Gore speech at DNC

I don't blame Gore for not being over it. It was something that was directly related to him. It would be terribly difficult to get that close to the Presidency.

I guarantee that, had it been me in that position, there'd never be a speech from then on where I wouldn't mention it.

So Gore (and Gore alone) gets a pass on this issue from me.

(I'm not watching the convention, so I can't comment on the speech itself).

 

Everyone knew the election was stolen, there was so much corruption everywhere, what with those dead people voting in South Texas and all, it had LBJ's name written all over it.

Nixon won that election fair and square and we all know it.

 

I thought it was a very nice speech. He held back a little, from what we've heard from him lately. Strange to say Gore "held back" in a speech!

 

I liked the speech. I thought the most effective parts were when he brought up Bush's claims in 2000 to be a uniter not a divider and talking about compassionate conservatism. Gore then asked if that's we got from Bush who made those claims. That was a good political point.

I also think he did a good job of pointing out that there really is a difference between the candidates, and his angle on voting for NAder or a third party.

He also used humor and seemed way more relaxed than he ever was as a candidate.

 

Gore gave a good speech. He is much better now that he isn't obsessed with being cautious.

It is good to focus on the last election that shows that every vote counts and the failed policy in Iraq.

 

Gore really knows how to rally the troops.

Dems: 'We're Here to Win'
Monday, July 26, 2004
By Liza Porteus


BOSTON — The Democratic National Convention (search) was in full swing Monday night after Gov. Bill Richardson gaveled the prime-time convention to order and called up the first Democratic superstar of the night, former Vice President Al Gore.

And the Tennessean began his remarks with a little bit of humor.

"I'll be candid with you. I had hoped to be back here this week under different circumstances, running for re-election," Gore said, receiving laughter and applause.

"But you know the old saying: You win some, you lose some. And then there's that little-known third category. I didn't come here tonight to talk about the past. After all, I don't want you to think I lie awake at night counting and recounting sheep.

"The first lesson is this: Take it from me — every vote counts."

But it didn't take long for Gore to go into attack mode, saying the country "faces deep challenges," not only the war in Iraq, but issues here at home like pollution and the "erosion" of civil liberties.

"No matter how you voted in the last election, these are profound problems that all voters must take into account this Nov. 2," Gore said.

The former presidential hopeful, who has minced no words in his criticism of the Bush administration's handling of the war in Iraq, said the current White House has "gotten us into very serious trouble" with the Iraq war.

"Wouldn't we be better off with a new president who hasn't burned his bridges to our allies, and who could rebuild respect for America in the world?" Gore asked. "We have to be crystal clear about the threat we face from terrorism. It is deadly ... wouldn't we be safer with a President who didn't insist on confusing Al Qaeda with Iraq? Doesn't that divert too much of our attention away from the principal danger?"

Earlier in the day, party Chairman Terry McAuliffe kicked off the big event by calling on the delegates to begin a four-day rally meant to highlight John Kerry's (search) vision for America.

At the start of the convention speeches, Democrats zeroed in on national security and the economy as two reasons to boot President Bush from the White House.

"We’re here to win back the White House, to win back the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives," said Rep. Debbie Stabenow (search), D-Mich., as she led a long line of speakers scheduled for the day. "We’re here to take back our country … win back the respect and admiration of the world."

"The stakes have never been higher," added Lottie Shackelford, vice chairman of the Democratic National Committee. "The key to this election: K-E-Y — Kerry, Edwards and You."

Democrats are trying to convince U.S. voters that their ticket — Kerry, the presumptive presidential nominee, and John Edwards (search), Kerry's Senate colleague and his vice presidential choice — is the only one that can make America a better place.

"It’s the Democratic Party that is fighting to make sure our children have the education they need, our family has the health care they need and that hardworking immigrants have a way to earn legalization," said Rep. Robert Menendez, D-N.J. "The American dream is alive in this party and in this convention hall today ... together, we’re going to make history."

Seven hours of speeches were expected Monday night as Democratic stars mounted the stage to pump up Day One's theme: Kerry and Edwards' plans to create a stronger America by expanding jobs and health-care coverage, modernizing the military and improving international relations.

"Tonight we begin a campaign that will build an America that’s respected in the world and that’s safer here at home … an America free from threat and free from fear," said Texas Rep. Jim Turner, the ranking Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee.

Adding that the United States is confronting a "new enemy," Turner said, "To win this new kind of war, we need a new kind of leader ... with the wisdom, the vision and the insight to understand and defeat this enemy. John Kerry is that leader.

"From the river deltas of Vietnam to the halls of Congress, John Kerry has shown the courage needed in the heat of battle," he added.

At the FleetCenter (search), security was tight as media personnel swarmed the cramped venue, which will hold the 4,353 delegates taking part in the quadrennial coronation of the Democratic presidential candidate.

The prime-time lineup also includes former presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, former Vice President Al Gore and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (search) of New York.

A remembrance commemorating the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks will be conducted and singer Patti LaBelle will close out the night's events.

The nominee himself isn't expected back in Beantown until Wednesday night, when he will attend a fireworks display timed to punctuate Edwards' vice-presidential acceptance speech.

Boston Mayor Thomas Menino took the podium to a grateful round of applause.

"It’s an honor for us to be your host," he said. "We’re proud of our traditions here in Boston, one is the way we talk."

Many Bostonians have been up in arms over the Ft. Knox-like security measures put into place; many businesses around the center have been forced to close for the week. But Menino ignored the dissension outside the FleetCenter, saying the tight security measures could not be avoided.

"We all have to put up with some inconveniences because we cannot allow threats or enemies to undermine our democratic process, he said.

He also took the opportunity to tout his state's presidential candidate.

"We know our cause, we know the stakes and this week, we’ll tell America and the world: Get ready, take heart, the next four years will be better than the last."

The Platform

Convention participants took a half-hour break in the early evening before the night's big speakers began, but they didn't depart the arena floor before dancing in the aisles while "Johnnie B. Goode" blared through the convention floor's speakers.

Prior to the mini-dance party, Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, co-chair of the DNC’s Platform Committee, helped present his party's security platform, saying it is historical since it’s the party’s first since the Sept. 11 attacks.

The security element of the platform includes: stopping the spread of weapons of mass destruction; promoting democracy and freedom; strengthening overstretched military forces; achieving U.S. energy independence; developing four steps to stop terrorists from acquiring nuclear weapons, including a renewed effort to lock away or destroy existing weapons and materials; and making sure police, firefighters and other emergency personnel have the training and resources they need.

"There is no more important function of government than to protect the safety and security of its people," Vilsack said. "Our platform gives that critical task the priority it deserves."

Former Secretary of Defense William Perry (search) stressed that Kerry will do a better job than the current commander-in-chief in protecting the homeland in a way that won't alienate the rest of the global community.

"We must keep our military the strongest in the world ... our forces have been dangerously overstretched," Perry said, referring to troops fighting in wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as those stationed elsewhere across the globe.

While on the campaign trail, Kerry and his Democratic supporters have argued that Bush has taken the country in the wrong direction by going into Iraq without more global support. The Democratic candidate has vowed to take more of a diplomatic route in the future in order to garner more international support for certain military actions.

Arguing the Bush administration invaded Iraq "against sound military advice," Perry said, "Based on his own service, John Kerry understands what our troops need ... we must isolate the terrorists, not isolate the United States."

Dems to 'Take Back Our Country'

On the domestic front, Rep. Hilda Solis, D-Calif., highlighted the party's commitment to increased port security, hardening critical infrastructures like chemical and nuclear plants, improving domestic readiness to combat threats and ending U.S. dependence on foreign oil.

But "one thing we will never do is sacrifice our liberties — Democrats will never surrender the freedom that generations of Americans have died defending

"This is why America needs John Kerry and John Edwards to lead us," she said.

On the economy, Los Angeles City Council member Antonio Villaraigosa echoed a common Democratic argument that Bush has presided over the "largest job loss since the Great Depression."

"We, Democrats, have come to this convention and this city of America’s great revolution to take back our country," he said. "We, Democrats, will fight to create new jobs to provide a living wage and provide health benefits for their families."

The party's platform includes establishing tax laws to prevent U.S. companies from sending work overseas and reinvigorating the manufacturing and farming sectors to revitalize the nation's urban and rural communities. Party loyalists also said that, if elected, Kerry will select an attorney general "who understands the difference between affirmative action and quotas," protect a woman's right to choose and make sure gay and lesbian families have the same benefits as heterosexual married couples.

Democrats are also emphasizing Kerry's commitment to "working families."

"Working families are working together to elect an American president who is on our side," said Linda Chavez Thompson, vice chair of the DNC and formerly an executive vice president of the AFL-CIO. "In November, we’re going to make the land we love the land it should be."

Gore was expected to talk about the 2000 election controversy. The Kerry camp wants former President Clinton to contrast problems with the Bush economy to the state of the nation's finances when Democrats were in charge.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,127086,00.html

 

Hey, at least you're watching.
I think the news coverage is awful, and that's when you can find it. There's no comparison with how conventions used to be covered, although there used to be a lot more to cover, to be honest. We need some kind of election reform, so that there is some suspense to conventions. It's a lot more fun!

 

Of course not France or Germany. What would we need with world superpowers that didn't hate us?

I'd much rather we be despised by everyone than ally ourselves with cowards or nazis.

 

What does that mean?

Missed the speech. Had to go to dinner!

It's my anniversary and I'm talking to you dorks. Yes I'm a looooser!!!!!

 

Yeah, just because several of the hi-jackers lived for a time in Germany and other terrorist cells use Germany as part of their operations there is no need to have them helping us with the war on terror.

I think part of the problem with the way the current administration is fighting the war on terror is that they don't understand why it would be a good idea to involve places where terrorists live and operate in our effort. If there are future plots being hatched in Germany right now, I sure as hell would rather they are on our side helping us find those plots before they happen, than to alienate them, and not receive the kind of intel and hard work that can help us. I think that kind of thinking is short sighted and not a comprehensive way to battle terrorism.

Just because there have been plots to bomb various places in France and they were a huge help in the war in Afghanistan, why bother with them.

It's better to not have those guys helping us win the war on terror, and to stretch our military too thin to battle real threats when they arise.

 

I loved how he used humor to address the issue of the election of 2000. That was masterful and definitely showed Gore without the stick shoved up his @ss like it was during the 2000 election.

I thought it was hot. I'm still not gonna be a Democrat, but Gore impressed tonight.

 

Here we go it's Clinton time...

 

I'm sure Terry McAuliffe is very happy that Gore toned it down last night.

 

I am sure that Terry had a hand in Gore toning it down AND Carter ratcheting it up.

 

Fear of Fraud
By PAUL KRUGMAN

It's election night, and early returns suggest trouble for the incumbent. Then, mysteriously, the vote count stops and observers from the challenger's campaign see employees of a voting-machine company, one wearing a badge that identifies him as a county official, typing instructions at computers with access to the vote-tabulating software.

When the count resumes, the incumbent pulls ahead. The challenger demands an investigation. But there are no ballots to recount, and election officials allied with the incumbent refuse to release data that could shed light on whether there was tampering with the electronic records.

This isn't a paranoid fantasy. It's a true account of a recent election in Riverside County, Calif., reported by Andrew Gumbel of the British newspaper The Independent. Mr. Gumbel's full-length report, printed in Los Angeles City Beat, makes hair-raising reading not just because it reinforces concerns about touch-screen voting, but also because it shows how easily officials can stonewall after a suspect election.

Some states, worried about the potential for abuse with voting machines that leave no paper trail, have banned their use this November. But Florida, which may well decide the presidential race, is not among those states, and last month state officials rejected a request to allow independent audits of the machines' integrity. A spokesman for Gov. Jeb Bush accused those seeking audits of trying to "undermine voters' confidence," and declared, "The governor has every confidence in the Department of State and the Division of Elections."

Should the public share that confidence? Consider the felon list.

Florida law denies the vote to convicted felons. In 2000 the state hired a firm to purge supposed felons from the list of registered voters; these voters were turned away from the polls. After the election, determined by 537 votes, it became clear that thousands of people had been wrongly disenfranchised. Since those misidentified as felons were disproportionately Democratic-leaning African-Americans, these errors may have put George W. Bush in the White House.

This year, Florida again hired a private company - Accenture, which recently got a homeland security contract worth up to $10 billion - to prepare a felon list. Remembering 2000, journalists sought copies. State officials stonewalled, but a judge eventually ordered the list released.

The Miami Herald quickly discovered that 2,100 citizens who had been granted clemency, restoring their voting rights, were nonetheless on the banned-voter list. Then The Sarasota Herald-Tribune discovered that only 61 of more than 47,000 supposed felons were Hispanic. So the list would have wrongly disenfranchised many legitimate African-American voters, while wrongly enfranchising many Hispanic felons. It escaped nobody's attention that in Florida, Hispanic voters tend to support Republicans.

After first denying any systematic problem, state officials declared it an innocent mistake. They told Accenture to match a list of registered voters to a list of felons, flagging anyone whose name, date of birth and race was the same on both lists. They didn't realize, they said, that this would automatically miss felons who identified themselves as Hispanic because that category exists on voter rolls but not in state criminal records.

But employees of a company that prepared earlier felon lists say that they repeatedly warned state election officials about that very problem.

Let's not be coy. Jeb Bush says he won't allow an independent examination of voting machines because he has "every confidence" in his handpicked election officials. Yet those officials have a history of slipshod performance on other matters related to voting and somehow their errors always end up favoring Republicans. Why should anyone trust their verdict on the integrity of voting machines, when another convenient mistake could deliver a Republican victory in a high-stakes national election?

This shouldn't be a partisan issue. Think about what a tainted election would do to America's sense of itself, and its role in the world. In the face of official stonewalling, doubters probably wouldn't be able to prove one way or the other whether the vote count was distorted - but if the result looked suspicious, most of the world and many Americans would believe the worst. I'll write soon about what can be done in the few weeks that remain, but here's a first step: if Governor Bush cares at all about the future of the nation, as well as his family's political fortunes, he will allow that independent audit.