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OK, I'll admit that I didn't hear the speech, but I read it and it was good, but was it that good? Perhaps I'm predjudiced by the fact that I know that it was Gore that delivered it, and I probably would have preferred someone else.

Who would you have preferred?

I've never been a big Gore fan either. But this was (dare I say it) a heckuva speech. Nothing to compare it to by a Dem in recent memory.

Ralph Nader could have delivered this speech, or some other outsider. But it wouldn't have had the same effect.

There's an eyewitness account of the speech by byneddiejingo.blogspot.com/ that gives a great idea of how stirring it was. No word on the location of the lockbox...

There's an eyewitness account of the speech by byneddiejingo.blogspot.com/ that gives a great idea of how stirring it was. No word on the location of the lockbox...

Who would you have preferred?

Maybe Russ Feingold...or from the other side McCain or Colin Powell. Just thinking out loud.

Kvatch, I agree completely on Feingold. He may well be the real thing. But this new Gore is starting to impress me, too, and he sure didn't in 2000.

Neil, thanks for the tip on By Neddie Jingo. The writer's underscoring of Gore's challenge to Congress is one of the things that really hit me about the speech as well.

But I was floored when he then challenged "we the people" for "allowing and not preventing the shocking decay and hollowing out and degradation of American democracy." Usually, pols just cynically sing the praises of the 'wisdom' and 'common sense' of the American people. It's about time someone told it like it is.

This is a prime example, in my very humble opinion, of the pressure that politicians are under when seeking office. Once they aren't campaigning anymore, they can come out & tell the truth. Look at how Kerry toed the line. He was overly careful of not upsetting anything in his campaign. Well, Gore isn't campaigning now, he's got nothing to lose. So, he feels he can say what REALLY needs to be said. YAY FOR GORE!

You're right, Helen. Pols on the make are so afraid of alienating someone that they become mealy-mouthed wusses.

But I think Gore might have stumbled upon a secret weapon that most pols have never heard of. It's called "truth." What a concept.

Yup. That's what the repubs do. Use the type of rhetoric Gore did. But they aren't afraid to use it while campaigning. Thus, the term "spineless" is constantly attributed to the dems. Oh well. They've done it to themselves.

I think that Gore could definitely be a strong President. Problem is, that what we need is a strong moral President. And I'm not convinced that Al Gore would stop the killing of civilians. I'm not sure that Al Gore would end the practice of extraordinary rendition. I'm not sure that he would call for an end to the violence in Haiti or Darfur or any of the other places US proxies are engaging in brutal repression of their own people.

No argument here, Jeff. But who do you suggest?

Please don't say Hillary. ;-)