Al Gore: USA Needs Its Own 'Arab Spring'

Appearing on Countdown With Keith Olberman for the second night in a row, which airs on his own Current TV, former vice president Al Gore declared in an interview with the host that the USA needed it's own "Arab spring", referring to the popular uprisings that toppled long-ruling autocratic regimes in Tunisia and Egypt.

The comments came in response to the debt ceiling legislation that was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Obama on Monday.

Gore said the new law demands the “reinvigoration of democracy” or an “American spring,” to get the country back on what he thinks is the right course

“[I] want to focus on one particular suggestion you had about using the wonderful digital tools that are newly available for the reinvigoration of democracy,” Gore said. “Now, they have been around for a while, but they are spreading far and wide and more people are getting involved. We need to have an American spring — you know, the Arab spring. The non-violent part of it isn’t finished yet, but we need to have an American spring, a kind of an American non-violent change where people on the grassroots get involved again. Not the, you know, not in the Tea Party-style.”

Gore took his attack to favorite left-wing targets: the Fox News Channel, and David and Charles Koch.

“There are people who are genuinely upset in the Tea Party,” Gore continued. “I understand that, but that movement was funded with seed money from right-wing billionaires, the Koch Brothers, and promoted on Fox News and turned into a stalking horse for this right-wing agenda that a lot of people have been trying to push on this country for a long time.”

According to the former vice president, this movement was instituted behind the scenes to clear the government out of the way of special interests.

“What’s sacrosanct for them is to have absolutely no tax increases on the wealthiest Americans. They are at a low level now. And to try to shrink down government so they can get it out of the way of powerful corporations and special interests so they can have free rein,” Gore said. “And the Supreme Court, of course, has now declared that they are persons and to make these secret contributions

[Is it just me, or does Gore seem particularly bitter when the words 'Supreme Court' come up?- NANESB!]

So to sum up what Al Gore has to say, if you don't like a costly, ever-expanding and increasingly invasive and unaccountable government, then you are on on the payroll of the Koch brothers or Rupert Murdoch.

In other words, Gore is basically arguing that the ruling party in America be given more power and less people should question or protest their activities, lest they be considered dupes of the Koch Brothers or- according to Vice President Joe Biden and Pennsylvania congressman Mide Doyle (D-PA14)- terrorists. It's Gore's own network, so he cen be as wrong as he wants on it while an adoring Keith Olberman puts on his best 'Look at me, aren't I a serious journalist like Edward R Murrow?' face, but last time I checked I'm well within my rights to point out Gore's flawed comparisons and his just plain being wrong.

Gore's call for an 'Arab spring' style uprising (not all of them are peaceful, as we can see) is based on the supremely flawed premise that the protesters would turn up en masse to support the ruling party. Were all those demonstrators in Tunisia or Cairo's Tahrir Square this spring calling for MORE of Ben Ali or Hosni Mubarak? And that's to say nothing of some of the more disturbing developments that have been taking places in Egypt since Mubarak's ouster.

One has to wonder if the 2000 Presidential campaign changed Al Gore somehow or if this was the real Al Gore all along, successfully able to pass himself off as a moderate if bland official during his time as Senator, Vice President and Presidential candidate. I had my misgivings about Bush in 2000, but seemingly every utterance from Gore in recent years tends to vindicate W.