Restore Al Gore's Reputation

That sore loser Al Gore is back complaining again.

Just wait. You'll hear this story in Vanity Fair contextualized that way real soon. Don't believe it.

I spoke to a very intelligent libertarian friend of mine over the weekend. The guy is as sharp as our guillotine. We engaged in one of the most intellectually honest conversations about politics I have ever engaged in with someone who's fundamental beliefs directly oppose mine. Seriously, in the hour long debate, we actually went beyond our own agendas and came up with some good policy ideas that synthesized his approach and mine in ways that would, you know, accomplish something.

It was a profound experience that gave me hope that if lobbyists were removed from the equation, hard-edged capitalists like him and avid social democrats like me could make things work better for everyone.

Then he asked me who I thought would be the next President.

I should have just shrugged and asked him what he thought. Instead I answered. "Hillary Clinton."

He went into convulsions.

"Hey man." I said to him, once the color returned to his face, "I don't like it any more than you do." That was the only dishonest thing I said to the guy all night--I'm sure I would be far more comfortable with Hillary as President than my friend would. What I meant was, "I don't like it either," but I was trying to keep us focused and on common ground. We were doing so well.

I quickly changed the subject. "If he runs, Al Gore is my guy."

he didn't like that either. "Gore? He's nuts."

And with that, ideological bipartisanship ended.

"No, sir!" I fired back. I took a deep breath and I went on and on for ten minutes explaining that over the last seven years Gore has been transformed. I implored my friend to listen to the speech Gore gave on Martin Luther King Day in January 2006.



I told him that this Al Gore:



would inspire people like him. This Al Gore:



would win him over. I gave it everything I had.

He didn't believe a word of it.

And you know what, Al Gore's not the least bit surprised that so many people distrust him.

From Vanity Fair:

As he was running for president, Al Gore said he'd invented the Internet; announced that he had personally discovered Love Canal, the most infamous toxic-waste site in the country; and bragged that he and Tipper had been the sole inspiration for the golden couple in Erich Segal's best-selling novel Love Story (made into a hit movie with Ali MacGraw and Ryan O'Neal). He also invented the dog, joked David Letterman, and gave mankind fire.

Could such an obviously intelligent man have been so megalomaniacal and self-deluded to have actually said such things? Well, that's what the news media told us, anyway. And on top of his supposed pomposity and elitism, he was a calculating dork: unable to get dressed in the morning without the advice of a prominent feminist (Naomi Wolf).

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By the way something, the Gore '08 rumors picked up a little momentum when Democratic Rep. Tim Mahoney said that there is "a very good chance" that former vice president Al Gore will run and be "very formidable" because Gore has been "right" about Iraq and global warming. Amen.

But we'll know Al Gore's decision when we know. If Gore doesn't run, I'll be pretty pissed about it. But this isn't about '08. It's about '00. The American people haven't been able to get a straight answer about anything from the media since that ridiculous campaign and it's at the root of all our troubles. The truth has to start at the beginning. The decline of this country starts in '00 with the fundamental debasement of journalism and complete subjugation of the truth. Restoring Al Gore's reputation is a vital step to getting back the America we lost.

AUDIO: There's an MP3 of Gore's MLK Day speech here.

TAGS: Al Gore, Election 2000, Election 2008, Media Bias