged on false premises has brought us the evil
fruit of Americans torturing and sexually humiliating
prisoners who are helpless in their care."
Gore said soldiers who abused prisoners in the Abu
Ghraib prison scandal were acting on policies
"designed and insisted upon by the Bush White House,"
including attempts to evade the Geneva Conventions'
rules on the treatment of prisoners. The scandal, he
said, has dragged America's reputation "through the
mud of Saddam Hussein's torture prison."
Gore speech was sponsored by the MoveOn.org Political
Action Committee, which has said it hopes to raise $50
million to beat Bush in November. Gore urged his
audience to vote for Sen. John Kerry, the presumptive
Democratic nominee.
GOP reaction
The Republican National Committee shot back with a
statement saying that Gore's association with the
group "cast serious doubt on his credibility."
The GOP noted that two ads -- out of more than 1,000
-- submitted to MoveOn's anti-Bush advertising contest
last year compared the president to Nazi leader Adolf
Hitler. At least one of those ads was temporarily
posted on the Web site MoveOn.org, but the group took
it down and disassociated itself from the ad.
The GOP statement also noted that the group's
executive director called for a non-military response
to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
And in a second written statement, RNC Communications
Director Jim Dyke highlighted terrorist attacks,
including the first bombing of the World Trade Center,
that occurred during the Clinton administration.
"Al Gore's attacks on the president today demonstrate
that he either does not understand the threat of
global terror, or he has amnesia," Dyke said.
Gore's broadside marked the second time in two weeks
that a leading Democratic figure has described Bush as
incompetent. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi,
D-California, drew sharp criticism from Bush's fellow
Republicans when she offered a similar
characterization last week.
Gore said faulty intelligence about Iraq's suspected
weapons program, the decision to commit fewer than
150,000 U.S. troops to occupy the country after the
invasion and the trust placed in Iraqi National
Congress leader Ahmed Chalabi back up his language. So
does "a growing library" of books by former government
officials who have worked with the Bush
administration, he said.
In the process, he said Bush "has built a durable
reputation as the most dishonest president since
Richard Nixon."