http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/02/27/70105.aspx Several news organizations -- including NBC's TODAY -- look at how his turn at the Oscars has buffed up Al Gore, if not whetted his appetite, for another run in 2008.  and Dueling speeches in Selma?  The New York Daily News writes that Sen.en-USCommunityServer 2.0 (Build: 60608.1)http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/02/27/70105.aspx#70111Tue, 27 Feb 2007 14:13:44 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:70111Amy B Portland, MEAl Gore keeps saying he won't run for President, why does the media keep raising people's hopes? Jimmy Carter even said on Meet The Press last week that Gore told him to quit asking (and if you want to see what a genuine Christian who was an American President looks like, watch the Meet The Press video of Russert's interview with Carter. It will break your heart, though, to compare him the faux human being currently in the White House.)http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/02/27/70105.aspx#70153Tue, 27 Feb 2007 15:32:34 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:70153hey, I'm ust askinI would ask how many conservative repubs walked across that bridge many years ago to demand equal rights for all???http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/02/27/70105.aspx#70154Tue, 27 Feb 2007 15:34:28 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:70154Amy B Portland, MEOk, the Carter interview was with George Stephanopoulos on ABC's This Week, not Russert's Meet The Press, (although thats a good show too). Libby and I can't remember which reporter told us what. We are too busy keeping America safe. http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/02/27/70105.aspx#70168Tue, 27 Feb 2007 15:46:12 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:70168Steve Turner Cedar Falls Iowa"The Madness of Faux King George". The Movie begins with Dubya sleepwalking the White House corridors, giving a tour to the Ghost of Marilyn Monroe. "We're all alone Marilyn, I sent Laura to the Andaman Islands, they're over by Indiana 'er Paris, yeah. And I gave all the Staff the week off. Cheney's in Afghanistania...I hope. So it's jus'you an'me Anna Ni...I mean Marilyn." They go farther down the hall when she ask's why there's a Porta-Potty in the hall. "That's where Nixon...uh...relieved hisself. When the 'Desperate Moralists' came into clean after Clinton left, they set that up in case I fell off the...well...nevermind. It does come in handy. They enter a secret room where she see's two dart boards. "The one with all the darts is Hillary. And the other one, I just had put in. It's Al Gore...he won a dad'gummed Oscar! Now I gotta win one...or Poppy will think I'm a smarty-pants dwarf Mussolini with a Latent Electra Complex...that's sumpin' Karl told me I had. Hey Karl!" Karl Rove comes out from behind a curtain and offer Marilyn some chocolate, saying, "Here Anna Ni...I mean Marilyn...sweets for the Sweet!" Marilyn declines, saying, "...I can't...I'm a ghost, afterall...". The Director yells "CUT", and so ends the first act of, "The Madness of Faux King George."http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/02/27/70105.aspx#70173Tue, 27 Feb 2007 15:56:40 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:70173Steve Turner Cedar Falls IowaI was just a kid myself, when the four schoolgirls were killed by a bomb next to their church. We sometimes forget that we have people in this country who have blown up people and places of worship, that they felt were a threat to their way of life.http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/02/27/70105.aspx#70175Tue, 27 Feb 2007 15:57:56 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:70175Ryan, MichiganI don't know "how many conservative repubs walked across that bridge many years ago to demand equal rights for all", and I don't know how many liberal dems walked that bridge either. What point are you trying to make?http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/02/27/70105.aspx#70197Tue, 27 Feb 2007 16:22:24 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:70197DesmondRemember Emmett Till.http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/02/27/70105.aspx#70207Tue, 27 Feb 2007 16:34:24 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:70207hey, i'm just askinhow many repubs or conservatives were killed marching for equal rights?? Those who ask whats the point are merely trying to obsfucate and hide the fact that none of them wanted equal rights. So if ya dont know basic facts about civil rights dont ask me stupid questions...http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/02/27/70105.aspx#70233Tue, 27 Feb 2007 16:55:59 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:70233Aimee, Pittsburgh, PAGore/Olbermann 2008. http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/02/27/70105.aspx#70242Tue, 27 Feb 2007 16:59:12 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:70242M.E., Albany, Ga.Ya Think- That Hillary might start feeling like "the bastard child at a family reunion" down in Selma? To not be such a cynic here.....she's sure has a pair to appear there on the same day as Obama. Wonder if they'll have "dinner on the ground" together in the cemetary after they finish their speeches.http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/02/27/70105.aspx#70246Tue, 27 Feb 2007 17:02:58 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:70246Ryan, MichiganIf you are implying that Repubs fought against civil rights, I would have to disagree with you. In 1957, Dwight Eisenhower, faced with Southern Democrat defiance of federal school desegregation regulations, sent federal troops to Little Rock, Arkansas, to enforce the rules. Eisenhower also endorsed and pushed through Congress the Civil Rights Bill which was the first civil rights legislation passed since the Civil War era. The legislation passed despite Southern Democrat resistance. When LBJ passed the Civil Rights Act it was passed with a greater % or Republicans voting for it then Democrats. In '69 or '70, I believe, Nixon wrote an executive order known now as the Equal Employment Opportunity Act, essentially ensuring that all federal positions would be open to all applicants, regardless of race, color, religion, etc. I'm not saying that Republicans were perfect during the civil rights era but I don't think anybody was, including Dems. Many mistakes and ignorant opinions on both sides were made. However, I don't think its fair to say that the Republican party was against civil rights.http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/02/27/70105.aspx#70271Tue, 27 Feb 2007 17:17:24 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:70271Bob, OrlandoIs it just me or does anyone else feel that Hillary's campaign is operating as if Obama is the frontrunner? I mean the timing of the "I'm running" announcement, the Hollywood spat, now a visit to Selma at the same time as Obama. The more I see of this campaign the less impressed I am. http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/02/27/70105.aspx#70281Tue, 27 Feb 2007 17:22:23 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:70281Oliviahey, i'm just askin...Unfortunately things in the equal/civil rights area seem to have taken a big step backwards under the Bush Administration. Remember that prior to Katrina New Orleans was 67% black and that many who were scattered to the four winds were the poor people of color (who tended to vote Democratic) who gave that lovely city her distinctive cultural ambience including her music and cuisine. How pro-active and attentive do you think the "compassionate conservative" Bush Administration would be regarding the recovery of that beautiful, one-of-a-kind city were the majority of her citizens mainly affluent whites who tended to vote Republican?http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/02/27/70105.aspx#70308Tue, 27 Feb 2007 17:47:28 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:70308Steve Turner Cedar Falls Iowa"The Madness of Faux King George" Scene two begins in the Rose Garden, where sobbing Democrats and Republicans, soak yards of handerchiefs as Dubya sleepwalks to the microphone. "Dearly Beloved," he begins, "We are here to award these fine Americans (the Ghosts of Marilyn Monroe and Anna Nichole Smith), the Presidential Medal of Freedom...Post-Humous-Lee...". With the last, dramatically strung-out word, the audience can no longer bear it and rushes the two ghosts screaming "Why? Why? Why, Oh...Why?" The Director yells "CUT" and everybody sits down and eats their Pappardelle. Dubya says to Tony Snow, "I think that'un was a keeper." Snow nods in agreement. Dubya walks into the White House singing, "I'm gonna win an Oscar! I'm gonna win an Oscar!".http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/02/27/70105.aspx#70369Tue, 27 Feb 2007 18:47:34 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:70369Darren Pope, SCYes, Steve, and America stood up to those people and put a stop to that kind of radical thinking. What's your point? On another note, it was the Republican Party that freed the slaves, the beginning of the civil rights movement. Many democrats at the time begged Lincoln to stop the war and let the south keep slavery legal in the interest of not dividing the nation. Too many young American soldiers were dying and it was a war the Union could not win they said. It's a good thing we don't always listen to the majority opinion. Sometimes the minority view is the one that is right.http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/02/27/70105.aspx#70421Tue, 27 Feb 2007 19:29:08 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:70421Darren Pope, SCCNN BREAKING NEWS! Al Gore has already been cheated out of the '08 election. Even though Gore is clearly the eventual winner a dirty, cheating, republican warmonger will be inaugurated roughly 22 months from now. Gore will have to save the planet from Hollywood instead of Pennsylvania Ave. Thank god he was able to get out the news that he invented the internet before the GOP stole that from him too.http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/02/27/70105.aspx#70434Tue, 27 Feb 2007 19:39:05 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:70434Jimmy the worst president ever CarterAmy B in Portland Jimmy Carter an example of a good Christian? Let's forget the long gas lines, the gawdy intrest rates, his mismanagement of the Iran hostage situation and the fact that he's a racist (Christains are not racists). Let's forget that even now with the release of his new book and as a result of it Top-ranking Democrats have disavowed Carter's work. Both Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean and Speaker-elect Nancy Pelosi issued statements on Carter's book, distancing themselves and the Democratic Party from his divisive rhetoric. But he's a good President and a good Christian. http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/02/27/70105.aspx#70443Tue, 27 Feb 2007 19:44:04 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:70443Robert Catalano, Salem, ORRyan, you are correct about more Republicans voting than Democrats but you must remember these were Goldwater Republicans voting at the time. Again, Darren, your knowledge of history betrays you. Yes, it was a Republican president who freed the slaves, but it was Republican senators from the Northeast who were the main force behind the carpetbaggers who came south. They wanted to punish the Rebels and their policies gave rise to the Ku Klux Klan and the Dixiecrats (southern Democrats) throughout the old Confederacy. This emnity from the north also gave rise to southern suspicions of any politician from New England. Read about Thaddeus Stevens sometime. When Johnson's Civil Rights Bill passed, if you take away the Dixiecrats who opposed it, a greater percentage of northeastern and midwestern Democrats supported it than did Republicans. http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/02/27/70105.aspx#70447Tue, 27 Feb 2007 19:46:47 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:70447MMGive me a break...there is a BIG difference between Lincoln Republican and today's republican. There was a time where it was truly the GOP, but not now. And don't go on about how the rep freed the slaves, the fact is that most of the rep now days could give a rat's arse about minorities.http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/02/27/70105.aspx#70450Tue, 27 Feb 2007 19:51:58 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:70450DesmondDarren Pope, I think you would do well to reexamine your facts about the Civil War. Lincoln freed the slaves because he wanted to preserve the Union. I do know know who these Democrats are that you speak of that were on the Union's side that wanted slavery to continue. http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/02/27/70105.aspx#70464Tue, 27 Feb 2007 20:04:10 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:70464The Edge, Macon GADarren..enjoy the minority view, you'll have it for a long time.....http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/02/27/70105.aspx#70511Tue, 27 Feb 2007 20:29:01 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:70511Citizen of Rome"Yes, Steve, and America stood up to those people and put a stop to that kind of racial thinking. What's your point?" NONE OF THEM WERE REPUBLICANS! At least Eisinhower took his oath of office seriously, unlike any of the repuks who've followed him.http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/02/27/70105.aspx#70520Tue, 27 Feb 2007 20:32:19 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:70520Steve Turner Cedar Falls Iowa"The Madness of Faux King George" Scene Three begins with Dubya waking up in the Lincoln Bedroom, a flummoxed look on his face. "It's that same dad-gummed dream again, Laura....(Laura is still in the Andaman Islands so he talks to her like she was there.)...I'm drivin' down our World-Famous gravel driveway, and right by the old tickle-tongue tree, the Ghost of Aileen Warnous jumps in the 4x4 and say's, '...take me to Michigan." an' then I say '...where ya comin' from?' an' she says '..Florida' an' I say...'you want my brother'. Well, it's that dream but now she also wants a Presidential Medal of Freedom, of her own. I wonder what it means?" The Director yells "CUT!" and Dubya walks away saying "...why do ya think they call it 'Actin'?".http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/02/27/70105.aspx#70537Tue, 27 Feb 2007 20:42:47 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:70537DesmondRacism is alive and well in America.http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/02/27/70105.aspx#70569Tue, 27 Feb 2007 21:04:14 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:70569Amy B Portland, MEI think we all know yesterday's rascist Southern Democrats are today's right wing Republicans. And Lincoln was not a Republican, in the sense of ascribing to the right wing ideology of Bush, Cheney, and Nixon. There is no correlation between the Republican party of 1860 to the Republicans of 2007. There isn't. For one thing, Lincoln wasn't a liar. http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/02/27/70105.aspx#70584Tue, 27 Feb 2007 21:23:37 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:70584DesmondI hope we have a historian on this blog that has researched the Civil War.http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/02/27/70105.aspx#70598Tue, 27 Feb 2007 21:37:54 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:70598hey, jus askinAfter the civil rights of the 60s the majority of southern dems switched to republican because dem leaders did what was right and fought for civil rights. To compare either party with the parties of 100 years ago is ludicrous. Olivia bush has already proved your point in my opinion.http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/02/27/70105.aspx#70684Tue, 27 Feb 2007 23:41:37 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:70684DesmondSouth Carolina has a State Capitol Building that flies the Confederate Flag.'nough said. Racism is alive and well in America.http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/02/27/70105.aspx#70685Tue, 27 Feb 2007 23:43:07 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:70685DesmondALWAYS REMEMBER EMMITT TILL AND NEVER FORGET.http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/02/27/70105.aspx#70733Wed, 28 Feb 2007 00:35:47 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:70733Mel, IllinoisDesmond, there's approximately 300 books on the Civil War in my house. I'll be glad to look something up for you. It's striking to look at pictures of President Lincoln taken before the war and then at ones taken later. I think of it every time I see Bush smirking at the cameras like a six year old at a birthday party. I also have a friend who does Lincoln impersonations at living histories...I can't imagine anyone doing Bush 140 years from now.http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/02/27/70105.aspx#70759Wed, 28 Feb 2007 01:09:28 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:70759yo momma, usaraceism and misogyny are alive and well in america just read the sorry posts trying to redirect blame from where it belongs.http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/02/27/70105.aspx#70828Wed, 28 Feb 2007 01:22:57 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:70828d.lake Machesney Park, ILI wouldn't bother getting up out of bed and going to see Hillary. for Barack Obama, I did get up at 4AM to leave my house by 6 and drive 3 hours to hear him give his announcement speech. For Obama I would go to the church he is speaking at for sure.http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/02/27/70105.aspx#73729Wed, 28 Feb 2007 13:31:01 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:73729OliviaDesmond--Per your "Remember Emmitt Till" posts--did you see NBC Nightly last night? There was an interesting report on the cold cases of the civil rights era that highlighted the Emmitt Till case. It said Mississippi has decided not to prosecute because the 2 perps are dead and they aren't going after the woman Till had whistled at for manslaughter.http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/02/27/70105.aspx#73924Wed, 28 Feb 2007 15:35:06 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:73924DesmondI did not see it, but I did read about the case this morning. ALWAYS REMEMBER AND NEVER FORGET EMMETT TILL.http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/02/27/70105.aspx#76035Thu, 01 Mar 2007 17:19:27 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:76035Neill C, Montgomery, AlabamaOh, I must have missed Robert Byrd changing parties. You know Robert Byrd. He's the one who can use the "n" word on national TV and get away with it. Yesterday's racist Democrats are todays so-called reformed Democrats. They are the same people. And LA and NO have been under Democratic rule (re:oppression) for years. Why haven't THEY done something about New Orleans? The Democratic Party, who by their own admission owns the right to eradicate poverty and racism, has done a pretty p!ss poor job in a town and state they have controlled for years and years. What's their excuse?http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/02/27/70105.aspx#76404Thu, 01 Mar 2007 22:23:24 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:76404jtbNeill C. : quit pointing out the truth and hypocrisy of the Democrat party. It falls on deaf ears. You'd think N.O. and Louisiana were suffering under a 100 years stewardship of the Republican party by the vitiol, anger, and the finger pointing. Bottom line, N.O. was a disaster just waiting to happen.