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Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Maybe now Gore's supporters will start looking for other candidates to support
Posted by Jill | 6:45 AM
Watching the Draft Gore movement folks has been a pretty sad sight. At first it seemed like a good idea. Considering how Gore was robbed of the presidency in 2000, and what the country has become under the stewardship of the Texas Idiot, one couldn't blame him for slinking away, never to be seen again. But instead, he proved that Dorothy Parker was right -- living well really IS the best revenge. And despite the continued attempts by the right to turn him into a laughing stock (so you guys can dispense with your "Gore is Fat" crap because we've heard it before, it's getting tired, it wasn't funny in the first place, and yes, Barry, I'm talking to you), he's come back by authoring serious books, winning an Academy Award and an Emmy, and now the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in advocating for the necessity to address our role in global warming. Now that insurance companies are refusing to underwrite policies in areas not ordinarily associated with hurricanes, and with oil inching ever closer to $100/barrel, the issue is starting to gain traction where Americans pay attention to it -- in their pocketbooks.

The problem is that Gore's ascendancy has turned him into a mythical archetype in the minds of his supporters -- the prodigal king on the white horse who will ride in on his magical steed in glittering armor and restore the kingdom to its former glory. Daily Kos diarists have been some of the worst offenders, with diaries like this, this, and this (more here). Imagine if some of the energy put into trying to pull a reluctant candidate into the race, one who didn't do all that well tackling the Mean Grrlz in the media last time, had been spent on, say, the candidate who's actually in the race and running as a progressive. The Gore-worship, the elevation of an accomplished and intelligent man into the status of demigod has been disconcertingly like the right's worship of George W. Bush. Gore may be more worthy of admiration on the basis of his accomplishments, but the Arthurian imagery has been just a wee bit pathetic.

Now it looks like Gore is going to do what I've felt he should do all along -- not run for president, and continue to work to influence policy on global warming worldwide.

BBC reports:

In an interview with Norwegian broadcaster NRK, he said he would not make a fresh bid for the White House.

Mr Gore told NRK he wanted to focus on his climate change campaigning, which won him a Nobel Peace Prize last week.

[snip]

Mr Gore told NRK it was a "great honour" to be awarded the prize for his climate campaigning.

Asked how it would affect his political future, he replied: "I don't have plans to be a candidate again so I don't really see it in that context at all.

"I'm involved in another kind of campaign. It's a global campaign to change the way people think about the climate crisis."


I would ask the Draft Gore people to not try and parse the meaning of "plans" to try to harvest a kernel of hope that Al Gore will be a candidate for president in 2008 and instead work to stop the corporatist candidate who is currently the Democratic frontrunner.

Or, you could just decide to support this guy:



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