Tuesday, June 13

Actually, I'm against a draft...

tipper


Tipper, it's really up to you.

See, I'm willing to link to the draft Al Gore page, certainly I'd vote for him this time around.

But Mr. Blue Gal is the kind of husband who never says no to any draft that comes his way outside the Blue Gal domicile. If Mr. Blue Gal got an email asking him to fly to Tahiti, (flight paid for, natch) to give some speech on ACLU or legal history of prostitution or William Kunstler or whatever, he would be on the next plane. Me and the three junior Blue Gals would just have to suck it up.

So I can just imagine Tipper's reaction that some blogospherians are collecting five dollars a piece in a Draft Al Gore movement. This so Chris Matthews can hypothesize about her marriage, by which he means her weight, every day for the next twenty-nine months. Yeah, her kids are no longer little like mine, but listen, if she wants to flip us off en masse, I would not blame her one bit.

Course, The General, who was kind enough to visit Blue Gal yesterday, has another plan:

Remember my plan: If we can force Gore to face the draft, he might do the honorable thing and, like Our Leader, Deputy Leader, and so many other great neocons, get a deferment, run to Canada, or join the National Guard and then go AWOL.


Slightly off topic but recommended: a couple good articles on "whither the democrats" in terms of policy, one from Eli, and one from Liberal Rapture.

16 comments:

  1. I wouldn't be averse to voting for Al in 2008, but only if he underwent a major image makeover.

    IMHO, Dubya crucified him in the debates. Gore came across as a know-it all, arrogant lightweight.

    He cannot afford to make the same mistakes. And he must come out strongly on more than just global warming.

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  2. I hate to sound like a heretic or something, but do we REALLY want Al Gore to run again? Do we REALLY want a re-run of the cardboard campaign he ran in 2000? Are we all really 1) that convinced that this time, things will that different, or 2) that somehow Al Gore has metamorphisized into something that's anything like the way he carried himself on SNL, or in his new movie? (It IS an edited MOVIE, after all.) Are we really that short of new, fresh ideas and the voices to carry them forth that we keep having to push retreads out into the spotlight?

    It's like a very old SNL skit, where Chevy Chase kept telling us that a deceased Soviet premier was "still dead." The Democrats just can't resist running the same old crew. Even Hillary doesn't represent much of a change (other than being female): she's just another moderate-to-conservative, pro-war, pro-corporate DLC Democrat, brought to you by Al From (sp?) and Paul Begala and that lot.

    Please DON'T draft Gore. If he wants to stay home with Tipper, let him. Then make him Secretary of the Interior.

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  3. I still find it ironic that 60 plus tears after WWII ended, a US President can be challenged on his military record. Can't remember last time European Country had a military leader PM or President.

    Oh yes, hold on its coming back to me. A chap called Hitler, and a couple of nobodies called Mussolini, Generalisimo Franco, and that chap from the french resistance whatshisname De Gaulle.

    Oh yes Thatcher did a photo op on top of a tank in Gulf War I, and Blair popped in to visit troops in Iraq, on his way to Aussie I think

    Did 1 see son of Bush in Iraq 2day? But did you mean draft Al as Presidential candidate. I still can't understand why he handed victory to Bush so meekly last time, when there was hardly a cats whisker between their total votes. Did he get a backhander from Republcans?

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  4. Blue Gal, there must be someone in America that can kick ass, and throw war long ball into the last century. Someone who can declare "we have and shall maintain total air superiority" "we will not go looking for tinpot dictators to demonise or countries to invade" We will pay for our Oil, we will provide the Best health service on earth, we will provide an education system the envy of nations. We shall bring real peace & true prosperity to this great Nation. And just to make sure Republicans cannot steal the punch line - "We shall make this place a better for All americans". Go Blue Gal Go. xoxoxo. Q

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  5. The thing is, *this* Al Gore knows the score. I don't think the 2000 Al Gore really understood the environment he was trying to operate in.

    As long as he remains Righteous Angry Gore, and not Earth Tones Focus Group Gore from 2000, I think he would be a kickass candidate. I do worry that he would revert to overcaution under the campaign microscope, but I can't think of too many alternatives he would not be better than.

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  6. Hi Eli, I think I had more hopes for him last time, he looked fresh, he looked a winner, then he just fizzled out before the end, and walked away from the count.

    ok so Berlusconni had to accept the inevitable and accept losing to the better man Prodi in italy.

    But Al Gore didn't lose to the better man, not better politically or intellectually.

    And this time, maybe I've just seen the Republican takes on him, but they've laid him out as a fattened calf for the slaughter, a tree hugger without conviction trying to jump on a no win environmental agenda. Americans from all sides, want to pay less not more for their oil. Only someone who can breath in, pull his pants up and tighten the buckle, and I mean literally not just metaphorically, he's added middle age inches to his waste, can look convincing. What is Al Gore's most convincing argument if any?

    (1) pulling troops out is a NO winner. Iraq is not a vietnam where nananineteen was the average age of over 100,000 body bags and you could smell the napalm even in the US

    (2) the economy? - where's he gonna go, people wanna pay less tax, those who have much because they wanna keep it all, and those who have little because they cannot give anymore

    (3) the environment - yeah yeah, but I still want my own space I still wanna drive my own car, and if I got a gaz guzzler and do lots a miles, two bucks a gallon is one dollar too many

    Go on Eli give me one winning issue Al is convincing on or can be convincing on, and run with that

    Otherwise give me a candidate that can start from scratch grab the bull by the horns and run with my previous comment.

    PS - This is just my humble opinion, but I'm in Blue Gal mode.

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  7. Actually, I don't blame Gore the slightest bit for not wishing to run in 2008. Remember, if a Dem (any Dem) takes the White House in '08, you can be sure of two things: (1). The GOP will viciously slander and attack him or her every single day for the next four years and (2). The MSM will snap out of its 8-year slumber and go to work dignifying and investigating any bullsh*t charges the GOP throws at the Dem in the White House.
    But I can hear you saying: "Yes, but Gore is squeaky clean!" or "The GOP has already had years to sift through Gore's dirty laundry."
    Doesn't matter.
    The Repugs will just make up new bullsh*t charges.
    I can't see how any sane person would seek the presidency as the Dem candidate.
    All of this is a moot point, though. The GOP Nazis will simply steal the election in '08, just as they did in '04 and 2000. Mark my words.
    ---Marc McDonald
    BeggarsCanBeChoosers.com
    http://www.beggarscanbechoosers.com

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  8. I don't think *any* of those issues are losers if presented properly.

    1) Get our troops out of the soul-killing meatgrinder.

    2) Stop funding tax cuts for the rich with benefit cuts for everyone else. The Medicare drug benefit is bullshit written to benefit Big Pharma. And stay the fuck away from Social Security already!

    3) Do you like hurricanes? Do you want the coasts to turn into Holland?


    But the issues are secondary to the presentation. The (largely mythological edge) that Bush had in the last two elections was authenticity (or, more accurately, authenticitiness): Like him or not, he said what he meant, goshdarnit.

    Angry Gore could do much the same if he just says "Fuck it all" and lets it all hang out like he did in his MLK Day (IIRC) speech. If he tells it like it is and never backs down, lives by the Paul Hackett mantra of "I said it, I meant it, I stand behind it", I think voters will respect and respond to that. And again, he understands very very well that the media is not his friend, and might even call them on it, which I think would be pretty beautiful (although admittedly a bit dangerous...).

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  9. Ooh Quasar, I'm lovin' yer Blue Gal mode. It's good to be a mode and a blog, kinda like being a floor wax and a dessert topping. Yum.

    Welcome to the party, Marc.

    P.S. Full disclosure time: 2000? Voted for Nader. Fine thing to do in Alabama, not exactly a swing state, kids.

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  10. I would also suggest that a former VP has more presidential credibility than, say, a Senator and/or a former First Lady. Governor or general, I'm not sure, might be a toss-up.

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  11. Eli, do not misunderstand me, I'm with ya on the policy, its gettin the message across with conviction that is needed. It is the REAL message:

    1) Get our troops out of the soul-killing meatgrinder.

    2) Stop funding tax cuts for the rich with benefit cuts for everyone else. The Medicare drug benefit is bullshit written to benefit Big Pharma. And stay the fuck away from Social Security already!

    3) Do you like hurricanes? Do you want the coasts to turn into Holland? - or New Orleans or South East Asia?

    I repeat I liked his look when he ran, but he wimped out last time. He looks less convincing to me, or maybe I've just seen too many Rep caricatures of him. He doesn't need to let it all hang out, he's already letting it all hang out over his belt buckle. He needs to tuck it in and add some back bone.

    It pees me off that people have had enough here after three terms of TBs thatcherism, oddly enough the only thing to replace him is with a what ... a conservative?

    BG honey - and I use that term knowing full well you are a feminist that understands it as a true term of endearment, I think of you as frapuccino with double cream caramel topping! too sweet for some, but I could sure drink you all day long. I guess I ought to leave some for your hubby. lol! Laters ... Q

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  12. Quasar--Al Gore would be the worst possible Democratic candidate for President in the 2008 election. His environmentalism is a sham--how many environmentalists own stock in such industries as oil, mining, and South American forestry? His pathetic and insincere attempts to identify himself as the Man Who Will Save the Planet are an embarrassment to all those who are truly concerned about the fate of the planet. Additionally, his rollover after the stolen election of 2000 was disgraceful. It allowed the criminals of the Bush gang to wrap a sheen of legitimacy around a publicly committed felony.

    Hillary Clinton is no progressive, to be sure--but neither is Al Gore. Like GW Bush, he is a scion of a multi-generational political family. He also attended Ivy League schools on the basis of his family connections rather than on the basis of any merit or talent. Gore's service in the US military (as a far-from-the-front journalist in the Vietnam War) was only slightly less cushy than GW Bush's time in the Texas Air National Guard, and his rise to prominence was predetermined. People who are from this type of background are hopelessly disconnected from the reality of everyday life in the US, and it is about time average Americans begin to realize this ugly truth.

    and for Kevin--how could ANYONE think that GW Bush won a debate about anything with anyone else? His shrill and panicked manner in both the '00 and '04 debates reminded me of nothing more than an agitated chimpanzee who has been kicked out of the mating line. Bush's physical presence was pathetic and defensive, and the feel-good platitudinal tripe that spewed from his mouth could have only fooled bigoted and undereducated white Christian Americans. Considering all that is wrong with America's political process and its bizarre national egomania, I think more than "image makeovers" for the same old crew of political flunkies and lifers are called for as solutions to these problems.

    If Gore wins the nomination, then there will be no further proof needed of the Democrats' collaboration in the overthrow of constitutional democracy in the US.

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  13. Oh Quasar honey, Mr. Blue Gal is a black unsweetened coffee man. Feminist Scheminist, I'd rather be a Frappucino. It's not that I don't approve of power in women, though. The only time I ever agreed with Maggie Thatcher was when she said, "Power is like being a lady... if you have to tell people you are, you aren't." No need to tell any of you the source of my power or my ladyhood.

    Aloysha and the rest of you I am not worried anymore about the future of America because of you. We underground radicals will eventually win out. That Bush has made it so necessary to be a radical, in that sense, is the sad part. xoxo

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  14. Well, at least we never have to worry about Nader finding out what charisma means. ;-D

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  15. quakerdave said, “Please DON'T draft Gore. If he wants to stay home with Tipper, let him. Then make him Secretary of the Interior.”
    Secretary of the INFERIOR, would be more like it. The jerk couldn’t even carry his home state last time, mainly because those closest to him know him.

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  16. Alyosha, I'm a Green Liberal Democrat (socialist+conservative). One cannot be all things to all people, but as a Democrat one has to accept + care for all people equally.

    The reality is that whilst Greens are making progress at local level in England, The US, and the rest of the EU, we really do not have any serious big guns or contenders for Presidential Office, or Prime Ministerial Office over here. What is more Lib Dems are taking the green issues on board, whilst Labour have to put workers & jobs first, and Conservatives still put profit and big business first.

    Incidentally someone like Al Gore joining the Greens would give the Greens more 'political' clout, but I agree Al Gore professing to be a tree hugger just isn't convincing.

    And Blue Gal, we only have one green with any real charisma in England, Carolina Lucas MEP. Without her the greens wouldn't even be where they are, the fourth largest party but with less than 10% of the national vote.

    In the US + EU, Democrats need to rally the liberal socialist green votes under one banner.

    VOTE FOR PEACE, VOTE FOR A BETTER ENVIRONMENT, VOTE FOR A BETTER (EU)AMERICA FOR ALL, NOT JUST Old Money

    Ye all have a nice day now! Q

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