"If you want to go quickly, go alone. If you want to go far, go together. We need to go far -- quickly." ~~ Al Gore

No entity in this once-proud nation is more corrupt than its shallow, hubris-infested media. Any pricks of conscience the media may have felt for covering up the treasonous seizure of the 2000 election were swept away in the swirl of terror following the attack on 9-11. The "big story" to confront George Bush when he returned from his month-long vacation in September 2001, his approval numbers tanking, was that Al Gore got more votes than any Democrat in US history -- nearly a half-million more than Bush. It was that five conservative Supreme Court judges stopped the vote count that would prove Gore won because, in their unsigned decision, they wrote such a democratic win would cause "public acceptance," which would "cast a cloud over Bush's legitimacy" and thus harm "democratic stability."

Hi Cortexers,

After much anticipation I wanted to share with you the project I have been working on, that I am very excited about:

http://www.gorehub.com !!

This is a one-stop news portal for all things Al Gore. This site featuers:

• - The latest Al Gore headlines and blog posts, automatically updated continuously (powered by Google News and Yahoo! Pipes)
  
• - links to take action for the Draft Gore campaign
  
• - tips and resources for starting a Draft Gore group
  
• - a Gore Campaign Volunteer signup -- to be given to Al if and when he announces
  
• - a combined feed from all Al's official websites
  
• - And a complete links list to all the major Gore sites and groups, links to Al Gore in various search engines and social media sites, links to Gore merchandise -- all the Gore information links you can handle!

More details after the fold ---

By Scott Swenson

Sen. Sam Brownback's remarks that rape and incest victims should carry a pregnancy to term amount to verbal rape of the body politic.

Greetings from Kansas, where I am home with family starting a summer of writing on the road.  Kansas is also home to Sen. Sam Brownback whose presidential campaign has yet to crest the two percent mark in most GOP polls.

He trails even "None of these candidates." If there were a percentile ranking for compassion, he would rank even lower.

Speaking before the National Catholic Men's Conference, Brownback said women who become pregnant from rape or incest should carry the pregnancy to term.

Brownback's argument follows a preverse "two wrongs don't make a right" logic for which the assembled Catholic men gave him a standing ovation.  Without any discussion of the millenia of sexist indoctrination introducing the concept of male dominance before a man even considers rape, Brownback ignores the original sin to get to the red meat --- the "compounding" issue of abortion.

From a purely political standpoint, Brownback's campaign is raising no money, attracting no voters, and bringing no new ideas to the table. His debate performances have a Howdy-Doodey on meth quality that only serve as comic relief from the dour Reps. Duncan Hunter and Tom Tancredo.  He seems to believe the only way to attract attention is to state extreme positions in front of friendly audiences.

For those of you who loathe the current Bush Administration, there is something lurking in the political shadows likely to send shivers down your spines...

...a third Bush in the White House:

Florida Gov. Jeb Bush "has what every potential Republican candidate covets: national name recognition, access to his family's powerful fundraising machinery and...a sterling reputation among the core of the GOP base. One recent poll reported his approval rating across Florida at 63% -- a strong position in what is the nation's most populous battleground state."

Potential White House Candidates and strategists "are eyeing his value as a running mate, particularly for candidates such as McCain, former New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani and Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who are viewed warily by coveted evangelical voters."

Surely, Jeb is infinitely more qualified for the job than brother George (Ideology notwithstanding). He would be guaranteed Florida's electoral votes, and he would add conservative appeal to otherwise perceived moderate GOP presidential candidates.

--shiver--

In response to Booman's thoughts on Iraq earlier today, I suggested that Bush's failure in Iraq presents a critical challenge for Democrats in advance of 2008.

We must develop a comprehensive strategy for how to deal with Iraq and the Middle East over the next 10-15 years and beyond, or else the Bush debacle will become a watershed moment in American history as opposed to an unfortunate footnote. We have ONE CHANCE to reverse the course he has set us on, otherwise an entire generation of Americans, if not several generations, will be doomed by the consequences of "staying the course."

I've sketched out a three-phased, comprehensive alternative to the Bush "strategy" below. It covers withdrawal of US troops, political solutions to the current civil war, an economic development agenda, a long-term plan to promote regional cooperation and stability, and even a corollary on the Arab-Israeli conflict. A few items have been suggested by others, but much of it is unique and has not been proposed before.

Most importantly, I think it's important to note that this is NOT a strategy for "winning the war." The war is lost. This strategy is for how Democrats can manage the fall-out from our loss, starting in 2008. I think adopting a strategy for manaing our loss will be absolutely critical for any Democrat looking to win the Presidency.