I'm getting really annoyed with the pro-Gore crowd. With the defection of many radicals and progressives to Nader's campaign, it seems that the only folks left supporting Gore are the capitalists who truly have their heads up their asses. I'm no Nader supporter--I will be organizing anarchists to picket polling places--but the intellectual dishonesty directed at the Nader camp from the pro-Bore progressives is truly pathetic. It's like the pro-Gore folks are in denial over the past 8 years of the Clinton/Gore adminstration. I remember telling pro-Clinton progressives back in 1992 that they were supporting a crass politician who would take their civil liberties away.
Alterman is full of shit, as is normal.
Alterman farts:
Consider the President's veto power. Had Clinton lost in 1992 or 1996, today the
following would most likely be the law of the land:
§ the abolition of all taxes on estates larger than $675,000.
Whoop de doo! Clinton has been one of the most pro-corporate, pro-rich guy Presidents ever! We all know about the gap between the rich and poor widening during the Clinton/Gore adminstration, but has Alterman forgotten about all the pro-rich CLinton policies like NAFTA, GATT, MAI, WTO, DMCA, WIPO, and so on?
§ the reform of our bankruptcy laws to the detriment of the poor and middle classes on behalf of their corporate creditors.
Is this really an issue for most poor and middle class Americans? A bigger issue for them is the diminishing amount of money they get paid, Clinton's tepid support for organized labor, the long hours of overtime they work, and so on.
§ the outlawing of so-called "partial birth" abortions.
Last time I checked, the Clinton adminstration hadn't exactly killed this legislation. In fact, the religious right made some big gains on this issue during the Clinton/Bore administration. Are women better off now then they were 8 years ago? Leaving aside yesterday's FDA decision on RU486, the answer would be no. A woman's right to choose is not only more restricted than 8 years ago, woman in rural areas have a harder time finding even a *women's clinic*.
§ a Tom DeLay-sponsored moratorium on all new government regulations, particularly
those enforcing clean air, clean water and the rights of both union and nonunion
workers.
Arrrrrrrrrrgghh. Wait, Chuck, wake up. You're used to this policy wonkspeak, 'cause you live in D.C.
Government regulations don't do squat to clean up the air and protect the rights of unions. If Al Gore wants to clean up the air, I suggest he hike his ass to East Liverpool, Ohio. He can start with the mess Clinton made there. As for unions, organized *big* labor is a hindrance to the working person. The sooner that rank-and-file union people kick out the union hierarchy, the better. They don't need those leaders who glad hand with rich guys and they don't need those fancy union headquarters here in Washington, DC.
§ an amendment to the National Labor Relations Act encouraging corporations to
bypass collective bargaining in favor of so-called "labor-management cooperative
efforts."
Clinton/Gore, with their pro-capitalist agenda, are enemies of the working woman. Gore hasn't worked a shitty, boring job in his life, so what does he know about what a working person needs?
No, the job of Vice President doesn't qualify as a shitty job.
§ a bill restricting the Secretary of the Interior's power to protect environmentally
sensitive land, including wetlands and other fragile ecosystems, from destruction
by private commercial interests.
§ a $270 billion cut in Medicare funding, coupled with a $240 billion tax windfall to be
enjoyed almost exclusively by the wealthiest Americans.
Here is some stuff that Alterman left out.
The Clinton/Gore record
* destruction of civil liberties - wiretaps, more police, more surveillance, the closing of prison law libraries, 2 million in prison, curtailment of prisoner rights, thousands of new prisons, Carnivore, Echelon, COPA, Communications Decency Act, and on and on. * terrorism - Clinton has bombed Yugoslavia, Sudan, Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Waco. * The Welfare Reform Act - enuf said * Political Prisoner Leonard Peltier Clinton promised to pardon this famous Native American activist who has been in prison for over 20 years for a crime that he didn't commit. Peltier is recognized around the world as America's "Nelson Mandela." There has been no action so far from Clinton, nor any public comments. * NAFTA, GATT, MAI, WTO, FTAA, and so on. * Digtial Milennium Copyright Act and the 1996 Telecommunications Act * Is not opposed to capital punishment * Didn't lift a finger concerning the Rwandan genocide * Queer rights - hobnobs with Ellen and Anne, but opposes gay marriage and flopped all over the place concerning gays in the military. Might have been a good thing for the middle class gay male, but another story for a working class queer of color. * Health care - whaz up?
Chuck0