Gore and The Establishment

Readers of these pages know I am not a fan of former Vice President Al Gore. Yesterday's endorsement by Gore of presidential contender Howard Dean shows precisely why Gore is entitled to no respect. Dean's Internet Dynamism Among Attractions for Gore [Mercury News]. In 2000, Gore ran as a centrist, embracing populist rehetoric (rather than the Clinton Administration record) only in desperation in the campaign's final weeks. Now he has foresaken his one-time running mate Joe Lieberman -- who held up his own campaign launch out of deference to Gore -- without even a phone call. This is the same Joe Lieberman who in 2000 "sold his soul by reversing his lifelong positions on several key issues in order to align himself with the more liberal Al Gore." [AmericanDaily.com].

Seems that now Gore's suddently gotten religion and believes the Democrats must move even more to the left. Well, he may be right, but that switch repudiates all the political values Gore professed to hold dear while in office. As Dan Gilmore notes:

This is a classic, unprincipled move by someone who lacks any conviction. As Todd Purdum wrote in the New York Times, "The sudden marriage of such a seeming odd couple could wind up being seen as so politically expedient as to seem almost unprincipled, playing into the public's worst perceptions that campaigns are about power and winning, not big ideas." No shit, Sherlock. It's an illustration of why the Democrats are so weak that the media, and many Dean supporters, view the Gore endorsement as a "king-making" final act in the campaign.

In my view, it's the beginning of the end. Al Gore is a political kiss of death -- what Gore brings "is not his endorsement but his baggage" -- and Howard Dean should run as far and as fast as he can in the other direction.

 Posted by glenn