Draft Al Gore
Jan 16th, 2006 at 6:32 pm by Susie
Hi kids, I’m home.
The speech? Goddamn, it was spine-tingling. Even being crammed in the press section with the corporate media (The National Review’s Byron York with his oh-so-Byronesque head of hair in front of me, the L.A. Times’ compromised-by-marriage Ron Brownstein behind) couldn’t ruin it for me. It took Al a little while to wind himself up, but by the end of the speech, I was ready to grab a pitchfork and storm the castle.
I’m watching it online as I write, and it’s too bad - the C-SPAN video doesn’t really capture the excitement in the room, or the loudness of the applause. You’ll have to take my word for it.
I could have stayed home and watched it on TV (didn’t really need to spend the train fare), but I’ve been so depressed and frustrated after the Alito hearings, I really needed a strong dose of hope and inspiration, and Al was it. [Full text here.]
Of course, the usual suspects had the usual snide comments:
A spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee, Tracey Schmitt, attacked Gore’s comments shortly after address.
“Al Gore’s incessant need to insert himself in the headline of the day is almost as glaring as his lack of understanding of the threats facing America,” Schmitt said. “While the president works to protect Americans from terrorists, Democrats deliver no solutions of their own, only diatribes laden with inaccuracies and anger. ”
Gore’s speech was sponsored by the American Constitution Society for Law and Policy and The Liberty Coalition, two organizations that have expressed concern about the policy.
Gee. You’d think the Post reporter would mention that the Liberty Coalition is a right-wing libertarian group, or that Bob Barr, who was scheduled to introduce Gore but couldn’t because of technical problems, is a conservative Republican. Or maybe mention how interesting it is that both the right and left wings have serious doubts about Bush’s policies.
If a tree falls in a forest… A former Vice-President of the United States delivers a major speech accusing George W. Bush of breaking the law. What do all three cable news nets cover under the “Breaking News” banner? An overturned tanker truck on a New York highway. THIS is the problem for the left. And as I’ve said a hundred times: if the Dem establishment doesn’t go after the media institutionally, things simply will not change. It’s astonishing to me that they haven’t gotten it yet. The only other option is for the progressive netroots to organize and fight the media on its own, an uphill struggle, to say the least… (UPDATE: Crooks and Liars has video highlights.)
But that would be providing, um, what do they call it? I know, context! And we all know that’s not part of a journalist’s job.
Meanwhile, today’s Philadelphia Inquirer ran a related story today in keeping with Gore’s theme: Bush’s unprecedented power grab.
Anyway, you can watch it here or the rerun on C-SPAN at 8 p.m EST.
There you are! I was wondering if you were going to comment on this landmark; but then I was over at Melanie’s place and she said you had gone to cover it personally.
I was so jealous.
Well, welcome back. Blogtopia (y!sctp) is agog over it, and we want to know if women were throwing their panties on the stage at the end. I might have, if I’d been there.
Where do we sign up for the revolution baby! ! !
Leave it to the Rethuglickans to attack the messenger. Thats what they do. I watched cspan and it looked to me like Brother Al hit all the salient points right one the head.
sic semper tyrannis (says so right on the Virginia flag!)
Peace and courage, everyone!
It was an amazing speech — erudite, articulate, impassioned, and almost comprehensive in its drawing together of the Bush Administration’s successful enlarging of executive power. As I have read the reports and summaries of the speech, what upsets me the most is that the content of the speech — the huge points about executive power and the weakening of the constitutionally prescribed structure of our government under Bush, which Al talked about in context after context — is never mentioned. And people discussing the speech are talking about it in terms of Al Gore’s character and political future rather than discussing about the actual ideas he talked about.
He was breathtaking, even through an online video connection to a CSPAN feed. I sat at home, clapping at my monitor. I highly recommend that those interested in the speech watch the full thing, and not just the six minute compilation on C&L. It is highly worth an hour of your time.
So, will Move On be selling video like they did with an earlier Gore speech?
[...] There’s a lot of good blogging about Al Gore’s speech today. See especially Glenn Greenwald, ReddHedd, pessimist at The Left Coaster, Susie Madrak (who was there), plus Peter Daou on the “media coverage.” [...]
Gore/Dean 2008…that’s the answer. Let’s make it happen.
[...] Gore’s speech Monday excoriating Bush’s domestic eavesdropping policy is receiving attention from all corners of the Internet. Less discussed than the politics have been his comments about Internet neutrality and what he portrayed as telecom companies’ responsibility to “cease and desist” from participating in the domestic surveillance: (Raw Story has the transcript, Crooks and Liars links to video.) Any telecommunications company that has provided the government with access to private information concerning the communications of Americans without a proper warrant should immediately cease and desist their complicity in this apparently illegal invasion of the privacy of American citizens. It is particularly important that the freedom of the Internet be protected against either the encroachment of government or the efforts at control by large media conglomerates. The future of our democracy depends on it. [...]
we know why foxnews didn’t carry it, but the other 2? they’re still trying to be fair and balanced (and outdated). maybe sorors really should buy CNN. if they’re gonna call it liberal for simply questioning king george, the least they could do is actually BE liberal.
_”Gee. You’d think the Post reporter would mention that the Liberty Coalition is a right-wing libertarian group, or that Bob Barr, who was scheduled to introduce Gore but couldn’t because of technical problems, is a conservative Republican. Or maybe mention how interesting it is that both the right and left wings have serious doubts about Bush’s policies.”_
OK, but stated this way, it makes Bush look like a centrist.
Susie, I’m glad you got to attend, in spite of Dubya-inspired increased train fares on the northeastern corridor!
Think of Al’s speech as an innoculation against the virus known as “Dubya,” and the pandemic it’s causing which some scientists are calling “Mad Sheeple Disease (MSD).”
[...] Additional commentary at Digby’s Hullabaloo, The Left Coaster, and Susie was there and highlights tomorrow’s headlines, in which the media finally shows up for the bashing. Seems the much needed blast of new blood is being injected by the people’s president that never was? The “right blogosphere” is quick to juxtapose Gore’s rage against his policies as a VP, but libertarians tend to be on Al’s side when it comes to guarding against Constitutional transgressions. [...]
Glad you were there Suz, I caught it on the audio call, then MB and I caught it together on the CSPAN 8pm rerun.
Draft and pitchforks for sure.
I was there, too, Al rocked the house!! He tied everything together so well, and put it all in historical context. A key point he made was that there have been excesses and overreaches of executive authority before–he mentioned all the usual suspects–but this time seems different because it is so systematic, so secretive, so widespread, and aimed specifically for long-term executive supremacy. The MSM are such a bunch of total fuckheads, pardon my language, they wouldn’t know a real idea unless it was written on a note and stuffed inside the kidnapped body of a pretty young white girl
[...] Video: Al Gore’s Speech Jan 16, 2006 (quicktime) | (WMP) | real (CSPAN) | transcript - (Raw Story) Audio (.mp3) “Where was this Gore when we needed him?” queried a journalist seated next to The Tribune’s Frank James, according to his glowing review in the Trib Washington Bureau’s The Swamp blog. At any rate, it appears that Gore will not stand down. Additional commentary at Digby’s Hullabaloo, The Left Coaster, and Susie was there and highlights tomorrow’s headlines, in which the media finally shows up for the bashing. Seems the much needed blast of new blood is being injected by the people’s president that never was? The “right blogosphere” is quick to juxtapose Gore’s rage against his policies as a VP, but libertarians tend to be on Al’s side when it comes to guarding against Constitutional transgressions. [...]
Bob Barr couldn’t introduce Gore because of “technical problems?” So why haven’t his prepared remarks been published with the transcripts of Gore’s speech?
Uh, because reporters are lazy? Gore deviated from his statement several times, but the press printed the release. Many of them even wrote that Barr introduced him when he hadn’t.
Wow, cool site.. I need to add a blog based on disk hp pavilion restore.Do you have to upgrade your blog code often? Is it simple to do?. Thanks Amigo, JEFF add disaster link recovery
[...] So tonight I saw the premiere of the Al Gore documentary on global warming, “An Inconvenient Truth,” and I got to meet the president after. I told him I was at his historic President’s Day speech in Washington and thanked him for the inspiration. (I figured I wouldn’t get much of an answer if I asked if he would run again, so instead I asked if he’d be out stumping for the congressional mid-terms. “Yes, of course,” he said. Which means, for what it’s worth, that he’s keeping his political options open.) [...]