UNDERNEWS EXTRA

UNDERNEWS EXTRA
JAN 17, 2006
FROM THE PROGRESSIVE REVIEW
EDITED BY SAM SMITH
Since 1964, Washington's most unofficial source

E-MAIL: mailto:news@prorev.com

1312 18th St. NW #502 Washington DC 20036
202-835-0770
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GETTING REACQUAINTED WITH AL GORE
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SAM SMITH - Al Gore's remarkable speech on Bush's illegal wiretapping -
combined with his earlier criticisms of the Iraq war and his
longstanding attention to the dangers of climate change - make him the
only major Democratic figure, save Russ Feingold, worth the attention of
the decent and democratic wing of the Democratic Party.

Once you give him that attention, however, you are left with the problem
that Al Gore isn't always your friend, hasn't always taken the positions
he takes today, and can't be relied upon to do right in the future. In
other words, traits of your average politician.

From a literary standpoint, however, Gore is about the only interesting
major Democratic politician around, in part because his compromises and
failures in judgment seem not - as with the Clintons - based simply on
cold, cruel calculation but are the errant result of the clash between
clear perception and the miasma of ambition, honest assessment and
easier articulations, a moral heart and amoral muscles.

Al Gore could have grabbed a piece of greatness, but often took what
seemed the easy  and clever way out. . . which repeatedly turned out to
be no such thing, perhaps because the conflicts within himself could
produce neither efficient cynicism nor charismatic nobility. 

The causes may have included being the son of a senator, living like
Eloise in a Washington hotel as a young man, going to St. Alban's prep
school where the future capital elite was trained in pompous and
sometimes pathological certainty, and periodically  visiting the
strikingly different ecology of Tennessee.

No matter. He's back. He's says he's not running, but such statements
don't count until the year in question. He's only done a couple of
things right lately, but that easily puts him at the head of the
Democratic pack. 

For progressives, Gore presents an interesting problem because
regardless of whether one would choose to vote for him, his success at
this time will have an effect on the success of all of us. Certainly, as
the following suggests, there is plenty to concern one about Gore. You
may find things that alternately please or annoy you or that you just
shrug off. But if Gore becomes a prophetic voice of a revived America -
failed and flawed as the sound may be - we will all be better off. For
the moment, we should enjoy the resonance  of anyone with that many
microphones in front of him saying the right thing for a change.

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THE VIEW FROM SILICON VALLEY

PAUL LIPPE, SILICON VALLEY EXEC - Gore is a Vietnam vet; he could have
avoided service like many others did, but he went willingly. A decade
ago, Gore led the effort to draw attention to global warming, even
though it was politically risky. He has taken pro-business positions
that were unpopular with the left wing of the Democratic party, and
pro-environment positions that were unpopular with business.

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THE VIEW FROM DANIEL ELLSBERG

PATRICK SULLIVAN, METRO ACTIVE -  [Daniel] Ellsberg has had two very
educational one-on-one meetings with Gore: one to urge him to vote
against Reagan's MX missile proposal, and another many years later to
urge then-Senator Gore to vote against President Bush's actions in the
[first] Gulf War. Ellsberg came away from both meetings with the same
dismaying impression. "He respected my opinion enough that he wanted to
convince me that he understood my arguments," he recalls. "And I was
very impressed. He was very, very smart. I haven't met a smarter member
of Congress."

But toward the end of Ellsberg's meeting with Gore about the Gulf War, a
curious thing happened. "He suddenly started putting up arguments that
were so pitiful and so laughable for going ahead in the face of the
dangers that it was clear to me that no one would have given any
attention at all unless they were searching for any rationale to vote
for the war," Ellsberg recalls. "So I went out and told the people who
were counting votes, 'Don't count him in the undecided column anymore.
He's certainly going to vote for the war.'" And he did: Gore was one of
a small group of Democrats who crossed party lines to support Bush. Not
long after, Clinton picked him as a running mate.

"As long as I've known of Gore's positions, he has sacrificed what I'm
sure he understands are important considerations for political
expediency," Ellsberg says. "I have to say that I don't think he has any
measurable passion for or commitment to anything other than gaining high
office."

But that just means Ellsberg will be pinching his nose all the more
tightly when he enters the ballot box in November. "Gore's position [on
nuclear issues] is in fact terrible, really terrible," Ellsberg says.
"And yet less terrible than the Republican's stance, which is absolutely
catastrophic."

http://www.metroactive.com/papers/sonoma/09.07.00/ellsberg-0036.html

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THE 2000 ELECTION

ALTHOUGH Democrats love to blame Ralph Nader for their 2000 election
loss, the facts point in quite another direction: to Clinton and Gore.
If, for example, you check the changes in Bush's and Nader's poll
figures in the last month of the campaign, it is clear that  Gore lost
far more votes to Bush than to Nader.

It is also apparent that if Gore had disassociated himself from Clinton,
he would have done far batter in the campaign. According to the 2000
exit polls:

- 60% of voters disapproved of Clinton as a person

- 59% - including some who approved of him - disliked him

- 68% said he would go down in the history books for his scandals rather
than for his leadership

- 44% thought the Clinton scandals were important or somewhat important.
In contrast, only 28% thought Bush's drunk driving arrest was important
or somewhat important.

- 15% of those who had voted for Clinton in 1996 voted for Bush in 2000.

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CLINTON-GORE AND CIVIL LIBERTIES

DOUG BANDOW, NATIONAL REVIEW - Clinton "essentially sought to eliminate
the requirement of a warrant for searches from the Fourth Amendment. The
president claimed to possess 'inherent authority to conduct warrantless
searches for foreign intelligence purposes.' The administration required
public-housing residents to sign away their constitutional right that
authorities procure a warrant to search their dwellings and personal
property. The Justice Department backed warrantless (indeed,
suspicionless) drug tests for high-school athletes. The administration
requested greater FBI authority to conduct "roving wiretaps," without a
court order.

- "The administration was tougher than its predecessor on drugs.
Marijuana arrests were up 50 percent over Bush-41 . . . When asked about
the criticism that sellers of crack were being punished far more
severely than those who peddled cocaine, the president responded that
penalties for the latter - which already ensured that minor drug dealers
spend more time in jail than do many armed robbers, rapists, and
murderers - should be raised. . .

- "The Clinton-Gore administration advanced additional thuggish policies
and proposals - curfews for kids, random drug tests for welfare
recipients and kids seeking drivers licenses, attacks on the requirement
of a jury trial,. . . attempts to gain court sanction for uncompensated
property takings, prosecutions implicating the double-jeopardy clause,
pretentious claims of federal criminal jurisdiction, infringements of
the Second Amendment right to possess a firearm, et al."

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CHILDHOOD

PBS - Gore did not have a typical childhood. At times he was down the
hall from the powerful and privileged in the old Fairfax Hotel in
Washington, D.C. and then suddenly back amongst the rolling countryside
and herds of cattle that his family raised in Carthage, Tennessee. His
double life exposed him to the life of a politician, a life that he
himself would later lead.

Al Gore was born on March 31, 1948 to United States Senator Albert Gore,
Sr. and Pauline LaFon Gore. He had one older sister, Nancy, and as
children, the little Gores were exposed to many powerful people, at the
dinner table, in the hallways of the hotel they called home, and even
when picking up the telephone.

Pranks and games, however, were not absent from Gore's unique childhood.
As a young boy, Gore climbed to the roof of the Fairfax Hotel, lay on
his stomach and lowered a toy duck, suspended on a string, down below to
where pedestrians were walking on the side walk in front of the hotel.
He tried to bop them in the head with the duck while they walked past.
He also took advantage of the height of the roof to throw water balloons
at cars passing by.

Despite his somewhat fancy surroundings while living in DC, Gore's
father did not want his son to be a "Capitol Hill brat." Every morning,
little Gore was expected to do 50 push-ups and, when the family went
back to their Carthage farm, he had his share of farm chores to do,
including cutting tobacco, cleaning hog pens and baling hay.

Gore attended St. Albans preparatory school in DC and was involved in
the student government there: he was a prefect and oversaw the
lunchroom. But, when he went back to Carthage for the summer, he refused
to wear the many t-shirts that had the school's name emblazoned on them.

It was during his days at St. Albans that he first met the woman who
would later become his wife, a girl named Mary Elizabeth "Tipper"
Aitcheson.

In the fall of 1965, Gore was a freshman at Harvard, the only college
that he had applied to. On his second-day on campus, he began what would
be a successful campaign for president of the freshman council. He won
this campaign by knocking on doors in every freshman dormitory and
imploring his fellow students, including that of his opponent, Paul
Zofnass, to vote for him.

Gore's time in office lasted only one year as his interest in school
politics waned.

In college, Gore's roommate was future actor Tommy Lee Jones and the two
became great friends. At the end of their freshman year, Gore, Jones and
several of their other friends put together a traveling musical show
where Gore was the standup comedian. They called themselves Tommy Lee
Jones and the Ben Hill County Boys and had one performance at Wellesley
College.

Gore was a government major at Harvard and wrote his senior thesis on
the impact of television on the conduct of the presidency between 1947
and 1969. He graduated in 1969 with honors.

After graduation, Gore grappled with one of the key question of his era:
should he go to Vietnam? This question was uniquely difficult for him,
as his decision would have a great affect on his father's political
career. In the end, he decided to enlist in the Army with his friends
from Carthage. From 1969-1971, he served as a journalist for the Army
and spent five months of that time in Vietnam.

When Gore arrived home from the war, he became a reporter for the
Nashville Tennessean. But, his career in journalism did not last long as
the lure of politics brought him back to the life that he had
experienced since he was a kid. In 1974, he enrolled in Vanderbilt Law
School and in 1976, he decided to run for Congress and won a seat in the
House of Representatives. In 1985, he became a U.S. Senator, just like
his father.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/features/july-dec00/meetthecandidates.html


GORE AND ENRON

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JERRY SEPER, WASHINGTON TIMES - Enron Corp. donated $420,000 to
Democrats over a three-year period while heavily lobbying the Clinton
administration to expedite passage of a 1997 global warming treaty that
would have dramatically increased the firm's sales of natural gas. . .
Enron received easy access to President Clinton and Vice President Al
Gore. In one meeting, Enron Chairman Kenneth L. Lay met Mr. Clinton and
Mr. Gore in the Oval Office, during which the Enron boss was asked for
input on a pending international energy conference in Kyoto, Japan.
During the July 1997 White House meeting, Mr. Lay personally lobbied Mr.
Clinton and Mr. Gore to support a "market-based" approach to what he
described as the problem of global warming, an Enron economic strategy
that a December 1997 private internal memo said would be "good for Enron
stock!!" The memo, written by Enron executive John Palmisano, said the
Kyoto treaty - later signed by Mr. Clinton and leaders of 166 other
countries, but never ratified by the Senate - "would do more to promote
Enron's business than will almost any other regulatory initiative
outside of restructuring the energy and natural gas industries in Europe
and the United States." In an August 1997 memo by Mr. Lay to all Enron
employees, the chairman said Mr. Clinton and Mr. Gore had "solicited"
his view on how to address the issue of global warning "in advance of a
climate treaty to be negotiated at an international conference." That
memo said Mr. Clinton agreed a market-based solution, such as emissions
trading, was the answer to reducing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
The Kyoto treaty calls for industrial nations to reduce emissions by
2012 to 5.2 percent below 1990 levels. Inc.

http://www.washtimes.com/national/20020116-72360012.htm

JOHN BRESNAHAN, ROLL CALL - In the spring of 2000, as the presidential
battle between George W. Bush and then Vice President Al Gore heated up,
Enron Corp. lobbyists in Washington quietly launched an effort to reach
out to the Gore campaign and his allies on Capitol Hill . . . Enron's
Washington office came up with a "Gore 2000 Strategy," a copy of which
was obtained by Roll Call. This document outlines a "six-month action
plan "designed to help Enron officials build ties with Gore at the same
time the Houston-based firm and its employees were on their way to
becoming the top donors to Bush's White House campaign, kicking in more
than $113,000 in direct contributions . . . Enron donated just $13,750
to the Gore campaign, according to federal election records
FAMILY PROBLEMS

PROGRESSIVE REVIEW - Talk Magazine has reported that Karenna Schiff, the
oldest daughter and closest adviser of Al Gore, used pot, drank heavily
and, when drunk, once encouraged a friend to drive her father's car
without a license . . . British papers have previously reported that Al
Gore's son smoked marijuana with several friends in the Bishop's Garden
of the National Cathedral. While Gore's friends were reportedly expelled
from St. Alban's School as a result of the incident, young Gore was
allowed to stay. Our information is that his parents switched Gore to
Sidwell Friends after being angered by teachers who made it clear they
did not approve of the double standard involved. While who smokes what
is not important, it does matter mightily when presidents and
presidential candidates or children of politicians use drugs and nothing
happens while hundreds of thousands of unpowerful Americans lose their
jobs, get kicked out of schools, or go to prison for the same thing.
Nothing so well illustrate the contempt of America's elite have for the
very laws they make others follow.

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GORE AND THE CIA

US NEWS & WORLD REPORT, 2000 -  Vice President Al Gore has a
secret---lots of them. Insiders tell Whispers that Gore, far more the
President Clinton, has an insatiable thirst for foreign intelligence
collected by the Pentagon and CIA. It's won him friends in the spy world
and even the Republican-controlled congressional Intelligence Committee.
He is a very engaged consumer, as much as anyone in this administration.
He gives very good feedback and asks good questions. He has long
knowledge, deep knowledge, going back to his days on the Intelligence
Committee, says John Millis, staff director of the House Permanent
Select Committee on Intelligence. Ditto among the Joint Chiefs of Staffs
who cater to Gore more than Clinton, who has deferred to the veep on key
issues.

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CLINTON AND GORE

AL GORE, 1996 - I think the ethical standards established in this White
House have been the highest in the history of the White House.

AL GORE, 1998 -  A short time ago, I spoke to the President and told him
that Tipper and I have him and his family in our hearts and in our
prayers. Along with the rest of the country, I watched the President's
televised address in which he took full responsibility for his actions
and apologized to the nation. I am proud of him -- not only because he
is a friend -- but because he is a person who has had the courage to
acknowledge mistakes. I am honored to work with this great President on
his agenda for the nation

PROGRESSIVE REVIEW - According to John Haris' book on Clinton, Tipper
Gore was so disgusted in 2000 with Bill and Hillary that she stayed
cloistered in a holding room instead of going to a New York reception
with major Democratic fund-raisers where the Clintons would be. "No, I'm
not doing it," she snapped to an aide. "I'm not going out there with
that man."

TPR - The Gore-Clinton love fest was probably a phony from the start,
but definitely by 1996 the two had a falling out. Wrote Sarah McLendon
at the time, a rift is "escalating between President and Mrs. Clinton
and Vice President Albert Gore. . . This has proceeded to the point
where the Clintons are talking about who should succeed Gore if the Vice
President should be scandalized extensively enough to cause him to
resign . . . Gore is the object of distrust because it is believed he
would be too independent if he became President and would initiate
certain reforms especially in connection with the Central Intelligence
Agency, whose officials wish to avoid any change in their covert
operations." The Review added: " Meanwhile, some see ominous signs in
Bob Woodward's targeting of Gore for special attention. The Washington
Post's Woodward has rarely had a scoop that wasn't based on material
provided by that part of the capital quaintly known as the intelligence
community."

TPR, OCT 1996 Al Gore appears to have gained curiously strong influence
in the White House. It was startling enough last fall when Clinton named
Jack Quinn, Gore's chief of staff, as White House counsel, giving the VP
a highly unusual direct link into the Clinton inner circle. Then in May,
Gore's former administrative assistant, Peter Knight, became Clinton's
campaign manager. Is this just good old boys bonding in high office? Not
very likely. Presidents rarely give such gratuitous access to those
salivating over the prospect of replacing them. Far more likely is that
Gore demanded Quinn and Knight be appointed as part of a damage control
arrangement with, and power play against, the president, the latter
based on information about the Clintons in the vice president's
possession that has yet to be revealed.

TPR, DEC 1996 Yet another White House counsel has precipitously jumped
ship. When Clinton named Vice President Gore's top aide, Jack Quinn, a
year ago, it suggested unusual WH influence on the part of Gore, perhaps
related in some baroque fashion to Whitewater. Was the appointment some
sort of Quinn pro quo with the veep? Gore's man took over from a rapidly
departing Abner Mikva. Now, even more speedily, Quinn is himself
departing. Curiouser and curiouser.

TPR, 1997: Prior to the 1996 campaign there were hints that Gore or his
staff was orchestrating efforts to edge Clinton out of the race.
Certainly some of Gore's people were known to be unusually interested in
anti-Clinton material. The unprecedented selection of one Gore man, Jack
Quinn as White House counsel and another, Peter Knight, for a key
campaign role suggested that some sort of truce had been struck between
Gore and Clinton. Then came Gore's campaign finance scandal and the
inelegant manner in which he and his aides have handled it -- including
the disingenuous argument that a fund-raiser was actually a "donor
maintenance" event. Now, according to Sarah McLendon, the shoe is on the
other foot and the Clintons spent much of their vacation discussing the
future of Gore.


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DRUGS

COUNTERPUNCH, 2000: Al Gore has grudgingly conceded use of marijuana in
the 1970s. The prime source for the drug habits both of Gore and his
wife Tipper is John Warnecke, their supplier at the time, who has stated
that at that time in Nashville Gore smoked as much marijuana as anyone
he knew, including opium-coated Thai sticks . . . Today Gore reiterates
his support for the war on drugs and declares that imprisoned offenders
should not be released until they test clean.

http://counterpunch.org/

JOHN C. WARNECKE: I have first hand knowledge that he has not told the
truth about his drug use. Al Gore and I smoked regularly, as buddies.
Marijuana, hash. I was his regular supplier. I didn't deal dope, I just
gave it to him. We smoked more than once, more than a few times, we
smoked a lot. We smoked in his car, in his house, we smoked in his
parents' house, in my house… we smoked on weekends. We smoked a lot. Al
Gore and I were smoking marijuana together right up to the time that he
ran for Congress in 1976. Right up through the week he declared for that
race, in fact . .

TPR - The White House hosts a major drug dealer at its Christmas party.
Jorge Cabrera -- who gave $20,000 to the DNC -- is also photographed
with Al Gore at a Miami fund-raiser, a fact the Clinton administration
initially attempts to conceal by arguing that a publicity shot with the
Veep is covered by the Privacy Act. Cabrera was indicted in 1983 by a
federal grand jury -- on racketing and drug charges -- and again in
1988, when he was accused of managing a continuing narcotics operation.
He pleaded guilty to lesser charges and served 54 months on prison.
After his visit to the White House he will be sentenced to 19 years on
prison for transporting 6,000 pounds of cocaine into the US. The Secret
Service says letting him come to the WH was okay because he posed no
threat to the president.

TPR, 2000 -  Both Bush and Gore are, by reliable accounts, former drug
users who never had to face any of the draconian punishments now being
meted out to hundreds of thousands of less powerful druggies. While the
candidates may not have the courage to admit their past acts, they
should at least have enough honor not to promote policies that would
have, if applied to themselves, put them in prison rather than on the
road to the White House. The hypocrisy of America's powerful on the drug
issue is one of the most egregious symbols of the current culture of
impunity. Here, for example, is a cute item from the elite-coddling
Washingtonian Magazine a few years ago concerning Al Gore III's problems
at St. Alban's School:

"The most conspicuous absentees among the parents were Vice President
Gore and his wife, Tipper. The previous semester their 13-year-old son,
Albert Gore III, had been caught with some other boys from St. Alban's
and some girls from National Cathedral School in possession of
substances popular among teenagers but banned by the school's honor
code."

The story was major news in England but suppressed here after phone
calls to key media by daddy Gore.

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GORE ON RACIAL PROFILING

DAVID SAFAVIAN, WASHINGTON TIMES, 2000: When presidential candidate
George W. Bush denounced the concept of racial profiling during the
second debate, and the vice president chimed in with his own "me too"
denunciation, I sat up and took notice . . . The concept of singling out
people based on their ethnicity, race or religion has been around as
long as discrimination has existed. However, in the aftermath of the TWA
Flight 800 crash in 1996, racial profiling gained a new supporter: the
vice president of the United States. After Flight 800 went down,
President Clinton created the White House Commission on Aviation Safety
and Security to address in-flight terrorism, among other issues. Mr.
Gore chaired this commission. The "Gore Commission" announced its
findings in a 70-page report in 1997. As one solution to terrorism, the
Gore Commission recommended on page 29 that "passengers could be
separated into a very large majority who present little or no risk, and
a small minority who merit additional attention." On page 30, the Gore
Commission lauded and supported the "development and implementation of
automated and manual profiling systems" by Northwest Airlines . . . The
initial guidelines implemented as a result of the Gore Commission
provided for stops and searches of all individuals traveling to
"suspect" destinations. Unfortunately, almost all of these suspect
destinations turned out to be Arab or Islamic countries. More important,
however, Arab-Americans and Muslims were being stopped on domestic
flights as well - demonstrating that this was less about terrorism and
more about racial stereotypes and discrimination. Today, people of
Middle Eastern heritage are still being stopped, searched and harassed
by airline security agents, merely because they have an Arabic-sounding
name.

http://www.washtimes.com/

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GORE AND BUSH

JAKE WERNER, INDEPENDENT MEDIA, 2000 : The media keep telling us that
there are "sharp differences" between the policies of Al Gore and George
W. Bush. Let's take a look at some of the issues on which the divide
doesn't seem to be that large:

- Neither candidate supports a fair trade approach to foreign trade
policy encouraging or mandating respect for labor rights and the
environment.
- Neither candidate has proposed true health care reform, which would
create a universal service-on-demand system.
- Neither candidate will push for meaningful campaign finance reform:
full public funding for all stages of all campaigns.
- Neither candidate supports a minimum wage to match the cost of living
or a mandatory living wage.
- Neither candidate has a serious solution to the endemic poverty and
hopelessness of the inner cities.
- Neither candidate will contemplate drug law reform . . .
- Neither candidate is committed to a massive reduction (or even a small
reduction!) in military spending.
- Neither candidate has a plan to make a high-end college education
affordable for children from lower-class families.
- Neither candidate is willing to commit sufficient resources to
fighting the HIV epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa . . .
- Neither candidate has proposed measures to address the skyrocketing
inequality of wealth in the United States.
- Neither candidate would work to end the corporate takeover of rural
America
- Neither candidate has committed himself to a positive change on Iraq
policy.
- Neither candidate has a legitimate plan to eliminate, or even
substantially reduce, the incredibly high child poverty rate in the
United States.
- Neither candidate opposes the destructive and pointless embargo
against Cuba . . . - Neither candidate plans to eliminate the massive
government subsidies to business (corporate welfare), which cost much
more than government aid to the poor ever did.
- Neither candidate supports the right of gay or lesbian couples to
marry . . .
- Neither candidate will stop Clinton's massive aid package to Colombia
. . .
- Neither candidate supports a considerable reduction in the debts owed
by most poor countries . . .
- Both candidates support standardized tests as a way to measure student
achievement. This ensures that instructors will "teach to the test" and
measures ability to perform on multiple choice questions rather than
ability to think critically or understand general concepts.
- Both candidates support the death penalty . . .
- Both candidates enthusiastically support Israel . . .
- Both candidates support the corporate media system, which excludes
diverse programming and slants news coverage in favor of the powerful.

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PUPPET POLITICS

TPR, 2000 - Fred Harris, in his short-lived populist presidential
campaign back in the 1970s complained that he was feeling like a
ventriloquist. He would say something and the next thing he knew, the
mainstream candidates were repeating it. The most dramatic use of puppet
politics came in the 1990s when a group of right-wing Democrats formed
an organization absurdly called the "Progressive Policy Institute" that
helped boost a corrupt conservative into the White House on the wings of
liberal-sounding words.

Now the problem has arisen again. Albert Gore is playing Charlie
McCarthy to Ralph Nader's Edgar Bergen and the mass media, with its
usual perceptive abilities, can't figure out which one is the puppet.

Under the rules of postmodernism, words are just part of the ambiance,
like turning on a soft rock CD or lighting a candle. And under the rules
of postmodern agitprop, the first refuge of the scoundrel is to use
words that diminish the opposition by stealing its vocabulary. After
all, if we're both using the same words, there isn't that much to fight
about, is there?

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OTHER MATTERS
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The one line items listed below are from the invaluable website, On the
Issues

http://www.issues2000.org/Al_Gore.htm

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IRAQ

ROBERT KUTTNER, BOSTON GLOBE  2002 - Al Gore, remarkably, has stepped
into a leadership vacuum and said several things that most congressional
Democrats may well believe but have been too fearful to utter. Gore,
speaking Monday at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, warned that
unilateral action against Saddam Hussein would ''severely damage'' the
more urgent war on terrorism and ''weaken our ability to lead the
world.'' Gore declared that the president has turned the broad reservoir
of good will for America ''into a deep sense of misgiving and even
hostility.'' In a pointed dig at President George W. Bush's go-it-alone
cowboy rhetoric, he added, ''If you're going after Jesse James, you
ought to organize the posse first.''

Now this is extremely interesting.  For starters, it is out of character
for the cautious and generally hawkish former vice president. Gore has
lately returned to politics, sort of, but until now he has avoided
frontally attacking Bush. He has at last chosen to do so, at a moment
when the president, swaddled in the flag, is widely seen as beyond
criticism. . . The party's standard bearer for 2000 - who got more votes
than George W. Bush - has now made it safe for Democrats to express
serious doubts about this reckless war. Gore, perhaps in spite of
himself, has actually exercised that rarest of qualities in contemporary
politics - leadership.

One can accuse Gore of many things, but being soft on defense is not one
of them. He was one of a handful of Senate Democrats to support George
Bush senior on the Gulf War in 1991. The fact is, public opinion is
still fluid on Iraq. And if other Democrats follow Gore's lead, this
could be a turning point.

http://www.commondreams.org/views02/0925-01.htm

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GAY RIGHTS

JENNY PIZER, LA DAILY - Vice President Al Gore has supported the
Employment Non-Discrimination Act for years and pledges to maintain
President Bill Clinton’s 1998 executive order banning sexual-orientation
discrimination in federal civilian jobs. Gore strongly approves the plan
to add sexual orientation -  as well as disability and gender - to the
federal hate-crimes statute. . . Gore supports teaching youth about risk
reduction, while Bush favors abstinence programs. Regarding Medicaid,
Gore has voiced support for allowing those who can return to work due to
drug therapy to remain eligible for the benefits that cover their
medications. . . These candidates disagree on the military’s “don’t ask,
don’t tell” policy. Gore says he would abolish that rule and permit gay
people to serve openly

http://www.lambdalegal.org/cgi-bin/iowa/news/resources.html?record=739

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ABORTION

Ban partial-birth abortions, except for maternal health. (Oct 2000)
Opposes partial birth abortion, but opposes banning it. (Sep 2000)
Voted against Medicare-funded abortions; but now supports it. (Jan 2000)


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CIVIL RIGHTS

Mass violations of civil liberties in the war on terror. (Nov 2003)
Repeal the USA Patriot Act. (Nov 2003)

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CIVIL LIBERTIES & JUSTICE

Death penalty for deterrence, but carefully. (Oct 2000)
Supports death penalty; no moratorium for new DNA techniques. (Feb 2000)

Three Strikes should apply only to truly violent crimes. (Feb 2000)
Loosen restrictions on medical marijuana. (Mar 2000)
Tougher drug policies; fight drugs in Colombia. (Mar 2000)
Drug Control Strategy: More $, more enforcement, more TV ads. (Feb 1999)


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EDUCATION

TPR 2000 -  Both Al Gore and George Bush have hijacked public education
as a major campaign issue, despite the fact that public education has
been traditionally, and is constitutionally, a state and local matter.
Journalists, accepting whatever propaganda the GOP and Democratic cult
leaders give them, treat the issue as though the only question was what
the federal government should be doing and not whether it should be
involved at all. Thus, once again, a huge mutation in our political
system is occurring without serious debate. As we have pointed out, the
federal record in public education has been pretty dismal -- starting
with the misbegotten 1950s plan to keep up with the Russians by making
our schools larger and larger until finally they needed wardens rather
than principals. In recent years, politicians without the slightest
skill in education have leaped to support such fads as vouchers, charter
schools, and various forms of standardized testing. Now we face the
absurd situation of Al Gore and Dubya arguing over which assault on the
public schools is the best, when, in fact, any sane parent would try to
keep their children as far away as possible from either candidate and
their advisors.

AL GORE, 2000 - Every state and every school district should be required
to identify failing schools, and work to turn them around--with strict
accountability for results, and strong incentives for success. And if
these failing schools don't improve quickly, they should be shut down
fairly and fast, and when needed, reopened under a new principal.

STACY MITCHELL, INSTITUTE FOR LOCAL SELF-RELIANCE: In May 1999, prompted
largely by the shootings at Columbine High, a school with 2,000
students, Vice President Al Gore criticized the practice of "herding all
students into overcrowded, factory-style high schools" A panel of school
security experts was convened by Education Secretary Richard Riley.
Their top recommendation had nothing to do with gun control, metal
detectors or police on the premises. Rather, they said, reduce the size
of the nation's schools. Small schools are a powerful antidote to the
sense of alienation that can lead to violence. In September, Riley told
the National Press Club that the nation needs to "create small,
supportive learning environments that give students a sense of
connection. That's hard to do when we are building high schools the size
of shopping malls. Size matters."

http://prorev.com/schoolsmall.htm

Bush voucher plan would result in a huge new federal program. (Oct 2000)

Make $10,000 of college tuition tax deductible annually. (Oct 2000)
Agrees with unions against vouchers; disagrees on testing. (Jun 2000)
Stress early learning, small classes, & classroom technology. (Apr 2000)

Revolutionary plan": 50% more for public schools. (Jan 2000)
Connect every school to the Internet. (May 1999)
Supports Goals 2000 & standards-based movement. (Feb 2000)
For-profit schools OK within public system. (May 2000)
Says Bush's "choice" sends kids to bad public schools. (Apr 2000)
More choice, more local control, within public schools. (May 1999)
After-school care for 10 million kids. (May 2000)

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ENVIRONMENT

JOHN STAUBER, CENTER FOR MEDIA & DEMOCRACY: Democratic big business
lobbyist Toby Moffett, a Monsanto vice president until recently and now
a consultant, is one of the so-called progressives coordinating the
effort to attack Nader and his supporters. Moffett and the rest of
Monsanto's lobbyists love Al Gore because, while Gore did not invent the
Internet, he is the techno-pol responsible for shoving Monsanto's
inadequately tested, possibly dangerous and definitely unlabeled
genetically engineered foods down the throats of American eaters. Now
Toby is trying to shove Al Gore down voters' throats but that's going
over about as well as milk from Monsanto's hormone-injected cows

GORE, 2000 - There is overwhelming scientific consensus that human
activity is contributing to global warming ... which can lead to serious
public health consequences ... and extreme weather.

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TRANSPORTATION

Major commitment to build high-speed Amtrak rail systems. (Sep 2000)
Both gas & public transit should be affordable & available. (Jun 2000)
Clean up and improve existing bus & rail systems. (Jun 2000)
Tax credits for buying homes and vehicles that save energy and pollute
less

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FOREIGN POLICY

Damage done at Abu Ghraib was serious. (May 2004)
Supported force in Mideast, Balkans, Haiti, not Somalia. (Oct 2000)
Cuba: Hard-liner on Castro; keep sanctions. (Oct 2000)
Link trade to environment and labor. (Sep 2000)
Agrees with unions on 90% of issues, but not on free trade. (Mar 2000)

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POLITICS & GOVERNMENT

In 1996 Al Gore raises an illegal $100,000 at a fund-raiser at a
Buddhist temple in California, less than ten percent of the amount
Hillary Clinton would later raise in California without reporting it.

$7B public campaign finance fund. (Apr 2000)
Decentralization builds faith in government. (Jan 1999)

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HEALTH

Physicians, not HMO should make medical decisions. (Oct 2000)
Opposes Medical Savings Accounts; they segment out the sick. (Oct 2000)
Against assisted suicide; but leave it to the states. (May 2000)
Wants some form of non-government universal health care. (Oct 2000)
All children should have health care by 2004. (Apr 2000)
Senior prescription drug benefit with $4,000 cap. (Sep 2000)
Allow 55-65 year olds to buy into Medicare. (Sep 2000)

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SOCIAL SECURITY

STEVE EMBER, VOA, 2000 - There has been much debate this year about the
Social Security program for older Americans. Al Gore opposes reducing
government control. He says this could lead to cuts in payments and an
increase in the retirement age.. . .

http://www.manythings.org/voa/00/001028itn_t.htm