Opinion: Gore should focus on fixing his own flaws

I read Al Gore's column and had to smile. During the last campaign, he distanced himself from Bill Clinton -- now he embraces him. He says confidence in government has gone down under this administration.

There are three branches of government. In a short period, President Bush has restored respect to the executive branch. The president does not control the legislative or judicial branches. He cannot even get his judicial nominees fair hearings.

The recession as such was under way prior to the change of administration. If Gore had won, he would have inherited it, too. Instead of criticism, how about some new ideas, Al.

He goes on to mention scandals of this administration, none of which directly involve the president or the vice president, unlike the Clinton era.

Please Al, heal thyself.
-- Marcus Scheel, Tarpon Springs

Gore's column is pure hypocrisy

Re: Broken promises by the powerful, by Al Gore.

This column is total hypocrisy. I could write 10 pages to disprove it all but I will only touch on four concerns.

1. Gore talks about those who "believe they were entitled to govern because of their station in life." This is what Gore believes about himself, because his father was a senator and Al was "groomed" to be president. He believes that he is the chosen one.

2. He talks about "the Bush-Cheney ticket being bankrolled by 'a new generation of special interests. . .' " What about the money received by Gore, Bill Clinton, Joe Lieberman and other Democrats from the Buddhist monks, J. Chang, Enron, Global Crossing and other special interests?

3. All American taxpayers, rich, middle class and poor have the right to get some of their money back in tax reductions. The tax cuts by Bush and the Congress did not cause the latest recession and deficit and Gore knows it.

4. There is no Social Security lock box. Gore, Clinton, Lieberman and, yes, Republicans have been spending it in the general fund to make the budget look good. If Gore really wants to ensure that Social Security is safe, he should confess to this and guarantee the citizens that Social Security will not be spent as general funds but be placed in a lock box. Social Security will never go broke.
-- Attilio Corbo, Palm Harbor

Motivated to manipulate

Re: With Gore, Democrats get same old tune, by Sara Fritz, Aug. 5.

Those who have criticized Al Gore for saying the Democrats are the party of the people against the privileged are transparently motivated by the desire to interfere with his becoming the party's nominee again. What Gore is saying has been the basic principle of the Democratic Party since Andrew Jackson's day. Not only that, it is the basic principle on which the United States won independence from European oppression by the privileged classes.

In fact, one of the things that bugs his critics is that, on that principle, Al won the last election -- the popular vote. It took manipulation by the privileged to deny him the White House.
-- Charles L. Fontenay, St. Petersburg

Same old tune is beautiful music

Re: With Gore, Democrats get same old tune, by Sara Fritz.

I feel that the article regarding Al Gore was extremely biased. But this is no big surprise; it's been that way since the 2000 election. Gore seems to be the media's whipping boy. In my opinion, Sara Fritz does not speak for the people. I was at the state Democratic Party convention in April and heard Al Gore's speech. Gore is not afraid to say what is in his heart and he speaks the truth.

When Gore entered the room at the Orlando conference, it was awesome. People were standing on chairs, crying and cheering him on. The energy in that room was incredible. Gore is the Democratic Party's future whether anyone wants to believe it or not. I think his opposition is fully aware that he is the favorite among the people, and perhaps they don't like that fact. In my opinion they should all be behind him 110 percent. He has served this country with honor and dignity from Vietnam, Congress and the Senate to the vice presidency. Al Gore is a man of vision, and I hope and pray he does indeed run again in 2004. He is respected around the world and his "creative mind and extraordinary grasp of difficult subjects" would indeed be an asset in these volatile times.

How can Fritz say that Bush sounds more like one of the people than Gore? Instead of this government being for the people and by the people, it now is for the corporations and by the corporations. Corporate interests are paramount now and corporate greed has run amok. The working man is being forgotten, as is his 401(k). Fritz actually stoops so low as to make fun of the fact that Gore feels that he is the man of the people and even suggests he "heard the roar of martial music in his head" as he penned the lines "Now is a time for truth and courage." What is so wrong with a man who loves this country and its people so much, that he willing to lay himself and his beliefs on the line again after what happened in the 2000 election? Is it corny to believe that truth and courage and the people are still important?

Fritz is right on one account: Al Gore does have the almost naive desire to do what's right, and that is precisely what makes him a man for the people.

As far as Gore giving us "more of the same," I'll take the same surplus, the same peace and prosperity, the same innovative government, the same environmental protection, and the same low unemployment of the Clinton/Gore administration. Those eight years were pretty darned good. Actually, the same old tune sounds more like music to my ears.
-- L. Fink, St. Petersburg

Politics put firefighters at risk

Firefighters are dying every day trying to fight the forest fires rampaging in the Western United States. Have we forgotten so quickly what happened in our own state a few years ago? When is someone going to wake up and realize that regular controlled burns of undergrowth would deter these fires? It's time the environmentalists admit that they were wrong to have pushed for states to pass legislation preventing such controlled burns.

Even the Democratic Senate realizes that this has been a mistake. Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle sneaked wording into a recent defense spending bill allowing his home state of South Dakota to participate in controlled burns while other Western states cannot. Does he possibly know something that other Democrats don't want to admit? And why aren't the environmentalists calling for Daschle's head? They would be if a Republican had done this.

It's time to end the hypocrisy.
-- Sue Hill, Largo

Ask questions before going to war

It is disturbing to those of us that lived through the Vietnam War to hear rumblings of an all-out war with Iraq. We were only a few years away from the Korean war in which my husband served and here we were again fighting for some reason most of us didn't understand. But our leaders said it was the "right" thing to do, so being good Americans, we accepted it. But we were not prepared for the up-close carnage that we were fed on the evening news. We quickly realized there was nothing heroic, romantic or noble in seeing our boys killed or maimed and we began to have doubts as to the necessity or justification of this war. It is my belief today that it was an enormous mistake, and I feel ashamed to have supported it.

Which is why I want to speak out now before war becomes an actuality. We are being told by the Bush administration that this war is necessary because Hussein has germs on wheels. Why, all of a sudden, does that fact make it necessary for us to declare war? It is my hope that everyone will ask many questions and get answers before they decide to support another war.

One question I cannot help but ask is, does this administration really believe a war with Iraq is necessary to protect America or does Bush hope to divert our attention from domestic problems? Is it his hope to win a second term over the dead bodies of our children and grandchildren?
-- Pat Hernandez, Brooksville

Sacrificing for peace

Re: McBride and the military vote, letter, Aug. 3.

I would like to make one simple point in regard to the letter writer's comment, "we must dedicate our country to humanitarian causes and peace." I am totally in agreement with this principle, however, peace comes only with sacrifice. Sacrifice is achieved through commitment, and commitment takes the shape of freedom.

Only those whose dedication to such a principle (namely, our military who are ready at a moment's notice to ensure it) will afford this country a continuation of that which we experience now: a free, humanitarian society no matter how flawed it may appear to the letter writer.
-- Norma McCulliss, Palm Harbor

Freedom has its price

Re: McBride and the military vote, letter.

The letter writer should be advised that if it were not for military men such as Dwight Eisenhower, John Kennedy and countless others who shed their blood and gave their lives to protect America during combat, she would not have the dilemma posed by past military service in selecting a candidate to vote for. She would not have any right to vote for anything if these men and their peers throughout history had opted for "open dialogue and diplomacy" with the Axis and others who wanted to take away our freedom. Freedom is not free.
-- Ed Murphy, Spring Hill

Remember the coal miners

As I sat entranced by the unfolding saga of the nine trapped coal miners in Somerset County, Penn., it allowed me the opportunity to reflect upon my early childhood. I drifted beyond my own career as a professional firefighter in Washington, D.C., long extolled as "the world's most dangerous profession," to my early youth in Cambria County, Penn., a little northeast of the site of this near-tragedy at the Quecreek mine shaft.

My dad, born in 1897, crawled the belly of the earth in pursuit of the anthracite ore, which was the essence of our family's livelihood. Until now, I failed to realize the contribution my dad and those men of his era made to the growth of our country.

Sustained by a third-grade education, a lad, embarked on a career with untold toil and miserable compensation. The early morning aroma of brewed coffee from our wood stove greeted me daily and each evening after dark came the arrival of my dad, enveloped in the blackness of coal dust and the sweat of a 14-hour day. He was a man of strong faith who dwelled in a work place closer to hell than to heaven where he finally rests.

Fifty years hence, while viewing the rescue of the modern day coal miners with our current technology, I recall the tales of collapsed shafts and trampling of men by mules pulling coal cars from the dank shafts.

My dad and his kind were pioneers. They built their families under unbearable circumstances, and they built our world. They should never be forgotten.
-- Gene Seabolt, Palm Harbor

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