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Hi DFA Friends and Members;
I am surprised to see so many people flooding the DFA poll with votes for Al Gore. I love Al Gore. I'm so proud and happy for Al Gore and all his accomplishments. Probably one of my first political writings was asking people to vote for Al Gore in late summer of 2000 when I saw all the political pundits turn on him and suddenly start the 'george bush would be great to have a beer with' lines. After all there wasn't much else they could come up with that was positive about his (bush) experiences, foreign policy or basic grammar.
I knew so many people that liked Ralph Nader but I pleaded with them to think about that vote. If it was wasted on Nader by taking votes from Gore....we'd lose. We did lose but Al Gore actually won as we know now.
He has come a long way since then doing so much to see that we are informed of the seriousness of global warming. I feel he's found his niche and will continue to be a great contributor to our country and world.
I wish he would have fought longer and harder in 2000. I thought so then and I believe it still. We Democrats are mad at our Democratic leaders now, saying they don't have the courage to stand up for what we want and believe. Well, I think the 2000 election was the beginning of us not standing up when we should have.
We talk about being polarized and not being able to get things done. Yet we seem to be clamoring to follow the candidates that would keep us polarized. We need to vote for someone that can bring us together. We are Americans and need to vote for someone that can appeal as much as possible to both sides of the aisle and Americans regardless of their party affiliation.
In order to move our country forward, I personally believe we need to support John Edwards.
Do a visualization of your candidate in office. Could he or she see things get passed in Congress any better than in recent years? Think of your candidate and the credibility they will have with our Congressmen and women. Will Congress care to adopt your candidates policies? Think of who would really work the best with all sides or think of who may only infuriate the other side more and nothing will get accomplished and the partisanship will continue to have all of us at odds instead of accomplishing things for our country.
So much as we can say we have a great slate of Democratic candidates, will all of them even get the opportunity to change our country, move it forward and regain our respect and traditions?
I'm just tossing some things out there for us all to think about as I keep running into people who know better but keep repeating the Media Mantras instead of thinking for themselves. As an American with the opportunity to vote for change and the betterment of our country it is something to seriously think about and not let someone or something make that decision for you..
Think on it.
I was looking for a story about the houses in California that the fires didn't touch because they had clay tile roofs. What I ran across was this, which was mentioned on last night's evening news:
Putin hears echoes of Cuba missile crisis Says US plan poses threat at Russian border
By Mike Eckel, Associated Press | October 27, 2007
MAFRA, Portugal - President Vladimir V. Putin yesterday evoked one of the most dangerous confrontations of the Cold War to highlight Russian opposition to a proposed US missile defense system in Europe, comparing it to the Cuban missile crisis of 45 years ago.
The comments - made at the end of a summit between Russia and the European Union that failed to resolve several festering disputes - were the latest in a series of belligerent statements from Putin.
Emboldened by oil- and gas-fueled economic clout, Russia is increasingly at odds with Washington and much of Europe on issues ranging from Iran and Kosovo to energy supplies and human rights.
Putin used a news conference at the summit's conclusion to reiterate Russia's stalwart opposition to US plans to put elements of a missile defense system in the former Soviet bloc countries of Poland and the Czech Republic - both of which are now NATO members.
"Analogous actions by the Soviet Union, when it deployed missiles in Cuba, prompted the 'Caribbean crisis,' " Putin said, using the Russian term for the Cuban missile crisis.
"For us the situation is technologically very similar. We have withdrawn the remains of our bases from Vietnam, from Cuba, and have liquidated everything there, while at our borders, such threats against our country are being created," he said.
The October 1962 crisis erupted when President Kennedy demanded that Soviet leader Nikita S. Khrushchev remove his nuclear missiles from Cuba because they could have been used to launch a close-range attack on the United States. The Americans imposed a naval blockade on Cuba, and the world teetered on the edge of war before the Soviets backed down.
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What's being left out of the story is that the precipitating factor was the U.S. Air Force putting ICBMs in Turkey, even though JFK had ordered that they not be set up.
You wish he stayed and fought longer in 2000? How would you propose he do that? A month long fight that ended in the Supreme Court wasn't good enough or long enough fight for you? You mean when not one Senator, Including Senator Edwards, stood by to contest the results as Florida Congressional Leaders were? Why don't you ask John Edwards where his voice was then?
As Al Gore said, correctly, there wasn't much else he could have done short of a Revolution. A month long fight that the Supreme Court incorrectly intervened and appointed the President occupying the White House, even though Al Gore won the majority vote.
Deal with those realities and place your anger where it should be.
And, I dare say we only could have dreamed of such a fraction of a fight fro the Kerry/Edwards teem who couldn't have possibly conceded any faster than they did, even though they promised to fight.
How many more empty promises do you wish us to rely on?
Al Gore is Proven Leadership with Experience, Stature and Vision
Published Saturday, 10/27/07 @ 1:22 pm
Well, today is a first for me. To see on DFA a promoted diary filled with lies, smears and slander. One can only hope that a large group of Kucinich supporters rallied to this site, of which they apparently are now members, to write and recommend this hit piece and move it front page to help (?) their apparent presidential hopeful, Dennis Kucinich. http://www.blogforamerica.com/view/22709...
What I don’t understand is their constant need to spread lies and attacks in order to try to gain support for Dennis Kucinich. That is all I ever see them do. Why don’t they try giving maybe some reasons why folks should WANT their preferred candidate, as opposed to lying and distorting facts as an effort to push people in to not supporting someone else, hoping that will give more support to their candidate. Maybe that is their problem.
I would also like to know if this practice is supported or even encouraged by the Dennis4President campaign. Hopefully not, and he will condemn such practices and make clear his campaign does not support these lies and smears.
I have seen Kucinich supporters come to Democracy for America and make some of the most outrageous claims and lies against Al Gore. Gee, with friends like them, who needs enemies? I can only assume this is a practice they engage every where, not just on this site they have found a recent home in.
My advice is to try educate themselves about the facts, instead of being lead by lies or propaganda put out by opposition, Lobbyists or Corporate Special Interests that have ulterior motives, and they would probably me much happier learning how to deal with realities and be less angry smearing good people.
Why do I want Al Gore to serve as President of the United States, where he once already won the popular vote, but didn’t have the chance to serve the American People in the position he was elected? Because Al Gore has a tremendous record of accomplishments with a priority of doing good for the people and our world-from his years of public service and beyond in to private life, from when he volunteered to serve in Vietnam (even though he was against the war), becoming a reporter for the Tennessean for 5 years upon his return, serving in the US House, serving in the US Senate, serving as US Vice President and now spending his time in private life working tirelessly getting attention to recognize and solve the Climate Crisis. Al Gore is a proven leader with stature, vision and unmatchable experience and has been proven to be correct on some of the most important issues we still face, like the Iraq war, the deficit, health care, over-reaching powers, trampling of our Constitution, the environment and Global Warming. We deserve him to be our president. He is asking to rebuild our democracy and for citizen activism to bring about the change we need. Please, add your voice and show we know we deserve the best to be in the Oval Office to make the agenda and policy to solve the many crisis we face.
You too can vote FOR Al Gore in the Democracy for America Presidential Pulse Poll. Click on “Other” and write in Al Gore.
http://democracyforamerica.com/pulsepoll...
Time for a COOL change,
Gore
2008
Please go to this diary DFA and reccomend.
http://www.blogforamerica.com/view/22719...
Who decided Saturday was bash Gore day at DFA?
What is going on?
Gore was stopped by the Supreme Court ruling. Know thy history before you post. It was a very dark day here when that happened.
"The bloggers and online donors represent an important resource for the party, but they are not representative of the majority you need to win elections," said Steve Elmendorf, a Democratic lobbyist who advised Kerry's 2004 presidential campaign.
"The trick will be to harness their energy and their money without looking like you are a captive of the activist left."
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/1602
Senator Dodd will be on "Meet the Press" tomorrow morning with Tim Russert for the full hour.
http://chrisdodd.com/meetthepress
Check your local TV listings to find out when "Meet the Press" airs in your market.
I can't believe there is a thread on DFA talking disrespectively about Al Gore. Right now I am supporting Barack. I hope Al Gore does step into the race, I would like an Al Gore/Barack Obama ticket.
I am hoping there will be a candidate everyone can live with, if not I'm afraid we will be stuck with Hillary The Goddess of War. I will never never vote for her.
Linda speaks for me, too! Brava, Linda!
I remember all too well how many craven Dems in 2000 didn't back Al's vote count fight wholeheartedly, urging him to give it up before the SC selection. Jimmy Carter stood in his corner, however, and bless him for it.
Yes, where WAS John then?
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Anyway, I am so glad that other thread post is not the latest that I will post a few items. I didn't want to stay on that last one at all.
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This one is from The Howler. You may have to scroll down a bit to find it.
===============
NEED TO KNOW! We’d love to see Klein’s book reviewed–and we think you might should read it:
[...]
PART 4—NEED TO KNOW: An admirer of Naomi Klein e-mailed, touting her book, The Shock Doctrine:
E-MAIL: Thank you for putting the spotlight on this important book. I have been recommending it to anyone who will listen, and many who won't. As a student of politics and history my whole life (if you believe my sheepskins I am a political scientist and a legal scholar), the individual chapters retold in the book are nothing new, but Klein's genius is in putting together the cohesive story of what a failure "free market" policy has been every single place and every single time it has been imposed, and the relationship between the [Milton] Friedman doctrine and the death, destruction and erosion of civil liberties and human rights that inevitably follows.
This is a vitally important book because these failed policies still dominate our world and even our own nation. Rather than merely a conspiracy book, as I am sure Klein's wing-nut, Ayn Randian detractors will be quick to label her (she's a freakin' Canadian after all!), this book is a brilliant insight into historical fact, and the sad reality that is our failure to learn from past mistakes. As long as money controls the political process, and as long as there is money to be made for the scrupulous few from privatization of the public trust and now war, these sad, sad economic "experiments" will continue to be repeated, and the vast majority of us will suffer for it. That is not a conspiracy theory, it’s just the plain simple truth.
Is our e-mailer right? We can’t really tell you. As we incomparably e-mailed back, we’re far from expert on Klein’s subject matter, which helps explain why we’ve gnashed our teeth as American newspapers refuse to review her. But we also told our e-mailer this (and no, we haven’t finished the book): For us, The Shock Doctrine is only the second book which has even begun to make sense of Bushism. (The first such book: Made in Texas, by Michael Lind. Texan Bush as Central American oligarch,) All of a sudden, those eccentric decisions by eccentric old Rummy aren’t quite so eccentric any more—quite the opposite. But yes: Though we tend to find Klein’s portrait convincing, we’d like to see it critiqued.
But that just wasn’t in the cards at the Great Raccoon Lodge last weekend. The Post still hasn’t reviewed The Shock Doctrine—but Sunday’s “Book World” played an embarrassing game of kissy-poo with lodge member Howard Kurtz. Meanwhile, another lodge member has written a book which noses around in the Clintons’ marriage—and so Tim Russert, the Head Raccoon, invited its author onto his program to knock over favorite old garbage cans and root through familiar old tales. (There’s a “curious amnesia” about Whitewater, we were told during this segment! None of the Raccoons said squat.) Meanwhile, Paul Krugman found his new book assailed, right there in his own newspaper. Klein was ignored—and Krugman was trashed. In Raccoon culture, that’s what will occur—if your coloring strays outside the lines.
[...]
http://www.dailyhowler.com/
my guess the anti-Gore thread was rovian and not a Kucinich supporter at all
Big oil will come after Gore with guns blazing so get use to the negative talk.
OUT! NOW!
btw, if Condi wants DoS *volunteers* for Baghdad, IMHO, SHE should be the FIRST to offer to go.
In fact, move the whole putzCo crew right over there ... and then, perhaps the rest of us can try to put our country back together again.
Those FS officers worth their salt do not want to enable an illegal occupation, because that is what our presence there is. No less.
======================
'I Don't Think This Place Is Worth Another Soldier's Life'
After 14 months in a Baghdad district torn by mounting sectarian violence, members of one U.S. unit are tired, bitter and skeptical.
By Joshua Partlow
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, October 27, 2007; A01
BAGHDAD, Oct. 26 Their line of tan Humvees and Bradley Fighting Vehicles creeps through another Baghdad afternoon. At this pace, an excruciating slowness, they strain to see everything, hoping the next manhole cover, the next rusted barrel, does not hide another bomb. A few bullets pass overhead, but they don't worry much about those.
"I hate this road," someone says over the radio.
They stop, look around. The streets of Sadiyah are deserted again. To the right, power lines slump down into the dirt. To the left, what was a soccer field is now a pasture of trash, combusting and smoking in the sun. Packs of skinny wild dogs trot past walls painted with slogans of sectarian hate.
A bomb crater blocks one lane, so they cross to the other side, where houses are blackened by fire, shops crumbled into bricks. The remains of a car bomb serve as hideous public art. Sgt. Victor Alarcon's Humvee rolls into a vast pool of knee-high brown sewage water -- the soldiers call it Lake Havasu, after the Arizona spring-break party spot -- that seeps in the doors of the vehicle and wets his boots.
"When we first got here, all the shops were open. There were women and children walking out on the street," Alarcon said this week. "The women were in Western clothing. It was our favorite street to go down because of all the hot chicks."
That was 14 long months ago, when the soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, arrived in southwestern Baghdad. It was before their partners in the Iraqi National Police became their enemies and before Shiite militiamen, aligned with the police, attempted to exterminate a neighborhood of middle-class Sunni families.
Next month, the U.S. soldiers will complete their tour in Iraq. Their experience in Sadiyah has left many of them deeply discouraged, by both the unabated hatred between rival sectarian fighters and the questionable will of the Iraqi government to work toward peaceful solutions.
Asked if the American endeavor here was worth their sacrifice -- 20 soldiers from the battalion have been killed in Baghdad -- Alarcon said no: "I don't think this place is worth another soldier's life."
[...]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/con...
Phil, we know about the anti-Gore talk.
But to see it promoted as a main thread here at DFA!!
That is galling. What is HQ thinking?
As usual, here's Dan Froomkin's excellent tour d'horizon from DC. This one's from yesterday.
================
Going It Alone on Iran
By Dan Froomkin
Special to washingtonpost.com
Friday, October 26, 2007; 1:44 PM
Unilateralism is "in" again at the White House. Yesterday's announcement of far-reaching sanctions against Iran signified that President Bush has given up on multilateral diplomacy with Tehran. He's back to going his own way.
The big question, of course, is which way is that? Should yesterday's move be interpreted as an urgent attempt to resolve matters without violence -- or as a buildup to war?
Here's a hint: Underlying yesterday's move is an obvious lack of patience. That bolsters the theory that Bush is determined not to leave the Iranian nuclear issue unresolved when he leaves office. True diplomacy, however, requires patience.
Here's another hint: The Bush administration still refuses to meet with Iranian leaders face to face. True diplomacy requires a willingness to talk.
The White House maintains it is still devoted to diplomacy, but we've heard that before. And without patience or dialogue, "diplomacy" isn't really diplomacy -- it's a charade.
[...]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/con...
Creative writing is an art, John, not a science. If you did more composing and less cut-and-paste, you might realize that yourself.
Being lectured to by Fred on creative writing is mind-boggling!
Fred, I'm perfectly capable of composing when I feel that it's appropriate. And if you really paid attention to my posts, you'd realize that. There is also absolutely nothing wrong with cutting an pasting relevant material by knowledgeable authors. That's definitely preferable to posting opinionated drivel based on ignorance and bias.
What is HQ thinking?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Maybe it's an auto-recommend thang? You get enough endorsements to a post, and it gets promoted. The Kucinich guys have proved already that they're as good at freeping as the freepers are, lol!
Excellent diary, Linda.
Al Gore is quite simply the best qualified and most experienced person the Democratic Party could put forth as its nominee in 2008. He has the international stature to restore this country's shattered image and repair its international standing. No other candidate comes close to that. Not one.
See this excellent article by Brent Budowsky from earlier today -- 'Oil Soars, Fires Rage, War Looms, Hillary Maneuvers, Gore Surges in CBS Poll.'
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/10682Here's an excerpt:
"Gore’s appeal is not merely his experience as vice president, congressman, senator and Nobel Laureate but the larger truth that he is a champion of a sweeping worldview and a fearless opponent of Bush wrongs at a time when throughout the nation, Democrats and independents believe their Washington-based leaders have been timid, fearful and ineffective."
Hmm, the HYT actually printed a story about the complaint filed against Rummy in France yesterday.
btw, the French LOVED Gore on his recent visit there!
What a contrast!
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October 27, 2007
Groups Tie Rumsfeld to Torture in Complaint
By DOREEN CARVAJAL
PARIS, Oct. 26 — Several human rights organizations based in the United States and Europe have filed a complaint in a Paris court accusing former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld of responsibility for torture.
The group, which includes the International Federation for Human Rights, the French League for Human Rights, and the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York, made the complaint late Thursday and unsuccessfully sought to confront Mr. Rumsfeld as he left a breakfast meeting in central Paris on Friday.
Jeanne Sulzer, one of the lawyers working on the issue for the human rights groups, said the complaint had been filed with a state prosecutor, Jean-Claude Marin, saying he would have the power to pursue the case because of Mr. Rumsfeld’s presence in France.
Similar legal complaints against Mr. Rumsfeld have been filed in other countries, including Sweden and Argentina. German prosecutors dismissed a case in April, saying it was up to the United States to investigate the accusations.
The French complaint accuses Mr. Rumsfeld of authorizing torture at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, and says it violated the Convention Against Torture, which came into force in 1987.
As part of their complaint, the groups submitted 11 pages of written testimony from Janis Karpinski, the highest-ranking officer to be punished in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal. She was demoted to colonel from brigadier general and lost command of her military police unit. She contended that the abuses at the prison had started after the appearance of Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller, who was sent by Mr. Rumsfeld to assist military intelligence interrogators.
Michael Ratner, the president of the Center for Constitutional Rights, said in a statement that the aim of this latest legal complaint was to demonstrate “that we will not rest until those U.S. officials involved in the torture program are brought to justice. Rumsfeld must understand that he has no place to hide.”
[...]
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/27/world/...
http://www.counterpunch.org/moayedian10272007.html
Hillary Clinton Advocates More Insanity
Hillary Clinton, the frontrunner Democratic Presidential Candidate, supports the new Bush Sanctions against Iran. We could perhaps forgive Hillary for voting for the war on Iraq. We can blame that on temporary insanity; or maybe she followed Bush blindly and naiively. What now? Now that all the cards are on the table, what's her excuse? Maybe the insanity wasn't temporary after all? Is this the best that we can get for a first woman president? I Pass!
18. puddle ... LOL
19.
See this excellent article by Brent Budowsky from earlier today -- 'Oil Soars, Fires Rage, War Looms, Hillary Maneuvers, Gore Surges in CBS Poll.'
Gotta love that one!
Here's one of the Brits' latest concerns about their Iraq veterans. How much worse will it be for our own?
One question I have: how on earth does anyone in the UK believe that our troops are getting BETTER care? Haven't they read any of the stories about Walter Reed ... which is still a scandal, but no longer in the headlines?
If their care is really worse than ours, then theirs must be truly awful. Ours is already in the pits.
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Undiagnosed brain injury - the hidden legacy of Iraq
MoD begins study amid fears that up to 20,000 soldiers may be affected
Matthew Taylor and Esther Addley
Saturday October 27, 2007
Guardian
The Ministry of Defence is conducting a major study into brain injury in troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan amid fears that thousands of soldiers may have suffered damage after being exposed to high-velocity explosions.
The US army says as many as 20% of its soldiers and marines have suffered "mild traumatic brain injury" (mTBI) from blows to the head or shockwaves caused by explosions. The condition, which can lead to memory loss, depression and anxiety, has been designated as one of four "signature injuries" of the Iraq conflict by the US department of defence, which is introducing a large-scale screening programme for troops returning from the frontline.
Defence officials were reluctant to extrapolate directly from the US experience, arguing that the science is still inconclusive and that the US and UK experience in Iraq and Afghanistan has been different. But the Guardian has learned that the government has put in place a series of measures - including a comprehensive screening process - to deal with what could be a 20-fold increase in troops with mTBI. If the most alarming US predictions are accurate, as many as 20,000 UK troops could be at risk.
Kit Malia, a cognitive rehabilitation therapist who will oversee the programme to treat TBI at Headley Court military rehabilitation centre in Surrey, said: "I think the issue is that we don't know whether the Americans are correct. But if the American figures are correct, this is massive. Absolutely massive."
Surgeon commodore Lionel Jarvis, director of medical policy at the MoD, said the UK is doing all it can to improve diagnosis and treatment of the condition and is "running very, very much in parallel" with the US. He added: "The only significant difference is that there is a much higher political profile on this in the US."
He said the MoD had drawn up a list of measures to help deal with mTBI that included circulating information to all ranks in the field on what symptoms to look out for; plans to screen all service personnel when they return from combat; a four-stage treatment programme at Headley Court; and research into body armour to improve protection for the brain.
Liam Fox, the Conservative defence spokesman, said: "It is a dereliction of duty, a failure of duty of care. They are already well behind the US in terms of identifying this disease. We have to ask again why should US troops be getting better care than British troops?"
[...]
http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,,33108...
An idea whose time has come?
===============
How to split up: Vienna hosts world's first divorce fair
Kate Connolly
Saturday October 27, 2007
Guardian
These days there is a trade fair for pretty much everything. And if you can have one for weddings, you can have one for divorces as well.
That is the message from the organisers of the world's first divorce fair, which is taking place in Vienna this weekend, aimed at helping couples make the break as painlessly as possible.
"If people untie the knot in good faith, it can turn out that the day you divorce is the best day of your life," said the organiser, Anton Barz, who also arranges wedding fairs.
The two-day fair, under the optimistic slogan New Beginning, offers couples, together or separately, the chance to talk to a variety of experts - everyone from life-planners and lawyers to private detectives.
Mr Barz believes divorce is an untapped market and aims to exploit it. He has come to the right place: almost every second marriage fails in Austria, and in Vienna, it is as many as two out of three marriages.
[...]
http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,,33108...
The Guantanamo Gulag ...
================
Guantanamo military lawyer breaks ranks to condemn 'unconscionable' detention
By Leonard Doyle in Washington
Published: 27 October 2007
An American military lawyer and veteran of dozens of secret Guantanamo tribunals has made a devastating attack on the legal process for determining whether Guantanamo prisoners are "enemy combatants".
The whistleblower, an army major inside the military court system which the United States has established at Guantanamo Bay, has described the detention of one prisoner, a hospital administrator from Sudan, as "unconscionable".
His critique will be the centrepiece of a hearing on 5 December before the US Supreme Court when another attempt is made to shut the prison down. So nervous is the Bush administration of the latest attack – and another Supreme Court ruling against it – that it is preparing a whole new system of military courts to deal with those still imprisoned.
The whistleblower's testimony is the most serious attack to date on the military panels, which were meant to give a fig- leaf of legitimacy to the interrogation and detention policies at Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay. The major has taken part in 49 status review panels.
"It's a kangaroo court system and completely corrupt," said Michael Ratner, the president of the Centre for Constitutional Rights, which is co-ordinating investigations and appeals lawsuits against the government by some 1,000 lawyers. "Stalin had show trials, but at Guantanamo they are not even show trials because it all takes place in secret."
[...]
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/amer...
I am not able to post the picture that goes with this (Linda probably can). Thanks to our many kindred spirits over at DU for this one.
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Al Gore in 1,001 words. That is, one picture & one word: Bemused.
[...]
Standard Disclaimer #1: I will admit that Gore will not run for POTUS in 2008 when he either (1.) states that he will not seek, nor will he accept his party's nomination for POTUS in 2008, or (2.) when the Democratic National Convention is over and he has not won the nomination.
Standard Disclaimer #2: I deeply appreciate everything Al has done regarding the climate crisis and the restoration of democracy in the U.S. Whatever he decides to do next is fine with me. I believe that his decision will be based on what he believes is best for the nation and the world and I will respect that decision. I do not believe that letting him know that we want him to run is disrespectful in anyway - I will work for him whether he runs or not - having signed the LiveEarth pledge this summer I already am.
Standard Disclaimer #3: Is it at all realistic to think that Gore could enter the race and win at this point? Yes. He could ignore New Hampshire and Iowa (and any states that hold primaries before that date) -- and toss his hat in the ring in time to participate in the February primaries which include the big states like California. See Could Gore Be a Contender? Also see the answer to that question - CBS News Poll - Gore emerges as a serious contender.
Meanwhile, the petition at Draft Gore is nearing 220,000 signatures... Sign It!
And over at the DFA pulse poll - Al has 27% of 92,330+ votes cast - Cast a write in vote for Al!
On edit: Links to DraftGore petition and DFA poll.
[...]
http://www.democraticunderground.com/dis...
I think some of the "Kucinich" freepers, might just be anti-Gore honest to god "freepers"
but if we are to take our country back we have to take our nominating process back and the actual rules allow for proportional representaion of delegates to the nominating convention in Denver.
the rules are fair, if the sheeple stampedes are avoided
and if we really want to make the process democratic a mass movement can draft the most qualified
get the petitions to get Gore on the ballot and see where it leads
no one gets a coronation without securing a majority of delegates under the rules
I don't see a problem with a long fight driven with a spirited contest and many candidates because party rules don't allow "their" delegates to be pledged in Denver to another candidate.
let's have an exciting convention
Halloween is just around the corner ... and DU's Nance Greggs is in her usual fine fettle.
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Trick or Treatin' at The White House
Unfortunately, the entire Bush administration has been a seven-year-long celebration of Hallowe’en – and we all know by now who got the tricks, and who got the treats.
From the beginning of this seemingly never-ending nightmare, the children have been approaching The House – once bright and inviting, now desolate and forlorn – hoping to have their treat bags topped up with candy and goodies.
Many have been called, but few have actually been chosen to receive anything more than rotten apples and stale gum left over from some photo-op in NOLA.
In the earliest days, the children who came knocking on the door dressed as the wealthiest of Americans received their goodies in the form of tax-cuts. Sending their chauffeurs to the front portico, they laughed with glee as their servants returned with untold non-taxable riches.
The tireless campaign workers often came costumed as Yes Men, and left with cushy jobs that paid well and required no experience or sense of responsibility. (It’s just D.C. rumor, but it’s said that Michael Brown came dressed as a horse’s ass and was promptly rewarded by having the head of FEMA job dropped into his bag, along with enough hair mousse to keep him well-groomed in hurricane winds.)
Then came the Fundie kids, adorable in their pseudo-Jesus garb, holding out their UNICEF boxes and asking, unselfishly, for pennies for the less fortunate – which, once stuffed with dollars in exchange for delivering votes, they quickly emptied and spent on creature comforts for themselves and their cohorts.
And along came the war-profiteers, arrayed as Halliburton executives in suits and ties, their blood-stained little hands outstretched in anticipation of billions of dollars’ worth of treats. After doling out the mandatory percentage of their cache to the Ghoul who haunts Undisclosed Locations, they skipped down the path, never noticing the kids dressed as soldiers, sent away with bags devoid of body-armor – some of whom were given crutches instead of candy, for which they were charged by the man at the door.
Some children arrived dressed as Iraqi orphans, hoping to share in the largess that had been promised as their country was reduced to rubble, as their parents were hauled off to Abu Ghraib, as their lives were turned into some hellish nightmare amid assurances that all would be well in the end. Some of them had their treat bags filled with depleted uranium and contaminated water; others were sent to be ‘hazed’ as part of initiation into a fraternity they would rather not have joined. Most were simply given purple thumbs and a stern lecture on showing gratitude for such bounty being received.
The children of Big Oil and Big Pharma are often invited within The House to browse and choose what they most want, what they most desire. Their squeals of joy are often heard well into the night, as they dunk for Golden Apples from the Tax Revenue Barrel, fruit coated in the sweetest of deals that will continue to delight them long after the festivities are officially over.
The kids costumed as hard-working Americans usually arrive early in the evening, dressed as construction workers, waitresses, or factory personnel ready-and-able to do the job. More often than not they are crowded-out by desperate kids from India or Mexico, who are willing to settle for less in the way of sweets - and both groups tend to be short-changed as they wander away, wondering why their treat bags are so empty while those of the people who promised them jobs are over-flowing with plenty.
The children too poor to afford costumes come as well, always sent from The House empty-handed, shooed back to the cars or cardboard boxes in which they live and told to keep out of sight lest the holiday be ruined by reminders of their existence, lest the pollsters record their ever-growing numbers.
[...]
http://www.democraticunderground.com/dis...
The last for now ... PillowLand is calling.
Tomorrow I get to sleep in an hour later. Yeah!!
Keith O and putzCo's *Fear Fiction* ... (you'll have to sit through a commercial).
================
http://video.msn.com/?mkt=en-us&brand=ms...://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/&fg=&from=00&vid=f25637e6-87df-45a1-b9b1-d5ec0ad61a6e&playlist=videoByTag:mk:us:vs:0:tag:Source_Countdown:ns:MSNVideo_Top_Cat:ps:10:sd:-1:ind:1:ff:8A
, the horror is a President who doesn't recoil from a needless war's human toll as the VP eggs the administration to start another
Judy I have a full maternity ward so I'll see you in the "morning".
Well, for now, the signs are not promising for a DFA endorsement. Not only is no candidate getting close to the 66% threshold but there have even been people on this very blog who have actually said they don't think DFA should endorse AT ALL!!!!!!!!!
Given that discouraging state of affairs, what are those of us to do who have concluded, for a huge variety of reasons, that the worthwhile relevant fight at this point is to prevent Hillary from getting the nomination?
Well, if DFA will not be stepping up to that plate, perhaps others will do so. Last night someone showed up on MSNBC who's doing exactly that. Take a look at http://DemocraticCourage.com and let me know what you think. Thanks. (The site doesn't load properly in Explorer; you need to use Firefox.)
Yours in reform,
Charles
The next President will have to shift our nation away from ME oil, restore global faith in the dollar, make a radical start towards trimming greenhouse gases, while rejoining the world of rule of law and mutual respect.
Richardson could find the resources with his policy of out now.
Obama clearly too would find favorable world opinion on his side.
Dodd has just spoken clearly on the rule of law and understands the legislative process of how to move the Senate.
Joe Biden would advance American interests
and the difference between Hillary Clinton and John Edwards is not who could effectively run the government it is for whom that they do it
Kucinich is proposing a radical new direction, and from many DFA voters perspective the right one
but the leader in the pulse poll is Al Gore for a reason and that is he is uniquely qualified to take on all of the problems left us by the worst President ever, as a world and national leader from day one
Charles
the nominating rules are fair and there is a chance for evry single Democratic party member to have a say in who the party nominee will be and it involves electing National Delegates to Denver
that is the process DFA should be focused on and if we could agree to back one candidate now we can agree to back a single progressive candidate when it shakes out in Denver
This makes two threads in a row where DFA has promoted people who want others to switch their support away from Gore.
?????
Why can't Edwardians and Kuciniks troll for support from Obama and Hillary too?
Will the next thead be an Obamian or Hillaroid asking us to switch from Gore?
if we could agree to back one candidate now
Who will be the first to abandon their own preferred one?
Progressives for Gore, progressives for Edwards, progressives for Obama, or others can get elected as National delgates and meet at the progressive caucus in Denver and unite.
to say an Edwards supporter has to switch to Kucinich at this time to win an endorsement of DFA because Gore supporters shouldn't be mucking up the works with "my vote is my voice" and no one can garner enough support for a clear lead makes no sense to me at this stage
we 68% behind one candidate right now of course it would be alright to turn the full power of DFA loose behind that one
ain't gonna happen anymore than one will win that level of support in Iowa or New Hampshire ... too many candidates
if progressives win two out of three delegate slots to Denver it doesn't matter which route they took to get there, a progressive candidate will head the ticket
wait til Hillary responds and turns her organization loose cranking out votes here
let the angst begin lol
hope the Rockies rock and roll or you and paine will be rubbing it in Reed
Phil Specht wrote: "if we could agree to back one candidate now we can agree to back a single progressive candidate when it shakes out in Denver"
By that time it will be too late. Hillary will have the majority of the delegates, or at least such a crushing plurality that no other significant progressive candidate (e.g. Edwards and Obama, both of whom may enter with a significant fraction of delegates) will be willing to step aside for the other. Which is why it is not only time to focus on stopping Hillary; it is way overdue for us to do so.
Sitka wrote: "if we could agree to back one candidate now Who will be the first to abandon their own preferred one?"
That would be me. I've removed Edwards from my vote and substituted Kucinich.
Phil Specht wrote: "if progressives win two out of three delegate slots to Denver it doesn't matter which route they took to get there, a progressive candidate will head the ticket"
With all due respect, I think you're dreaming. If anyone walks into the convention with 40% of the delegates, or even 35%, even Joe Lieberman, it will be almost impossible to stop that person. For one thing, there'll be too much oppressive buzz from the media about so-and-so, Hillary or whoever, being the prohibitive favorite. And if the progressive community is not united by that time behind one candidate, it will be curtains.
Yours in reform,
Charles
I'm hoping that Cindy can bring down Pelosi next November. Unfortunately, that's the message that the snivelling cowards in Congress need to get
I wrote: "I've removed Edwards from my vote and substituted Kucinich."
Just to clarify, I used all three of my choices, and voted for three candidates. One of those candidates used to be Edwards and is now Kucinich.
We wouldn't do that Phil...would we? Gotta go and cook supper for meself before the game, wife had a family reunion to go to tonight and I was still working before she left...whew...that was a close one.
Reed
when we get a progressive in the White House I'll come visit you in Vermont and we can do some fishing
the water will run cleaner after a few years and the fish will be safe to eat again
Charles, Hillary can't win the nomination without 50% of the delegates in Denver. The important thing for people to get focused on is electing progressives as delegates.
all sounds good to me Phil...
a progressive in the White House
fishing with Phil in Vermont
clean water
fish that are safe to eat
Oh those silly Republicans - they have a Halloween special on...
SCARIEST DEMOCRATS - complete with freaky pictures of our candidates and lightening flashes and thunder claps. http://www.gop.com/net/ScariestDemocrat/
I'd say ALL Republicans planning to run for any office are running a little scared right now -- and the rest of them - are just RUNNING. : )
ANTI-WAR DEMONSTRATIONS!
NEW YORK - Anti-war demonstrators marched in a dozen U.S. cities on Saturday to call for an immediate end to the war in Iraq and a cut-off of funding by Congress.The "national day of action," sponsored by the United for Peace and Justice coalition, attracted throngs of protesters in cities from Boston and New Orleans to Chicago and Los Angeles on the fifth anniversary of the U.S. Senate's vote authorizing the invasion of Iraq.Wet weather dampened the turnout in New York, but thousands braved the rain for the anti-war event in Manhattan, where protesters carried signs reading "End the war now," demanding a cutoff of its funding; "Healthcare, not warfare;" and calling for the impeachment of President Bush for "war crimes."
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21503718/
new thread
Phil, I can appreciate not like that fellow Dem's would resort so low to lie and smear Al Gore, but Kucinich's supporters have come here many times doing exactly that.
Phil Specht wrote: "Charles, Hillary can't win the nomination without 50% of the delegates in Denver. The important thing for people to get focused on is electing progressives as delegates."
You think I don't know that 50% is needed to win the nomination? Don't play dumb, Specht. You know exactly what I'm saying. Someone walking into the convention with 35 or 40% of the vote probably cannot be stopped from winning it, probably on the first ballot due to withdrawals or defections, almost certainly on the second ballot. Read your history. Check out McGovern in 72, for example, who came into the convention with less than 50%, then won it by rulings on the South Carolina and California delegations.
The goal of any serious progressive is to prevent Hillary from walking into Denver with a plurality, period, paragraph, end of discussion. This is not something that can wait until after the primaries begin. Get a clue.
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