Thoughtful piece in the Columbia Journalism Review on press coverage of Al Gore. Go read it all:

Another example of the political press’s collective personal disdain for Gore came during the Democratic debate at Dartmouth College in 1999, where, as Time magazine pointed out, “The 300 media types watching in the press room at Dartmouth were, to use the appropriate technical term, totally grossed out by [him]…Whenever Gore came on too strong, the room erupted in a collective jeer, like a gang of 15-year-old Heathers cutting down some hapless nerd.” Did that animus translate into negative coverage? Google some stories from the 2000 campaign and you tell me.

But why all this focus on Gore, when surely other politicians–yes, including president Bush–have been unfairly painted with the same overly broad brush? It’s all due to a little item by Dana Milbank in Wednesday’s Washington Post, where he recycles all that was rotten in the coverage of Gore in 2000. You remember the script: Gore is “cold.” Gore is “stiff.” Gore is “pretentious.” While he at times was all these things, many reporters covering the campaign seemed to delight in these caricatures, and as a result, they got played to the hilt.

Milbank gives us an account of a recent speech by Gore that reads almost like a parody of everything we read about the candidate back in ‘00.

Milbank said that during the speech, Gore “waxed esoteric,” “waxed erudite,” and “waxed informed,” as if these might be bad things to have happen during a speech. Milbank then quotes several audience members who gush over how smart Gore is, concluding that “therein lies a problem for the Gore ‘08 bubble.” Can’t be too smart, now, or else you’ll look like an egghead, right?

Compounding his sins, according to Milbank, Gore mentioned too many historical figures: “Imagine the Iowa hog farmer cracking open “Assault on Reason,” and meeting Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Paine, John Kenneth Galbraith, Walter Lippmann, Johannes Gutenberg, John Stuart Mill, Thomas Jefferson and Marshall McLuhan — all before finishing the introduction.” Milbank–who has made a career of skewering pomposity–lets his own elitism get the better of him here; he might be surprised to find out that even an “Iowa hog farmer” might have heard of one or two of these guys. And if they haven’t, well, since most people read books to learn stuff, one can assume that they picked up Gore’s book for a reason. [...]

When reporters at places like the Post start acting like they know what’s up with the “average American,” we’re headed for trouble. Milbank is trafficking in a portrayal of Gore that was almost entirely invented by the press, and, given that seven years later the press appears unable to move beyond that caricature, perhaps we’ll all be better off if Gore doesn’t run.

Now, think about that. It isn’t that we need to fix the way the press covers candidates, because even the Columbia Journalism Review seems to concede it’s hopeless. No, it’s that the voters should give up on having a thoughtful, competent, visionary president - because the gentleman of the press are so obsessed with the sizes of their own genitalia. (And yes, Maureen Dowd, this also applies to you.)