NY Times on Gore speech

[LiberalEsto]

Times Headline:
Gore is sharply critical of Bush Policy on Surveillance

"By VIKAS BAJAJ
Published: January 16, 2006
Former Vice President Al Gore said today that recent revelations that the Bush administration monitored domestic telephone conversations without obtaining warrants "virtually compels the conclusion that the president of the United States has been breaking the law repeatedly and persistently." "

snip

"Mr. Gore, who since leaving the political stage in 2001 has recast himself as a professor, entrepreneur and venture capitalist, acknowledged that the threat posed by terrorists remains grave. But he suggested that the Bush administration and its supporters in Congress were being disingenuous in using the threat as a pretext to amass power for the executive branch."

snip

" "Is America in more danger now than when we faced worldwide fascism on the march - when our fathers fought and won two World Wars simultaneously?" he said. "It is simply an insult those who came before us and sacrificed so much on our behalf to imply that we have more to be fearful of than they." "

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/16/politics/16cnd-gore.html?oref=login (login required)

[peaches2003]

1. Need more like this

Wouldn't it be nice if the rest of the Democrats could speak the truth about Bush with such conviction and just tell it like it is, plain and simple, so that even the wackos would understand that Bush is destroying the Constitution and the country.

Do the rw wingnuts not see that Bush is about to take over our freedoms? And then what? They think he's just going to leave in 2008?

[connecticut yankee]

2. He'll probably

declare himself Emperor first. "To protect Amurrica."

[dsc]

3. recast himself as

I am so sick of this non sense that Gore is somehow fake. He didn't recast himself as anything. He did what many people who get fired unjustly do, found a new career.

[fishwax]

4. i agree. it's total b.s.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

5. Al Gore has no need to recast himself

Al Gore is legitimately a : soldier, statesman, scholar, author, patriot, orator. How many of these categories (or any categories) can Bush "recast" himself as? This subtle snipe is so indictative of the subserviant, cowed, idiotic press that tries to pass for journalism that we have nowadays. The idiot who wrote that is not qualified to pass Al Gore toilet paper under the stall!!

[gulliver]

6. The older meaning of recast is OK.

I don't know that the NYT meant to tweak Gore. Recast as in "recast the metal" has been around a long time and used metaphorically as the NYT uses it here. Most non-wonks probably take it the better way.

re·cast Audio pronunciation of "recast" ( P ) Pronunciation Key (r-kst)
tr.v. re·cast, re·cast·ing, re·casts

1. To mold again: recast a bell.
2. To set down or present (ideas, for example) in a new or different arrangement: recast a sentence.
3. To change the cast of (a theatrical production).

It's understandable to be sensitive about it. However, it looks to me like this speech is receiving authentic respect. I'm not seeing much that nauseates me so far. The mental disease that causes some of our fellow Americans to reject earnestness and honesty may be subsiding. A spoonful of courage from Gore and I feel better today.