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LoungeMachine
10-11-2007, 01:08 PM
Could Nobel Prize Spur Gore To Run In '08?
Grassroots Groups Urging Former Vice President To Enter Presidential Race



The Nobel Peace Prize, which will be announced Friday in Oslo, Norway, doesn't normally play a significant role in U.S. presidential politics.

But the possibility that former Vice President Al Gore might take the prize has some Gore supporters buzzing that the 2000 Democratic Party nominee for president might be convinced to take the plunge once again.

Gore and Canadian Inuit activist Sheila Watt-Cloutier, who were jointly nominated for the prize for their work on climate change, have been identified as likely winners by Nobel handicappers. If they win, Gore supporters say, it could spur the former vice president to make a late entry into the presidential race.

"Winning a Nobel Peace Prize is a life changing event," said Dylan Malone, who runs a Web site called AlGore.org, which advocates a Gore presidential run. "If he wins (the Nobel), he will undoubtedly reassess the situation and think, 'Where do I go next?' He's done the slideshow, made the movie, won every accolade that our society has to give. There's nowhere else to go to take it to the next level in my mind."

On Wednesday, the Web site Draft Gore paid for a full-page open letter to Gore in the New York Times. "You say you have fallen out of love with politics, and you have every reason to feel that way," reads the letter. "But we know you have not fallen out of love with your country. And your country needs you now -- as do your party and the planet you are fighting so hard to save."

The ad said that 136,000 people have signed a petition asking Gore to run for president.

According to Gore spokesperson Kalee Kreider, the former vice president "has no intention of running."

"Vice President Gore truly appreciates the sentiment and the feeling behind the ad (yesterday), but as a private citizen his efforts are going behind a campaign of a different kind," said Kreider. "The vast majority of his energy right now is going into educating people about the climate crisis and trying to get that issue to a tipping point."

That sentiment hasn't stopped Gore partisans. Peter Ryder, who is organizing a rally and concert in Iowa urging Gore to run, acknowledges that his efforts at times seem quixotic. Still, he says, "When I go around just talking to people, they all say, 'Oh my goodness, if Gore was running, there would be no question I'd support him.' If he got in, I think he would attract a great many Democrats."

According to recent CBS News polls, Gore remains popular among Democratic primary voters. In a poll conducted this summer, 55 percent of likely Democratic primary voters said they viewed the former vice president favorably, while only 20 percent had an unfavorable view. In April, a CBS News poll found that 35 percent of Americans believe Gore's positions go too far in protecting the environment at the expense of economic concerns, while 48 percent believe he strikes the right balance. (Read more CBS News poll analysis on Gore.)

Even Gore's staunchest supporters admit that with the first presidential primaries likely to be held in less than three months, time is running out for a late entry to the race.

"Because of his incredible appeal and his name recognition, he still has time, but the window of opportunity is closing pretty quickly," said Draft Gore founder Monica Friedlander. "The registration deadlines are closing for primaries. After the beginning of next month, it's going to be very difficult."

Gore explicitly ruled out running in 2004, something he has not done this time around. But while the politician-turned-filmmaker has passionate supporters, most Democratic primary voters -- 67 percent in a CBS News poll taken in August -- said they are happy with the selection of candidates now in the race. If Gore does decide to enter, he faces an uphill battle: Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama alone have raised around $80 million each since the beginning of the year, and all of his potential rivals have been campaigning, advertising and debating for months.

"There are genuine practical considerations at play here," said Democratic strategist and former Gore aide Chris Lehane. "One, the ability to get on a ballot in all these states with a small window of opportunity to accomplish that. Secondly, to put together a campaign and raise money in a very short time. Most of the activists and key players are already aligned with campaigns. These aren't impossible impediments, but they are significant."

Democratic strategist and longtime Gore adviser Michael Feldman, who is not working on a presidential campaign, said he doesn't see Gore jumping in the race.

"Everything he's said publicly and privately indicates that he's not planning a campaign," said Feldman.

That's a sentiment echoed by Carter Eskew, chief strategist for the Gore 2000 presidential campaign.

If Gore wins the Nobel Prize, Eskew said, "I think it will certainly increase efforts like you saw in the paper, but I really don't think it'll have any impact on him at all. I think he's on a different path right now."

But Gore supporters are holding out hope.

"A lot of people are sacrificing a lot," said Draft Gore founder Friedlander. "People are donating to this cause who can't afford to donate. But we believe very strongly he is very, very desperately needed. This is not a campaign of people who think he's a great guy. This is not about him. It's about the country."


By Brian Montopoli
©MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Lqskdiver
10-11-2007, 03:05 PM
Lounge Queen,

On your wait out be sure to sign the petition:

http://draftgore.com/images/Poster.jpg

Draft Gore (http://draftgore.com/index.asp)

Draft Gore - A People's Movement

We are grassroots Democrats from across the country who believe Al Gore is the true voice of our party and the only leader and statesman who can return the White House back to the American people.

We are not affiliated with any candidate or political party. Our supporters include members of Democratic Party organizations at all levels, but we take pride in being truly a grassroots movement -- one that's neither financed nor orchestrated by the powerful, but that builds on the enthusiasm and passion of the American people.

We still believe in an America in which the people can and will make a difference. We are committed to doing all we can to promote Al Gore's candidacy. But we need your help to tap into the extraordinary support he enjoys and turn it into a true national movement.

FORD
10-11-2007, 03:10 PM
Let's pray that he jumps in. Someone has to stop this Hillary coronation bullshit.

Yo JC, you listening up there????

Jesus Christ
10-11-2007, 03:12 PM
Originally posted by FORD

Yo JC, you listening up there????

My son, ye know that Dad and I cannot interfere with thy elections.

If we could, do ye think ye would have been stuck with the Son of Bush??

LoungeMachine
10-11-2007, 04:17 PM
Originally posted by Lqskdiver
Lounge Queen,

On your wait out be sure to sign the petition:



Did you mean "way out" ?

Or am I to simply "wait out" something?

And I find you one of the most intelligent Cons around here, and therefore expect you to be able to muster the inner strength to come up with a better nickname for me.

The moronic Texas busboy has stooped to this lame reference, I expect much better from you....

Liquid Skin Diver was at least creative on my part. ;)

Warham
10-11-2007, 04:57 PM
How does creating a video with falsehoods in it promote peace?

British court case punches holes in Al Gore's fantasy climate movie
Alan Ferguson , The Province
Published: Thursday, October 11, 2007

In his dreams, Al Gore wins the Nobel peace prize and is propelled into the White House on a wave of popular acclaim.

His waking moments these days are probably slightly less euphoric.

A judge in Britain's High Court has ruled that Gore's apocalyptic movie on climate change, An Inconvenient Truth, should come with a warning that it promotes "partisan political views" and is riddled with errors.

The case was brought by truck driver Stewart Dimmock, who accused the British government of "brainwashing" children by requiring that Gore's movie be shown in schools.

While Judge Michael Burton declined to ban the movie outright, he did order the government to rewrite its guidelines to highlight the movie's falsehoods.

These were identified in court as follows:

Gore's claim: A retreating glacier on Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania is evidence of global warming.

Finding: The government's expert witness conceded this was not correct.

Gore: Ice core samples prove that rising levels of carbon dioxide have caused temperature increases.

Finding: Rises in carbon dioxide actually lagged behind temperature increases by 800-2000 years.

Gore: Global warming triggered Hurricane Katrina, devastating New Orleans.

Finding: The government's expert accepted it was "not possible" to attribute one-off events to global warming.

Gore: Global warming is causing Africa's Lake Chad to dry up.

Finding: The government's expert accepted that this was not the case.

Gore: Polar bears had drowned due to disappearing Arctic ice.

Finding: Only four polar bears drowned, due to a particularly violent storm.

Gore: Global warming could stop the Gulf Stream, plunging Europe into a new ice age.

Finding: A scientific impossibility.

Gore: Species losses, including coral reef bleaching, are the result of global warming.

Finding: No evidence to support the claim.

Gore: Melting ice in Greenland could cause sea levels to rise dangerously.

Finding: Greenland ice will not melt for millennia.

Gore: Ice cover in Antarctica is melting.

Finding: It is, in fact, increasing.

Gore: Sea levels could rise by seven metres, causing the displacement of millions of people.

Finding: Sea levels are expected to rise by about 40 centimetres over 100 years.

Gore: Rising sea levels caused the evacuation of Pacific islanders to New Zealand.

Finding: The court observed that this appears to be a false claim.

Canadian students who have been force-fed Gore's fantasy in classrooms across the nation may have some awkward questions for their credulous teachers in the wake of the British court case.

On the other hand, it may already be too late.

The damage has been done.

alan.f@telus.net
http://www.canada.com/topics/news/story.html?id=50e42b47-ca21-47c1-bbb1-caf456348677&k=21371

Guitar Shark
10-11-2007, 05:13 PM
I see FORD is talking to himself again.

Lqskdiver
10-12-2007, 08:41 AM
Originally posted by Guitar Shark
I see FORD is talking to himself again.

No, he is not talking to himself, Matt.

HE RESPONDING TO HIMSELF!

THAT... is a cause for concern.

And for your information, Lounge QueeF, I didn't really think you were really worth the effort in coming up with such a clever name since nicknames aren't my fort'e. I see them as a last resort when all creativity and wit has run out and your left with nothing but rocks in your gunny sack.

Lqskdiver
10-12-2007, 08:43 AM
You know what, the way things are shaping here, I might just join this movement and get Gore to run.

Anything to stop the Hilary Machina.

GO GORE FOR THE NOMINATION!!

Nickdfresh
10-12-2007, 09:12 AM
I'd love to see Gore run - but it's a bit late...

scamper
10-12-2007, 10:56 AM
Originally posted by LoungeMachine
Gore and Canadian Inuit activist Sheila Watt-Cloutier, who were jointly nominated for the prize for their work on climate change

They changed the climate? By the way I planted 25 trees last weekend, but I had to use a emission spewing, gas hog truck to get them there, after that we hit the trails with our bikes, atvs and utvs. Is that a wash?

LoungeMachine
10-12-2007, 11:55 AM
Gore Wins the Nobel. But Will He Run?

Friday, Oct. 12, 2007 By ERIC POOLEY


For the past year, Al Gore has gone about his considerable business without showing much interest in running for president. While picking up an Oscar and an Emmy, publishing a very smart book and playing host at a global concert for the planet, he's never done more than tease the idea. And yet all that time, the leaders of the Draft Gore movement have been clinging to a single fervid dream: that Gore would win the Nobel Peace Prize and use it to catapult himself to an eleventh-hour bid for the presidency.

Now the Nobel Committee has done its part, awarding Gore the Peace Prize for being "probably the single individual who has done most to create greater worldwide understanding of the measures that need to be adopted" to combat climate change, according to his citation. (The United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was also a joint winner of the prize.) And so, after the obligatory spasms of celebration and the equally obligatory gnashing of Rush Limbaugh's teeth, will Americans finally get to enjoy one of the great spectacles in political history, as Gore's ultimate honor levitates him beyond his leading rival, Hillary Clinton, and into the Oval Office?

Nope.

Let me be clear. If Al Gore gets into the presidential race, I'll eat my copy of An Inconvenient Truth. (The paperback, not the DVD.) I've spent a good deal of time with Gore this year, while writing a TIME cover story about him. I think he's staying out of the race — and I think I know why. But before I get into that, let me offer a few thoughts about what's not keeping him on the sidelines. I don't think Gore is staying out because of all the logistical difficulties that running would entail. Sure, it would be challenging to staff up a national organization and build the county-by-county teams he'd need to compete in the early states. True, he has no shadow campaign lurking in the background and waiting to be deployed. But he could hire one, recruiting first-rate people from other campaigns as they fade; and he could enlist his vast army of grassroots followers as well as his Silicon Valley friends in a rainmaking operation mighty enough to compete against the fundraising prowess of Clinton and Barack Obama. So the logistics, though daunting, aren't what's keeping Gore out.

Nor do I believe that Hillary Clinton is keeping Gore from running. It's true that Gore's late-entry presidential calculus always required Hillary to stumble, and it's true she has not done so — to the contrary, she has extended her lead nationally, edged ahead in Iowa, and taken on an aura of invincibility that has brought the Democratic power structure into line behind her. One hundred and thirty-six thousand people may have signed Draft Gore petitions, but most Dems seem pleased with their current candidates — and especially with the frontrunner. To borrow a phrase from Barack Obama, the Clinton machine is fired up and ready to go, and Gore doesn't relish the idea of being caught beneath its wheels.

But that's not the nub of it either. Hillary is just a sideshow; the main event is unfolding deep inside Gore. Consider: He put himself in position to win the Nobel by committing to an issue bigger than himself — the fight to save the planet. If he runs for president now, he'll be hauling himself back up onto that dusty old pedestal, signaling that he is, after all, the most important thing in his world. Sure, he'd say he was doing it because he feels a moral obligation to intervene in a time of unparalleled crisis. But running for president is by definition an act of hubris, and Gore has spent the past couple of years defying his ego and sublimating himself to a larger goal. Running for president would mean returning to a role he'd already transcended. He'd turn into — again — just another politician, when a lot of people thought he might be something better than that.

And he'd be risking a hard-won happiness. Gore is happier these days because he is living the kind of life he always wanted to lead. He's happier these days because he is free from the excruciating requirements of electoral politics, the glad-handing and the money-grubbing that drove him deeper into himself the more he was forced to reach out. And, finally, he's happier now because he has been vindicated. The Nobel is an acknowledgment that Gore was right about the greatest global threat we face (and that this is the year when most everyone else finally figured out he was right). Winning the Peace Prize may not place Gore among the global saints, the Nelson Mandelas of the world; but it does place him among the laureates who are beloved in some quarters and loathed in others — those highly charged Prizewinners like Jimmy Carter.

That's not a bad place to be, but you won't find Gore gloating about it. This Prize, after all, is a recognition that Gore has done more than anyone else (excepting Mother Nature) to bring about a sea change in public opinion. An overwhelming majority of Americans — 90% of Democrats, 80% of independents, 60% of Republicans — now say they favor "immediate action" to confront the climate crisis. Gore helped make that happen, but he can't take too much satisfaction in it. As he told me last spring, "Time is running out, and we still haven't done anything."


Time Inc.

VanJay011379
10-12-2007, 11:59 AM
From http://www.fark.com/politics/


Woman who saved 2500 Jews during the Holocaust given Nobel Peace Prize --- just kidding, it's the guy who emits over a ton of CO2 a year telling us to stop global warming

:D

The Nobel prize is like getting into the Rock Hall of Fame. Its a huge farce.

Guitar Shark
10-12-2007, 12:03 PM
I don't get all the criticism. Congrats on winning, Al. Let's hope it spurs some change in how we approach the global warming issue.

LoungeMachine
10-12-2007, 12:36 PM
Originally posted by Guitar Shark
I don't get all the criticism.

Ignorance.

Fear.

Too much FAUX NEWS.

Take your pick......

LoungeMachine
10-12-2007, 12:38 PM
Originally posted by VanJay011379
The Nobel prize is like getting into the Rock Hall of Fame. Its a huge farce.

:rolleyes:

Lqskdiver
10-12-2007, 12:44 PM
Naa, I'm happy for the guy. He's passionate and is actually contributing through promotion. It will make people think about taking care of this rock.

Hell, according to him, he even shared his winnings with the UN. Now exactly how much he shared is yet to be determined.

Al: "Here's $50...go splurge next time you want to send some cash to Darfur".

Nickdfresh
10-12-2007, 12:53 PM
Originally posted by VanJay011379
From http://www.fark.com/politics/



:D

The Nobel prize is like getting into the Rock Hall of Fame. Its a huge farce.

What's really funny is how lower middle class white males so resoundingly vote against their basic economic interests...

Nitro Express
10-12-2007, 03:10 PM
It's looking like if Gore doesn't run we get Hillary. Gore is overated but he's still better than the Clinton sell out.

FORD
10-12-2007, 03:46 PM
Congrats, Mr. President! Now can you PLEASE put a stop to Hillary's Co2 (hot air) emissions???

Warham
10-12-2007, 03:49 PM
The Nobel Peace Prize is a farce, and it's been that way for years. He joins Yassir Arafat in winning this 'prestigious' award.

I think if Gore tries to run, Hillary will take him out at the knees, or her husband will. Nothing's going to stop the Clinton Machine from getting in the White House, even Fat Albert.

ULTRAMAN VH
10-13-2007, 05:50 PM
Love the way Big Al in is sanctimonious posturing donated his winnings to a non profit organization he created. What a joke. Hey Al, how about donating to a green cause that doesn't have your fat bloated fingers attached to it. For that matter, why doesn't the political super hero go after the two leading polluters of the earth, China and India? He won't tackle China because their communist run government will give his ass such a smack, he won't shit for a week. I am a big proponent of taking care of the planet, but I have a real problem with a multi millionaire POLITICIAN taking the lead. As for Hitlary V.S. Gore, i'll take Big Al as the lesser of the two evils.