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Post by Denise on May 26, 2004 16:30:05 GMT -5
Amazing speech, and all of it absolutely TRUE.
Despite the media trumpeting a plethora of 'heroes', there's only one real hero in American leadership today, and that's Al Gore.
I can't even begin to compare the thoughtful, decent, intelligent man we heard tonight to the dimwitted thug who has ground our country into dust in three and a half years.
Thank you, Mr. Gore. You speak for so many of us.
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Post by JamesAquila on May 26, 2004 16:32:10 GMT -5
ABC News has admitted that Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda were linked through top terrorist Ayman Aal-Zarqawi - and were so linked before the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. snip: In late 2002, officials say, Zarqawi began establishing sleeper cells in Baghdad and acquiring weapons from Iraqi intelligence officials. abcnews.go.com/sections/WNT/World/zarqawi_hunt_040525-1.htmlIt says no such thing. Just that he was in Baghdad and set up sleeper cells there. There were sleeper cells in Buffalo and may be more in many other US cities. Does that mean Bush is affiliated with Al Queda too? The intellectual dishonesty of the right never fails to amaze me.
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Post by MJL on May 26, 2004 16:37:39 GMT -5
I just saw a replay of the speech and I'm in tears. We must simply do our duty and take back this country. Al Gore, you were nothing short of heroic today.
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Post by pat on May 26, 2004 16:48:22 GMT -5
;)Thank you Mr. Gore! You said it so well and you're in a unique position to critique this administration. Please keep it up. We're a nation of people who don't know quite what to do. We know that things have gone horribly wrong, but even most of us who were your supporters in 2000 and were seriously upset about the prospect of a Bush presidency could not have conjured up what's happened to our country. 911 explains and excuses almost none of it. This administration callously used our pain and our desire to be united to destroy every good thing this country has stood for.
We need every voice to say the things you're saying. We need to elect John Kerry, but as you pointed out there are too many months between now and a new administration. And of course, we're not too sure that they're going to count the votes this time, either. Your eloquence is needed and you're doing a great service to your country by speaking so well for so many of us.
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Post by Christina Liss on May 26, 2004 16:56:15 GMT -5
Dear Mr. Gore: Thank you for your stirring, passionate, riveting speech today. I listened to the entire speech on Air America Radio. Randi Rhodes read it in its entirety.
It was very moving. We are so fortunate to have you as one of our leaders of this (still) great country. Listening to your speech made me all the more regretful for the heinous events of the 2000 Election.
Sincerely, Christina Liss Portland, Oregon
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Post by KSue on May 26, 2004 16:57:35 GMT -5
Today, Al Gore delivered a courageous, clear and articulate plea to the nation. We all need to make sure that his message is circulated far and wide. Thank you Mr, Gore - you are a true patriot.
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Post by Correction on May 26, 2004 17:02:44 GMT -5
In spirit it is fitting and in context 'tis no misnomer, none the less...
The quote of a soldier who from Abu Gharib of ..."a groan man..." should actually be spelled GROWN.
UNLESS in some strange way the actual terminology between soldiers to describe a prisoner as a 'GROAN man' is used to reinforce the behavior model and psychological terror/trauma oversight these soldiers made themselves part of. Make him groan from the treatment recieved, perhaps this is fitting irony. There needs to be a full disclosure of the context that was in, was the phrase used many times there and the second connotation would be that to divide the treatment of grown men from that of youth detained there. Groan(grown) man as opposed to his teenage family or children? The entire statement is even more so damning if these valid questions or conclusions are supported by facts.
Good soldiers can follow orders, but to smile as part of this affirms they had no misgivings about their deeds and are thus complicit in any and all possible war crimes aspects as sins of commission.
Thanks again for this site....Mr.Gore should have used this fire intially in campaign and avoided Lie-berman. Regardless at the time there was no topic to merit this anger in the discourse of the Presidential race. Your strong words are encouraged and you as a former soldier have given valid criticism again thanks.
Clark Twain
PS- Kerry On!
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Post by M Brian on May 26, 2004 17:26:34 GMT -5
President Gore is to be congratulated for standing up and calling this administration the criminals that they are. Our country is in dire need of a true leader like Al Gore to lead us in trying to undo all the purposeful damage this regime has done to our country.
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Post by Ron Dayton on May 26, 2004 17:33:00 GMT -5
WTG AL!!! One of the best if not THE best speech I've heard in awhile! Thank you so much for standing up for our great country and telling the truth the way it has needed to be told for some time now. I think you hit the nail on the head on many many points and I agree with you 100% on them all. In the words of the imortal Gomer Pyle...thank ye ,thank ye ,thank ye . Keep on fighting the good fight! Ron Dayton USAFSS Misawa, Japan '71-'75
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Post by GSC Admin on May 26, 2004 17:50:23 GMT -5
New Article: www.nytimes.com/2004/05/27/politics/27gore.html?ex=1086235200&en=773b6aeae1829507&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLECiting a 'Shamed America,' Gore Calls for Rumsfeld, Rice, Tenet and 3 Others to Resign By JAMES BARRON Published: May 27, 2004 Declaring that the Bush administration "shamed America" with its policy on Iraq, former Vice President Al Gore yesterday called for the resignations of six high-ranking officials, including the secretary of defense, Donald H. Rumsfeld; the director of central intelligence, George J. Tenet; and the national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice. In an hourlong speech to 900 people at New York University that was interrupted by applause more than a dozen times, Mr. Gore also accused President Bush of "utter incompetence" on Iraq, adding that the president had "made the world a far more dangerous place and dramatically increased the threat of terrorism against the United States." Mr. Gore's appearance, which was sponsored by New York University College Democrats, a student organization, and MoveOn.org PAC, an offshoot of an online organization that has run advertisements criticizing the president and his administration, amounted to a broad-gauge attack on the man who defeated Mr. Gore in 2000. "The president convinced a majority of the country that Saddam Hussein was responsible for attacking us on Sept. 11, when in truth he had nothing whatsoever to do with it," Mr. Gore said. "The president convinced the country with a mixture of documents that turned out to be forged and blatantly false assertions that Saddam was in league with Al Qaeda." Mr. Gore said that the three cabinet-level officials and three of Mr. Rumsfeld's top civilian deputies - the deputy defense secretary, Paul D. Wolfowitz; Douglas J. Feith, the under secretary for policy; and Stephen A. Cambone, the under secretary for intelligence - should step aside because of "the catastrophe we are facing in Iraq." "We desperately need a national security team with at least minimal competence," Mr. Gore said, "because the current team is making things worse with each passing day." He accused the officials he singled out of "endangering the lives of our soldiers and sharply increasing the danger faced by American citizens everywhere in the world, including here at home." He faulted Mr. Rumsfeld for poor planning before the war, and failing to prevent lawlessness in Iraq since it began. "The nation is at risk every single day that Rumsfeld remains as secretary of defense," Mr. Gore said. "We need someone with good judgment and common sense." Mr. Gore said it was "especially painful" to suggest the resignation of Mr. Tenet, who served in the Clinton administration and whom Mr. Gore described as a personal friend. Still, he said, "I have regretfully concluded that it is important, extremely important, that our country have new leadership in the intelligence community." At the Central Intelligence Agency, a spokeswoman said the agency declined to comment. At the Pentagon, a spokesman for Mr. Rumsfeld said, "The secretary serves at the pleasure of the president, and I would encourage you to look at what the president has said about the secretary's performance over time." A spokesman for Mr. Feith, Maj. Paul Swiergosz, said, "All of those individuals serve at the pleasure of the president, and they will dutifully execute their duties until such time as their services are no longer required." A spokeswoman for Dr. Cambone said that Major Swiergosz's comment applied to Dr. Cambone. Ms. Rice's spokesman did not return a call seeking comment. A spokesman for the Republican National Committee issued a statement that noted that Mr. Gore was vice president at the time of the first bombing of the World Trade Center and the attacks on United States embassies in Africa and on the Navy destroyer Cole in Yemen. The spokesman, Jim Dyke, added, "Al Gore's attacks on the president today demonstrate that he either does not understand the threat of global terror, or he has amnesia." In the speech, Mr. Gore said that soldiers sent to Iraq "were clearly forced to wade into a moral cesspool designed by the Bush White House." He also said that the scandal over abuse of Iraqi prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison was not the result of "a few twisted minds at the lowest ranks of our military enlisted personnel" but of what he described as the Bush administration's systematic disregard for the requirements of the Geneva Conventions. "What happened at that prison, it is now clear, is not the result of random acts of a few bad apples," he said. "It was the natural consequence of the Bush administration policy. 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 Sept. 11th."
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Post by MProffitt on May 26, 2004 17:52:30 GMT -5
Hello my friends - it's been a while since we have been called to this site, it's wonder the response you have gotten. I wrote this on the DNC site and it bears repeating here:
You know, again Al Gore makes one HELL of a powerful speech and the DNC site chooses again to make NO mention of it on the front of their site. I am very dissappointed to see no reference, no notice or even an acknowledgement.
This man should have been President!
Al Gore has given some very powerful speeches these last few years, and this one by far is the most powerful. He has said what has been needed to be said, what the Democrats should be saying but are too afraid to say. He will take the heat again from the republicans and their supporters and the Democrats themselves will issue statements like "it was a little over the top". It was by far NOT. It was a point by point statement of what America knows in her heart and some too partism to admit and face. He has said what John Kerry can not. Despite what Kerry now avoids, he agreed with the theory behind this War and voted for it. We all know that Mr. Scott Ritter personally wrote him and warned him that the information was unfounded, the defectors could not be trusted, and he still chose to vote for the War. His only arguement now is in the execution and planning of this war. It is a bitter pill to have to vote for Kerry but the choice left is far worse. Kerry will win this election only because Bush will lose it.
We are fighting for the very soul of this country, and our Democratic leaders should be joining together and acting like our leaders in saying what Kerry can not.
Each and everyone of us should join Al Gore and MoveOn.org in calling for heads to roll. I believe they are launching a drive to join forces and personally call upon the offices of our representatives to demand accountability and resignations from this Administration.
I know I'm gonna be slammed for this post later - I don't care. I have always thought Kerry a weak candidate and poor choice - and we could and should have done better.
I'm done - no more said. I will vote, I will volunteer, but again, its a bitter pill.
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Post by Mary B on May 26, 2004 17:56:36 GMT -5
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Post by TiredOfBeingTired on May 26, 2004 17:59:33 GMT -5
Thank you so much for saying exactly what's on ALL our minds, Democrat and Republican alike (though some may never admit it; fortunately they are fewer every day). This was the greatest speech I've heard this century, and it may well be one of the greatest speeches of the last 100 years. It was a beam of warm, brilliant light stabbing through three years of oppressive darkness.
Again, you have given me hope. You have given me satisfaction that there are still intelligent, dedicated, caring, Christian statesmen in this country who love America and all the ideals it was founded upon, and who will continue to fight valiantly to see those ideals preserved. And for that, I cannot thank you enough, my President.
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Post by Amanda Kato on May 26, 2004 18:25:28 GMT -5
President Gore, I appreciate all you have said to this Nation of depressed and hurting people. You spoke for millions of we George Baileys who are fighting daily the Potters of the world, as characters in "Its a Wonderful Life".
I am an activist and I put out a narration CD called Take it back at cafepress and you hit on many many things that I had expressed in that CD, which made me feel proud.
As the wife of a disabled combat VN vet, I pray my husband lives a long time but I especially pray nothing happens to him under this administration as I would send back any letter from this Commander in Chief and request a letter from you. I also want you to know that I appreciated attending the 2000 ADA 10th anniversary at the Naval Observatory with you, Senator Harkin, Jose Feliciano, Peter Yarrow, Johnathan Young, and enjoyed time spent with with your friend Bunny Burson. I was happy to sit in on a campaign meeting in the Ronald Reagan Building. I was thrilled to go to the Station and chat with Senator Harkin and I want you to know that some of the attention that I brought to the Access Board help pave the way via Elizabeth Stewart and Becky Ogle regarding Tennessee's access for the disabled. I am from Georgia and was helping vets in Nashville and I gave the Clinton/Gore Administration the praise for your quick attention to the complaints that I made when I was acceptd as one of the 25 winners of C-Span. 25th Anniversary. I miss the days that Johnathan Young would send us an invitation to be with the real fighters and defenders of the ADA. I miss sanity in this country. I miss true family values that I saw displayed with you and your wife Tipper on our visit. I hate the arrogance and bullying of the go it alone, frat boy tactics of a person who says that he loves America but clearly hates Americans, by putting We the People in Harms Way.
Thank you Vice President Gore. Thank you on behalf of my husband who served with the 101st Airborne. 70-71. Thank you on behalf of my diabetic daughter, and thank Tipper for all of her efforts with mental illness. My husband is 100 percent disabled due to trauma and suffering with PTSD that daily worsens as this war in Iraq is bringing on trauma for many of the veteran community.
Thank you for helping me become a founder of a small veterans organization (something you were not even aware of) and helping in your campaign, and working for a better tomorrow by helping get out the vote this time as well and registering voters and trying to be a good supporter for the democratic party and Senator Kerry.
Thank you for your service in Vietnam and thank you for having the courage to stand up for We the People. We are a great nation that has been disgraced and we must Take this Country back.
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Post by wiggs on May 26, 2004 19:26:03 GMT -5
What a speech! I don't think the title should be about Rice, Wolfowitz et al,.....it is about accountability and honor. This was a big picture speech that articulated very well, maybe for the first time, the discomfort, confusion, and sadness many Americans are feeling. It helped clarify several issues, which is rare in these days of deceipt, mis-direction, secrecy, finger-pointing, and buck-passing.
I say Moveon or others should pay for programming time on cable and networks to have this speech repeated. At the very least, groups should pay for publication of the transcript in newspapers across the country (but especially in battleground states). Even then, the transcript won't convey the utter, stark seriousness that the performance did. This was not a partisan speech but an airing of the serious, scary, big-picture reality we find ourselves in.
It is better than any commercial I've seen.
Bravo. More please
Wiggs
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