First: The Gore video is up at C-Span (look under Featured Programs). The speech is reaired on C-Span1 TV at 8pm ET.
Do you agree with Peter Daou?
GORE V. BUSH: If a tree falls in a forest… A former Vice-President of the United States delivers a major speech accusing George W. Bush of breaking the law. What do all three cable news nets cover under the “Breaking News” banner? An overturned tanker truck on a New York highway. THIS is the problem for the left. And as I’ve said a hundred times: if the Dem establishment doesn’t go after the media institutionally, things simply will not change. It’s astonishing to me that they haven’t gotten it yet. The only other option is for the progressive netroots to organize and fight the media on its own, an uphill struggle, to say the least…
(For those who missed our earlier coverage, please scan the page to find more stories, including live blogging.) We had some particularly GOOD ideas — and pleas — in the comments posted in “What Al Said.”
or….
the Second American Revolution
I think a real nationwide revolution in America is *a lot closer than most of us think.
To me it seems we passed the point of no return on this about 20 years ago.
So what effect does an overturned truck in New York have on Silly Con Valley traffic? Never heard of a 3000 mile backup…
It’s like the Missing White Woman of the Week stories — unless you know the woman, or are in an area where she might be seen, enough already…
guess we should give thanks, it was only an overturned truck. Without that event, they’d have dished up a re-run of the missing bride, her return and later, her wedding trip.
Getting our message out and heard? Yea, we do have a problem. It’s centered in the concentrated quadplex ownership of the channels.
The same thing happened during the ’04 primary campaign. Gore made a great speech – a real old-fashioned “stemwinder”. The crowd was chanting “Run Al, Run”. The media ignored it completely.
It’s patently obvious that the corporate media is definitely not on the side of “We the people”. The fact that the press got special protection, enshrined in the constitution, to serve the public interest responsibly and unfettered by government interference and undue influence, and that they now so conspicuously fail to live up to this charge is one of the most destructive elements involved in the annihilation of our democracy.
It is still basically being ignored. It gets a few throwaway lines and a few seconds of air time on everything I can find. It is being treated as ‘political’ and to ‘balance’ it they then say that the White House is calling it ‘sour grapes’.
Unbelievable. We can’t fix that problem–the MSM is like an old whore–sold their souls and self-esteem too long ago.
I just wish there was a way to get more ‘average’ Americans to turn to the net for news.
Yes we can fix them. Cancel your cable read the paper on line or at the library. Give them not one more penny and write them and tell them why.
Maybe if Tipper started crying on stage they could have gotten some air time. But she is to damm tough for that. Cry-babies are getting all the air time they can get.
Al Gore probably delivered one of the most important speeches of an era and it doesn’t get any airtime. I believe the MSM is still upset that it failed to question the Bush Whitehouse following 9/11 and hte lead up to Iraq. Maybe having reporters embedded..means more than its suppose to.
Maybe it is not the “corporate media” are not the whores for Bush, but Bush is the whore bought and sold for the corporate America that has taken over our country.
Supersoling get that big ass flag of yours. We are about to plan the fucking Revolution!!
Oh wow, scary thought. Someone’s pulling his strings.
question for the lawyers…. are there any laws against making an mp3 of the cspan audio and giving it to people who haven’t heard gore’s great speech today?
i’m sure i’m not the only person to have done this…
that comprehends realtime mass media. We’re nearly a century behind the times now in keeping the American system current with the world in which we operate it.
So for the most part the Constitution does not apply to mass media. They’re almost exclusively private property whose owners are protected from the people and society, where there is no commons for the people to exercise their physical rights in the information age.
We got some serious brainstorming to do, which still has barely even begun.
I still say class action lawsuits where it can be proven they engaged in fraudulent deceptive methods. Take any cable news network and their media/financial family. There will be documented evidence that propaganda has resulted in fraud somewhere along the line. Enron for instance, was such a slow motion disaster that it is likely some cases of publications/programs exist that urged the public to hold stocks while the information was passed behind the scenes that it was going down.
Take that out and apply it to legislation that was misrepresented to benefit the GOP, administration or corporate interests. Any case that shows deliberate manipulation can be made loud enough to get some attention, even if no suit is actually filed.
I do wish there was a way to have every person in America hear this great speech, especially on this day. The links to MLK and the wiretapping going on now were very “a propos”. I`m emailing it to everyone I can.
I’m going to do something I’ve not done before. I’m going to comment on the Gore speech without reading the comments others have made before me.
So if I repeat, please forgive.
Gooserock got the speech on c-span website so I could hear it.
I am so disgusted (strike that) disappointed (strike that) disheartened (strike that) let down and saddened by the presentation made by Al Gore!
He used theatrics that would have sounded at home on a Shakespearean stage. He spoke down to his audience. He spoke in run-on sentences that didn’t allow for audience response.
How could one man who is so bright, who is on the correct side, who thoroughly understands the problem and who has all the facts to back up his statement, speak so poorly.
I am infuriated that I was made to dislike a speech made by someone on MY side. Every thing he said was spot on, but was intolerable to listen to.
I have to think what it would have been like for Howard Dean to give that speech. He would have had the audience swinging from the rafters. Everyone would have been hoarse including himself. My hands would have been raw from clapping in my own livingroon and my own voice would have been hoarse from cheering.
How dare Al Gore (who I voted for) put my thoughts, hopes, desires, fears, concerns and desperation into such a farce of a presentation. He even spoiled the ending by using his “soft” voice to promise us it would all get better soon. Aaaaaarrrrrggghhhh!
Perhaps my ire would not be so high if I had not just heard portions of Martin Luther King’s Mountain Top speech and his Beyond Viet Nam speeches played on the radio. Now THERE was a speaker who also said all the right things, but you knew he BELIEVED them with all his heart.
Al Gore, how could you say all the right things in all the wrong ways???
We Dems don’t have spare podium time to spend on theatrics and waste of air time. Even though I KNOW you (Al) believe all that you said, you didn’t convince me of one word.
A reply to myself….
We’ve GOT to find a speaker with authority who can make an audience’s collective heart sing. Someone who can make everyone jump up and grab a pen and paper and start writing or a cell phone to start calling their reps and senators. Someone who can get the voters to go Democratic come this November.
This is the most critical time in the history of America.
Hell, let ME read his speech. I’ll bet $5.00 (I’m not a betting person) that I can get some cheers with it. The WORDS were awesome.
It sounds to me like the real complaint you have with Gore is that he has the brains but not the charisma that the media hacks and the rest of us bread chewing circus goers need to get off our backsides and do something.
Now that is an indictment…but I’m not sure who it is we should be indicting…
Boy I so disagree with Nez. Like maybe we didn’t watch the same speech?
the audience seemed to be digging it too.
I never saw it. It’s a shame too since I’ve always liked Gore (against my better judgement i might add… i usually dislike politicians on principle)
I respectfully disagree with your assessment of this speech. Dean, as much as I respect him and supported him in the primaries as well as in his current role, could not have made this speech. The sad reality is that there are no other Democrats out there with the cojones to speak like this…period.
Hillary’s sure as hell not going to show up for this fight; Feingold, maybe; Biden…not a fucking chance; Schweitzer, the Gov.of Montana…no experience nor credibility to tackle an issue of this magnitude…who would you suggest. Clark?…Ex- republican, Bush supporter in 2000 and blatant opportunist with no track record beyond the military…laughable. Oh yeah, almost forgot Kerry…not that I haven’t tried. Boxer? DiFi?
Help me out here…Pick one…anyone…
Who could have even written such scathing indictment of the root of the evil that is ruling this country, let alone had a venue and opportunity to express it?
The only one who comes to my mind is Senator Robert Byrd…and I would posit that he is in complete agreement…but he is, frankly, past his prime and cannot be the torch bearer for the undertaking that lies before us.
We are, without question, at the threshold of a major constitutional crisis here, and you want to attack the messenger for his oratorical style? Please spare me your outrage and wrath. This is not “sound bite” material. This is an impassioned plea from a man who has the credibility, experience, intellect, and yes, conscience, to make these charges and issue this call to arms.
If anyone should be excoriated it is the media and the people who hold the reins of power, be they in the majority or the minority that have acted as enablers in a codependent fashion, and the mis/ill-informed electorate that supported their policies. The self absorption and search for the center BS of the other Democratic players in this tragedy has proven to be grotesquely unsuited to good governance.
At least we agree that all the right things were finally said. But that is the only point of concurrence. Perhaps the only waste of time has been mine in responding.
Peace
Eloquent response, I’d say.
“Pick one…anyone” – dada:
I can’t. Sen Byrd is the only one that comes to mind. And he’s probably old enough not to have to be concerned with bullets, plain crashes, etc.
On the other hand, no one who has discussed Gore’s speech so far has mentioned the absolute fearless mentality that must be required.
It appears to me that no one yet has gone up against BushCo without some sacrifice, and in some cases considerable sacrifice.
imo: If an anti-BushCo movement ever starts to coalesce around one particular figure, then that figure will remain in grave peril for the foreseeable future.
David Rosenbaum was getting more vocal in speaking out against BushCo and after recently retiring from the NYTimes he was also in a position to do that.
You’ve got to wonder what he knew!
And just this morning I told an old friend that if I should suddenly be ensconced in HotelGuano she had better lead a “Dirty Dozen” crew to the rescue. She’s some 14 years my junior, but definitely capable of accomplishing… well, whatever, you name it.
that no one has gotten hold of Al Gore and turned him into a speaker yet.
He’s got everything necessary. Great voice, stature, good looks, clarity, brains, heart, knowledge and authority….a vice president for heaven’s sake.
Every other public speaker has a voice coach. Where is Al’s? Or if he has a coach, he needs a different one….one that better suits Al and what Al has to speak about.
Thank you all for your comments on my comments. I respect your right to disagree.
Remember, all we’re talking about is the form of presentation. As I said, Mr. Gore said all the right things. And he may be our only chance at having a leader with the above listed qualifications. But what I say about presentation is true. Our leader MUST reach all the people and show that he remembers he is one of the people as well. This is a very small alteration in presentation but it is critical IMHO.
One more thing I’d like to say… Thank you, Mr. Gore, for trying…for sticking your neck out there and speaking the truth and saying all the things that needed to be said. I just wish that the entire country will go back and listen again to what he is saying and believe it.
I find your comment strange, but I guess to each his own. Gore was not reading the speech, unlike 95 percent of the politicians we see these days. And he didn’t have a ghostwriter–you can bet he wrote it himself. It was genuinely learned. And it was genuinely passionate. It was genuine. The honesty and strength rang through every word. It was the exact opposite of a Bush speaking event.
I, for one, found his speaking STYLE, which you hated, to be quite beautiful to behold. And I don’t like Dean. To my mind Dean is much more melodramatic and shrill than Gore, with only a small fraction of the gravitas. It’s probably an age thing.
Wow, too many fish in this barrel!
In sum, great speech, but it’s not surprising that the impact is mainly on the pundits.
What surprised me, as a California resident, was that Feinstein was there.
Congratulations on being # 3000, and welcome to the pond.
Better to have Gore’s speech than none at all. I’ll be interested to see whether there’s any momentum from it that carries over to the D-wimps.
and leadership but it will go nowhere with voters, even if they could hear it. The man simply can. not. talk to ordinary human listeners.
I was pretty hard on Dean about this during his campaign even though I supported him enough to serve as a county delegate for him after he’d gone inactive. I said at the time he looked like a giant only because everyone around him was cowering. We desperately needed him at the time but there was no way he and his operation were ready to take on the national political machines, and he wasn’t yet competitive as a public speaker to connect with the masses across the country.
He’s gotten a lot better and he’s got time to get better still.
The question for today is whether Gore the man has any political clout. If not, then the speech’s only effect will be if the words gain any traction or turn any hearts among progressive elected or cultural leadership.
It’s definitely better that he gave it. The ideas needed airing.
As for Democratic leaders, no, we have very few who can talk. Hackett and radio host Schultz would eat almost any of them for lunch. And I say this with the experience (Puget4 also has this experience) in front of audiences of ordinary working class people and getting them on their feet and shouting.
Well…very gradually I am beginning to see your points, MR, and MS G/P4.
My wife and I are both college educated, die-hard Ds… so far at least. We both thought the speech was awesome. And didn’t see any big problem with the delivery.
I have a very good friend, goes back to childhood, life long union pipefitter. I think I’ll bring the tape I made off CSPAN over to him and see what he has to say.
One thing I’m wondering about is sound quality… as others have questioned. There was no problem with that on CSPAN, but the morning TV shows I watched were poor quality… by design? However, CNN excerpts last night on Larry King were fine.
I may have to try those damn links again on CSPAN to see what quality audio you guys were listening to.
More later… somewhere on the pond, eh?