you know who I feel sorry for? Al Gore. MY GOD!

[PretzelWarrior]

if anyone should feel bitter and beyond hope regarding our election process it should be him. I mean, he is out there fighting the fight...(I'm watching C-span w/ him speaking at Move-on function), but he seems so different now. He seems so much older and saddened.

I actually feel much more sorry for him than John Kerry. Kerry is doing what Kerry has been doing for years. He doesn't seem to be leading from the senate even though he is there with the clout, name recognition, etc.

When I think of people in leadership of DEMS the ones I respect the most right now are Al Gore and Howard Dean. More power to them.

CLinton, Kerry, and others should just decide right now to help bring order and balance back to the federal government and political process or just openly admit they aren't really intrested in that and BACK AWAY.

I only want to see true fighters in the ranks now.

[KC21304]

1. Kerry, Clinton, Dean and Gore have spent their entire

lives in service to their country. I don't think any of us should tell any of them they should back away.

[JI7]

2. what a bunch of crap

Kerry IS fighting in the Senate. do you ever watch the hearings or his speeches on the Senate floor ? and he is going around the country to promote health care for kids and speaking out against Bush's SS plan.

[saracat]

3. Not leading from the Senate? Have you been watching?

He is the ONLY one consistently "leading". Just look at his recent accomplishments! Who was leading the fight for military benefits? Who led the Anwar fight? Who put out his own money to protest Bolton? Who is leading on child heath care? Kennedy, Durbin, and Boxer are great as well, but Kerry has certainly taken the lead. Thank God for Kerry. I don't want to think where we would be without him. He confirms every day what a wonderful President he would have been. He is the one of only true liberals in the Senate and is emerging as its real leader!

[PretzelWarrior]

4. then I plead lack of data. I'll take your word for it..

but it seems he could get away with having a huge press conference announced and would GET AN AUDIENCE. He as a political rock star needs to use his clout to send the message out to the public--not just the senate and C-span viewers.

[saracat]

5. He HAS had press conferences. They just don't cover him. Sort of like the

election. The only media that covers him is C-SPAN, and that is only sometimes. The same thing with Edwards. Edwards gave a major speech in my town and there was NO media except for me and I am partisan. BTW, it was a non partisan event. Newt was there the next day, to a much sparser attendance I might add, and the media was out in force. That is just the way it is. We need to somehow do something about the media! You will notice Dean isn't getting any coverage either. Not like Macauliffe did. They just aren't covering us.

[PretzelWarrior]

8. then I see no significant hope for us. remember in REVOLUTIONS

the students always take over the state-controlled TV stations because they know this is how you broadcast the truth.

There are just too many "Bagdhad Bob"s in the media these days. Isn't it interesting that a lot of the old warhorses--the real journalists are being forced out or retiring to make way for all the company guys? Plastic, shallow, and completely cowardly.

[emulatorloo]

7. Sorry, they don't show Dems on TV - except on CSPAN; Now READ THIS SPEECH

Kerry and others have had press conferences, they arent covered.

Now -- a great Kerry Speech you missed - I am sure he won't mind me pasting the whole thing.

http://kerry.senate.gov/v3/cfm/record.cfm?id=236759

04/21/2005


John Kerry on Republican Congressional Leadership's Failure To Focus on Real Priorities of the American People

Below are the remarks of Senator John Kerry on the Senate floor this afternoon.



Senator John Kerry Washington's Broken: The Nuclear Option April 21, 2005 Remarks As Prepared for Delivery Senate Floor

Mr. President, the Republican “nuclear option” has been discussed endlessly on editorial pages, talk radio, and in this chamber. This ongoing debate is about much more than Senate procedure. At its core it’s a debate about where we’re headed and what kind of nation we want to become. And beneath it are questions about Washington, which seems headed in a direction that clashes with the will of the American people.

The fact we even are talking about this issue is a stark reminder that Washington is not fighting for the broad interests of the American people. From the outside looking in, our Democracy appears broken - endangered by one party rule intent on amassing power, often at the expense of real work the American people elected us to do.

In recent weeks alone we have witnessed as disturbing a course of events as I have ever seen in this city. Republican leaders of Congress are crossing lines that should never be crossed:

The line that says a leader in the House of Representatives should never carelessly threaten or intimidate federal judges. The line that says the leader of the Senate should never accuse those who disagree with his political tactics of waging a war against people of faith. The line that says respect for core constitutional principles should never be undermined by a political party’s quest for power. Most important of all, the line that says a political party’s leaders should never let their thirst for power overshadow the needs and interests of those who elected them - the American people.

It’s almost hard to believe that in a Congress where leaders of both parties once worked together to find common ground despite ideological differences, we face this moment at all.

Yesterday, when Jim Jeffords announced his retirement, I remembered a very different Washington that Jim’s words captured so eloquently almost four years ago. He spoke of a political tradition where leaders represented their states first. “They spoke their minds,” he said, “often to the dismay of their party leaders…and did their best to guide this city in the direction of our fundamental principles.”

My distinguished colleague, Senator Voinovich, had the courage to respect that tradition earlier this week, but such acts of courage, sadly, are increasingly rare. And I want to talk about this for just a minute. Senator Voinovich is being vilified on talk radio and the Internet for having the audacity to say he wanted more time and more testimony. Senator Voinovich did not say he planned to vote against the president’s nominee; he just said he wants to make an informed decision on a matter of great importance. That doesn’t seem so controversial, but my distinguished colleague, Senator Chafee said he had never seen such an act as Senator Voinovich’s in his four years in Washington.

Before the era of C-SPAN and 24-hour news and the World Wide Web, Senators showed courage and independence all the time. Senators did not think twice about acting on their conscience ahead of partisanship. Today, Senator Voinovich is subjected to widespread denigration in partisan circles, when Americans should really admire and respect his independence.

Open your eyes and look at what’s happening right now in Congress and you're quickly reminded that the people who run Washington have lost touch with the mainstream values and priorities of the American people.

What does it tell you when an embattled House Majority Leader is willing to go on talk radio and attack a Supreme Court Justice, let alone one appointed by Ronald Reagan and confirmed by a nearly unanimous Senate? A justice who ruled in favor of President Bush in Bush v. Gore. Ronald Reagan’s nominee to the highest court in the land can’t even escape Tom DeLay’s partisan assaults, and yet here on the floor of the Senate there’s no outcry - no moderating Republican voice willing to say this shocking attack has no place in our democracy.

I guess none of this should be a surprise - not after we learned what the Majority leader has planned this Sunday. The Majority Leader plans to headline a religious service devoted to defeating, I quote, a “filibuster against people of faith.” When the Leader of the Senate questions the faith of any Senator who opposes his procedural changes to Senate, he goes beyond endangering rules that protect the cherished rights of the minority in our democracy.

Make no mistake: this may be an isolated issue, but the rights of the minority are fundamental to our democracy, and diluting those rights would be a threat to our democracy.

Mr. President, forces outside the mainstream now seem to effortlessly push Republican leaders toward conduct the American people don't want from their elected leaders: Abusing power. Inserting the government into our private lives. Injecting religion into debates about public policy. Jumping through hoops to ingratiate themselves to their party’s base, while step by step, day by day, real problems that keep American families up at night fall by the wayside here in Washington.

Congress, Washington, and our democracy itself are being tested. We each have to ask ourselves, will we let this continue?

Will Republicans in the House continue spending the people’s time defending Tom DeLay, or will they get back to defending America? Will Republican Senators let their silence endorse Senator Frist’s appeal to religious division, or will they put principle ahead of partisanship, refuse to follow him across that line, and instead heal the wounds of this institution and begin addressing the countless challenges facing our nation?

It’s time to come together to fulfill our fundamental obligations to our soldiers and military families, who have sacrificed so much. It’s time to bring down gas prices and reduce our dependence on foreign oil. It’s time to find the common ground to cover the 11 million children in this country living without health insurance.

Are we really willing to allow Washington to become a place where they can rewrite the ethics rules to protect Tom DeLay - and then sell out the ethics of the American people by refusing to rewrite the law to provide health care to every child in America?

Are we really willing to allow the Senate to fall in line with the Majority Leader when he invokes faith to rewrite Senate rules to put substandard, extremist judges on the bench?

It’s not up to any one of us to tell another colleague what to believe as a matter of faith.

But I can tell you what I believe: When tens of thousands of innocent souls have perished in Darfur-when 11 million children are without health insurance-when our colossal debt subjects our economic future to the whims of Asian bankers-no one can tell me that faith demands this Senate spend its time arguing over a handful of judges. No one with those priorities can use my faith intimidate me.

It’s time we make it clear that we’re not willing to lay down and put this narrow, stubborn agenda ahead of our families, ahead of our Constitution, and ahead of our values.

The elected leadership in Washington owes the American people better than this. We must hold elected officials accountable and demand that Washington does the people’s business.

What’s at stake is far more than the loss of civility, or the sacrifice of bipartisanship. What’s at stake are our values as a country - like respecting the rights of the minority, separation of church and state, honesty and responsibility.

Every one of us knows there’s no crisis in confirming judicial nominations when over 90% of the president’s nominees have already been confirmed.

No, what’s at stake is something far greater - a struggle between a great political tradition in the United States that seeks common ground so we can do the common good - and a new ethic that, on any given issue, will use any means to justify the end of absolute victory over whatever and whoever stands in the way.

A new view that says if you don’t like the facts, just change them; if you can’t win playing by the rules, just rewrite them. A new view that says if you can’t win a debate on the strength of your argument, demonize your opponents. A new view that says it’s ok to ignore the overwhelming public interest as long as you can get away with it.

For what? For a so-called ‘nuclear option’ that seeks to put extreme, substandard judges on the federal bench against the will of the American people.

Why? Is it worth undermining our democracy on behalf of Priscilla Owens, who took contributions from Enron and Halliburton and ruled in their favor? Is it worth this distraction from the people’s business to confirm Charles Pickering, who fought against implementing the Voting Rights Act and manipulated the judicial system to reduce the sentence of a convicted cross-burner? Is it worth throwing out 200 years of Senate tradition to defend William Myers, Janice Rogers Brown and Bill Pryor, whom numerous members of the impartial American Bar Association deemed unqualified?

Mr. President, the fact that we even have to debate a nuclear option over these judges tells you this is all about one party rule and its quest for unchallenged power. It’s time to put Americans back in control of their own lives - and put Washington back on their side. It’s time get Washington under control, and that starts by restoring some accountability.

Accountability for all the false promises - like the failure to move toward energy independence. The truth is we’re more dependent on foreign oil than ever before, and Americans are suffering, paying $2.35 a gallon.

Accountability for breaking faith with military families, who unnecessarily struggle to pay the bills and deal with lost benefits when loved ones are called to duty.

Accountability for the fiscal insanity, for the record deficits, for the mounting debts that cede dangerous amount of control over America’s economic future to central bankers in Asia and oil cartels in the Middle East. That’s a debate we owe the American people.

Accountability for the 44 million Americans without health care, and middle class Americans one doctor’s bill away from bankruptcy, and especially the eleven million children - sons and daughters of working parents - without any health care at all.

That’s what the American people are willing to see Washington debate with passion. People are tired of politicians passionately seeking power and not much else. Americans sent us here to struggle with important questions - like how we make our great country stronger, or how we bring Americans together around our shared values without driving Americans farther apart.

We continue to witness a sad decline in the quality of our debate and a coarsening of dialogue in American politics. It’s not what our Founding Fathers envisioned, but, worse than that, it’s not what the American people expect of their leaders. We need to change it. We must at long last begin restoring what the American people want and haven’t had for far too long - a Washington that works for them.

[globalvillage]

15. Almost every day.

And some days twice.

04/28/2005 Kerry, Lautenberg Introduce Legislation to Stop Taxpayer-Funded Fake News Hearing on Bill Set for Early May
04/27/2005 John Kerry: White House, Congress Should “Go Back to the Drawing Board” on Energy Plan
04/25/2005 John Kerry to Address America’s Dangerous Dependence on Saudi Oil
04/21/2005 John Kerry on Republican Congressional Leadership's Failure To Focus on Real Priorities of the American People
04/21/2005 John Kerry to Address Republican Congressional Leadership's Failure to Focus On Real Priorities of the American People
04/20/2005 John Kerry on Retirement of Senator Jim Jeffords
04/20/2005 John Kerry: It’s Time for President Bush to Address Gas Prices, Dependence on Foreign Oil
04/19/2005 Senator John Kerry spoke this afternoon at a Senate hearing on toxic mercury pollution. The Merrimack Valley is one of nine mercury 'hotspots,' or areas with elevated mercury levels, in New England. The Senate Democratic Policy Committee held the hearing on mercury in response to repeated denials of Republican-led committees to hold hearings on the matter.
04/19/2005 John Kerry at Senate Hearing on Toxic Mercury Pollution
04/19/2005 John Kerry Fights to Halt Devastating Transit Cuts to Massachusetts Projects
04/19/2005 Statement from Senator John Kerry on Pope Benedict XVI
04/18/2005 Senate OKs death benefit boost for families of active-duty troops
04/14/2005 Channel 5 in Boston Reports on John Kerry's Victory for Military Families
04/14/2005 Kerry, Lautenberg Secure Hearing and Mark-Up on Fake News
04/14/2005 Senators John Kerry and Frank Lautenberg Say Taxpayer-funded “News” Abused by Administration Should Have Disclaimer
04/13/2005 Kerry pushes military initiative
04/13/2005 Senator Kerry Takes Military Story to the Senate
04/13/2005 Senate Passes Two John Kerry Amendments for Troops
04/12/2005 John Kerry Fights to Add Troop Benefits to Supplemental
04/11/2005 Statement by John Kerry on John Bolton’s Nomination as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations
04/07/2005 Kerry: Publicize benefit for vets
04/02/2005 Statement from Sen. John Kerry on the Passing of Pope John Paul II
03/30/2005 Bush's Budget Assaults Our Values, by John Kerry
03/30/2005
03/29/2005 Budgeting our values, by John Kerry
03/29/2005 Leading health care, children's and labor organizations support KidsFirst
03/27/2005 Dishonest' Bush budget ignores needs of the nation, by John Kerry
03/26/2005 Budgeting our values, by John Kerry
03/25/2005 Bush’s latest budget plan is assault on country’s values, by John Kerry
03/24/2005 Leahy, Jeffords, Boxer and Kerry
03/22/2005 John Kerry on EPA Hiding Harvard Scientific Data on Health Effects of Mercury
03/17/2005 John Kerry Statement on Senate Action to Save Medicaid from Drastic Cuts
03/17/2005 John Kerry Says Washington Budget is Out of Touch With American Values
03/17/2005 Statement by John Kerry on Senate Action to Save Medicaid from Drastic Cuts
03/17/2005 Senate Passes Landrieu-Kerry Reserve Fund For Reservists and Small Businesses
03/16/2005 John Kerry will make a major speech on America's budget priorities on Thursday, March 17, to the Center for National Policy
03/16/2005 Statement by John Kerry on Paul Wolfowitz’s Nomination to be President of the World Bank
03/16/2005 LAWMAKERS ANNOUNCE NEW FUNDS FOR YOUTHBUILD PROGRAMS IN MASSACHUSETTS
03/16/2005 Senate Opens Arctic Refuge to Drilling
03/15/2005 John Kerry on New Mercury Rules:
03/15/2005 Senators John Kerry and Maria Cantwell Team Up to Fight Drilling for Oil in Arctic Refuge
03/14/2005 Kerry, Cantwell Fight Arctic Drilling
03/11/2005 Statement of the National Association of Public Hospitals and Health Systems in Support of the “Kids Come First Act of 2005” (S. 114)
03/11/2005 Statement from Edward J. McElroy, President, American Federation of Teachers, Supporting “Kids First Act of 2005”
03/11/2005 “Kids Come First Act” Addresses Medicaid Challenges Facing Children
03/11/2005 Vote Kids Lends Support to Kids First Bill:
03/11/2005 March of Dimes Supports “Kids Come First Act of 2005”
03/09/2005 John Kerry Announces Half-Million ‘Citizen Cosponsors’ Of KidsFirst Health Care Plan
03/09/2005 John Kerry grassroots press conference
03/09/2005 John Kerry on Bush's Energy Plan: "Americans Deserve Better"
03/08/2005 Kerry Organizes Grassroots Coalition Behind KidsFirst Act, Calls for Senate Action
03/08/2005 John Kerry on President Clinton
03/07/2005 Statement by John Kerry on John Bolton's Nomination to be Ambassador to the United Nations
03/03/2005 Kerry, Bipartisan Coalition Win 11th Hour Push to Save Boston Teacher from Deportation
03/02/2005 Jackie Robinson to Receive Congressional Gold Medal
03/02/2005 Jackie Robinson Receives Congressional Gold Medal For His Civil Rights Work
02/24/2005 John Kerry on U.S.-Russia Nuclear Agreement
02/17/2005 John Kerry Calls for Election Reform
02/16/2005 John Kerry on Climate Change:
02/15/2005 John Kerry: Military Families Must be Part of Supplemental
02/14/2005 John Kerry Says America Must Stand By Our Military
02/11/2005 Senator John Kerry to Discuss Strengthening America's Military at Annual Worcester Telegram & Gazette Visions Ceremony
02/09/2005 John Kerry on Medicare Costs Estimates and the Health Care Crisis in America
02/09/2005 Remarks by Senator John Kerry on Climate Change
02/08/2005 John Kerry to Address Climate Change at The Brookings
02/07/2005 Statement by John Kerry on the President’s Budget
02/03/2005 Statement by John Kerry on the Nomination of Alberto Gonzales for Attorney General
02/03/2005 Statement by John Kerry on Social Security
02/02/2005 Statement by John Kerry on State of the Union Address
01/31/2005 Statement by John Kerry on the President’s Budget
01/27/2005 Remarks by Senator John Kerry on Kids First to Families USA
01/27/2005 John Kerry Rallies Families USA to Fight for "Kids First"
01/27/2005 Senator John Kerry "Kids First"
01/26/2005 John Kerry’s “Kids Come First” Act
01/21/2005 THE ARCTIC NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE
01/19/2005 Senator John Kerry Opposes Nomination Of Dr. Condoleezza Rice for Secretary of State
01/16/2005 Senator John Kerry Statement on Martin Luther King, Jr.
01/16/2005 Statement of Senator John Kerry
01/16/2005 Statement of Senator John Kerry
01/14/2005 STANDING BY OUR TROOPS AND MILITARY FAMILIES
01/06/2005 Statement by Senator Kerry on the Nomination of Alberto Gonzales for Attorney General
01/05/2005 Senator Kerry Statement on the Congressional Certification of Electoral College Results

edit link http://kerry.senate.gov/v3/cfm/press-statement.cfm

[saracat]

17. Thank You. Great list!

[globalvillage]

21. No, thank you!

I forgot to add the link.
:blush:

[FreedomAngel82]

19. Great list!

He's been a busy bee. I'm glad Kerry is there fighting for us. I just wish he was president now. In some ways it's sorta good because 1) In a republican controlled government he probably wouldn't get anything done that he'd want 2) Hopefully we can get the bastards for 9/11 and everything else they've done to us.

[patricia92243]

6. I'd like to see Gore get back into government. Maybe the governor of a

state.

I don't know if his home state would support him though.

He could move to one of the "battle-ground" states and give it a try.

He might win, now that everybody wishes they had his "lockbox."

It would really help our party, and help give justice to a person who really and truly deserves it.

[FreedomAngel82]

20. Gore could have a chance

Tennessee right now has a democratic governor Mr. Phil Bredesen. It's very possible. How great it would be to have Governor Gore. ;)

[politicasista]

22. As a Tennessean, I say why not?

I like Gore too. He is funny when he's fiery. Like Kerry, he should have been allowed to be himself during the campaign.

[kentuck]

9. Did Gore support Dean in last election ?

That says a lot.

[cprise]

10. Yeah, all those lucrative consulting jobs and the lecture circuit

... there for him whenever he wants to open his piehole.

And last I checked, people aren't supposed to run for president for their own sake. Yet he is the one who has the money and will go down in history. He should feel sorry for us.

[PretzelWarrior]

11. listen, my point isn't that HE PERSONALLY was denied...

it is that when we are all decrying "WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN" we don't even imagine the half of it. He can feel legitimately like he was unjustly kept from the white house and on top of that sit in a virtually powerless position watching Bush and the animalistic unethical types rewrite the laws to their advantage and see how avoidable it all was.

Yes, he could make money. He could have made plenty of money long before he ever ran for president. You're pretty cynical if you think it's all about the checks he can cash.

[cprise]

12. Look at it from the perspective of our collective loss

...his personal loss doesn't amount to a hill of beans.

I have no sympathy. He could have done far more, like not be so completely lame in court for starters. He and every Senate Democrat went completely AWOL from protecting the Constitution after they did their campaign song and dance.

[Adelante]

16. Undeniably true

Boxer wanted to fight and Gore asked her not to, but overall, it is a great shame and a great stain on the Democratic Party that the Senate denied justice to the voters. You are right.

[Wizard777]

13. Older, bolder, and wiser

Since mankind is inclined to suffering there is some sadness in that process. I liked Gore then and I like him even more now.

[politicasista]

14. Too much CNN and Faux for you?

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[FreedomAngel82]

18. I just adore Al Gore

He's brilliant! I saw that speech (most of it anyways) and it was great! The passion and fire he gave. He would've been a great president. I wish he'd run again.

[YvonneCa]

23. We should thank Vice-President Gore...

...for leading. After all he must have suffered in 2000, he is leading by speaking out during this difficult time for our country. Here is my thank you (sent through Move-On website):

Please express my greatest gratitude to Vice President Al Gore for his continuing leadership to our country. I just watched the replay of his most recent speech (on judicial nominations) on C-Span. He is to be commended for his strength, commitment to truth, and his patriotism! I have believed for a long time that we Democrats need our leaders to educate the public on issues of importance to our country...only then can we reclaim the power lost in 2000 and 2004. In every speech VP Gore has made through the Move-On organization, he is doing just this. The American people owe him our thanks.


(I saw John Kerry in Los Angeles yesterday...he's working hard in both the Senate (saving Social Security and the judicial nomination/filibuster situation) and in promoting "Kids First" across the country this week while the Senate is in recess. I can't believe how hard he is working! If Al Gore ran again, I'd sure support him! If it came down to choosing between Gore and Kerry, though, I'd have a tough time...I want BOTH!!! :patriot: