http://www.idahostatesman.com/News/story.asp?ID=61646Al Gore gets Idaho Democrats fired up
Former vice president lights into Bush, saying he has betrayed Americans’ trust since the 9/11 attacks, and urges party members to stay involved
Rocky Barker
The Idaho Statesman
GARDEN CITY — Al Gore mixed self-deprecation with evangelical zeal Saturday to pump up 775 Democrats from around Idaho.
The former vice president brought the crowd to its feet at the annual Frank Church Banquet when he accused President George W. Bush of betraying the emotions and wide support the American people gave him after the attack on 9/11.
“That is the emotion he betrayed when he attacked a country that didn´t have anything to do with 9/11,” Gore said. “That was the worst foreign policy decision ever made by a president and history will condemn it.”
Gore compared Bush to Richard Nixon for his “subordination of principle,” “the politics of fear” and the “obsessive secrecy of his administration.”
He called for the repeal of the Patriot Act, which allows authorities more flexibility to search into records and to hunt down terrorists. The Bush administration has used it for “spying in people´s bedrooms” and “reading our library cards.”
“I think that´s un-American,” Gore said.
He accused Bush of weakening pollution laws and helping his wealthy contributors at the expense of clean air and water. They use fear, he said, to “give all the power to one small group and tell us they´ll take care of us,” he said.
Instead, they snuff out all the opportunity for the less fortunate, Gore said.
“The wealthy and the powerful have all the cards and deal them off the bottom of the deck,” he said.
He slipped once, making an error familiar to Idahoans.
“I just have a strong feeling for the enthusiasm here in Iowa,” he said.
Then he caught himself.
“After four national campaigns you´ll forgive me,” he said.
They did.
Gore spent Saturday skiing at Sun Valley, his face bright red from sunburn.
“There was a shortage of sunscreen in Sun Valley — on my part anyway,” Gore said.
He worked the crowd like a stand-up comic, making them laugh at his fall from power.
“I used to be the next president of the United States,” he said to laughs from the crowd. “That´s not funny,” he deadpanned.
“I flew for eight years on Air Force 2 and now I have to take my shoes off to get on an airplane,” he said.
Then he changed his cadence into that of a Southern preacher.
“There´s a new awareness that if we´re going to have the kind of country we want for our children and our grandchildren we have to dig deep down,” he said.
“Hallelujah,” someone yelled from the crowd.
He urged Democrats who supported people who have dropped out of the race, particularly Howard Dean, whom he supported, to stay with the party in November.
He praised both Sens. John Kerry and John Edwards.
“I think either of them would be a great president of the United States.”