Let's not sell Al Gore short as a mere" Politician"

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

Because he has amassed too much credibility to squander it in the usual political morass.

He was "defeated" and then went on to:

teach,found an internet/media company Current TV,win an an Oscar, be nominated for the Nobel Prize, write ANOTHER best seller about political science and communications- "The Assault on Reason" (and couldn't he possibly be nominated for a Pulitzer for "Assault"?)

Imagine, what if you had a candidate that could not credibly be called a "Politician" because he had rightfully earned so many other titles? And what if he also happened to have been a Senator, and a Vice-President and a veteran, and a journalist and an environmentalist and he also happened to have an amazing wife and 2 brilliant daughters?

Would you let hacks like Chris Matthews and Maureen Dowd and Ann Coulter and Sean Hannity and Tim Russert and David Brooks and other sundry "pundits" rob you of this treasure if somehow they discover that they don't like his: sweaters, socks, "cut of his jib", haircut, house, carbon footprint, weight, love of clam dip, etc.?

Have we all finally learned our George W. Bush/media lightweights lesson?

Have we?

Have they?

[LBJDemocrat]

1. "Imagine, what if you had a candidate that could not credibly be called a "Politician"...?"

I'd want to know who's doing his marketing.

Al Gore is a politician because he is a potential presidential candidate. I know it. You know it. He knows it.

As much as I love Wes Clark; he too is a politician.

Edwards became an advocate of the poor since the last election, but he is also a politician.

Al Gore just seems to have done better than the others in terms of convincing the public that he's not a politician anymore.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

2. If you say the words "Al Gore" to me right now , my immediate response

is NOT "politician"

I might think about "An Inconvenient Truth"

or I might think about "The Assault on Reason"

My point was that "politics" does not necessarily define the man Al Gore anymore at this time. He doesn't need it.

We need him a heck of a lot more than he needs us. And I respect any choice he might choose to make. I selfishly hope that he might choose once again to take up the bully pulpit of being an American President to advance even larger goals. That's just me.

[LBJDemocrat]

5. I guess I'm cynical

I think he's been planning to run just like Sen. Clinton was. And I view everything he does in terms of it.

Who doesn't want to be president of the US?

[Labors of Hercules]

6. I agree, but...

There's a big difference between wanting to be President to accomplish powerful objectives, and wanting to be President just to be powerful.
Seeing Gore's work, his dedication to achieving collective humanistic goals, He is working toward something far greater than personal glory.
That is why he deserves our support as he seeks the presidency, if for no other reason.

[Imagevision]

3. With options like Obama and Edwards out there, I think Gore should work on Global Warming 2

[Labors of Hercules]

4. They're not in the same league. Not even the same SPORT. n/t

[Imagevision]

7. umm. let's nopt forget that Al Gore chose Joe Lieberman as his running mate!!!

I thinkl this speaks volumes for this,... comeback crusader??

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

8. Joe Lieberman was the moral hair shirt that Al Gore was forced to don by his party

in order to compensate for and distance himself from Clinton's BJ's. That's my opinion anyway.

And both men have evolved since that time in totally different directions.

That was the point of my OP - Al "lost" (I'll always be bitter about the appointment by the SCOTUS)but used his vacation from politics to climb different mountains. He is not the same Al Gore.