Al Gore back in action

Al Gore gave a speech yesterday. I'm not going to discuss all of it, it is more of the same of what we have been hearing from Gore recently and I think all my readers know where I stand. This one paragraph bears examination though:

The Administration works closely with a network of "rapid response" digital Brown Shirts who work to pressure reporters and their editors for "undermining support for our troops." Paul Krugman, the New York Times columnist, was one of the first journalists to regularly expose the President's consistent distortions of the facts. Krugman writes, "Let's not overlook the role of intimidation. After 9/11, if you were thinking of saying anything negative of the President...you had to expect right-wing pundits and publications to do all they could to ruin your reputation.

Brown Shirts were literally the Nazi stormtroopers. They would beat up Hitler's opponents to silence any debate. While I suppose you can say that Al Gore's 'digital brown shirts' are metaphorically beating up their opponents, I think it is pretty facetious to claim similarity between someone who debates their opponents and someone who uses physical violence to silence debate. Also it is a gratuitous Nazi reference and I think former presidential candidates should be above that sort of thing. Here is another little tidbit I got from this article on Gore's speech.

Gore, a Democrat who lost to Bush in a White House race ultimately decided by the Supreme Court despite winning the popular vote in 2000

This is, in my mind a perfect example of liberal spin. The despite winning the popular vote makes it should like the winning the popular vote is the goal. Anyone who knows how the Electoral College works knows that the popular vote is irrelevant. Also, the Supreme Court did not in fact decide who won the election in Florida. The Supreme Court decided that the selective recounting of certain counties was not legal. Thus the current count had to stand and George Bush was given the 25 electoral votes from Florida and won the Presidency. It is also important to remember that independent recounts later confirmed that George Bush did in fact win Florida.