Why Is Al Gore Fomenting Class Warfare?
mrpotter
Why is Al Gore fomenting `class warfare´?
Molly Ivins
AUSTIN -- Humanizing Al Gore is the topic du jour, so let me contribute
my mite.
In the summer of '92, the Clintons and Gores were on a bus trip in East
Texas having a whale of time. As they rolled through the small towns,
when there weren't enough people to justify getting out and forming a
rope line, the bus would go into a "slow roll" while Bill and Al stood
on the steps leading down to the glass doorway, waving at people and
letting them get a good look.
At one point, Clinton went to the back of the bus and Gore was left in
the doorway by himself, waving and smiling genially at the folks while
muttering something like: "Hi there. Bill Clinton wants your vote very
much. Right now he's in the bathroom, but he still wants your vote. Hi
there."
Of course, it wouldn't seem so improbable to see headlines about "Fun
Al Gore" if the media hadn't created the Wooden Al stereotype in the
first place (with a little help from Gore in his Mr. Rogers mode).
Meanwhile, we continue to enjoy the faux-naif routine offered by
Republicans and their media flunkies: What could Gore mean by "the
people against the powerful"?
Gov. W. Bush was so confused about it that he called it "class
warfare." I especially enjoy watching Washington pundits affect to be
unable to figure out the fuss. They cover `Washington, D.C.,´ and they
have never in their whole lives seen or heard of a case in which
special-interest money influenced legislation against the people and in
favor of the powerful.
They missed communications deregulation (a bill written by lobbyists),
utilities deregulation, bankruptcy "reform," banking deregulation as
though nobody ever heard of the S&L disaster, the killing of the
patients' bill of rights, the pittance in royalties from public lands
paid by the oil companies, the sugar subsidy, the ethanol subsidy, and
the auto industry's lobbying against higher pollution standards and a
rating system for SUV rollover hazard.
What can he mean by "powerful special interests"?
They missed the drug industry's continuing rip-off of the public above
and beyond the already wretched pricing system by sneaking drug-patent
extensions through Congress; never noticed the insurance industry
spending $10 million to kill health care proposals; didn't see the
corporate tax write-off for obscene executive salaries; haven't
wondered why a $1-an-hour increase in the minimum wage can't get
through Congress; and never saw the National Forest Service subsidizing
logging roads for the timber industry.
Why in the world is Gore trying to incite "class warfare"?
The plump comfortable commentators pulling down $1 million or more a
year cannot understand why Gore would spout populism when `everyone´ is
doing so well. Absolutely everyone they know.
We have a criminal justice system that is so repellently biased against
the poor and minorities and so flagrantly forgiving of rich white
people who use cocaine that it's a national disgrace. But no one wants
to hear that, because everyone is doing just fine. What is all this
populist rhetoric about?
According to the Internet, 138 stories in recent days have been devoted
to the Gores' on-stage smooch, now referred to as The Kiss. The polar
icecap melting got less coverage; AIDS in Africa gets less coverage.
Hey, people aren't interested in global warming. No one has noticed the
drought; no one pays attention to those forest fires all over the west;
people don't care about that. Al Gore talks about global warming and
the media cry, "Policy wonk, policy wonk, boring!" He smooches his wife
in public, and we go nuts.
The media have important things to worry about, like the new grand jury
investigating Bill Clinton's love life because it hasn't been
investigated enough, so no wonder they don't have time to look into how
the drug companies stole the public's cancer research and made money
off it, or how pathetically undertaxed corporate, industrial and
mineral property is, or illegal toxic dumping, or the giveaway of the
digital TV spectrum, or the ongoing effects of the 1872 Mining Act.
And of course we have far, far less time to devote to what can be done
about all of this. Most people have no idea that anything can be done,
or is being done. Why in the world is Al Gore fomenting class warfare?
Molly Ivins is a columnist for the `Star-Telegram.´ You can reach her
at 1005 Congress Ave., Suite 920, Austin, TX 78701; (512) 476-8908; or
send comments to molly...@star-telegram.com
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Bushman
Man, she can write.
Bushman
mrpotter <gregory_mor...@webtv.net.invalid> wrote in message
news:07a7e355...@usw-ex0107-050.remarq.com...
Alacrity
mrpotter <gregory_mor...@webtv.net.invalid> wrote in message
news:07a7e355...@usw-ex0107-050.remarq.com...
Ted Krueger
Bushman wrote:
> POSTING ON TOP!
>
> Man, she can write.
Ah Bush, you just want to get in her breach-heads.
Ted
mrpotter
<krue...@uswest.net> wrote:
> Bushman wrote:
> > POSTING ON TOP!
> >
> > Man, she can write.
> Ted
Thank you for not calling her "that fat bitch from Texas", Ted....
Best
Greg this fat bitch from IL had chicken - fried steak for dinner
("belch")....
Ted Krueger
wins...@my-deja.com wrote:
> In article <39A485DC...@uswest.net>,
> Ted Krueger <krue...@uswest.net> wrote:
> >
> >
> > Bushman wrote:
> >
> > > POSTING ON TOP!
> > >
> > > Man, she can write.
> >
> > Ah Bush, you just want to get in her breach-heads.
> >
> > Ted
> >
>
> Yeah, Molly's the best columnist around. Kicks the shit out of the
> imbecile Cal Thomas. Eh, Ted?
Only if you love people who make their living trying to make other
people look like crap.
Hell. I could do that.
I guess I couldn't be successful because I'm not a female liberal living
in a state where there are only twelve of them.
Jeeze. Make my job hard and then try to test me.
It is easy to be a liberal columnist.
All you have to do is make fun of conservative people.
You have to think to be a conservative.
Ted
wins...@my-deja.com
> >
> > Man, she can write.
>
>
> Ted
>
Yeah, Molly's the best columnist around. Kicks the shit out of the
imbecile Cal Thomas. Eh, Ted?
-Winslow
>
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
Eric da Red
Ted Krueger <krue...@uswest.net> wrote:
>
>wins...@my-deja.com wrote:
...
>> Yeah, Molly's the best columnist around. Kicks the shit out of the
>> imbecile Cal Thomas. Eh, Ted?
>
>Only if you love people who make their living trying to make other
>people look like crap.
Here's an example of Molly Ivins making other people look like ... well,
you decide.
Good for the Priorities
I'm not a better person, but I'm grateful
AUSTIN -- In one week and two days I will be finished
with nine months of
treatment for cancer. First they poison you; then they
mutilate you; then they
burn you. I've had more fun. And when it's almost
over, you're so glad that
you're grateful to absolutely everyone. And I am.
We've all done our best here; whether this thing comes
back is out of all of our
hands. My wise friend Marlyn Schwartz said that those
of us who survive owe a
debt -- to Carole Kneeland, Mary Sherrill, Jocelyn
Gray and to all the others who
didn't make it. They would have given anything they
owned, any part of their
bodies, for the gift of life. We who survive have it,
and we owe it to them to
cherish it -- joyfully.
The trouble is, I'm not a better person. I was in
great hopes that confronting my
own mortality would make me deeper, more thoughtful.
Many lovely people sent
books on how to find a deeper spiritual meaning in
life. My response was, "Oh
hell, I can't go on a spiritual journey -- I'm
constipated."
Being sick actually narrows your world, I'm afraid --
makes you focus more on
yourself. Maybe when it's over and you don't feel like
crud all the time, then your
spirit soars. The chief reason to keep working is
because it takes your mind off
yourself.
The main thing they tell you, over and over, is that
this is different for everyone.
Everyone reacts differently to chemotherapy, to
surgery, to radiation. I even got
mad at Marlyn, who simply sailed through chemo.
I vomited in the office, couldn't sleep forever, lost
50 pounds. I don't
recommend the diet. I was like, help, I'm flunking
cancer.
Of course I laughed a lot -- who could not laugh?
There's even a cancer-humor
Web site called Tarry, Black Stools. I got my first
hair a few weeks ago. It came
in right next to my mouth -- that little moustache
I've always hated. That God --
what a sense of humor.
Before surgery, my friend Mercedes Pena decided that I
needed to get in touch
with my emotions. I'd just as soon not hear from my
emotions; I suspect that
they're largely unpleasant. A long-distance call once
or twice a year is enough for
me.
But Mercy insisted. Sure enough, I was not happy about
having a radical
mastectomy. I said, "Mercy, how in the world do you
Latinas do this every day,
all the time in touch with the emotions?"
She said seriously, "That's why we take siestas."
Cancer is good for the priorities. Traffic, for one
thing, is not worth getting upset
about. As my pal Spike Gillespie says, you look at
those fools honking, getting
steamed, cutting in front of you, and you just think:
"Hey, it's not a malignant
tumor, you know?"
You can't get through this without a lot of help from
your friends. I had a party
for all my helpers after I got through with chemo.
It's hard for me to talk about
things that I care deeply about without at least
trying to be funny, but I told
them how much they mean to me. The value of that
friendship is so much
greater than any of the suffering caused by cancer
that it's not even remotely
close. Moose McNeely said later that he thought the
most important thing was
not that I got all that help, but that I let people
help me. He could be right.
Despite my request, untold numbers of people wrote
wonderful cards, notes,
letters. My friends sent funny stuff by email. I'd
save it up, and about once a
month when I couldn't sleep at 3 a.m., I'd be sitting
in front of the computer,
laughing and laughing. And I'm most grateful of all to
the women who went out
and got mammograms. It's going to take me longer to
write all the thank-you
notes than it took to get over cancer.
And that brings us to another great benefit of the Big
C. It's the world's greatest
excuse. I've gotten out of more stuff I didn't want to
do -- even more than the
stuff I missed that I did want to do.
Special thanks to my boss, Paul Harral, who has had to
put up with some shoddy
work. Not even W. Bush's guy Karl Rove, who would
naturally like to cut my
throat, has uttered a peep. (It's OK now, Karl -- it's
almost over.)
Judith Curtis wrote me at the beginning: "I drank
through the whole thing, I
smoked through the whole thing, I demanded totally
uncritical love from
everyone around me, and I hated the lady from the
American Cancer Society."
My role model.
The docs were great; the staff was great. And Judythe
Wilbur, who went with me
for a blood draw at 2 p.m. and was still with me when
I got out of the hospital at
3 a.m., at least got to meet the male nurse with the
ponytail who plays
biker-gospel-rock for prisoners. It's important to
keep medical staff amused.
Right now I'm working on stories about the love life
of Clyde, the radiation
machine. On weekends, he sneaks across the hall and
offers to share electricity
with the CAT scan machine. He's even hustling the
office Xerox. Clyde's a
tomcat.
Cancer is not easy, it is not pleasant, and given a
choice, I would just as soon
have skipped it. But I now know what all survivors
know, and I am grateful. So
grateful.
--
Quote Of The Week: "No administration in modern history has been as good
for American business as the Clinton-Gore team. None has been as
solicitous of the concerns of business leaders, none has generated as much
profit for business." -- Robert Reich
augustxxi
Molly kicks ass. And as I said the other day, Ted can't even call her
fat anymore. But he's still fat!
August
augustxxi
Molly kicks ass. And as I said the other day, Ted can't even call her
fat anymore.
August
wins...@my-deja.com
Ted Krueger <krue...@uswest.net> wrote:
>
>
> wins...@my-deja.com wrote:
>
> > In article <39A485DC...@uswest.net>,
> > Ted Krueger <krue...@uswest.net> wrote:
> > >
> > >
> > > Bushman wrote:
> > >
> > > > POSTING ON TOP!
> > > >
> > > > Man, she can write.
> > >
> > > Ah Bush, you just want to get in her breach-heads.
> > >
> > > Ted
> > >
> >
> > Yeah, Molly's the best columnist around. Kicks the shit out of the
> > imbecile Cal Thomas. Eh, Ted?
>
> people look like crap.
>
Well, you could try. Given what I've read of yours on this ng, though,
I don't think you'd be very successful.
However, if there were a living to be made in making _yourself_ look
like crap, you'd be rolling.
>
> I guess I couldn't be successful because I'm not a female liberal
living
> in a state where there are only twelve of them.
>
> Jeeze. Make my job hard and then try to test me.
>
> It is easy to be a liberal columnist.
>
Perhaps, but you'd fail miserably, on either side of the line.
Columnists can't generally get away with just making assertions without
backing them up.
> All you have to do is make fun of conservative people.
>
> You have to think to be a conservative.
>
Maybe so, maybe so. What are you then, a conservatard?
-Winslow
p.s. My apologies to the mentally retarded. It was not my intent to
associate any of you with Mr. Krueger.
> Ted
mrpotter
and cry....
Wotta gal!!
Best
Greg
In article <sqahgu...@corp.supernews.com>, berg...@drizzle.com
(Eric da Red) wrote:
> In article <39A49A0D...@uswest.net>,
> Ted Krueger <krue...@uswest.net> wrote:
> >
> >wins...@my-deja.com wrote:
> ....
* Sent from Novell Discussion Forums http://novell.remarq.com The Internet's Discussion Network *
Jakthehmmr
>In article <39A49A0D...@uswest.net>,
>Ted Krueger <krue...@uswest.net> wrote:
>>
>>wins...@my-deja.com wrote:
>...
>
>>> Yeah, Molly's the best columnist around. Kicks the shit out of the
>>> imbecile Cal Thomas. Eh, Ted?
>>
>>Only if you love people who make their living trying to make other
>>people look like crap.
>
>Here's an example of Molly Ivins making other people look like ... well,
>you decide.
>
Too bad Molly is a Leftie.......
heywood jablomey
When you're jerking off to Dr. Laura's old nudie pics, do you think
of your father?
Eve DuJardin
>From: Ted Krueger krue...@uswest.net
>Date: 8/23/00 8:44 PM Pacific Daylight Time
>Message-id:
>wins...@my-deja.com wrote:
>
>> In article <39A485DC...@uswest.net>,
>> Ted Krueger <krue...@uswest.net> wrote:
>> >
>> >
>> > Bushman wrote:
>> >
>> > > POSTING ON TOP!
>> > >
>> > > Man, she can write.
>> >
>> > Ah Bush, you just want to get in her breach-heads.
>> >
>> > Ted
>> >
>>
>> Yeah, Molly's the best columnist around. Kicks the shit out of the
>> imbecile Cal Thomas. Eh, Ted?
>
>Only if you love people who make their living trying to make other
>people look like crap.
>
>Hell. I could do that.
>
>I guess I couldn't be successful because I'm not a female liberal living
>in a state where there are only twelve of them.
>
>Jeeze. Make my job hard and then try to test me.
>
>It is easy to be a liberal columnist.
>
>All you have to do is make fun of conservative people.
>
>You have to think to be a conservative.
>
>Ted
Eve wrote:
Sure you do, exactly like the voices tell you do.
Andy Rayburn
Honiest Luver Pie said---
snip-snap---
>Best
>Greg this fat bitch from IL had chicken - fried
>steak for dinner ("belch")....
Oh Greg, I think that was dissgusting to belch like that. Don't you
have no manners? And I must cunfess, my heart is now leenng towards
Heywood. He's so cool and funny. And you're just you. But I'll
allways have a worm spot in my heart for you. I just hope heal have me.
Thanx for ee-mailing me the nakid pics of yourself. I didn't reelize
you had such a small peter. Did your Dad have an accident with a meat
cleever when you were close bye.
with a heavy heart
Andy Candy
Andy Rayburn
From: mers...@webtv.net (heywood jablomey) Re: Why is Molly Ivins
(jak)
>Hey Jak,
>When you're jerking off to Dr. Laura's old
>nudie pics, do you think of your father?
Oh Heywood, I allways think of you and I hope you think of me. I used
to think of Greg. But then I found out he has such a small peter.
Reely dissappoited in Greg
Andy Candy