Remarks by Al Gore May 26, 2004, As Prepared
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George W. Bush promised us a foreign policy with humility. Instead, he has brought us humiliation in the eyes of the world.He promised to "restore honor and integrity to the White House." Instead, he has brought deep dishonor to our country and built a durable reputation as the most dishonest President since Richard Nixon.
Honor? He decided not to honor the Geneva Convention. Just as he would not honor the United Nations, international treaties, the opinions of our allies, the role of Congress and the courts, or what Jefferson described as "a decent respect for the opinion of mankind." He did not honor the advice, experience and judgment of our military leaders in designing his invasion of Iraq. And now he will not honor our fallen dead by attending any funerals or even by permitting photos of their flag-draped coffins.
How did we get from September 12th , 2001, when a leading French newspaper ran a giant headline with the words "We Are All Americans Now" and when we had the good will and empathy of all the world -- to the horror that we all felt in witnessing the pictures of torture in Abu Ghraib.
To begin with, from its earliest days in power, this administration sought to radically destroy the foreign policy consensus that had guided America since the end of World War II. The long successful strategy of containment was abandoned in favor of the new strategy of "preemption." And what they meant by preemption was not the inherent right of any nation to act preemptively against an imminent threat to its national security, but rather an exotic new approach that asserted a unique and unilateral U.S. right to ignore international law wherever it wished to do so and take military action against any nation, even in circumstances where there was no imminent threat. All that is required, in the view of Bush's team is the mere assertion of a possible, future threat - and the assertion need be made by only one person, the President.
More disturbing still was their frequent use of the word "dominance" to describe their strategic goal, because an American policy of dominance is as repugnant to the rest of the world as the ugly dominance of the helpless, naked Iraqi prisoners has been to the American people. Dominance is as dominance does.
Dominance is not really a strategic policy or political philosophy at all. It is a seductive illusion that tempts the powerful to satiate their hunger for more power still by striking a Faustian bargain. And as always happens - sooner or later - to those who shake hands with the devil, they find out too late that what they have given up in the bargain is their soul.
One of the clearest indications of the impending loss of intimacy with one's soul is the failure to recognize the existence of a soul in those over whom power is exercised, especially if the helpless come to be treated as animals, and degraded. We also know - and not just from De Sade and Freud - the psychological proximity between sexual depravity and other people's pain. It has been especially shocking and awful to see these paired evils perpetrated so crudely and cruelly in the name of America.
Those pictures of torture and sexual abuse came to us embedded in a wave of news about escalating casualties and growing chaos enveloping our entire policy in Iraq. But in order understand the failure of our overall policy, it is important to focus specifically on what happened in the Abu Ghraib prison, and ask whether or not those actions were representative of who we are as Americans? Obviously the quick answer is no, but unfortunately it's more complicated than that.
There is good and evil in every person. And what makes the United States special in the history of nations is our commitment to the rule of law and our carefully constructed system of checks and balances. Our natural distrust of concentrated power and our devotion to openness and democracy are what have lead us as a people to consistently choose good over evil in our collective aspirations more than the people any other nation.
Our founders were insightful students of human nature. They feared the abuse of power because they understood that every human being has not only "better angels" in his nature, but also an innate vulnerability to temptation - especially the temptation to abuse power over others.
Our founders understood full well that a system of checks and balances is needed in our constitution because every human being lives with an internal system of checks and balances that cannot be relied upon to produce virtue if they are allowed to attain an unhealthy degree of power over their fellow citizens.
Listen then to the balance of internal impulses described by specialist Charles Graner when confronted by one of his colleagues, Specialist Joseph M. Darby, who later became a courageous whistleblower. When Darby asked him to explain his actions documented in the photos, Graner replied: "The Christian in me says it's wrong, but the Corrections Officer says, 'I love to make a groan man piss on himself."
What happened at the prison, it is now clear, was not the result of random acts by "a few bad apples," it was the natural consequence of the Bush Administration policy that has dismantled those wise constraints and has made war on America's checks and balances.
The abuse of the prisoners at Abu Ghraib flowed directly from the abuse of the truth that characterized the Administration's march to war and the abuse of the trust that had been placed in President Bush by the American people in the aftermath of September 11th.
There was then, there is now and there would have been regardless of what Bush did, a threat of terrorism that we would have to deal with. But instead of making it better, he has made it infinitely worse. We are less safe because of his policies. He has created more anger and righteous indignation against us as Americans than any leader of our country in the 228 years of our existence as a nation -- because of his attitude of contempt for any person, institution or nation who disagrees with him.
He has exposed Americans abroad and Americans in every U.S. town and city to a greater danger of attack by terrorists because of his arrogance, willfulness, and bungling at stirring up hornet's nests that pose no threat whatsoever to us. And by then insulting the religion and culture and tradition of people in other countries. And by pursuing policies that have resulted in the deaths of thousands of innocent men, women and children, all of it done in our name.
President Bush said in his speech Monday night that the war in Iraq is "the central front in the war on terror." It's not the central front in the war on terror, but it has unfortunately become the central recruiting office for terrorists. [Dick Cheney said, "This war may last the rest of our lives.] 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 terrorism against the United States. Just yesterday, the International Institute of Strategic Studies reported that the Iraq conflict " has arguable focused the energies and resources of Al Qaeda and its followers while diluting those of the global counterterrorism coalition." The ISS said that in the wake of the war in Iraq Al Qaeda now has more than 18,000 potential terrorists scattered around the world and the war in Iraq is swelling its ranks.
The war plan was incompetent in its rejection of the advice from military professionals and the analysis of the intelligence was incompetent in its conclusion that our soldiers would be welcomed with garlands of flowers and cheering crowds. Thus we would not need to respect the so-called Powell doctrine of overwhelming force.
There was also in Rumsfeld's planning a failure to provide security for nuclear materials, and to prevent widespread lawlessness and looting.
Luckily, there was a high level of competence on the part of our soldiers even though they were denied the tools and the numbers they needed for their mission. What a disgrace that their families have to hold bake sales to buy discarded Kevlar vests to stuff into the floorboards of the Humvees! Bake sales for body armor.
And the worst still lies ahead. General Joseph Hoar, the former head of the Marine Corps, said "I believe we are absolutely on the brink of failure. We are looking into the abyss."
When a senior, respected military leader like Joe Hoar uses the word "abyss", then the rest of us damn well better listen. Here is what he means: more American soldiers dying, Iraq slipping into worse chaos and violence, no end in sight, with our influence and moral authority seriously damaged.
Retired Marine Corps General Anthony Zinni, who headed Central Command before becoming President Bush's personal emissary to the Middle East, said recently that our nation's current course is "headed over Niagara Falls."
The Commander of the 82nd Airborne Division, Army Major General Charles H. Swannack, Jr., asked by the Washington Post whether he believes the United States is losing the war in Iraq, replied, "I think strategically, we are." Army Colonel Paul Hughes, who directed strategic planning for the US occupation authority in Baghdad, compared what he sees in Iraq to the Vietnam War, in which he lost his brother: "I promised myself when I came on active duty that I would do everything in my power to prevent that ... from happening again. " Noting that Vietnam featured a pattern of winning battles while losing the war, Hughes added "unless we ensure that we have coherence in our policy, we will lose strategically."
The White House spokesman, Dan Bartlett was asked on live television about these scathing condemnations by Generals involved in the highest levels of Pentagon planning and he replied, "Well they're retired, and we take our advice from active duty officers."
But amazingly, even active duty military officers are speaking out against President Bush. For example, the Washington Post quoted an unnamed senior General at the Pentagon as saying, " the current OSD (Office of the Secretary of Defense) refused to listen or adhere to military advice." Rarely if ever in American history have uniformed commanders felt compelled to challenge their commander in chief in public.
The Post also quoted an unnamed general as saying, "Like a lot of senior Army guys I'm quite angry" with Rumsfeld and the rest of the Bush Administration. He listed two reasons. "I think they are going to break the Army," he said, adding that what really incites him is "I don't think they care."
In his upcoming book, Zinni blames the current catastrophe on the Bush team's incompetence early on. "In the lead-up to the Iraq war, and its later conduct," he writes, "I saw at a minimum, true dereliction, negligence and irresponsibility, at worst, lying, incompetence and corruption."
Zinni's book will join a growing library of volumes by former advisors to Bush -- including his principal advisor on terrorism, Richard Clarke; his principal economic policy advisor, former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill, former Ambassador Joe Wilson, who was honored by Bush's father for his service in Iraq, and his former Domestic Adviser on faith-based organizations, John Dilulio, who said, "There is no precedent in any modern White House for what is going on in this one: a complete lack of a policy apparatus. What you've got is everything, and I mean everything, run by the political arm. It's the reign of the Mayberry Machiavellis."
Army Chief of Staff General Eric Shinseki told Congress in February that the occupation could require "several hundred thousand troops." But because Rumsfeld and Bush did not want to hear disagreement with their view that Iraq could be invaded at a much lower cost, Shinseki was hushed and then forced out.
And as a direct result of this incompetent plan and inadequate troop strength, young soldiers were put in an untenable position. For example, young reservists assigned to the Iraqi prisons were called up without training or adequate supervision, and were instructed by their superiors to "break down" prisoners in order to prepare them for interrogation.
To make matters worse, they were placed in a confusing situation where the chain of command was criss-crossed between intelligence gathering and prison administration, and further confused by an unprecedented mixing of military and civilian contractor authority.
The soldiers who are accused of committing these atrocities are, of course, responsible for their own actions and if found guilty, must be severely and appropriately punished. But they are not the ones primarily responsible for the disgrace that has been brought upon the United States of America.
Private Lynndie England did not make the decision that the United States would not observe the Geneva Convention. Specialist Charles Graner was not the one who approved a policy of establishing an American Gulag of dark rooms with naked prisoners to be "stressed" and even - we must use the word - tortured - to force them to say things that legal procedures might not induce them to say.
These policies were designed and insisted upon by the Bush White House. Indeed, the President's own legal counsel advised him specifically on the subject. His secretary of defense and his assistants pushed these cruel departures from historic American standards over the objections of the uniformed military, just as the Judge Advocates General within the Defense Department were so upset and opposed that they took the unprecedented step of seeking help from a private lawyer in this city who specializes in human rights and said to him, "There is a calculated effort to create an atmosphere of legal ambiguity" where the mistreatment of prisoners is concerned."
Indeed, the secrecy of the program indicates an understanding that the regular military culture and mores would not support these activities and neither would the American public or the world community. Another implicit acknowledgement of violations of accepted standards of behavior is the process of farming out prisoners to countries less averse to torture and giving assignments to private contractors
President Bush set the tone for our attitude for suspects in his State of the Union address. He noted that more than 3,000 "suspected terrorists" had been arrested in many countries and then he added, "and many others have met a different fate. Let's put it this way: they are no longer a problem to the United States and our allies."
George Bush promised to change the tone in Washington. And indeed he did. As many as 37 prisoners may have been murdered while in captivity, though the numbers are difficult to rely upon because in many cases involving violent death, there were no autopsies.
How dare they blame their misdeeds on enlisted personnel from a Reserve unit in upstate New York. President Bush owes more than one apology. On the list of those he let down are the young soldiers who are themselves apparently culpable, but who were clearly put into a moral cesspool. The perpetrators as well as the victims were both placed in their relationship to one another by the policies of George W. Bush.
How dare the incompetent and willful members of this Bush/Cheney Administration humiliate our nation and our people in the eyes of the world and in the conscience of our own people. How dare they subject us to such dishonor and disgrace. How dare they drag the good name of the United States of America through the mud of Saddam Hussein's torture prison.
David Kay concluded his search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq with the famous verdict: "we were all wrong." And for many Americans, Kay's statement seemed to symbolize the awful collision between Reality and all of the false and fading impressions President Bush had fostered in building support for his policy of going to war.
Now the White House has informed the American people that they were also "all wrong" about their decision to place their faith in Ahmed Chalabi, even though they have paid him 340,000 dollars per month. 33 million dollars (CHECK) and placed him adjacent to Laura Bush at the State of the Union address. Chalabi had been convicted of fraud and embezzling 70 million dollars in public funds from a Jordanian bank, and escaped prison by fleeing the country. But in spite of that record, he had become one of key advisors to the Bush Administration on planning and promoting the War against Iraq.
And they repeatedly cited him as an authority, perhaps even a future president of Iraq. Incredibly, they even ferried him and his private army into Baghdad in advance of anyone else, and allowed him to seize control over Saddam's secret papers.
Now they are telling the American people that he is a spy for Iran who has been duping the President of the United States for all these years.
One of the Generals in charge of this war policy went on a speaking tour in his spare time to declare before evangelical groups that the US is in a holy war as "Christian Nation battling Satan." This same General Boykin was the person who ordered the officer who was in charge of the detainees in Guantanamo Bay to extend his methods to Iraq detainees, prisoners. ... The testimony from the prisoners is that they were forced to curse their religion Bush used the word "crusade" early on in the war against Iraq, and then commentators pointed out that it was singularly inappropriate because of the history and sensitivity of the Muslim world and then a few weeks later he used it again.
"We are now being viewed as the modern Crusaders, as the modern colonial power in this part of the world," Zinni said.
What a terrible irony that our country, which was founded by refugees seeking religious freedom - coming to America to escape domineering leaders who tried to get them to renounce their religion - would now be responsible for this kind of abuse..
Ameen Saeed al-Sheikh told the Washington Post that he was tortured and ordered to denounce Islam and after his leg was broken one of his torturers started hitting it while ordering him to curse Islam and then, " they ordered me to thank Jesus that I'm alive." Others reported that they were forced to eat pork and drink alcohol.
In my religious tradition, I have been taught that "ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so, every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit... Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them."
The President convinced a majority of the country that Saddam Hussein was responsible for attacking us on September 11th. But in truth he had nothing whatsoever to do with it. The President convinced the country with a mixture of forged documents and blatantly false assertions that Saddam was in league with Al Qaeda, and that he was "indistinguishable" from Osama bin Laden.
He asked the nation , in his State of the Union address, to "imagine" how terrified we should be that Saddam was about to give nuclear weapons to terrorists and stated repeatedly that Iraq posed a grave and gathering threat to our nation. He planted the seeds of war, and harvested a whirlwind. And now, the "corrupt tree" of a war waged on false premises has brought us the "evil fruit" of Americans torturing and humiliating prisoners.
In my opinion, John Kerry is dealing with this unfolding tragedy in an impressive and extremely responsible way. Our nation's best interest lies in having a new president who can turn a new page, sweep clean with a new broom, and take office on January 20th of next year with the ability to make a fresh assessment of exactly what our nation's strategic position is as of the time the reigns of power are finally wrested from the group of incompetents that created this catastrophe.
Kerry should not tie his own hands by offering overly specific, detailed proposals concerning a situation that is rapidly changing and unfortunately, rapidly deteriorating, but should rather preserve his, and our country's, options, to retrieve our national honor as soon as this long national nightmare is over.
Eisenhower did not propose a five-point plan for changing America's approach to the Korean War when he was running for president in 1952.
When a business enterprise finds itself in deep trouble that is linked to the failed policies of the current CEO the board of directors and stockholders usually say to the failed CEO, "Thank you very much, but we're going to replace you now with a new CEO -- one less vested in a stubborn insistence on staying the course, even if that course is, in the words of General Zinni, "Headed over Niagara Falls."
One of the strengths of democracy is the ability of the people to regularly demand changes in leadership and to fire a failing leader and hire a new one with the promise of hopeful change. That is the real solution to America's quagmire in Iraq. But, I am keenly aware that we have seven months and twenty five days remaining in this president's current term of office and that represents a time of dangerous vulnerability for our country because of the demonstrated incompetence and recklessness of the current administration.
It is therefore essential that even as we focus on the fateful choice, the voters must make this November that we simultaneously search for ways to sharply reduce the extraordinary danger that we face with the current leadership team in place. It is for that reason that I am calling today for Republicans as well as Democrats to join me in asking for the immediate resignations of those immediately below George Bush and Dick Cheney who are most responsible for creating the catastrophe that we are facing in Iraq.
We desperately need a national security team with at least minimal competence because the current team is making things worse with each passing day. They are endangering the lives of our soldiers, and sharply increasing the danger faced by American citizens everywhere in the world, including here at home. They are enraging hundreds of millions of people and embittering an entire generation of anti-Americans whose rage is already near the boiling point.
We simply cannot afford to further increase the risk to our country with more blunders by this team. Donald Rumsfeld, as the chief architect of the war plan, should resign today. His deputies Paul Wolfowitz, Douglas Feith and his intelligence chief Stephen Cambone should also resign. The nation is especially at risk every single day that Rumsfeld remains as Secretary of Defense.
Condoleeza Rice, who has badly mishandled the coordination of national security policy, should also resign immediately.
George Tenet should also resign. I want to offer a special word about George Tenet, because he is a personal friend and I know him to be a good and decent man. It is especially painful to call for his resignation, but I have regretfully concluded that it is extremely important that our country have new leadership at the CIA immediately.
As a nation, our greatest export has always been hope: hope that through the rule of law people can be free to pursue their dreams, that democracy can supplant repression and that justice, not power, will be the guiding force in society. Our moral authority in the world derived from the hope anchored in the rule of law. With this blatant failure of the rule of law from the very agents of our government, we face a great challenge in restoring our moral authority in the world and demonstrating our commitment to bringing a better life to our global neighbors.
During Ronald Reagan's Presidency, Secretary of Labor Ray Donovan was accused of corruption, but eventually, after a lot of publicity, the indictment was thrown out by the Judge. Donovan asked the question, "Where do I go to get my reputation back?" President Bush has now placed the United States of America in the same situation. Where do we go to get our good name back?
The answer is, we go where we always go when a dramatic change is needed. We go to the ballot box, and we make it clear to the rest of the world that what's been happening in America for the last four years, and what America has been doing in Iraq for the last two years, really is not who we are. We, as a people, at least the overwhelming majority of us, do not endorse the decision to dishonor the Geneva Convention and the Bill of Rights....
Make no mistake, the damage done at Abu Ghraib is not only to America's reputation and America's strategic interests, but also to America's spirit. It is also crucial for our nation to recognize - and to recognize quickly - that the damage our nation has suffered in the world is far, far more serious than President Bush's belated and tepid response would lead people to believe. Remember how shocked each of us, individually, was when we first saw those hideous images. The natural tendency was to first recoil from the images, and then to assume that they represented a strange and rare aberration that resulted from a few twisted minds or, as the Pentagon assured us, "a few bad apples."
But as today's shocking news reaffirms yet again, this was not rare. It was not an aberration. Today's New York Times reports that an Army survey of prisoner deaths and mistreatment in Iraq and Afghanisatan "show a widespread pattern of abuse involving more military units than previously known.'
Nor did these abuses spring from a few twisted minds at the lowest ranks of our military enlisted personnel. No, it came from twisted values and atrocious policies at the highest levels of our government. This was done in our name, by our leaders.
These horrors were the predictable consequence of policy choices that flowed directly from this administration's contempt for the rule of law. And the dominance they have been seeking is truly not simply unworthy of America - it is also an illusory goal in its own right.
Our world is unconquerable because the human spirit is unconquerable, and any national strategy based on pursuing the goal of domination is doomed to fail because it generates its own opposition, and in the process, creates enemies for the would-be dominator.
A policy based on domination of the rest of the world not only creates enemies for the United States and creates recruits for Al Qaeda, it also undermines the international cooperation that is essential to defeating the efforts of terrorists who wish harm and intimidate Americans.
Unilateralism, as we have painfully seen in Iraq, is its own reward. Going it alone may satisfy a political instinct but it is dangerous to our military, even without their Commander in Chief taunting terrorists to "bring it on."
Our troops are stretched thin and exhausted not only because Secretary Rumsfeld contemptuously dismissed the advice of military leaders on the size of the needed force - but also because President Bush's contempt for traditional allies and international opinion left us without a real coalition to share the military and financial burden of the war and the occupation. Our future is dependent upon increasing cooperation and interdependence in a world tied ever more closely together by technologies of communications and travel. The emergence of a truly global civilization has been accompanied by the recognition of truly global challenges that require global responses that, as often as not, can only be led by the United States - and only if the United States restores and maintains its moral authority to lead.
Make no mistake, it is precisely our moral authority that is our greatest source of strength, and it is precisely our moral authority that has been recklessly put at risk by the cheap calculations and mean compromises of conscience wagered with history by this willful president.
Listen to the way Israel's highest court dealt with a similar question when, in 1999, it was asked to balance due process rights against dire threats to the security of its people:
"This is the destiny of democracy, as not all means are acceptable to it, and not all practices employed by its enemies are open before it. Although a democracy must often fight with one hand tied behind its back, it nonetheless has the upper hand. Preserving the Rule of Law and recognition of an individual's liberty constitutes an important component in its understanding of security. At the end of the day they (add to) its strength."
The last and best description of America's meaning in the world is still the definitive formulation of Lincoln's annual message to Congress on December 1, 1862:
"The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise - with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country. Fellow citizens, we cannot escape history...the fiery trial through which we pass will light us down in honor or dishonor to the latest generation...We shall nobly save, or meanly lose the last best hope of earth...The way is plain, peaceful, generous, just - a way which, if followed, the world will forever applaud, and God must forever bless."
It is now clear that their obscene abuses of the truth and their unforgivable abuse of the trust placed in them after 9/11 by the American people led directly to the abuses of the prisoners in Abu Ghraib prison and, we are now learning, in many other similar facilities constructed as part of Bush's Gulag, in which, according to the Red Cross, 70 to 90 percent of the victims are totally innocent of any wrongdoing.
The same dark spirit of domination has led them to - for the first time in American history - imprison American citizens with no charges, no right to see a lawyer, no right to notify their family, no right to know of what they are accused, and no right to gain access to any court to present an appeal of any sort. The Bush Admistration has even acquired the power to compel librarians to tell them what any American is reading, and to compel them to keep silent about the request - or else the librarians themselves can also be imprisoned.
They have launched an unprecedented assault on civil liberties, on the right of the courts to review their actions, on the right of the Congress to have information to how they are spending the public's money and the right of the news media to have information about the policies they are pursuing.
The same pattern characterizes virtually all of their policies. They resent any constraint as an insult to their will to dominate and exercise power. Their appetite for power is astonishing. It has led them to introduce a new level of viciousness in partisan politics. It is that viciousness that led them to attack as unpatriotic, Senator Max Cleland, who lost three limbs in combat during the Vietnam War.
The president episodically poses as a healer and "uniter". If he president really has any desire to play that role, then I call upon him to condemn Rush Limbaugh - perhaps his strongest political supporter - who said that the torture in Abu Ghraib was a "brilliant maneuver" and that the photos were "good old American pornography," and that the actions portrayed were simply those of "people having a good time and needing to blow off steam."
This new political viciousness by the President and his supporters is found not only on the campaign trail, but in the daily operations of our democracy. They have insisted that the leaders of their party in the Congress deny Democrats any meaningful role whatsoever in shaping legislation, debating the choices before us as a people, or even to attend the all-important conference committees that reconcile the differences between actions by the Senate and House of Representatives.
The same meanness of spirit shows up in domestic policies as well. Under the Patriot Act, Muslims, innocent of any crime, were picked up, often physically abused, and held incommunicado indefinitely. What happened in Abu Ghraib was difference not of kind, but of degree.
Differences of degree are important when the subject is torture. The apologists for what has happened do have points that should be heard and clearly understood. It is a fact that every culture and every politics sometimes expresses itself in cruelty. It is also undeniably true that other countries have and do torture more routinely, and far more brutally, than ours has. George Orwell once characterized life in Stalin's Russia as "a boot stamping on a human face forever." That was the ultimate culture of cruelty, so ingrained, so organic, so systematic that everyone in it lived in terror, even the terrorizers. And that was the nature and degree of state cruelty in Saddam Hussein's Iraq.
We all know these things, and we need not reassure ourselves and should not congratulate ourselves that our society is less cruel than some others, although it is worth noting that there are many that are less cruel than ours. And this searing revelation at Abu Ghraib should lead us to examine more thoroughly the routine horrors in our domestic prison system.
But what we do now, in reaction to Abu Ghraib will determine a great deal about who we are at the beginning of the 21st century. It is important to note that just as the abuses of the prisoners flowed directly from the policies of the Bush White House, those policies flowed not only from the instincts of the president and his advisors, but found support in shifting attitudes on the part of some in our country in response to the outrage and fear generated by the attack of September 11th.
The president exploited and fanned those fears, but some otherwise sensible and levelheaded Americans fed them as well. I remember reading genteel-sounding essays asking publicly whether or not the prohibitions against torture were any longer relevant or desirable. The same grotesque misunderstanding of what is really involved was responsible for the tone in the memo from the president's legal advisor, Alberto Gonzalez, who wrote on January 25, 2002, that 9/11 "renders obsolete Geneva's strict limitations on questioning of enemy prisoners and renders quaint some of its provisions."
We have seen the pictures. We have learned the news. We cannot unlearn it; it is part of us. The important question now is, what will we do now about torture. Stop it? Yes, of course. But that means demanding all of the facts, not covering them up, as some now charge the administration is now doing. One of the whistleblowers at Abu Ghraib, Sergeant Samuel Provance, told ABC News a few days ago that he was being intimidated and punished for telling the truth. "There is definitely a coverup," Provance said. "I feel like I am being punished for being honest."
The abhorrent acts in the prison were a direct consequence of the culture of impunity encouraged, authorized and instituted by Bush and Rumsfeld in their statements that the Geneva Conventions did not apply. The apparent war crimes that took place were the logical, inevitable outcome of policies and statements from the administration.
To me, as glaring as the evidence of this in the pictures themselves was the revelation that it was established practice for prisoners to be moved around during ICRC visits so that they would not be available for visits. That, no one can claim, was the act of individuals. That was policy set from above with the direct intention to violate US values it was to be upholding. It was the kind of policy we see - and criticize in places like China and Cuba.
Moreover, the administration has also set up the men and women of our own armed forces for payback the next time they are held as prisoners. And for that, this administration should pay a very high price. One of the most tragic consequences of these official crimes is that it will be very hard for any of us as Americans - at least for a very long time - to effectively stand up for human rights elsewhere and criticize other governments, when our policies have resulted in our soldiers behaving so monstrously. This administration has shamed America and deeply damaged the cause of freedom and human rights everywhere, thus undermining the core message of America to the world.
President Bush offered a brief and half-hearted apology to the Arab world - but he should apologize to the American people for abandoning the Geneva Conventions. He also owes an apology to the U.S. Army for cavalierly sending them into harm's way while ignoring the best advice of their commanders. Perhaps most importantly of all, he should apologize to all those men and women throughout our world who have held the ideal of the United States of America as a shining goal, to inspire their hopeful efforts to bring about justice under a rule of law in their own lands. Of course, the problem with all these legitimate requests is that a sincere apology requires an admission of error, a willingness to accept responsibility and to hold people accountable. And President Bush is not only unwilling to acknowledge error. He has thus far been unwilling to hold anyone in his administration accountable for the worst strategic and military miscalculations and mistakes in the history of the United States of America.
He is willing only to apologize for the alleged erratic behavior of a few low-ranking enlisted people, who he is scapegoating for his policy fiasco.
In December of 2000, even though I strongly disagreed with the decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to order a halt to the counting of legally cast ballots, I saw it as my duty to reaffirm my own strong belief that we are a nation of laws and not only accept the decision, but do what I could to prevent efforts to delegitimize George Bush as he took the oath of office as president.
I did not at that moment imagine that Bush would, in the presidency that ensued, demonstrate utter contempt for the rule of law and work at every turn to frustrate accountability...
So today, I want to speak on behalf of those Americans who feel that President Bush has betrayed our nation's trust, those who are horrified at what has been done in our name, and all those who want the rest of the world to know that we Americans see the abuses that occurred in the prisons of Iraq, Afghanistan, Guantanamo and secret locations as yet undisclosed as completely out of keeping with the character and basic nature of the American people and at odds with the principles on which America stands.
I believe we have a duty to hold President Bush accountable - and I believe we will. As Lincoln said at our time of greatest trial, "We - even we here - hold the power, and bear the responsibility."
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RNC Communications Director Statement on Al Gore’s Comments Today at MoveOn.org Rally
Wednesday, May 26, 2004
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Christine Iverson
202-863-8614Washington, DC—RNC Communications Director Jim Dyke issued the following statement today in response to a speech by former Vice President Al Gore attacking President Bush.
“Al Gore served as Vice President of this country for eight years. During that time, Osama Bin Laden declared war on the United States five times and terrorists killed US citizens on at least four different occasions including the first bombing of the World Trade Center, the attacks on Khobar Towers, our embassies in East Africa, and the USS Cole.”
“Al Gore’s attacks on the President today demonstrate that he either does not understand the threat of global terror, or he has amnesia.”
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Gore to Dubya: Condemn Limbaugh
BEGIN TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Just sitting here minding my own business. I'm not bothering anybody. Just doing my job here on the EIB Network, and the vice president, ex-vice president, of the Democratic Party, has demanded today that George W. Bush condemn and denounce me. (speech) We have the sound bite coming up. Greetings, my friends. Rush Limbaugh, the EIB Network and the Limbaugh Institute for Advanced Conservative Studies. You are listening to America's most listened to and most powerful radio talk show, a program which meets and surpasses all audience expectations on a daily basis. I heard this bite during the break, folks. (Laughing)
We all just listened to it together, and we just laughed. You've got to hear this. This is a MoveOn.org event. It's here in New York at New York University. Gore and I in the same town. (Gasping.) MoveOn.org, this is the wacko bunch that is doing ads equating Bush with Hitler. Don't they have a new ad? Hang on, let me check. Move On has a new [staff interruption] Yeah. Yeah. Before we play the Gore bite, you've got to hear the audio track to the latest MoveOn.org ad, which puts an Abu Ghraib hood over the Statute of Liberty.
VOICE: (Absurd doom-and-gloom music.) They said we went to Iraq to bring American values -- democracy, liberty. But something has gone terribly wrong. (Dramatic pause) Now it's been reported that (Secretary of Defense) Donald Rumsfeld initiated the plan that encouraged the physical coercion and sexual humiliation of prisoners. [Rush laughing] Rumsfeld has endangered our soldiers and America. [sic] Why hasn't (President of the United States) George (W.) Bush fired this man?RUSH: (Laughing.) So that's their latest commercial, and I haven't seen it, but apparently during one of the darkest moments of that commercial is where a hood, an Abu Ghraib hood, is placed over (laughing) the Statue of Liberty. That's what I meant earlier about these people kind of going a little too far. They're really going to persuade people with this. So anyway at their big event, a big shindig out there here in New York at New York University, former vice president Al Gore -- I guess (EIB Chief of Staff) H.R. is right. I guess I've become the new Newt Gingrich of the Republican Party. A talk show host has become the new Newt Gingrich. He's the excerpt from the Gore speech.
ALGORE: "This president episodically poses as a uniter and healer. If he really has any desire to play that role, then I call upon him to condemn Rush Limbaugh, perhaps his strongest political supporter, who said publicly that the torture in Abu Grab [sic—Ghraib] was 'a brilliant maneuver' and that the photos were 'good old American pornography,' and that the actions portrayed were simply those of people 'having a good time' and 'needing to blow off steam.'"
RUSH: I guess those naked pyramids are just not in the national interest to Algore. (Laughing and laughing.) Okay. Well, you know, here's the thing, folks. Algore, this whole speech, he went nuts. He's flailing around wildly there. Not just me, he's attacking everybody who has led the nation through 9/11, the war on terrorism, and he's making statements that are flat out lies in this speech. For example, the Geneva Conventions. I don't know how many of you know this, the Geneva Conventions do not protect terrorists. (PTI: Interrogation of Ultras Not Regulated Under Geneva) They protect soldiers who serve under a nation who wear uniforms who carry their weapons openly, and with the kind of threat that we're facing today with terrorist cells in the U.S. plotting an even bigger attack than 9/11. I mean, it says a lot about Gore. It says he's perverse, that he would be argue to go confer greater rights on those who seek to murder millions of Americans and calling for even tougher actions to seek them out and destroy them before they destroy us, and this is what is truly puzzling to me about the left, and this is what's disarming about these prison photos.
What really troubles me about these photos, above and beyond what's in them, is how they're being used to undermine our war effort. Now we have the former vice president, a man who was thisclose to becoming president of the United States, speak out in this speech. We haven't played you the bites, but he was flailing around on the Geneva Convention. He starts talking about conferring more rights on the kind of people who want to murder tens of thousands more Americans than he does seem interested in dealing with the people who want to commit those murders. He has succeeded in giving our adversaries in Europe and our enemies in the caves of Afghanistan and the allies of Iraq a message that they'll take to heart, and that is that we are not a united nation, that we do not have the will to win this war, and that we are weak and indecisive. That's the message that Gore sends today, and it's the wrong message, because it's a lie, and beyond that it is an outrage.In this speech today he actually makes the case for civil rights for terrorist cells in these prisons under the Geneva Convention when the Geneva Convention does not even cover terrorists. But more importantly, the idea that this guy -- who didn't say anything about terrorism in his presidential campaign. For all you people that want to talk about how the Clinton administration was really tough on terrorism, go back to the 2000 campaign. Find for me where Gore said anything about it. He didn't. It wasn't a big deal. We know what Jamie Gorelick was doing. We know Gorelick built the wall with her famous 1995 memo that prevented intelligence that was gathered on terrorists from being conveyed to law enforcement agencies because of the way the Clinton administration was actually, according to a great piece at FrontPageMag.com. The purpose of the Gorelick memo, you know what it was? To actually protect the privacy of Clinton's fund-raising with the Chinese. (Story)
That's what the purpose of it was, and it had this ancillary effect of stymieing the war on terror. We've had Mansoor Ijaz as many times as he's got the breath to say it, talk about the bin Laden deal with Sudan that Clinton rejected. There is audiotape of Clinton admitting to an audience in New York City that he rejected bin Laden and rejected the offer of bin Laden by the Sudanese. So for this guy to come forth now and act like he is the great protector and the great defender of liberty and so forth when they didn't do diddlysquat during the eight years that Clinton-Gore sat in the White House is just a bit much to take. Here. Play that bite one more time in case you're just joining us and wonder what this little monologue was all about. Gore made a speech today at the New York University, and it's a big, big fund-raising event from MoveOn.org and this is an excerpt.ALGORE: "This president episodically poses as a uniter and healer. If he really has any desire to play that role, then I call upon him to condemn Rush Limbaugh, perhaps his strongest political supporter, who said publicly that the torture in Abu Grab [sic—Ghraib] was 'a brilliant maneuver' and that the photos were 'good old American pornography,' and that the actions portrayed were simply those of, of people 'having a good time' and 'needing to blow off steam.'"
Since this prison thing has come up here again, we have this from Rowan Scarborough in the Washington Times. "An Army investigation and congressional hearings have spotlighted a series of conflicting statement..." By the way, hold it. Hey, Koko? I want you to go back to the website last week or the week before. I guess it was the week-before last. I want you to grab Kate O'Beirne's column that she wrote on National Review Online placing in context my comments about Abu "Grab," as Gore called it. Didn't he say Abu "Grab"? What's on his mind? He calls it Abu Grab Prison. At any rate, find out in Gore lingo what "Abu" means and we could really be onto something. But go back and get that Kate O'Beirne piece, because she had called me. She sent me an e-mail. She wanted to know what is this? I just sent her the transcript for the whole show from which those comments that these guys are isolating and taking out of context were taken, and she wrote a great piece that puts it all in context and perspective and explains what it was that I was saying in her own words. I mean, it's one thing for me to say it.
So I want you to re-link to that, or just post it, whatever. Put it up there now, Koko. Don't waste any time. Just get it up there now. Get this, folks. There's something going on. I mean, every day now somebody is out there trashing me and mentioning my name from someplace, and it's all these comments. These comments are two weeks old. Now they've even got Gore mouthing these comments. Last week we got a call innocently enough from somebody at TIME magazine. I guess they've got a section -- I don't read TIME magazine so I had to be told about this -- "Ten Questions For" and they change the American every week. Last week they wanted to do ten questions for me, and I agreed to do it. "What the hell, it's ten questions. Yip yip yip yip yahoo," but they pulled out at the last minute. They went to the editors meeting at ten o'clock Friday morning and decided to move it to this week, which is tomorrow. They're going to do this, right here on the heels of all this.TIME and Newsweek have both, in cover stories, mentioned these quotes that you heard Gore just say about me. It is an all-out concerted effort. I'm honored by it, but I am intrigued by it. I have never seen a media figure targeted much the same way the president of the United States is being targeted, and now the president of the United States, who's got really important things to do, has been told or challenged by Gore to condemn me. (Tapping desk.) So I'm wondering about this TIME magazine. I'm still going to do it, but I'm going to be loaded. I'm going to be ready. In fact, they want to take a picture. I ought to show up in prison guard garb, or maybe take the picture with a hood on and say, "Here, I'm the Statue of Liberty. I showed up today to do my show as the Statue of Liberty. Take a picture of me with this hood on. Send a copy over to MoveOn.org." (Laughing.)
BY JAMES TARANTO
Thursday, May 27, 2004 2:25 p.m. EDT"It is now clear that Al Gore is insane," writes the New York Post's John Podhoretz. "I don't mean that his policy ideas are insane, though many of them are. I mean that based on his behavior, conduct, mien and tone over the past two days, there is every reason to believe that Albert Gore Jr., desperately needs help. I think he needs medication, and I think that if he is already on medication, his doctors need to adjust it or change it entirely."
Maureen Dowd of the New York Times agrees. When he delivered a speech to the far-left outfit MoveOn.org yesterday, she writes, "Mr. Gore hollered so much, he made Howard Dean look like George Pataki." She says the erstwhile veep represents "the wackadoo wing of the Democratic Party."
Well, give Gore credit for helping liberals and conservatives find common ground in this era of polarization. Pretty much everyone agrees Gore is nuts. OK, we did get one e-mail in Gore's defense, from a reader whose name we'll withhold because that's the kind of compassion we practice here at Best of the Web Today:
Al Gore spoke the truth, the real truth, and American truth. The hate speech that we are exposed to on a daily basis comes from the likes of you and the rest of you lying fascist scum that contaminate this country. You are the Republican taliban.
This charming missive pretty much captures the tone and spirit of the Gore speech, though our correspondent at least understands the virtue of brevity. Gore's speech, by contrast, ran more than 6,500 words. Maybe he's hoping for Fidel Castro's job.
How did things go so terribly wrong for Al Gore? When he ran for president in 1988, he was a fresh-faced, moderate "new Democrat." He lost the nomination to the electrifying Michael Dukakis, but he was only 40 and his future looked bright. Yet he never lived up to his potential, and today he is a pitiful, though scary, old man.
An Associated Press account of yesterday's speech notes that "Gore, who served in Vietnam, predicted greater problems for America's involvement in Iraq." The AP apparently means to suggest that Gore suffers from posttraumatic stress disorder, since the Vietnam reference is otherwise a complete non sequitur. But according to WebMD, "symptoms of PTSD usually occur within three months of the traumatic event." True, "they can occur months or years later"--but three decades later?
We've got a better theory: Gore, in our view, has cracked under a crushing burden of guilt.
To explain why, it helps to remember that a desperate anger pervades Gore's entire party at the moment. That's not surprising. For the first time in half a century, the Democrats are out of the White House and have a majority in neither house of Congress. A decisive GOP victory in November would leave the Dems a minority party for a very long time.
Oh, they put on a brave face, noting excitedly every Bush swoon in the polls. They say the president is manifestly incompetent and John Kerry will beat him easily. Maybe they'll even turn out to be right. Who knows? Certainly some Republicans are spooked about Bush's re-election prospects. But the shrillness and hysteria of the Democrats' rhetoric tells us they are far from confident.
Still, the immoderation of Gore's words, combined with the fury of his tone, puts him in a class by himself, or very nearly so, even among angry Dems. And while political candidates routinely engage in hyperbole in order to stir up the party faithful, Gore isn't running for anything. Dick Gephardt stopped ranting about Bush's being a "miserable failure" when he left the presidential race. Gore has nothing to gain by sacrificing his dignity in this way.
How did the Dems come to such a pass? In large part, it's Gore's fault. The Democrats held the White House in 2000, at a time of apparent peace and prosperity. They should have won the election that year, and they surely would have had they only had a decent candidate. But instead they had Al Gore. Even he came close enough to winning that he was tempted to try to steal the election.
There's a telling line right at the beginning of Gore's speech: George W. Bush, he says, "has brought deep dishonor to our country and built a durable reputation as the most dishonest president since Richard Nixon." Here Gore is engaging in what psychologists call "projection": attributing one's own faults to others. The most dishonest president since Richard Nixon obviously is the one who was impeached for lying under oath--the president, that is, whose No. 2 was none other than Al Gore.
Gore would have become president had Bill Clinton resigned after his 1998 impeachment, or had 17 Democratic senators voted to convict him in his impeachment trial. President Gore likely would have been re-elected in 2000, since he would have had the advantage of incumbency and been free of the Clinton taint that (unaccompanied by the Clinton charm) hurt him so much in the "red" states.
Instead, party discipline held, and the Senate acquitted Clinton. This was another missed opportunity for Gore. Had he publicly broken from Clinton and called on the president to resign, other Democrats might well have followed his lead. Instead, he appeared at a White House rally immediately after the impeachment vote and described Clinton as "a man who I believe will be regarded in the history books as one of our greatest presidents."
Thus it was Al Gore, more than anyone else, who assured the election of George W. Bush as president. And if Gore actually believes all the paranoid nonsense he utters about "global warming," "an unprecedented assault on civil liberties," the "American gulag," the "catastrophe" in Iraq and so on, he let down not only his party but his country and the world, which will soon be destroyed thanks to Bush's decision to withdraw from the Kyoto treaty.
That's more guilt than anyone should be forced to endure.
Reply 1 - Posted by: Tanstaafl, 5/27/2004 3:19:15 PM
This is your brain.
This your brain on drugs.
This is Al Gore's brain with bacon.
Reply 2 - Posted by: yaya123, 5/27/2004 3:32:57 PM
Something the whole country can agree on: Al Gore is bonkers. If Tipper had any control over Al, she would not let him appear in public. She certainly wouldn't let him give speeches or endorse anyone or anything, ever again.
Come to think of it, has Al been asked to endorse anything??? (Howard Dean doesn't count. He didn't ask or pay for that endorsement.) Even loser Bob Dole got huge endorsements. Visa, Pepsi, Viagra. But no big deals for Al.
And everyone is getting book deals these days. Not Al. He can't even get a gig on Air America.
So I don't think Al's guilt is driving him crazy....I think he's depressed!
Reply 3 - Posted by: Brown Bear, 5/27/2004 3:36:25 PM
You know you've gone tooo farrr when even Maureen Dowd says . . . .
Gore represents "the wackadoo wing of the Democratic Party."
Reply 4 - Posted by: pallis, 5/27/2004 3:42:30 PM
If Gore starts shape shifting on stage again, we'll know he needs more than medication. Involvement in hate cults can really screw a semi normal person.
Reply 5 - Posted by: simkeith, 5/27/2004 3:43:11 PM
MoDo's comments are kinda like the pot calling the kettle black. Been back into the gin again, dear?
Reply 6 - Posted by: pepperblue, 5/27/2004 3:49:34 PM
More than 6500 words - that's not a speech; that's a small book!
Reply 7 - Posted by: mobyclik, 5/27/2004 3:51:13 PM
Tippers gotta buy that boy some Viagra and help keep him busy.
Reply 8 - Posted by: akimbo, 5/27/2004 3:55:35 PM
Hey...I like bacon. Maybe he needs more bacon?
Reply 9 - Posted by: NoLibsNoLies, 5/27/2004 3:56:37 PM
Viagra would only make him taller.
Reply 10 - Posted by: whitey, 5/27/2004 3:56:58 PM
Thank goodness this wild man is not our president.
It is frightening to imagine a guy with that much uncontrolled internal rage having his finger on the nuclear button.
Reply 11 - Posted by: twm1340, 5/27/2004 4:01:00 PM
#9....Excellent!
Reply 12 - Posted by: mitzi, 5/27/2004 4:13:46 PM
I guess we should have been warned that this was coming.
Remember, Al Gore did promise us he would 'let it rip.'
With Al, there seems to be no 'normal.' Either he's an automaton or a madman!
Reply 13 - Posted by: gam, 5/27/2004 4:24:21 PM
Thanks #9, I needed that.
Reply 14 - Posted by: Rumblehog, 5/27/2004 4:51:33 PM
Nice synopsis of the history of Al Gore, Part I. Gore and the Dems failed to call for Clinton's resignation and the rest is history. At least the Republican leadership visited Nixon and recommended he resign, which he did and it saved him in the long run. In contrast, the kool-aid drinking Dems thought they could pull a "power play" for Bubba and survive it. In the end they lost everything. They deserve it.
Reply 15 - Posted by: unix_geek, 5/27/2004 5:27:36 PM
With any luck he'll wind up pulling a Margot Kidder--be found wandering aimlessly, naked, drooling and missing his dentures.
Reply 16 - Posted by: dotonbut, 5/27/2004 5:34:52 PM
Gore reminded me of the Robert De Niro character (Max Cady) in Cape Fear when at the end the Nick Nolte character has to bash him in the head with a rock. Max Cadie starts a’ spinnin’ and a’ howlin, and a’ failin’ to beat the band.
Reply 17 - Posted by: J.R. Dunn, 5/27/2004 5:36:05 PM
I think it's high time Florida put up a statue to the Unknown Voter.
Reply 18 - Posted by: steveW, 5/27/2004 5:40:30 PM
Liberals seem to be a bit scared now that Gore has gone and expressed out loud what they really feel but are ashamed to admit.
Reply 19 - Posted by: eyeswideshut, 5/27/2004 5:42:30 PM
#9 wins for best comment of the week! Perfect scores for accuracy, brevity, and special bonus for subtlety!
Reply 20 - Posted by: sherlock, 5/27/2004 5:43:27 PM
Did you ever notice just his mouth when he is screaming? he looks like a rabid dog.
Reply 21 - Posted by: themanoftwistsandturns, 5/27/2004 5:45:59 PM
What is also insane is this weird daughter of his who appears to be absolutely neglecting her infant child as she goes about life acting as the ''controlling authority'' in this clown's life.
Tipper is completely out of the picture now as she has settled back into substance induced bliss.
Reply 22 - Posted by: Tulsa, 5/27/2004 5:50:44 PM
#18 is absolutely correct.
Reply 23 - Posted by: John McCall, 5/27/2004 5:55:26 PM
Think he will be invited to speak just before PIAPS at the democrat convention?
spoiled children throw tantrums: that is what the whole democrat litter is doing now.
it will only get worse. they can't help themselves.
I'm beginning to feel like some single shopper in a department store watching some body's snot nosed kid thrown a nuclear tantrum over some toy or something he has been refused.
Reply 24 - Posted by: Yonkers56, 5/27/2004 5:55:32 PM
what, nuance is dead, already?!!
Reply 25 - Posted by: GeneSmith, 5/27/2004 5:56:54 PM
I wonder if the Prince of Dorkness will do this persona on his new cable TV network? Get guest scream sessions with Ho-Ho? And speaking of Ho-Ho, had Algore endorsed Kerry yet?
Reply 26 - Posted by: Troy McClure, 5/27/2004 6:03:02 PM
Would someone please explain to me #9's post?
Reply 27 - Posted by: InGodWeTrust, 5/27/2004 6:06:42 PM
I also think, beneath his elitist personna, lurks a mad-AlGore in kerry.
He can't even control his rage in
little things...like cursing out a SS officer becasue you fall, blaming a "speech writer" for something HE repeated for weeks.
He is far from stable when he verbally attacks CITIZENS asking him a question ....yet is willing to "genuflect,kiss up and sell our security" to the French, Gremans and UN.
Reply 28 - Posted by: John McCall, 5/27/2004 6:10:23 PM
viagra would only make him taller means, to me at least, that Algore is composed 100% of the stuff that viagra is supposed to make rigid.
I love Gore's "Abu-Grab" prison ........... his subconscious mind has taken over......
so much fun!!!!!
Reply 29 - Posted by: sharkstooth, 5/27/2004 6:21:33 PM
Reply 30 - Posted by: DC Escapee, 5/27/2004 6:23:41 PM
OMG - I just got around to watching some of the speech video. It's obvious that MoveOn.org wrote the speech for him. Also, it was eerie that he sometimes was trying his best to emulate Clinton's sincerityspeak. You know, the gooshy-gushy crap that everyone else ate up, but we could see right through!
If it wasn't so pathetic, it would be even funnier. He's not even an idiot savant - just an idiot!
Reply 31 - Posted by: serendipity, 5/27/2004 6:26:20 PM
Ya know what I think? (a little amateur analysis here) He feels he was destined to become president, sure of beating such an inferior candidate as the dumb cowboy from Texas, and convinced the presidency was stolen from him in Florida. All that boiling bitter rage in him the last three and a half years has eaten away any stability he had. My conscience chides me when I laugh aloud at his image on TV. If I were a more compassionate person, I would have pity. Instead, I find myself again thanking God that we escaped the disaster of a President Gore's response to 9/11!
Reply 32 - Posted by: WyoEagle, 5/27/2004 6:28:00 PM
I've never seen anyone sweat so much. During the 6500 word rant he was drippin like a leaky faucet. Does Viagra remedy that? This guy is N-U-T-S!
Reply 33 - Posted by: dlentz10, 5/27/2004 6:29:28 PM
Now consider this, on the subject of Al Gore, Maureen Dowd and Rush LImbaugh essentially agree. Dowd calls Gore wacko and Limbaugh calls him a maniac.
You don't see those on the same page too often.
David
Reply 34 - Posted by: cdihlmrk, 5/27/2004 6:38:46 PM
The picture of Al Snore, the Prince of Dorkness, that Lucianne has so gratefully shared with us makes him look like he's about ready to cough up that piece of brisket that got lodged in his throat.
Either that or he's breaking into song..."I'm a lumberjack and I'm OK, I work all night and I sleep all day...."
Reply 35 - Posted by: cap MarineTet68, 5/27/2004 6:51:46 PM
6500 words. I do not have quite that many in the mini-thesis I am writing for Clinical Pastoral Education, a post-graduate program in which I am blessed to be a Resident at the VA Hospital Chaplaincy via Stanford.
Oh, but didn't AlBore flunk Divinity school? Poor soul.
Reply 36 - Posted by: berserker, 5/27/2004 7:09:36 PM
What Evil Lurks in the Hearts of Men, if the onslaught of the MSM Communist media over the past three years against this President and our Republic could be put in one speech, it would be far worse. Gore reminds me of some of the films I see of Hitler delivering a speech, but what is really different between the Democrats of today.
Reply 37 - Posted by: Harmony1, 5/27/2004 7:21:41 PM
I understand #9's Comment....and I'm just a little old lady!
I second the motion for Reply 9 to be 'Post of the Day'.
Somebody get the Strait Jacket...AlGore needs help. The man is demented.
Reply 38 - Posted by: garyhope, 5/27/2004 7:22:43 PM
Reply 39 - Posted by: mulhaven, 5/27/2004 7:28:23 PM
Gore was a complete cynic but now he lives in the mad Clintonesque world.
Reply 40 - Posted by: Armed Eagle, 5/27/2004 7:32:57 PM
A person can be trained for a specific job. But, when that person is trained to carry the same traits, ideas, and beliefs that are not yours but belong to another, that person must cast off all those "pieces" of clothing and build upon his own.
Alas, it is not possible for Al Gore to do or perform such an act. He has been trained too well. He is a "yes man" and has no indwelling moral values to draw upon to
liberate his own soul.
It is sad.
Reply 41 - Posted by: mama meatballs, 5/27/2004 7:38:40 PM
Viagra is good but Cialis works for up to
36 hours. So, if we want to keep him busy, the "Big" dork could play ring toss.
Reply 42 - Posted by: Tanstaafl, 5/27/2004 7:39:22 PM
Frank J at IMAO.US said Al was acting that way because he had a refrigerator magnet stuck to his head.
Reply 43 - Posted by: Pam Torson, 5/27/2004 7:41:14 PM
For some reason, I'm thinking of those ''Enzyte'' commercials.
Reply 44 - Posted by: nevernaught, 5/27/2004 7:45:25 PM
From the article...'Yet he never lived up to his potential, and today he is a pitiful, though scary, old man'.
Actually he has far exceeded his potential which in a normal world would be nil and none. He wouldn't even make a good Mayor of a genetically challenged town along the Arkansas River.
The towel business is merely a French trait of keeping a white surrender flag nearby just in case a real man walks by.
#9 that was too funny.
Reply 45 - Posted by: veryrightofcenter, 5/27/2004 7:47:07 PM
Albot has ENORMOUS pent-up anger in him. Losing the election, not fulfilling the family destiny, stroking Clinton's (deleted) for 8 years waiting for his own chance...
he probably is also depressed because happy people would not grease their hair before a public speech!
#9, obviously your wit is too dry for some...
Reply 46 - Posted by: Coy860, 5/27/2004 7:51:54 PM
Post deleted
Reply 47 - Posted by: nolie, 5/27/2004 7:53:24 PM
He needs a good shot of Tenneesee moonshine or hypnosis, or both to get him out of his misery.
Reply 48 - Posted by: CorkysDad, 5/27/2004 7:57:20 PM
WHY is it when I stare at the picture of Al Bore, up on Lucianne.com right now I see a handgranade pull pin sticking out of his tie. Is it my mind, or is telling us all something?
Reply 49 - Posted by: wyowumin, 5/27/2004 7:59:14 PM
He grew up in a hotel raised by politicians. He has no idea what normal is and unfortunately the people who tell him what it is don't know either. Anyone who thinks they can be an Alpha male by wearing brown suits and orange make up is beyond hope.
Reply 50 - Posted by: richdet, 5/27/2004 8:06:10 PM
About Gore's copious sweating -- this must explain why he is so convinced about global warming.
Reply 51 - Posted by: tusker, 5/27/2004 8:13:39 PM
Never in my life have I seen a woman carry on like this.
Poor "Wildebeast"!
Perhaps her pant suits giving her a wedgie?
Reply 52 - Posted by: Ardys Parrish, 5/27/2004 8:25:29 PM
Someone forgot to tell him "if you aren't careful you're face will freeze that way"
Reply 53 - Posted by: Ardys Parrish, 5/27/2004 8:33:47 PM
Time to quit--brain freeze has set in but please change the you're to your in my previous post. };~(
Reply 54 - Posted by: mythman, 5/27/2004 8:40:57 PM
A classic photo: Gorezilla breathing devastation on model of NYC with Republican convention banner just below lower right hand edge of picture
Reply 55 - Posted by: realrep, 5/27/2004 8:46:05 PM
Again, I would like to thank the voters of TN for not voting for their homeboy for Pres in 2000.
Reply 56 - Posted by: ChuLai67, 5/27/2004 8:51:15 PM
Nobody mentioned the "Botox" in the forehead.
(I can't believe nobody mentioned the botox in the forehead)
Reply 57 - Posted by: mythman, 5/27/2004 8:52:08 PM
Another reason not to wear your old Speedo swim briefs when you're out of underwear.
Reply 58 - Posted by: Tanstaafl, 5/27/2004 8:57:19 PM
Frank J over at IMAO.us says that Al Gore is bulletproof but vulnerable to EMP blasts.
Reply 59 - Posted by: Bluestocking, 5/27/2004 8:58:39 PM
At least Howard Dean waited until he finished his speech before he screamed; Al’s entire speech was a scream.
It's a mystery why any organization would think Al Gore could add value to anything they’re doing. When Al endorsed Howard Dean, Howie was so certain to be the Democratic presidential nominee, the pundits were speculating over whether Judith Dean would move to Washington to live in the White House or continue her medical practice in Vermont. Then Al came onto the scene to ‘’help’‘ Howie, and not since Humpty Dumpty has anyone had such a great fall.
BTW, why would anyone interested in gaining votes for the Democrats take on Condi Rice? It’s one thing to demand the firing squad for Rummy, but what constituency would respond favorably to an attack on Condi Rice? Certainly not Blacks or women. Except for a Ku Klux Klan meeting, where else but a meeting of MoveOn.org would the phrase ‘’Fire Condi!’‘ be an applause line?
Reply 60 - Posted by: mythman, 5/27/2004 8:59:47 PM
Fox news currently has on its home page a good likeness of an exhausted Gore as he finished his long speech
Reply 61 - Posted by: Dolley Madison, 5/27/2004 9:00:59 PM
YES, algore is insane; Tipper needs to keep him hidden or the men in the white coats will be after him. He has gone over the edge, Tipper; buya clue!
Reply 62 - Posted by: jatfla , 5/27/2004 9:11:55 PM
He was so sure he was elected President. He was so sure that his dream had arrived and he was the most powerful person in the World. He was so sure that he didn't have to live under anyone's shadow ever again and all his "Mr. Nice-guy" personsa had paid off. I believe that the lose of the election has sent him over the edge and there is no limit to his irrational, mega-maniac, rabid hatred of this Administration that has deprived him of his place in history. If he weren't still so dangerous, he'd be pitiful and in need of compassion.
Reply 63 - Posted by: John McCall, 5/27/2004 9:13:58 PM
maybe he didn't have Brylcreeme on his hair after all: maybe that was sweat.
His poor offspring; they must be mortified.
Reply 64 - Posted by: tofu, 5/27/2004 9:19:26 PM
Did this man ever spend one, sleepless night worrying about the security of this country?
Reply 65 - Posted by: Dolley Madison, 5/27/2004 9:21:07 PM
"There's a telling line right at the beginning of Gore's speech: George W. Bush, he says, "has brought deep dishonor to our country and built a durable reputation as the most dishonest president since Richard Nixon." Here Gore is engaging in what psychologists call "projection": attributing one's own faults to others. The most dishonest president since Richard Nixon obviously is the one who was impeached for lying under oath--the president, that is, whose No. 2 was none other than Al Gore."
The best explanation yet, of the marxist algore. The marxists always take character flaws in themselves and project them on the Right.
I agree that he thought he had won, and hates Bush; also that he could have had it all if he had seperated from clinton and lef the way for the honest dims to leave with him.
algore -- always a day late and a dollar short.
Reply 66 - Posted by: mamamoose, 5/27/2004 9:27:26 PM
Somebody really needed to give this boy his shot before he went on stage. What I saw was a complete melt down. I kept expecting him to tear his top-shirt. (what my nephew used to call his shirt to distinguish it from his under shirt). It took a dozen bath towels to mop up all that flopsweat. Poor Al, we hardly knew ye. But that was not all bad. I hope his family will see to it that he is comfortable and has visitors when he is lucid.
Reply 67 - Posted by: kelcom, 5/27/2004 9:29:54 PM
At least this 6500 word tantrum has cleared up why Algore came out for Dean early on.
Screech Owls of a feather....
Reply 68 - Posted by: Father of Internet, 5/27/2004 9:37:25 PM
In the pic, He's singing the LOOK FOR THE UNION LABEL song that his dear ol mammy serenaded him to sleep with when he was a wittle boy........
Reply 69 - Posted by: mamamoose, 5/27/2004 9:40:02 PM
No. 42, that is my favorite post of the day.
Thanks, even if it was not original with you.
Reply 70 - Posted by: nancyb, 5/27/2004 9:45:05 PM
Barking mad!
Reply 71 - Posted by: AbingtonJim, 5/27/2004 9:50:26 PM
Thorazine should do the trick for what ails Al. A hefty dose and the Moveon.org group can ''shuffle'' him off to get ready for the next gig. Come to think of it, how can he remember 6500 words AND do the shuffle?
Reply 72 - Posted by: federale, 5/27/2004 9:52:35 PM
I agree with Mr. Podhoretz. Any time Gort appears on stage, for the safety of the audience, big burly men in white suits carrying restraining devices should also be present. It should now be clear to all why Gort endorsed Hodeanie. Also, now that Gort has endorsed Lurch, Lurch should be asked if he agrees with Gort's despicable characterization of President Bush.
Reply 73 - Posted by: ragu, 5/27/2004 10:05:44 PM
If you want to see something disturbing:
Welcome to Al-Gore-2004.org
BARF ALERT!
Reply 74 - Posted by: Coy860, 5/27/2004 10:15:31 PM
Gore's presentation methods were insane, but for a moment, please pay attention to the content.
I am angry beyond words. Gore has gone over the line, and insults EVERY American who supports Bush. Isn't it time that we start protesting everytime a democrat goes over the line?
Remember, he had an audience who applauded his rant. This Nation is divided as never before, thanks to the democrats.
We are at war, our troops know what is being said here. The democrats simply have to be taken to task for their careless comments.
Reply 75 - Posted by: Chance, 5/27/2004 10:22:39 PM
I heard Al Gore's tirade on the radio with Dean's AAARRRRGH screech thrown in to to add flavor. What a riot.
Reply 76 - Posted by: PenDragon, 5/27/2004 10:30:23 PM
The demonRATS, as shown by AL Goremoron, are completely over the top. I am sick and tired of Kennedy, PIAPS, Clinton, Goremoron, Daschle, et.al., claiming one thing one day and when that completely flops doing a 180 degree the next.
How can anyone vote for such fools? They show their contempt daily for the people, by telling them one lie after another.
Reply 77 - Posted by: Tygerlily, 5/27/2004 10:34:08 PM
I believe he is the most frightening face in the entire democratic party.
Reply 78 - Posted by: al gephart, 5/27/2004 11:09:50 PM
I find it quite telling that the ap photo site has pulled that picture of goreboy. It has disappeared from the "top stories" photo section as well as the "politics" photos. They will leave an unflattering picture of GW up for days, not to mention the photos of the poor iraqi terrorist with a bag on his head that can still be found there. The media in this country sickens me.
Reply 79 - Posted by: vikmac, 5/27/2004 11:21:00 PM
I do think he's on meds. I've seen that sweating before with patients on anti-psychotic medication. If he is on medication, people who love him should not let him do public appearances. It's very hard to know where to draw the line with people who are severely depressed or having a psychotic episode, but families need to be strong and protect them. I'm no Gore fan but I find this sad and distressing. He was once a respected public figure, who, much to my surprise, won a sizable percentage of the vote for President. Something is terribly wrong and I wish his family could help him.
Reply 80 - Posted by: MrSpock, 5/27/2004 11:26:33 PM
One thing no one is asking is: When did Algore start speaking with a southern accent?
Reply 81 - Posted by: webweaver , 5/27/2004 11:36:48 PM
Greatly in need of medication...or change of meds
Al Gore, This is your brain...
This is your brain on drugs...
'nuf said
Reply 82 - Posted by: TheTech, 5/27/2004 11:40:23 PM
I remember hearing on a talk show like Rush during the 2000 campaign, that AlGore took something like three to four showers or more a day and used a fresh bar of soap each time. I chose not to truly believe it then, but now I am beginning to wonder. You have to be obsessive compulsive and we certainly did see this in his tirade.
I urge you to give more rant and raving tirades (er, I mean speeches) like this.
We on the side of America that is RIGHT for our time need your help. You are our secret weapon.
Al-Baby, you are one sick puppy. We are going to miss you when The PIG and Slick get rid of you like the mob did to Jimmy Hoffa. You even look like him.
Reply 83 - Posted by: rollingcow, 5/27/2004 11:53:02 PM
The Buffoon belongs in a little white jacket
with a full time nurse to wipe the drool and whatever else.
Reply 84 - Posted by: MousyMick, 5/27/2004 11:58:16 PM
Seeing part of Algore's insane speech made me yearn nostalgically for the day at the Dem convention when he grabbed Tipper and licked her tonsils. At least he wasn't talking then. :>P
Reply 85 - Posted by: redfeather, 5/28/2004 12:24:51 AM
I hope someone does a split screen TV shot with Gore and Hitler both giving a speech. You will not believe the similarities between these two madmen.
Reply 86 - Posted by: Hays, 5/28/2004 12:32:29 AM
Someone posted a link to Al Gore and the Glowing Orb that fuels his rage...
http://home.att.net/~alanj.hall/AlGoreAndGlowingOrb.JPG
No one mentioned how similar he looks to Jeffrey Jones in the final scene from Howard the Duck... open side by side browsers, it is hilarious!
http://www.geocities.com/cecinid/overlord3.jpg
Reply 87 - Posted by: vespasian, 5/28/2004 1:02:44 AM
From the mind that created the internet - all that pent up frustration of always being right and the world not listening.
He's taking orders from his dog, get the padded room ready.
Reply 88 - Posted by: Hays, 5/28/2004 1:38:01 AM
Sorry about that last post, the link must not have had enough band width for LDotters...
http://www.badmovies.org/movies/howardduck/howardduck4.jpg
Reply 89 - Posted by: danu, 5/28/2004 1:43:39 AM
*Did this man ever spend one, sleepless night worrying about the security of this country? *
my thought exactly, #64.
The Prince of Dorkness earned his name after 8 years of using his powerful position for evil, rather than good.
He dumped the horrors of 11 Sept in Bush's lap--and America's lap--in a symbol of his contempt and disdain for us.
America rightly dumped him.
Now the Dork Prince is powerless and resentful.
Freud might say that al-Gorzeera's vindictive, wrathful, and vicious nature drives him to ''punish'' America for ''betraying'' him.
However, his need for vengeance only unhinges him.
Therefore, he is really ''punishing'' himself for ''betraying'' his Oath of Service to America and The Constitution.
*Would someone please explain to me #9's post? *
#26--it's an old joke, implying that this drug would only make Albot a bigger Dick Clarke Head
