WHAT FIXED MY ATTENTION ON THIS SPEECH WAS THAT HE DEVOTED QUITE A BIT OF TIME IN THE SPEECH TO OUTLINING THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY/CLINTON ADMINISTRATION PLANS FOR DEPLOYMENT OF A "STAR WARS"/S.D.I. SYSTEM. HE LISTED THE PROJECTED COST OUTLAYS AND A TIMETABLE FOR DEPLOYMENT.
WHILE THE REPUBLICANS HAD BEEN PUSHING THIS KIND OF NONSENSE SINCE THE EARLY 1980'S UNDER RONALD REAGAN--DRAWING IT FROM RESEARCH STARTED IN 1976 UNDER PRESIDENT FORD--THE PERENNIAL DEMOCRATIC LINE ON THIS HAS BEEN THAT THEY WANT TO WAIT, WAIT, OR IT'S A WASTE OF MONEY.

FOR INSTANCE, CONSIDER WHAT YOU FIND IF YOU TAKE A BRIEF SIDESTEP HERE, RECORDING WHAT VICE PRESIDENT GORE TOLD CNN'S WOLF BLITZER ON APRIL 30, 2000...

GORE, I THOUGHT, IS CLEARLY BREAKING GROUND WITH THIS, SO I ENDEAVOURED TO GET THE TEXT OF THE SPEECH SO I COULD BE CERTAIN EXACTLY WHAT HE WAS ANNOUNCING.

MY USUAL PRACTICE IN SUCH CASES IS TO GO THE NEXT DAY'S NEW YORK TIMES AS IT IS GENERALLY THEIR POLICY TO PUBLISH THE TEXTS OF MAJOR SPEECHES.
SURE ENOUGH, I FOUND AN ARTICLE ABOUT THE SPEECH TITLED, "CLINTON COMMITTED TO MILITARY AND VETERANS, GORE DECLARES".
BUT EVEN THOUGH I WOULD ESTIMATE 5 MINUTES AT LEAST OF THE SPEECH WAS DEVOTED TO THE SUBJECT OF THE S.D.I DEPLOYMENT...NOT A WORD OF THE ARTICLE REPORTED IT.

SO, I WENT ONLINE TO THE WHITE HOUSE SITE TO SEE IF THEY'D POST THE TEXT OF THE GORE SPEECH--WHICH THEY DIDN'T.

I WAITED PATIENTLY AS THE OUT OF TOWN PAPERS FROM THE U.S. CAME TO THE VANCOUVER PUBLIC LIBRARY, CHECKING THE EDITIONS CORRESPONDING TO THE TIME OF THE GORE SPEECH--AND NOT ONE OF THEM EVER REPORTED A WORD ABOUT THIS GROUNDBREAKING SPEECH.
SO, AS I HAD DONE IN PREVIOUS CASES AS A LAST RESORT, I PHONED THE U.S. CONSULATE IN VANCOUVER AND ASKED THEM IF THEY'D CONTACT THE VICE PRESIDENT'S OFFICE AND ASK THEM TO FAX ME A COPY OF THE SPEECH TEXT. AS ON PREVIOUS OCCASIONS, I WAS TOLD TO COME BACK THE NEXT DAY AND I'D HAVE IT.

WHAT YOU SEE ON THIS PAGE IS THE FIRST PAGE OF WHAT THEY SENT ME.
I ALMOST DIDN'T NOTICE WHAT IT WAS.
I WAS WALKING OUT, HAPPENED TO OPEN THE ENVELOPE TO INSPECT ITS CONTENTS, AND CALLED BACK OVER MY SHOULDER TO THE KIND REPRESENTATIVE OF THE U.S. CONSULATE WHO HAD HELPED ME TO TELL HER: "IT'S THE WRONG SPEECH."
SHE SAID, THEN "THERE'S NOTHING I CAN DO."