May 31, 2004
Watching history.
I finally had the time last night to watch Al Gore's speech to MoveOn. It was impressive. Now I know why the wingnuts are trying to convince people that he's gone crazy. Of course, he's not crazy, he's just very, very angry, and for good reason.
I was particularly impressed when he called for his personal friend George Tenet to step down. It seemed clear that that was not an easy thing to do.
Will Gore's speech have an effect? Yes, of course it will, and in fact it already has. No, I emphatically do not think that any of the members of Bush's administration will resign, not even Tenet. None of those people have the honor to do such a thing; it would be tantamount to an admission that they were wrong. And certainly Bush won't fire any of them, for the same reason. But, on the other hand, that video has been at the top of the C-SPAN most-watched list since Wednesday. That says something by itself.
Even if Gore's speech is just one more nail in the coffin of the Bush presidency, it will have been worthwhile. I suspect, though, that it will be more than that. I further suspect that our children and their children will be watching and reading about that speech in their history classes one day.
Posted by Frank at May 31, 2004 1:14 PMOops.
Oh, I know you didn't make a prediction, but you came soo close to making one that turned out to be true a few days later.
I've never seen or heard of a more chaotic time at the top. The whole government is quaking now.
Posted by: Michael Miller at June 3, 2004 5:43 PMYep, I was certainly wrong about Tenet. Of course, it's far from clear whether he went voluntarily or was forced out. I would like to believe the former but there's a lot of reasons to suspect the latter.
If I were going to be wrong about any those people, though, it would have to have been Tenet. As for the rest, I feel pretty confident in predicting that they will go after losing the election in November, in handcuffs, or not at all.
Posted by: Frank at June 3, 2004 6:23 PM