Ain't That The Truth

Al Gore in Stockholm:

"I have absolutely no plans and no expectations of ever being a candidate again,' Gore told reporters after giving a speech at an economic forum in Sweden.

When asked how the United States would have been different if he had become president, though, he had harsh criticism for Bush's policies.

'We would not have invaded a country that didn't attack us,' he said, referring to Iraq. 'We would not have taken money from the working families and given it to the most wealthy families.'

'We would not be trying to control and intimidate the news media. We would not be routinely torturing people,' Gore said. 'We would be a different country.'"

I was just thinking about this the other day. Literally, like yesterday. What a different world this would be had the Supreme Court not appointed Bush as president in 2000. Undoubtedly, many things would have occurred similarly; 9/11 for example. But everything after that...

It boggles the mind. An ultimately useless, fruitless exercise, but damn. Talk about lost opportunity.

In the days immediately following September 11th, there was an unprecedented opportunity to really, fundamentally change the world and they way we all interacted. Old schisms could be buried, new alliances presented themselves at every turn. For the better. But instead we lashed out like the angry, wounded child that is our unfortunate president. The goodwill, the true sense of a global community.

As history will show, though, a crew of the most insidious sort of opportunists saw quite another opening there and snatched it up to make way for a new American century, one of worldwide dominance, of empire. And they lied and played upon the very worst in people, preyed upon the flames of fear they stoked at every turn, every threat found or otherwise manufactured, and led this country down the road to hell.

That the wheels are now coming off their whole enterprise as it hurdles out of control is of little consolation. They have stolen the world away.

Bastards.