Tales of Coriolanus
May 26th, 2006 at 1:11 pm by Susie
The Rude Pundit on Al Gore:
Al Gore is our Coriolanus, one of those Shakespeare characters that doesn’t get as much attention as your fancy Hamlet or crazy MacBeth. See, Coriolanus was a hero to the Romans, celebrated by the patricians as a warrior, but he couldn’t take his place as a leader because he couldn’t connect to the plebians of Rome and get them to vote for him. This is not to mention the backstabbing and lies told by those out to sink him. Sent into exile, Coriolanus, humbled, chastened, goes to his former enemies for help. He leads that army into battle and kicks Rome’s ass, making it beg for mercy, and becomes a hero to his new home nation.
Last night, Gore was as you’ve heard, loose, funny, and smart. Goddamn, so fuckin’ smart. Every time he opened his mouth to discuss some aspect of melting ice caps or fuel efficiency, you just wanted to weep, thinking, “Jesus Christ, he won. Motherfucker won. He should be our president right now, not that inarticulate, shit-tossing baboon hunched in the ditch next to Tony Blair right now.” What Gore does better than anyone in the Democratic Party right now, from Hillary Clinton to Russ Feingold, is articulate liberal issues as moral callings. Not squishy, feel-good sentiments, but deep in the soul, religious, even, moral purposes. Like, you know, Christians are supposed to do.
Essentially, Gore’s mission on global warming is rhetorically similar to George Bush’s mission in Iraq: revolution now so that the future can be secure. The difference, of course, is that Gore isn’t a liar, and he doesn’t have to hype the evidence. Gore approaches his subject the way every politician ought to lead: he knows he’s right, and he’s so right that others are wrong. When Gore was asked about scientists who say that climatic change is just part of ongoing natural cycles, Gore didn’t pander, didn’t offer that idiotic “well, good people can have differences of opinion” bullshit the Bush administration uses to paper over their lies. No, Gore just said that the questioner was wrong. That the vast scientific consensus says global warming is real and happening. And to believe otherwise is to believe liars. He said scientists who say otherwise are industrial “prostitutes” and “camp followers” (he hesitated before saying that - you knew he wanted to say “whores” or “skanky, disease-ridden bitches”).
Gore was often spanked in the press for sounding smart and right about everything. But if you have a problem with someone calling out motherfuckers for fucking their mothers, then perhaps you need to take another look at who’s in your bed. You look at Gore now and you can’t help but think that perhaps we’ve moved past the Forrest Gump-ish wisdom of the stupid phase and want the cold comfort of a poindexter telling us what’s real. It’s been said, and it’s true, that Gore is liberated now. He was marginalized and now he’s moving back to the center of the national discourse.
The Rude Pundit’s not gonna sit here and do reportage on much of the evening. It was, mostly, a recapitulation of the film’s ideas, with Hansen there to add gravitas and authority and to scare the shit out of us in the way that global warming is more frightening and more likely than attacks by a hundred bin Ladens. The only thing new was that Gore praised Hillary Clinton’s talk on ethanol (Chelsea was in the house). But, to return to the Rude Pundit’s question for Gore, a kind of “What do you have to lose” by running for Prez, Hockenberry posed it this way: “What do you say to people who think you are more interested in Powerpoint than in political power?”
Gore joked (earlier he had called politicians “a renewable resource”), and he said he had “no intention” to run for President. Then he turned it around, speaking quietly, which, whenever he does, it’s time to listen. He made a statement about the power of the people, of James Madison’s “informed electorate,” and about the responsibility of citizens to be active participants in the destiny of the nation. For Gore, running for President would give him the wide national platform to even discuss these issues. But more important to him is a politics of engagement, whether in power or not.
And perhaps he’s right. For things did not end well for Coriolanus. See, Coriolanus didn’t destroy Rome. He made peace, and that pissed off the leader of his new nation, so he had Coriolanus assassinated at his moment of greatest glory. And, god, what blood is spilled along the way.
Well, a little off-topic, but Coriolanus is one of the greatest ignored plays of Shakespeare. Many moons ago, I saw Raul Julia play the title role at Joe Papp’s Public. Breathtaking. It is infrequently produced; do not miss it if you get the chance to see it.
From CEI.org:
“There is no “scientific consensus” that global warming will cause damaging climate change.Claims that there is mischaracterize the scientific research of bodies like the UNIPCC & the US National Academy of Sciences.”
Go to the CEI website, search global warming, & the entire article is the 3rd one down.
So Al is Coriolanus. What’s next? Remember earth tone Al? How about “manly” Al. Why can’t he be just who he is? I’ll tell ya why, because he actually believes he’s better than us plebes. If he really cared about the environment, he’d be setting an example by flying in commercial aircraft(don’t give me the security crap or the causing a scene at the airport line) instead of zoomin’ around in a private jet. Use public transit, Al. Walk the walk, man.
Yea Susie, he’s so damn smart, & he’s gonna let all of us serf voters know it. He’ll let us know how we (USA) are reigning all this environmental havoc, never minding China & India staying out of that sham called Kyoto(or whatever).
But he won’t sell his Occidental stock. I asked that question on this very site weeks ago,& got hammered personally, but nobody answered the question. I found out for myself.
And BTW it was Al who asked a judge to make him President.
So go ahead Al, throw your hat in there, cuz I wanna see the Al vs. Hillary Show.
“LIVE FROM NEW YORK…..”
Kevin:
You deserve to have George W. Bush as your president. May I dare to hope you own a coastal home?
The ‘range
Kevin, I could understand if you simply had a different opinion grounded in facts. But you seem to believe anything the right wing says, no matter what, and frankly, how do you have a discussion with someone like that?
Just to prove it, here’s some information that contradicts or mitigates what you claim, yet I already know it won’t make a dent in your perception:
http://www.royalsoc.ac.uk/document.asp?latest=1&id=3222
There’s the G8 Science Academies statement, to which the US Academy belongs. By the way, India, China, and Brazil all signed it.
And here’s the IPCC info, where less than 1.5% of the scientists who belong differ on climate change.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPCC
http://mediamatters.org/items/200605260014
Al Gore does not own Occidental stock. His father owned it, and left it as part of a family trust over which Gore has no control:
http://www.thestreet.com/funds/funds/1138154.html
The reason no one ever answers your questions, Kevin, is that they’re not really questions. They’re bait, right-wing talking points you unconditionally accept as fact without you going to the trouble of questioning them.
For example, the CEI is a well-known front for the oil companies. Gee, Kevin, you think they might have a vested interest in convincing you everything’s okay the way it is?
http://scienceblogs.com/deltoid/2006/05/cei_exaggerates_by_a_factor_of.php
And you may be one of the few people left in the world who doesn’t know Matt Drudge makes shit up:
http://thinkprogress.org/2006/05/22/drudge-falsely-smears-gore/
Here’s some info from Wired magazine:
“The Gores and all the employees of Generation lead a “carbon-neutral” lifestyle, reducing their energy consumption when possible and purchasing so-called offsets available on newly emerging carbon markets. Gore says he and Tipper regularly calculate their home and business energy use - including the carbon cost of his prodigious global travel. Then he purchases offsets equal to the amount of carbon emissions they generate. Last year, for example, Gore and Tipper atoned for their estimated 1 million miles in global air travel by giving money to an Indian solar electric company and a Bulgarian hydroelectric project.”
http://64.233.187.104/search?q=cache:IuJdUDBVXkcJ:www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.05/gore_pr.html+Al+Gore+traveling+commercial+air&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=3
Oh yeah, and here’s the “earth tones” bullshit story:
http://www.algoresupportcenter.com/goretruth.html#anchor_315
I’m one of those smart kids, Kevin, and I’m tired of the kids who are too lazy to crack a book fucking up the world for my grandchildren because people like me are too polite to tell them they’re wrong. You’re wrong, Kevin.
Ummmm shouldn’t that be Goriolanus?
Wow. A thorough savaging of Kevin, who will, of course, learn nothing.
I’m one of the smart kids too, Kevin, and in your post where you say ‘reigning’, I think you mean ‘wreaking’.
By the way, you’re being played by an alcoholic imbecile.
I don’t want to savage him. I only want him to start using his brain.
Its very hard for people like Kevin to use their brains. Because they have let someone else think for them for so long. That way they are not responsable for anything that happens. And then they get angry at you for pointing out the truth. My Dad and Kevin have alot in common.
Whenever I hear the name Coriolanus, I think of the song Brush Up Your Shakespeare from Kiss Me Kate.
Namely:
Brush up your Shakespeare,
Start quoting him now.
Brush up your Shakespeare
And the women you will wow.
Just declaim a few lines from “Othella”
And they think you’re a helluva fella.
If your blonde won’t respond when you flatter ‘er
Tell her what Tony told Cleopaterer ,
If she fights when her clothes you are mussing,
What are clothes? “Much Ado About Nussing.”
Brush up your Shakespeare
And they’ll all kowtow.
With the wife of the British embessida
Try a crack out of “Troilus and Cressida,”
If she says she won’t buy it or tike it
Make her tike it, what’s more, “As You Like It.”
If she says your behavior is heinous
Kick her right in the “Coriolanus.”
Brush up your Shakespeare
And they’ll all kowtow…
PS — I agree that Kevin is a brainless twit and inexcusable troll.