Al Gore Now Persona Non Grata

October 2, 2002

It's a curious thing.   You'd think that if you won the popular vote in a presidential election and almost captured the electoral vote that your party would be imploring you to take another shot.   At the very least, you'd think candidates from your party would be lining up to ask for your endorsement.  

 

Not so with Al Gore.   There are really two reasons why.   First, George W. Bush has endeared himself to the other half of America that didn't vote for him.   To them, he has far surpassed their wildest expectations.   September 11 th didn't shape the president we all now know and respect but it did allow him to prove himself to the doubting half.   Those members of the enlightened half who voted for him were not surprised but, instead, pleased that their instincts were right.

 

Second, all the while the president has been winning the affections of the American public, Al Gore has appeared bitter and vindictive.   He's never been able to come to grips with the fact that he lost, not only the election, but his home state, which is even more embarrassing.   He vowed to come home and mend fences but has found stone walls in their place.

 

 

Bob Clement, one of the few Democrats willing to take the chance, dared to be seen with Gore at a recent rally and fundraiser only to see the gap between him and Alexander widen.   Ed Rendell, former mayor of Philadelphia and head of the Democratic National Committee when Gore was running for president now says the Democrats need to look for another contender to take on Bush.

 

The Republicans have their crazy aunt in the basement, too.   It was downright eerie to sit and listen to a Republican president visiting the capital of Tennessee governed by a Republican with Republican U.S. senators and a Republican senatorial candidate and not only was the Republican governor not there, nobody even mentioned his name.   At least we all understand why.   Sundquist has become a RINO, Republican In Name Only.   His lying to the citizens of Tennessee over the income tax issue has made him persona non grata at Republican functions.

 

But Gore.   What has he done?   The sad reality for him is he hasn't done anything different.   He's just gone about being Al Gore, the chameleon who ‘assumes the room' no matter where he speaks.   When he's speaking to a group of black people he takes on the cadence of a black preacher.   When he talks to union members he assumes the aura of a blue-collar worker.   When he spoke to a group in San Francisco recently his lisp became even more pronounced.   You think I'm kidding but I'm not.

 

He's also been back out on the trail kowtowing to the wacked-out dirt people thus again earning the title we gave him many years ago - Spotted Al Gore.   His criticism of President Bush's handling of the Iraq situation has drawn fire from none other than soon-to-be-former-senator Bob Torricelli.   You have to be pretty low on the party totem pole to draw fire from The Torch.

 

The news media are abuzz with speculation as to whether the party chant will be ‘Gore in oh-four.'   I think there's little doubt that he'll seek his party's nomination.   The only question that remains is if he'll continue to be oblivious to the cold shoulder he's getting from party stalwarts.   As we speak, Al Gore is running as fast as he can for the presidency and Tennessee Democrats are running as fast as they can from him.