It was quite an evening. June 7, 2006, the Hobby Center in downtown Houston was SOLD OUT. Ok, it holds ONLY 2600 people, but there was not an empty seat in the house. People forget that 40% of this city voted for Al in 2000 and that translates to around 300,000 votes.
The private reception before the slide presentation was very well done: a well-mannered line snaked in to meet Al and Tipper, who also was there, with hors d'oeuvres from the restaurant Artista which is located in the same building. I saw several people that I hadn't seen in quite awhile there, including three co-workers. I know there were more than a few oil company engineers in the crowd. The local Oil Patch Democrats are a large and growing group.
http://oilpatchdemocrats.blogspot.com/My wife got to Al first and shook his hand for what seemed like a long time. Al is very personable. Not stiff or cold at all, contrary to the constant media harping. When my wife told him we went to see the film in Dallas, he became very animated, grasped both her hands and wanted to hear what she thought about it. He held her hands all the while she gushed and gushed about the movie and about how she has been a longtime fan of his, easily for 30 seconds. I wish I had turned on my audio recorder, but I guess I was flustered. (I took a camera and took a couple of shots, which came out really crappy, dammit!)
When it was my turn, I told him that the whole nation suffered a horrible injustice in 2000, and somehow, we had to make it right. He gave that look of acknowledgement while shaking his head. I babbled on about how he needed to add the two of us to the long list of people hopeful that he would run for President in 2008 and restore some sense of justice to this country. All the while, he shook my hand, at least for another 30 seconds. A 30-second handshake might normally feel uncomfortable, but with Al, it just seemed comfortable and right. He stated the familiar, "Well, I don't plan on running, but I truly appreciate your sentiment." I might have been imagining it, but I swear he winked when he said that. I told him that this country was in a deep, dark hole and there didn't appear to be anyone who knew how to get out of it, except perhaps for Al. He granted that we are in trouble and said "bless you." At least, that's how I remember it. There was more but my heart was racing and there were a couple of hundred people in line behind me, so we had to move on.
I got to Tipper and I gave her one of my webcards, which is a card the size of a business card that lists five websites on it. The heading reads, "DON'T TRUST THE CORPORATE MEDIA! Try these websites instead." Included on this special card I made just for this occasion was the address for MediaMatters.org, Truthout.org, AirAmericaRadio.com, Bartcop.com and the web address for a Forum supporting Al that I frequent. I told Tipper about the Forum and she said she'd get Al to check it out. We'll see. I thanked her for standing by Al for so long and complimented her on her children and that Karenna's book seemed to be doing very well. She seemed to blush a bit and said I was very kind.
The glow lasted quite awhile. I gave out the rest of my 20 webcards to random people in the crowd that we happened to be near.
They chose Houston as the first stop on this book tour. We got an autographed, first-edition, right-off-the-press copy of the book as part of the "Patron" package. It's beautiful. Since we got two of them (one each), some family member or friend is going to get a very special gift soon.
He opened up with the rather familiar story about his and Tipper driving the rented Taurus, with no motorcade, in Tennessee and stopping at Shoney's. Judging from the raucous crowd response, a lot of those in attendance hadn't heard the story.
Tonight was his usual slide presentation, but updated (and combination book tour). We saw the movie in Dallas last weekend, and while the presentation covered a lot of ground that was in the movie, there was quite a bit of other material that was not in the movie. He went through the whole two hours without referencing one written note. Sure, he's given this slide presentation enough times to memorize everything, but he mentioned several things that had just happened. For instance, another round of Kyoto talks was just concluded this past Friday, with the U.S. trying to throw a monkey wrench into the process, again. He also referred to a new study (and had some slides) on coral reefs that has just been published that shows that, if CO2 emissions are left unchecked, all the coral reefs could be dead within about 25 years. The CO2, when immersed in water, forms carbolic acid, which eats thru coral reefs. There were a few other newer slides in the show too.
Al acknowledged the special place that Houston holds in the country. We are the capital of the oil and gas industry. We are the nerve center that put a man on the Moon. We are the CO2 capital of the nation. We are George Bush's backyard.
As usual, he opens with those special photos of Earth taken from space on trips to the Moon. They are truly awesome. Al called us to our better natures tonight, something I just can't imagine Chimpy McFratRat ever doing.
The guy is so engaging and impressive. Several times during the presentation, I got shivers thinking about how thorough and concrete this information was, how serious this threat is, but then remembering that we have a pathetic anti-science, anti-intellectual cabal running this country. Towards the end of the talk, he started to get really passionate and animated about how this country can SURELY rise to the occasion and accomplish incredible things, because we've done it before - like founding this nation, abolishing slavery, giving women the right to vote, eradicating diseases - and we can solve this crisis, and the crowd erupted in cheers (it suddenly felt like a campaign rally) but at the end I felt real anger and bitterness about how Bush seems to be about the opposite of Gore in every respect. Here Gore is highlighting the obvious, scientific problem, actually giving real hope that we can overcome this, but then I remember Bush and my mood just crashes back into reality.
Definitely go see the movie, and if you have the chance, see his presentation in person. They say that repetition is the key to learning, and while I doubt that anyone here needs persuading that global warming is real, as much exposure to the concepts as possible will help in the solution. And then I remember again, Bush and his criminal brother Jeb say they won't see the movie, or read the book. God, they make me want to just ...... &!$%!(*!
The moderator, Randall Morton, founder of the Houston Progressive Forum (
http://progressiveforumhouston.org/ ) read a few questions from the crowd afterward and Gore displayed his usual thoughtful style in answering. (Another contrast to the simple-minded, good 'ol boy A-Hole Bush.)
Yes, there was one question that approached the idea of Gore running for President, which elicited several yells of "Run, Al!" and "The country NEEDS you!" and "Please, run, Al," but he gave the standard answer that he has no plans of running, but thank you very much. It's not a total denial, not that "Shermanesque" statement by any means, but in person, it actually left me with a feeling that he truly is not going to run, which saddened me.
It was a magical, frustrating, hopeful, sad, energetic, inspiring and bitter experience, and I'd do it again in a heartbeat.
Peace to all.
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