Ain't It Cool News is a prominent pop-culture site mostly about movies, TV, Anime, and video games. Huge influence and significant traffic.
One of their reviewers, who goes by Massawyrm, calls himself "A lifelong, old school, traditionally conservative (which doesn't mean what many of you think it means), Republican ("traditionally conservative" seems to mean Libertarian rather than implying a Dobson-esque neanderthal values agenda.)
What matters is that no matter how much he despised Al Gore in 2000, he loves An Inconvenient Truth. Why and How Much after the break . . .
His whole
review is worth the time. Particularly because he takes the time to discuss the sad degeneration of the Republican Party and the pathetic obedience of dittoheads while giving a great review of the film itself. here are some choice excerpts:
discussing Al Gore:
the Gore-bot 2000 is dead. A relic. A thing of the past. Al Gore is far from what he used to be. An Inconvenient Truth not only proves to make a compelling call to action about global warming, but also makes Al Gore seem like something he hasn't before to many people. Human.
and Dittoheads:
Now, understandably, this film has stirred up a lot of controversy. Unfortunately, the controversy is far less scientific than it is political. You see, somewhere along the line my party stopped being the party that quoted the founding fathers. Somewhere along the line we stopped being the party of a sound, cohesive philosophy that virtually every republican held, despite our personal, issue-based beliefs. Somewhere along the line "Ditto Rush" stopped meaning, "Wow, Rush said exactly what I've been saying for years" and became "Well, if that's what Rush said, that's what I think too."
Discussing the power and elegance of the film's argument:
While not entirely unassailable (as arguments go), what seemed like a "Save the Spotted Owl" plea for environmental consciousness rapidly became a wrecking ball of rhetoric that tore down common myths and hit every point in the argument, from personal cost, industry and the technology needed. This isn't some crazy, left wing, bleeding heart, tree hugger plea - this is an honest to god, very well thought out evaluation of facts, figures and concepts. And its an argument, valid or not, that is so good, it should be heard by members of all political slants and bents.
and the inevitable questions about running in 2008:
And man, can I understand why he's getting the BIG QUESTION in every interview he does. Because if there was ever a way to make a HUGE comeback, this movie would be it. If Gore was able to take a dyed in wool conservative who practically spit when he said the guys name and not only earned his respect, but endeared him to him, I can only imagine what this film would do to the independents in this country - let alone the liberal base that feels let down by him.
If enough people saw this film, and he kept up this kind of attitude, he could probably win the nomination in a walk.
Finally, a great critique of how careless Republicans have become:
If anyone sees this, I think it most important for those of my own party, if for any reason other than hearing this argument from this point of view, that we begin to once again - as a party - think for ourselves and argue from our own knowledge of the opposing opinion rather than what we're told it is. If we continue to let Coulter, O'Reilly and Savage do our thinking and speaking for us, then it will be left to the Al Gore's of the world to make the only sane, informed arguments - and we'll be left with few who can actually argue against them.