If Gore doesn't run, I think I might know why

[garybeck]

I think he sees the writing on the wall.

On his way out the door, Bush is going to drop a few bombs on Iran, entering us in a war that the next president did not want, nor is prepared to deal with. Making a bad situation worse, a draft will be hard to avoid.

The economy is literally on the edge of complete collapse. In the last couple weeks, we've seen the some very troubling signs - oil hit $90 for the first time, gold hit $800 for the first time since 1980, the canadian dollar is now worth more than the US dollar for the first time since 1976, the housing market is already collapsing, the lending and banking industry is in trouble. the only thing left is the stock market and when that dumps, there's nothing left. We may see even higher forclosure rates, long lines at soup kitchens, and all kinds of economic problems.

Whoever the next president is, they will be preoccupied with trying to mitigate the myriad of horrific problems created by the Bush administration, with no simple solutions. And what's worse, I'm sure the media and the Republican party will do everything they can to shift all the blame from Bush to whoever it is.

Does Al Gore want or deserve that? No.

It *almost* makes me think we'd be just as well off with a Republican in office, so they can deal with the problems they created. Notice to flamers, I said *almost*.

I am one who has been hoping (praying) that Al jumps in. But I think considering how bad things could be in the next few years, I don't blame him for not wanting to clean up Bush's mess. And as we've all seen, Gore can accomplish a lot from outside politics. having said all that, I still hope he does jump in, but considering the situation I will be understanding if he doesn't.

[rainy]

1. Yea, he's just going to give up when we need him the most. I don't think so. nt

[garybeck]

4. I didn't say "give up."

I'm just saying that maybe he thinks he can deal with global warming and the issues he cares about more effectively when he's not preoccupied with a military draft (which would pit his democratic base AGAINST him) and an economic depression.

With those things going on, he might be a more effective leader on the outside looking in.

[Maccagirl]

2. I agree with you 100%

Think of the kind of leader it will take to clean up even a portion of the mess Bush has left. Gore and his family do not deserve any of that pain.

[EFerrari]

3. Sure, the Thuggery will leave as big a mess as possible.

We've already seen that in our Congress. Maybe that's SOP.

But, the Democrats stand to win big in 2008. The Republics' donations are down, their polling is crap, many of them are retiring ahead of the blowout.

If I were Al Gore, I wouldn't put myself or my family through that again, fwiw, although I'd love to see him run.

[garybeck]

7. even if the Dems do win big in 2008

it will be difficult to implement their plans, if they are preoccupied with yet another war that we can't afford. even though they won't have started it, they'll be left to deal with it. and then they'll take the blame too. so all these promises they're making to us now, may be put on the sideline if we're involved in a military conflict with Iran.

[EFerrari]

11. That's right. They have to be careful about over promising

as they did ahead of the last election because they don't know what the situation will be when they take office.

Having said that, the answer to their dilemna isn't to shake off their base as they seem to be doing now. As Pelosi did when she claimed I wasn't her constituent. That's a lose-lose strategy.

[kestrel91316]

5. I agree. Bush IS going to poison the well. Mark my words.

[tekisui]

10. Do you think chimpy will be fully and completely forthright about

intelligence gathered? Would he do all he could to protect the country under a Democratic president?

[kestrel91316]

13. Of course not. He would do everything he could to sabotage

a Democratic president.

Maybe it's me. I happen to think the man is evil incarnate. He showed his true self when he laughed about Karla Faye Tucker's pleas for mercy.
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=50994
"....The state-sponsored murder of Karla Faye Tucker in Texas, under then-Gov. Bush, has always haunted me. She, along with Christian supporters who had seen her jailhouse transformation, pleaded for her life. Then-Gov. Bush laughed about her statement, ''Please don't kill me.'' Sister Helen Prejeen, commenting on the night of Karla Faye Tucker's execution said about Gov. George Bush: ''A hammer, when presented with a nail, knows only one thing.'' We now know for sure a brain under the influence of alcohol has as little choice as that hammer. Karla Faye Tucker's brain had no choice or chance at the time of the murders, George W. Bush's brain did....."

[book_worm]

6. He won't run not because of all the problems he would inherit, but because he doesn't want to

and has other priorities he is working on.

[garybeck]

9. other priorities?

his priorities are clear. the question is whether he thinks he can accomplish them better from inside or outside political office. if you read his speeches, his priorities are clear.

[Az]

8. Its called the Poison Pill scenario

Whoever follows Bush, even if he doesn't drop the bombs on Iran, is going to have a horrid time on their hands. The economy is being propped up by wishes and dreams. The endless war is politically intractable. Basically whoever gets the nod is likely to be a single term president because popularity is going to plummet and the opposition is going to be able to eat the face off whoever is in the WH.

[OzarkDem]

17. Poppy left a mess for Clinton

besides a poor economy, high interest rates and recession, he also left him with Waco,the mess in Somalia and what appeared to be a mishandling of finances in the WH travel office and probably a dozen or more other poison pills I can't recall. I still think the last 3 were deliberate.

Clinton overcame it, along with all the political land mines Poppy left for him. It was brutal, but the Big Dog prevailed, overcame and led the country very well for 2 terms.

The Blivet is going to leave a much bigger mess. Whoever follows him can persevere also, but they're going to have to be really strong ignoring criticism and blame and focusing on moving their own agenda forward while cleaning up the old messes. That's another reason why I don't think any of our current crop of Congresscritters would make good presidents. They demonstrate every day that they don't have the courage and strength to fix problems and pursue their own agenda while ignoring the opposition (including the news media).

It can be done and done well, but it will take a special candidate to do it.

[KoKo]

12. I think what you say is what's weighing heavily on his mind.

I think he must be very torn about this... He will have tremendous help from good people if he decides to come in, though. The kind of people we won't see with the other candidates who are now leading. Are those "good folks' enough to stop the Titanic going down? That's the question... There's so much housecleaning that needs to be done to root the Bush Crime Family along with the "Young Doctrinaire Hilter Youth serving in every department that the task would be overwhelming.

I've thought what you saw in my darkest times these last weeks that maybe it would be better to let a Repug try to clean it up...but then i think of the "Hitler Youth" and the rest of the crowd that would be staying in the Government and i get shudders as to which is worse. living through another Bill/Hillary hate fest or living through the Neo-Con Bush Crime Family.

If Gore doesn't come in...I will vote for Kucinich in the primaries and probably write Gore in for the General Election because I'm so disgusted with all of it and there's not another candidate I feel i can trust to do the housecleaning and prosecutions that will be needed to restore our Constitution and faith in our Government. I don't even know if Gore could do it....but I would trust him not to need to be beholden to the lobbyists who are busily buying up the loyalty of the top candidates.

[Ganja Ninja]

14. Nothing would please me more than seeing a Republican ...

president get handed the mess that Bush is leaving and nothing would scare me more.
It actually might be better for us in the long run if it were to go to the GOP candidate. Frankly the GOP has been sinking into madness since the Vietnam days. Winning elections has only exacerbated the process. More pandering, more hair-brained schemes, less regard for the constitution and the good of the country. We're at the point now where it's kill or cure. If they have to deal with this giant ball of shit they've created they'll either have to come to their senses or crash and burn.

Maybe the next election will surprise me and they will already have crashed and burned. That would be best for the country.

[rox63]

15. Another rethug in the WH will only deepen our descent into a totalitarian dictatorship n/t

[lvx35]

16. That's exactly right, and its a good thing.

The next president will have the lowest approval ratings in history, as the shit starts to hit the fan with the middle east, out of control oil market, and possibly climate change impacts on global agriculture. I say don't let it be Gore. Lets keep the idealized Gore, the nobel prize winner global warming fighter, as the president we COULD have had if the SCOTUS hadn't chosen Bush. Lets let them think about that while our crops get destoryed and millions are displaced due to problems Gore predicted. The person we need is Hillary, and there are so many long term reasons for this.

[garybeck]

18. So maybe for those of us Dems who don't like Hillary, the answer is

to let her become president and watch her get blamed for all the crap Bush did, and at least we won't be watching Gore get blamed for it all. ??? :)

[lvx35]

19. That's exactly right.

She will take the heat for these catastrophes, and it works for the long term benefit of the purer Democratic agenda. We can say "See? This is what happens with dynastic presidential rule. This is what happens when we allow overly corporate DLC dems" So in the long term it works out. It also works for us because she is the target of the Right wing flame machine and has been for years. By rubbing her victory in their face, we cultivate a sense of powerlessness in the right. They HATE her, and there will be no sense that they are "holding back" while they try and fail to stop her in the GE...And Hillary will be a great president as far as pissing them off goes. She has a lot of corporate commitments, so to satisfy her base she will have to work on the social issues...I expect the downright exultation of queers and queer rights, because its corporation safe, for instance...As well as womens rights and so forth. And this will really piss of the right wing base.

[RiverStone]

20. Would you quit a day job you loved after just winning the NPP?..n/t

[garybeck]

21. but that implies that he's taking the easy way out.

what i'm saying is that the problems are going to be so bad, that a) not even he will be able to fix them, and b) trying to fix them will impede him from working on issues like Global Warming.

[RiverStone]

23. No, I'm not suggest that Al's day job is easy...

In fact, it has been a great effort.

That is one reason he was recognized for his work via the NPP.

I just see him as a man following his passion. It is very rare indeed to be able to do what you love to do for a living --- and not only can Al do that, but he now has the credibility he deserved from the getgo.

I dearly wish Al was our president in 2000, just as I wish he would be our president in 2008. That will not happen. Maybe in 2016? But I'll save those threads for later, lots later...:hi:

[JuniperLea]

30. He could easily win another...

If he became POTUS and had all that power to wield. He has an entire company up and running on the global warming stuff... note he doesn't have a scientific degree, he's not required to be there in order for the work to get done. Being POTUS wouldn't cause him to skip a beat.

[tandem5]

22. I think he acts on the basis of how he will be most effective...

it would never be justifiable to sit out the presidency because the world is going to hell and as a result would take away from his respectability as a leader - that's not taking the high road, that's simply vanity.

[earth mom]

24. Are people going to turn on Gore if he doesn't run?

The question of Gore running for President has been swirling about him for a long time now. After an Oscar and a Nobel prize for An Inconvenient Truth, for him to turn his back on the U.S. and the planet because it's too much work to fix just doesn't make sense to me. At this point, I feel that he is duty bound to run, not only because of his commitment to the planet-GLOBAL WARMING IS A PLANETARY EMERGENCY as he's said-but also because if he doesn't run for President, it will make him look like he does not stand behind his words by taking action.

Gore will lose a TON of respect it he doesn't run and it will hurt the Global Warming Prevention movement and hurt Current TV as well.

Does Gore really want to damage his work in this way?

[garybeck]

25. I disagree with that.

if he doesn't run for president I'm sure he will be doing other things that make a difference. Another book, another movie, who knows.

[earth mom]

26. But don't you think the best way to turn Global Warming around is at the helm of the USA

which is the biggest polluter of all?

I highly doubt that Hillary or Obama are going to make Global Warming their #1 priority.



Gore is our BEST and ONLY hope for turning Global Warming around.

Another book or movie isn't going to have the same results as being in charge of the policy & practices of this country.

[cascadiance]

27. You know if he were definitively dead set against running, don't you think he'd have told us by now?

If he's KNOWN that he's not going to run for some time now, I would think he would know that he'd have been better off telling us that earlier, and endorsed someone earlier when he could have had more influence over things. Now it's going to be harder and harder to influence polls and campaign donations as we get closer to the primaries.

On the other hand, if he DOES plan to run, I think he's still playing the game right in waiting until the last minute to announce.

If he comes out shortly and says he's definitely NOT running, it might be hard for many of us to swallow. I would still respect him a lot for his other efforts, but I'd have to listen hard to his announcement before I'd decide how I felt about it.

[earth mom]

29. I would think Gore would be kind enough to put us out of our misery by saying NO now

instead of dragging it out like this and then saying NO.

[RestoreGore]

31. What a CROCK

He will only lose respect with YOU because you are a political junkie who can't see beyond your own selfish desires. He won the Nobel Peace Prize EXACTLY BECAUSE the Nobel Committee was honoring his ACTIONS. You think he has done nothing as far as action on this crisis? What rock have you been living under?

[cascadiance]

32. No, it is the timing of it...

On the one hand, we all see that if he waits this long and IS planning to run, he's being smart. But if he isn't, then he should have announced by now and not kept us up in the air. People like Wes Clark and Russ Feingold already have, and I respect both of them, even though I wanted HEAVILY Feingold to run.

It's just hard to understand what purpose it serves to not definitively announce he's not going to run IF he doesn't plan to run. If it's to sell more books, get more awards because he's trying to get others to "spice him up" to run when he's not planning to do so, that would have me lose respect for him. But I really don't think he's doing that. But if it isn't that and if he has no plans to run, I have a hard time understanding why he's not coming out and being clear he doesn't want to run.

That is why I and many others think he's going to run. To not do so and wait until now to say it serves no useful purpose that isn't selfish, which I don't believe him to be.

[earth mom]

34. I agree with you and tried to say the same thing though you said it better.

:hi:

[earth mom]

33. Where did I say Gore has done nothing?! And as for rocks, you need to come out from under yours. n

[toadzilla]

28. if Gore doesnt run I think I will cry.