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Gore blasts bush on iraq Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://santafenewmexican.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=5485740&BRD=2144&PAG=461&dept_id=367954&rfi=6http://santafenewmexican.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=5485740&BRD=2144&PAG=461&dept_id=367954&rfi=6
Gore Blasts Bush, Dems Cheer
By STEVE TERRELL | The New Mexican 09/25/2002
Santa Fe New Mexican
A day after he gave a blistering speech in which he blasted President Bush for wanting to go to war in Iraq, former Vice President Al Gore came to Santa Fe on Tuesday and gave a public talk that never directly mentioned the war.
However, Gore was hardly soft on the man he ran against in the 2000 presidential election.
Speaking at a Democratic Party rally at Eldorado Hotel, Gore elicited loud cheers from the faithful when he asked the rhetorical question, "Are you better off now than you were two years ago?"
With his voice rising, Gore pointed out the budget surplus of the Clinton years has turned into a deficit. He decried Bush's "assault on the environment, the conscious decision to put polluters in charge of agencies that are supposed to protect the environment.
"It's a time in American history in which there is more change than ever before," Gore said. "We have a bad economy. There's trouble everywhere you look. People are apprehensive and uneasy."
Gore criticized Attorney General John Ashcroft for his attitude toward civil liberties. He got laughs when he mocked Ashcroft for spending $8,000 on draperies to cover the bare breast of a statue called The Spirit of Justice at the Justice Department building.
"He put Lady Justice in a burqa," Gore quipped.
At one point during Gore's speech, a man holding an anti-war sign yelled at the former vice president to talk about Iraq. "I'll get to that," Gore said.
But he didn't. "A lot of us came today to hear (Gore) speak on Iraq," said Colin Mitchell of Santa Fe, the man who had interrupted Gore. "We need public officials to speak out against what would be an illegal war."
Inga Thompson of Santa Fe also said she was disappointed by Gore's not mentioning Iraq. "I'm usually a Republican, but I just don't want to go to war," she said.
Gore, in a speech in San Francisco on Monday, said Bush's threats to invade Iraq to overthrow Saddam Hussein has squandered foreign support the United States enjoyed after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and has weakened the war against terrorism. He said Monday that Bush's threats regarding Iraq had turned the United States into a focus of "anger and apprehension" around the world.
Though Gore didn't bring up Iraq on Tuesday, one Democrat candidate did. Gloria Tristani, running against Republican U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici, said Gore is the "first Democrat to question what President Bush is doing."
Said Tristani, "If you question what the president is doing, you're called unpatriotic. I say it's unpatriotic not to question what the president is doing."
Tristani added, "It's not easy for me to stand up here and say I question what the president is doing, but it is much easier after hearing Al Gore yesterday give us the strength to do that."
Tristani, a former Federal Communications Commission member and state Public Service commissioner referred to Gore as "the man I still call 'my president,' " referring to the fact Gore won the popular vote over Bush in 2000.
Before the Democratic rally, Gore spoke at a $1,000-a-person fund-raiser at a private residence in Santa Fe. After the speech at the hotel, he went to Albuquerque for a $75-a-person fund-raising event.
Half of the money will go to the state Democrats for get-out-the-vote drives, mailings and other activities for Democratic candidates. The other half is for Democratic legislative campaigns, according to Jamie Koch, the state Democratic chairman.
Today, Gore is scheduled to speak at a $500-a-person breakfast in Albuquerque to raise money for state Sen. Richard Romero, who is running against Republican incumbent Heather Wilson in the 1st Congressional District. He also plans a public rally in Las Cruces today.
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