Should Al Run?

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(malorn @ May 17 2007, 10:38 AM) [snapback]444174[/snapback]</div>

If Al runs, he'll win. Oops, I said that back in 1999!

Dave

 

No, I dont think he will run and I think he should keep with what he is doing and get peoples attention as to what is going on with the oil/G warming etc... I think he more valuable in that capacity.

But a dem. needs to turn the country around again in a positive way and get back to a cash surplus and not a cash deficit. and stop all the Fu****g outsourcing. USA needs be a manufaturer again and not just the buyer.

 

I think he's keeping the door cracked open in case the front runners screw up and the party needs someone to step in. But I don't think that will happen. The party is extremely happy with their choices right now and there are enough great choices that the loss of 1 or even 2 of them will still leave them happy with who they have left. Gore isn't needed, and if he were to step in on his own, at this point, he'd be seen as disruptive. So although I've grown to like the guy, I think he should and will stay out of it.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(DaveLeePrius @ May 17 2007, 11:44 AM) [snapback]444179[/snapback]</div>

You were right back then!

 

I don't really want him to run. Don't get me wrong, i have nothing against the guy. However, the stench of the 2000 election will drag him down. Further, while we applaud An Inconvenient Truth, I've seen it really polarize people either for or against it, and that will carry into the election.

In short, i think he's a great person, and would make a decent president (maybe even great, but thats really hard to tell before hand), but i think he just has too much political baggage to make it that far.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(priussoris @ May 17 2007, 10:52 AM) [snapback]444188[/snapback]</div>

It is a bit odd how such a technologically advanced country like the USA subsists primarily on service and agriculture.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(DaveLeePrius @ May 17 2007, 11:44 AM) [snapback]444179[/snapback]</div>

And your odds of being correct this time are as good as they were last time

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(malorn @ May 17 2007, 12:24 PM) [snapback]444213[/snapback]</div>

or his movie

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Dragonfly @ May 17 2007, 11:57 AM) [snapback]444191[/snapback]</div>

i do not think the dnc is happy with the current choices. bho keeps making it know he is still far from ripe to run and hillary has tooo high a negative rating and then there is..... who is next, bloomberg? the dems would never want a Jew as a presidential candidate - it would send the kos-ites crazy.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(priussoris @ May 17 2007, 11:52 AM) [snapback]444188[/snapback]</div>

Agree, the dems prefer a cash surplus over no domestic terror attacks - what will the terror guys hit during the next democratic presidents term? easier today now that two builds are not available for them to destroy - the same two that they tried to topple early in bj's presidency.

We will need to manufactor a lot of body bags if we get b. hussein obama as pres or even hillary. far fewer than needed for the brave soldiers who have made the ultimate sacrifice for us - u no - those troops the dems support by trying to take their funding away from them or set retreat deadlines for our enemies.... i guess bill/hillary supported them too by cutting their funding and intelligence funding - funny way the dems show love to our troops.



<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(malorn @ May 17 2007, 11:38 AM) [snapback]444174[/snapback]</div>

i wonder where algore would be if he were not born with a platinum spoon in his mouth - probably creating far less greenhouse gasses then he is now

but then again we would not have the internet or for that matter GW.

u gotta love algore - somebody has to - jeeez - he lost to dubya - how bad is that?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(malorn @ May 17 2007, 04:32 PM) [snapback]444442[/snapback]</div>

You know, last year I fabricated this barstool racer, and paid extra to buy a REAL Honda engine, instead of a cheap Chinese clone. I had NO IDEA this sort of thing was going on 'till then!

The idea that these folks can commit industrial crimes of this nature is sickening, actually...blatantly ripping off the architecture of an engine, for example...but, and here's the difficult part...lots of Americans are simply living beyond their means and so are willing to sacrifice their "buy USA" principles to keep their lifestyle going with cheaper, imported goods (which are obviously not produced under the same labor conditions, or with the same concern for the environment).

I'm concerned that, when push comes to shove, folks would rather keep living higher on the hog than spend extra money to support industry here at home.

Sad, but true. I'm trying to buy a ceiling fan for my home, and there is ONLY ONE COMPANY which still makes fans in the USA. They're expensive and, frankly, the selection isn't that good (so I'm looking for an old "made in USA" one that's been refurbished...this at least keeps the $$ that I'm paying the guy to do the work in our country).

 

I voted for him in 2000. He would have been a fine President. After what we've had under the Bush regime we'll all be lucky if we escape alive. The only 2 things I agreed with were the elimination of the marriage penalty tax and of course the Prius tax credit I got this year. Other than that, Bush is causing our country to be hated by darn near every country on the planet. I fear for my life at times.

Al Gore is a good decent man who would make a fine President if he chooses to run.

On another note: I am embarressed to say that I live in Palm Beach Cty., Fl where the chad ballot cost Al the election in 2000. I also liked Al's documentary on global warming. I hope he runs.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(malorn @ May 17 2007, 11:38 AM) [snapback]444174[/snapback]</div>

Ouch, kinda cynical. I think he already has more spotlight than the POTUS. But ~ thanks for the link to the great article, Malorn!

 

he's got my vote

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(malorn @ May 17 2007, 05:01 PM) [snapback]444455[/snapback]</div>

But how? I'm not arguing now, just asking. I mean, people are suffering; we're all talking about it and lots of us are feeling it firsthand.

This isn't even like the President or whomever telling us about some abstract problem that might or might not really exist. It's right there for us all to see. And still nothing changes. Why do you think this is?

At first, I thought that we'd all become a bit selfish and greedy, but now I'm wondering if that's untrue.

Here's what I think/fear is *really* happening: [gulp] We've been snookered so many times by the government and the power elite that we've become afraid that any individual sacrifice on our part will be taken advantage of by someone else. Also, we've been splintered into so many marketing sub-groups that in some ways this has led to isolation between folks who aren't almost exactly alike. It's become somehow more difficult to sympathize with someone whose skillset is completely different from yours, may hold distinctly different religious/political beliefs than you do, and lives in a distant part of the country.

Come to think of it, I hope this is untrue, too. You'd think that with the internet and affordable instantaneous communication and whatnot, we'd all be *closer*...wouldn't you?

------------

Al Gore? In my opinion, just about everyone these days seems to be carrying significant baggage...perhaps it's not how much baggage one carries, but how well one carries it, that matters most?

 

The only "Al" I would be voting for is Al Swearengen. If only he could run. Now that would make for some interesting politics! :lol:

 

I thought you meant the Reverend Al. :lol:

Harry

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Pinto Girl @ May 17 2007, 01:24 PM) [snapback]444432[/snapback]</div>

The death of American manufacturing is greatly exaggerated. Manufacturing has been on a growth curve for most of the last 20 years, but it is cyclical like everything else in our economy. Its now about 12% of GDP, down from about 18% in the 1950's, but then government has grown from about 20% to 30% of GDP. The percentage of GDP is only one of the measurements you have to take to see the health of an industry.

Another measure is the number of people employed in that industry. The retail, or "service" sector has gotten bigger than manufacturing, with 15 million employees verses manufacturing's 14 million in 04/07, but the trend in the retail sector is down by quite a bit more than in the manufacturing sector (retail employment down 26% verses manufacturing's decline of 19% from last year). But the "professional" sector, lawyers, doctors, engineers, etc., employed even more ... some 17 million last month. See http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t14.htm for these tables.

I love manufacturing, and I would like to see a return to some protectionism, especially against regimes we want to encourage to change, such as China. Still, they are a small part of our imports overall, about 18%. I wouldn't favor punishing Canada, for instance, as they have good wages for their workers and buy a fair amount of American goods and services. But China and some other countries should either open up their markets to us or have tariffs applied to their goods.