The Comeback Kid
May 23rd, 2006 at 3:21 pm by Susie
Will Al run? Great article from New York magazine (not completely great, as it leaves out the savage attacks on Gore by the press):
Looking back, I ask, are you happy with the campaign you ran?
“I think it was a tough environment,†he replies. “It’s now clear that a fairly significant recession started in the spring of the election year, and the stock market fell dramatically all through the campaign, and it came at the end of an eight-year cycle that triggered the normal pendulum effect of American politics—which cuts in two different ways. The hunger of the party that’s been satiated for eight years has a half-life. And the hunger and determination of the party that’s been out for eight years is built up to a fevered pitch. And then there’s a third factor. In both 1992 and 1996, Bill Clinton and I were very fortunate to have a significant third-party candidate that drew virtually all of his votes from the Republican nominee. By contrast, in 2000, there was a third-party candidate drawing from me. And the task of holding down that number to the noise level, while simultaneously reaching out to the centrist voters who were vulnerable to that pendulum effect, made it a campaign of an impressive degree of difficulty.
“In spite of that,†Gore goes on, “we won the popular vote and came within one Supreme Court justice’s vote of winning the election. So if that final decision had gone the other way, the question might well be, how did you guys pull it off?â€
Does he, like many Democrats, think the election was stolen?
Gore pauses a long time and stares into the middle distance. “There may come a time when I speak on that,†Gore says, “but it’s not now; I need more time to frame it carefully if I do.†Gore sighs. “In our system, there’s no intermediate step between a definitive Supreme Court decision and violent revolution.â€
Later, I put the question of Gore’s views on the matter to David Boies, his lawyer in the Florida-recount battle. “He thought the court’s ruling was wrong and obviously political,†Boies says. So he considers the election stolen? “I think he does—and he’s right.â€
Love it. I love when you bring attention to the latest Howler.
The dems need to understand that the mainstream press is the biggest obstacle. They will never stop reciting their stupid scripts unless forced.
If Gore brings up the stolen election, they will play the sourgrapes, or crazy card. He’d better have Harris at his side detailing how it was done.
He is different… wiser, thicker skin, more confidence… maybe his fall after 2000 helped him grow. He seems more elloquent.
Oh, and Gore doesn’t need Katherine Harris for the details. The BBC did a documentary called “how george bush stole his election.” Unfortunately it’s banned in the U.S. Except for on the net and file sharing, I’ve only ever seen it on the Sundance Channel.