Al Gore, Kos Diarist?
Dave Price
He sounds ready to go:
Al Gore has made his sharpest attack yet on the George Bush presidency, describing the current US administration as "a renegade band of rightwing extremists".Someone give that man a keyboard! He's practically champing at the bit to become a digital brownshirt.
Did you know Al Gore invented Nazi comparisons? (Well, OK: technically, he didn't really invent them, but he took the initiative that led to the popularization of Nazi comparisons.)
1) Bush had three policy positions I utterly agree with, and,
2) I couldn't think of anything from Gore that I felt I believed strongly in.
It goes back to that "message" thing that did Kerry in I suppose. You have to have a clear message. It doesn't have to be perfect, but it does need to encapsulate what you hope you'll do with the awesome responsibility will entail.
1) I figured he and Bush were pretty much alike
2) I feel nerds are unfairly discriminated against in politics
3) Since Bush was more of an unknown, it was more likely that Bush would turn out to be the secretly unhinged one (Talk about a failed prediction!)
He never said "invent" he said create. And, in fact, he DID pretty much create the modern internet, at least in a legislative sense which is precisely how he meant it.
People like you are the same people who think Slate's Bushisms are witty (as volokh often points out, the people who think what Bush said was odd are themselves the ones that are confused), or that write "outburst" next to anything Howard Dean says. You are so eager to fit everything into the same bland script that you pay no attention to whether anything you say really makes sense or not.
I think I noted he didn't really INVENT it, but "took the initiaitive that led to its creation."
Anyway, it was a silly exaggeration to make during the election campaign, and he was rightly derided for it. The Internet was primarily a DARPA invention. Gore did help smooth the way, but exaggerated his role.
I don't like Gore anymore, even though, when he isn't practicing the above political tactic, he seems like a nice man, who wants what is best for America. I apologize for voting for him.
Yours,
Wince
FWIW though I agree that the way that the Administration has given high-profile appointee positions to cronies, been embroiled in scandal, and run roughshod over civil liberties, that I pretty much solidly agree with Gore's statement.
/flamesuit on
Well, the Administration has not "given high-profile appointee positions to cronies" or "run roughshod over civil liberties". That's hyperbole. The quality of their appointees has been generally high. Just like, for example, the Carter or Clinton Administrations, who brought in all kinds of folks from Georgia and Arkansas, and got derided for it. All Administrations have some poor appointees. Just like, again, the Carter or Clinton Administrations. Our civil liberties have undergone extremely modest and reasonable regulation, most of which codified and regularized existing practice, so that various jurisdictions now use the same rules, rather than a hodge-podge. And as for them being "embroiled in scandal", for some reason that also happens to all Administrations. That isn't a Bush trend. That's a Washington trend.
You know, a little further down the page you get mad at someone for smearing Gore. Someone made a Nazi reference. Well, I would have preferred a reference to, say, "Remember the Maine", which was also war-time propaganda. But, as a "digital brownshirt", I find Gore consistently inflammatory and derogative. You know, like Rush Limbaugh, only without the sense of humor. But Gore isn't a radio guy. Gore is touted as a statesman. Well, where's the statesmanlike behavior? Contrast with Bush. Bush is not inflammatory and derogative. And in that way, Bush is more of a statesman than Gore.
I like Bush better than Gore. I think Bush is a better man and a better leader, who also has a better and more thoughtful position on global warming. I not impressed by what I have seen of the quality of Gore's thought on the subject. He should do a Baynesian analysis first. That's elementary in a situation like this one. I'm sorry I voted for Gore.
Sorry. No flames here.
Yours,
Wince