I know you've heard a lot about The Speech, but odds are you've only read excerpts. Since most speeches are an ad hoc coalition of standalone soundbites and folksy anecdotes, that's generally a sound strategy. Not here. Gore's speech on the NSA scandal is a methodically constructed history, critique, condemnation, and call to action, and it deserves to be read in full, if only to reward those rare political figures who judge their audiences adult enough to handle a speech-length argument. There's something to be said for politicians -- though Gore may not still count as one -- expecting more out of their audience. We're so used to being seen as warlike 12-year-olds with untreated ADD that we've stopped demanding that our leaders treat us as anything but.
