Now, let's look at some of his further techniques as he builds up to his emotional crescendo. (I never thought I'd be saying Al Gore had an emotional anything, but you live and learn.)
"In 2001, I had hoped it was an aberration when polls showed that three-quarters of Americans believed that Saddam Hussein was responsible for attacking us on Sept. 11."
For Gore not to cite a specific poll and a specific question means he has no interest in appealing to anyone's reason. Anyone with a positive IQ who follows politics knows that the results of polls can vary drastically based on how questions are worded. The unnamed, multiple polls which Al Gore refers to may have asked "Do you believe Saddam Hussein was connected to the attacks of Sept. 11?", or they may have asked, "Do you believe that Saddam Hussein flew over the fucking island of Manhattan shooting Scud missiles out of his ass?" Each would imply a different degree of responsibility. But Al Gore clearly has no interest in the clarity of his communication.
Incidentally, later in the same paragraph, Al Gore himself uses the intentionally vague term "connected": "More than five years later, however, nearly half of the American public still believes Saddam was connected to the attack." Clear thinkers don't accept this kind of thinking.
But, now, here comes the part where the sophist stiff really unleashes his sophistry. Look at this interesting and unusual formulation of the first amendment:
"Thus they ["Our Founders"] not only protected freedom of assembly, they made a special point—in the First Amendment—of protecting the freedom of the printing press. And yet today, almost 45 years have passed since the majority of Americans received their news and information from the printed word. Newspapers are hemorrhaging readers. Reading itself is in decline."
Think of your own experiences thinking about and discussing the freedom of speech. How often has the phrase "freedom of the printing press" made an appearance? How often have you heard others use it? This is another moment when I asked myself: "Hmm, what is this guy up to?"
The answer is that Al Gore formulates the first amendment as "freedom of the printing press" in order to imply that the Constitution lacks text protecting non-printing presses; i.e., electronic presses. Later in the chapter, Al Gore generously volunteers to step in and be its protector.
But first, Gore takes a nice, long swipe at another electronic medium: television.
