Al Gore at MoveOn 4 comments

28 May 2004 @ 14:00, by Paul Quintanilla I kind of like Al Gore nowadays. And the speech he gave recently at MoveOn struck just the right note. "How dare they," he exclaimed, allow Abu Ghraib to happen. And all the rest. All the dirt which is immediately swept under the rug as soon as it appears. When Bush was elected president many of us knew we were in for an extremely corrupt presidency. And it wasn’t long before the felons began to appear in his administration: Elliot Abrams, John Poindexter, John Negroponte, [link] ,et al. Many of us knew things would be bad when Bush became president but he has far exceeded anything we expected. We knew he would be terrible, horrible, just awful, but he has been even worse. For those of us who hadn’t kept up on PNAC, or who ever even heard of it, such as myself, didn’t see what was in store for us and the world in the way of foreign policy. These past three years, I don’t believe, have been surpassed in my lifetime in sheer madness. Perhaps even in American history. And millions and millions of us are grasping now for a semblance of sanity. This was what I heard in Al Gore’s magnificent speech. The sane indignation we all, as Americans, should feel toward our administration. Yes, the Neocons have taken off the gloves. They openly rejoice in exerting American power. And believe that they have a right and responsibility to do so. They believe in war as an instrument of foreign policy. Democrats and Republicans have all engaged in RealPolitik and monstrous arrogant abuses of American power. But the Neocons have fully revealed the fangs of our darker side, in a most open and blatant manner. Would Al Gore and some other liberal Democrats reverse this trend? Or are they merely asking to put the gloves back on? To conceal our fangs once again? That is what many of us are asking about John Kerry’s approach to Iraq. Is he merely “Bush light,” or will he reveal the same hatred for war he displayed when he came back as a young man from Vietnam? Is the hope, the thought, of demilitarizing the United States at all possible? Lopping off two hundred billion, let’s say, from the defense budget? Do we need to be able to destroy three fourths of the solar system in order to guaranty our security? Wouldn’t having merely a huge deterrence, while simultaneously maintaining a military which is only three or four times larger than the next five largest militaries in the world, suffice? Do we need to spend four hundred billion dollars a year, off the top, to be able to sleep soundly at night? And, following Bush’s spectacular propaganda campaign, would it be possible to convince the American people that we don’t need to spend four hundred billion on defense? For we know that to suggest cutting that amount would raise a howl. Those who would like to live in partnership with the rest of the world, without arrogantly exerting American might, would be accused of irresponsibility, of weakening America’s defenses and selling out to terrorism. We would be reminded, as if we are simpletons, that we live in a dangerous world, and that we need an immense military to be secure, even if our infrastructure falls apart. If education and health are neglected. Yes, we would be derided and scorned as unrealistic. Would Kerry have the strength to face that? Nice people, those far right-wingers. I should think that being able to blow up the Earth ten or twelve times over would be sufficient enough, don’t you? I think I would rather give Al Gore the benefit of the doubt. Vice presidents, as a rule, tend to disappear, lose themselves. And even can become corrupt, as Hubert Humphrey did. (In our current case he, Cheney, already came corrupt.) No, if Gore were running again he might strike a different tune. The Bushies like to chastise us for being "angry," as if unreasonably so, and "Bush haters," as if irrationally so, confusing vehement criticism, which they deserve, for "hatred." They’re touchy folks, the far right, and see the revelation of unpleasant truths in the press and elsewhere as bias and hatred. Gore may have his faults, but his speeches to MoveOn have been magnificent, and a reminder that there are responsible politicians in this country who are fed up with Bush's escapades. "How dare he!.... " Gore exclaimed. Right on! Perhaps now that he’s out of it he can openly dare to speak the truth. Even the NY Times is singing a new tune. For an editorial on Gore’s recent speech go this [link]

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