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My god

Posted by David Roberts at 2:48 PM on 04 Jun 2007

Read more about: Al Gore | politics | elections

How many times will this exact ... same ... story get written?

framing

Nonetheless, Gore ("aw shucks, I'm no politician") is able to use the articles to frame his issues.  In the case of this one, "Reason" vs "visual rhetoric and body language" gets good placement.

block that metaphor!

"Throwing a little red meat out there for speculation" does not quite work.  Canids tend not to scrutinize and ponder the meat that has been tossed to them, at least not for very long, before getting down to business.

An error of a different sort, but equally silly, is in the post's title, a false and ironic appeal to a deity whom the writer does not believe to exist.  It is rather surreal, actually; was it not Salvador Dali' who said, "Thank God I am an atheist"?

Religious language, not ironically used this time, turned up on that sign held by a friend of Al Gore who was urging him to run for president: "We want you!  Save us, Uncle Al!"  That is reminiscent of what the poor people of Buenos Aires would cry out to Eva Peron in "Evita," mutatis mutandis: "!Santa Santa Evita, Madre de todos los pobres, de los tiranizados, de los descamisados, de los trabajadores de la Argentina!"

And indeed, to trace out one possible thread into the future, Al Gore's inauguration speech, in January, 2009, might very well begin, "Don't cry for me, Estados Unidos.  The truth is, I never left you ... "

Chickens deserve our true friendship! So do fish! So do other sentient beings! Let us learn to be kind.

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