Humor me here.
My favorite part of Al Gore's endorsement speech last night was toward the end of the "These people.....know elections matter" section.
He went through the various types of people who have learned -- over the last 8 disastrous years -- why elections matter. People who don't have health care, people who have mortgage problems, veterans who have served multiple tours of duty in Iraq, etc.
Then he came to my favorite part:
"If you bought poisoned, lead-filled toys from China....
or adulterated medicine made in China....
if you bought tainted pet food made in China....you know that elections matter.
After the last eight years, even our dogs and cats have learned that elections matter!!"
As a veterinarian, that part of the speech perked up my ears. I thought that was a very clever way for Gore to wrap up that section of his speech....as did the audience. They got the reference and the point of that line -- even the dumb critters get how much a failure our government has been under George Bush!!!
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So just now, I witnessed another crappy piece of editing from the Traditional Media. After the asses on "Morning Joe" ridiculed Gore as a "profile in courage" for coming out for Obama only after he has the nominated in the bag (never mind the point he was trying to allow the primary process to play out without his interference, you asshats!!!!), Scarborough and company played part of that section of the speech, concluding with the "Even our dogs and cats know elections matter."
But they completely edited out the "if you bought contaminated pet food" part, which provides the basis for the joke line!!! And Joe has some kind of snark along the lines of "He lost me there with that leap to dogs and cats." (If anyone can find a transcript of Gore's speech or if Media Matters or Jed Report or Crooks & Liars puts up a link to this fancy editing job, lemme know and I'll update.)
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Okay, I know this is a minor point to most folks, but it really ticked me off. As a veterinarian, I had several pet owners calling up, in a panic, that they had been feeding their beloved animals potentially contaminated food. Luckily, I only had one patient which was actually affected by the outbreak, and thankfully she survived and is doing well.
I realize in the great scheme of things, contaminated pet food may not matter to that many people, but with the current tomato scare, you have to be an idiot not to get Al Gore's larger point about how deregulation/politicization/neglect of the FDA and USDA, etc. under Bush has been potentially, very much a matter of life and death.
Either an idiot, or a scumbag like Joe Scarborough.
**************UPDATE************
First off, thanks for giving this long-timer (coming up on my 5th year anniversary at the Daily KOS) his first recommended diary. I didn't put up a tip jar because a) I didn't write this for the attention and b) I never thought it would GET this much attention.
I guess I can no longer refer to myself as "A Recommended Virgin". (Wouldn't that kinda be an oxymoron?)
Second, here is the full transcript of Al Gore's endorsement speech. (Thanks to leckavrea in comments).
Third, here is requested video of the speech (thanks to uniongal's diary):
Part 1 - the now-classic "Take it from me, elections matter" section runs from about 5:30 to the end-mark at 7:20. I love Barack's smile at that line. :-)
Part 2
Fourth, to all those in the comments chastising me for watching "Morning Joe" - it was just running in the background while I was doing other things and the Gore segment caught my attention. Believe me, certainly not part of my regular viewing. But in the classic sense, its a dirty job and somebody's got to do it (and I am GLAD it ain't me!!). I alerted Media Matters and if they pick it up, I'll pass that along as well.
****UPDATE from Media Matters****
Media Matters on the slimy edit