------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If the Price is Right, He’ll Do It
Sometimes certain things haunt you for so long that you never truly get over them. I know of a person that undeniably is haunted by his past. Just look at this quote from September 23rd, 2002: “Iraq’s search for weapons of mass destruction has proven impossible to deter and we should assume that it will continue for as long as Saddam is in power. We know that he has stored secret supplies of biological and chemical weapons throughout his country.”
Before you jump the gun and call out who made that statement, you would be surprised to find out that the previous quote was taken from our former Vice President Al Gore. The 2000’s have been rough for Mr. Gore after looking so promising at one point. This man was a heartbeat away from becoming our 43rd President in 2000. Now, six years later, a very different man emerges from so long ago.
Instead of being in the headlines every day, Mr. Gore finds himself fighting for media attention. Apparently, Gore’s network channel “Current TV” cannot provide him with all the attention he needs. So, Al Gore has been popping in and out of the headlines with some pretty crazy talk.
In 2004, Al Gore delivered a speech in New York before a Move On audience (I’m not quite sure where “Move On” is moving other than their continual movement away from the mainstream). Gore pulled no punches when he attacked the situation in Iraq and the Abu Ghraib incidents as just the natural progression of President Bush’s policies. After all, Mr. Gore claimed that “the abuse of the prisoners at Abu Ghraib flowed directly from the abuse of the truth that characterized the [Bush] Administration's march to war and the abuse of the trust that had been placed in President Bush by the American people in the aftermath of September 11th…David Kay concluded his search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq with the famous verdict: ‘we were all wrong.’ And for many Americans, Kay's statement seemed to symbolize the awful collision between Reality and all of the false and fading impressions President Bush had fostered in building support for his policy of going to war.”
That’s a pretty bold statement considering that his own administration had been making the same comments in 1998. However, we should keep in mind that the man who invented the Internet has never been to keen on keeping his facts straight or his own comments for that matter. Later on in the same speech, Gore revealed his thoughts on how the United States runs its daily operations. Speaking about torture, Gore said that “we all know these things [torture], and we need not reassure ourselves and should not congratulate ourselves that our society is less cruel than some others, although it is worth noting that there are many that are less cruel than ours.”
Remember folks, this man was running to be our torturous nation’s next leader! It’s hard to digest that ridiculous statement but I guess we shouldn’t blame Mr. Gore for appearing delusional and disconnected. He knows how close he was, he knows that he could have continued the Clinton dynasty another four years and he knows that if he would have carried his home state during the election he wouldn’t have to worry about making the news.
After that speech in 2004, it should be no surprise that Al Gore has reappeared in the news after a steady absence from the spotlight. However, this time Al Gore one-upped himself – and that’s a pretty difficult task. This time, the venue was not New York but rather Saudi Arabia. He was to address the annual Jeddah economic forum and for Al Gore the price was right to resume the bashing of America. I wonder if Mr. Gore knew that the forum he was speaking at is sponsored in part by Osama bin Laden’s family – that’s almost fitting for such talk (even though the bin Laden family has tried to distance itself from their “little terror”). What he did know is that the oil money he was pocketing for such an appearance would ease his mind from what he was about to say.
According to Al Gore, the United States committed “terrible abuses” against Arabs after 9/11. They were “indiscriminately rounded up, often on minor charges of overstaying a visa and not having a green card in proper order, and held in conditions that were just unforgivable."
Leave it to Al Gore to use broad and vague language that is not backed up with hard facts. The Arab American Anti Discrimination Committee reported that 1,200 Arabs were incarcerated after 9/11. 725 were held on immigration violations, 100 on unrelated criminal charges, and 360 for possible links to terrorism. How does this number (1,200) compare to the number of Arabs within our borders?
The U.S. Census Bureau shows that there are more than 3 million Arabs within the United States. I don’t know about you but you know what that is in comparison to the 1,200 who were arrested after 9/11? You get .04% of Arabs were rounded up after we were attacked. To claim that an “indiscriminate” number of Arabs were yanked into custody is a ridiculous and careless comment. I see nothing “indiscriminate” about the .04% of Arabs who were brought in.
As ridiculous as Gore’s comments on Arab detainment are, he went one step further to appease the audience he was speaking to (an art form that John Kerry mastered). Apparently George W. Bush and Co. are “playing into al Qaida's hands" by subjecting Saudi visa applicants to special scrutiny, Mr. Gore said. "The worst thing we can possibly do is to cut off the channels of friendship and mutual understanding between Saudi Arabia and the United States.”
I guess Al Gore forgot that 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudis. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who planned the 9/11 attacks, told interrogators most of the hijackers he selected were Saudis because they had the easiest time getting visas. According to statistics gathered by the Government Accountability Office, before 9/11 only 3% of Saudi applicants were interviewed prior to being issued a visa, and only 1% were refused. All this information can be found in the 9/11 Commission Report but I don’t think Mr. Gore took the time to read that.
When did Al Gore become so “buddy buddy” with the Saudis? After all, wasn’t it President Bush who has such deep ties with the Saudis? Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit.com knows that this recent rhetoric from Al Gore is nothing new because “only Al Gore could come up with the idea of criticizing Bush for not sucking up to the Saudis enough.”
It’s sad to see a man be so utterly consumed with bitterness and contempt for the current President. Sure, there is always the “robbery conspiracy” from the 2000 election; but with all the “what if’s” the fact of the matter is that this man’s words are nowhere close to being presidential or even American for that matter. I guess Democrats and Republicans alike can be thankful this guy is sitting on the sidelines playing the part of the annoying fan rather than being the quarterback of the football team in the big game.
Sometimes certain things haunt you for so long that you never truly get over them. I know of a person that undeniably is haunted by his past. Just look at this quote from September 23rd, 2002: “Iraq’s search for weapons of mass destruction has proven impossible to deter and we should assume that it will continue for as long as Saddam is in power. We know that he has stored secret supplies of biological and chemical weapons throughout his country.”
Before you jump the gun and call out who made that statement, you would be surprised to find out that the previous quote was taken from our former Vice President Al Gore. The 2000’s have been rough for Mr. Gore after looking so promising at one point. This man was a heartbeat away from becoming our 43rd President in 2000. Now, six years later, a very different man emerges from so long ago.
Instead of being in the headlines every day, Mr. Gore finds himself fighting for media attention. Apparently, Gore’s network channel “Current TV” cannot provide him with all the attention he needs. So, Al Gore has been popping in and out of the headlines with some pretty crazy talk.
In 2004, Al Gore delivered a speech in New York before a Move On audience (I’m not quite sure where “Move On” is moving other than their continual movement away from the mainstream). Gore pulled no punches when he attacked the situation in Iraq and the Abu Ghraib incidents as just the natural progression of President Bush’s policies. After all, Mr. Gore claimed that “the abuse of the prisoners at Abu Ghraib flowed directly from the abuse of the truth that characterized the [Bush] Administration's march to war and the abuse of the trust that had been placed in President Bush by the American people in the aftermath of September 11th…David Kay concluded his search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq with the famous verdict: ‘we were all wrong.’ And for many Americans, Kay's statement seemed to symbolize the awful collision between Reality and all of the false and fading impressions President Bush had fostered in building support for his policy of going to war.”
That’s a pretty bold statement considering that his own administration had been making the same comments in 1998. However, we should keep in mind that the man who invented the Internet has never been to keen on keeping his facts straight or his own comments for that matter. Later on in the same speech, Gore revealed his thoughts on how the United States runs its daily operations. Speaking about torture, Gore said that “we all know these things [torture], and we need not reassure ourselves and should not congratulate ourselves that our society is less cruel than some others, although it is worth noting that there are many that are less cruel than ours.”
Remember folks, this man was running to be our torturous nation’s next leader! It’s hard to digest that ridiculous statement but I guess we shouldn’t blame Mr. Gore for appearing delusional and disconnected. He knows how close he was, he knows that he could have continued the Clinton dynasty another four years and he knows that if he would have carried his home state during the election he wouldn’t have to worry about making the news.
After that speech in 2004, it should be no surprise that Al Gore has reappeared in the news after a steady absence from the spotlight. However, this time Al Gore one-upped himself – and that’s a pretty difficult task. This time, the venue was not New York but rather Saudi Arabia. He was to address the annual Jeddah economic forum and for Al Gore the price was right to resume the bashing of America. I wonder if Mr. Gore knew that the forum he was speaking at is sponsored in part by Osama bin Laden’s family – that’s almost fitting for such talk (even though the bin Laden family has tried to distance itself from their “little terror”). What he did know is that the oil money he was pocketing for such an appearance would ease his mind from what he was about to say.
According to Al Gore, the United States committed “terrible abuses” against Arabs after 9/11. They were “indiscriminately rounded up, often on minor charges of overstaying a visa and not having a green card in proper order, and held in conditions that were just unforgivable."
Leave it to Al Gore to use broad and vague language that is not backed up with hard facts. The Arab American Anti Discrimination Committee reported that 1,200 Arabs were incarcerated after 9/11. 725 were held on immigration violations, 100 on unrelated criminal charges, and 360 for possible links to terrorism. How does this number (1,200) compare to the number of Arabs within our borders?
The U.S. Census Bureau shows that there are more than 3 million Arabs within the United States. I don’t know about you but you know what that is in comparison to the 1,200 who were arrested after 9/11? You get .04% of Arabs were rounded up after we were attacked. To claim that an “indiscriminate” number of Arabs were yanked into custody is a ridiculous and careless comment. I see nothing “indiscriminate” about the .04% of Arabs who were brought in.
As ridiculous as Gore’s comments on Arab detainment are, he went one step further to appease the audience he was speaking to (an art form that John Kerry mastered). Apparently George W. Bush and Co. are “playing into al Qaida's hands" by subjecting Saudi visa applicants to special scrutiny, Mr. Gore said. "The worst thing we can possibly do is to cut off the channels of friendship and mutual understanding between Saudi Arabia and the United States.”
I guess Al Gore forgot that 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudis. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who planned the 9/11 attacks, told interrogators most of the hijackers he selected were Saudis because they had the easiest time getting visas. According to statistics gathered by the Government Accountability Office, before 9/11 only 3% of Saudi applicants were interviewed prior to being issued a visa, and only 1% were refused. All this information can be found in the 9/11 Commission Report but I don’t think Mr. Gore took the time to read that.
When did Al Gore become so “buddy buddy” with the Saudis? After all, wasn’t it President Bush who has such deep ties with the Saudis? Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit.com knows that this recent rhetoric from Al Gore is nothing new because “only Al Gore could come up with the idea of criticizing Bush for not sucking up to the Saudis enough.”
It’s sad to see a man be so utterly consumed with bitterness and contempt for the current President. Sure, there is always the “robbery conspiracy” from the 2000 election; but with all the “what if’s” the fact of the matter is that this man’s words are nowhere close to being presidential or even American for that matter. I guess Democrats and Republicans alike can be thankful this guy is sitting on the sidelines playing the part of the annoying fan rather than being the quarterback of the football team in the big game.
2 comments:
Nicely written. I quoted your closing on my site. I don't see a way to trackback to your site without having a Blogger.com site of my own, so I thought I'd let you know.
I see you found my commment, I found yor site because you were the number one result on a google blog search for "al gore". I asked the right question, you had the newest post with the right key words. Nice writing, keep it up.
Post a Comment