Gore's Endorsement

The most amusing thing about this endorsement was not the various handlers of the eight other Democratic candidates appearing on the way too numerous talking head television shows to talk about how Gore's endorsement meant absolutely nothing and that their candidate would triumph come primary day, but the number of self-appointed, usual suspect members of the chattering class (particular, but not always the Republican strategists) wanted to talk about Hillary Clinton and 2008.

The best response I heard to all this talk was on CNN, when I forget who said, it was not about 2008, it was actually about 2020 and Karina Gore . . . .

It is amazing how absolutely rabid the right gets about Hillary! It's pretty major that they've finally admitted she's not running in 2004!

Besides, when Dean wins in 2004 it'll most likely make him an unopposed (for the democratic nomination) in 2008. Think he'll take 200 million+ in donations from the corporations and wealthy to run that unopposed primary race, like Bush is doing right now?

The ONLY problem I had with Gore's endorsement of Dean was that he showed absolutely no class or loyalty to Lieberman who a) was his running mate in 2000, and b) agreed to not enter this race if Gore decided to run. While there's nothing wrong with him choosing to endorse Dean, he should have at THE VERY LEAST phoned Lieberman and talked to him PRIOR to the announcement. He deserved that much.

>The ONLY problem I had with Gore's endorsement of Dean was

>that he showed absolutely no class or loyalty to Lieberman who

>a) was his running mate in 2000, and b) agreed to not enter

>this race if Gore decided to run. While there's nothing wrong

>with him choosing to endorse Dean, he should have at THE VERY

>LEAST phoned Lieberman and talked to him PRIOR to the

>announcement. He deserved that much.

I agree, but I think Gore agrees, too. The endorsement was kept so secret that not even Dean's top aides knew about it until the day before. Gore had planned to call Lieberman the night before the endorsement was announced and made public, but news of the announcement leaked out the day before, meaning that by the time Gore called Lieberman (which he did, the night before), it was already in the press.

I think that Lieberman is angry not because he wasn't told in advance, but because he thought his loyalty to Gore should have precluded Gore from endorsing anyone else while Lieberman was still in the race. So when Gore did that, Lieberman just went around trying to impose some Jewish Mother Guilt Trip on Gore ("After all I did for you, you can't even call??"). I think it's rather pathetic.

a "leak"!!!! call ted kenedy to add this to his list of mysteries he is investigating.

i think it shows that gore believes dean will be the candidate and hillary really will not. for payback gore probabally would like a major appointment like supreme court justice or secretary of state.

>So when Gore did that, Lieberman just

>went around trying to impose some Jewish Mother Guilt Trip on

>Gore ("After all I did for you, you can't even call??"). I

>think it's rather pathetic.

And what exactly did Lieberman do for Gore anyway? If he'd carried HIS OWN HOME STATE, Florida wouldn't have mattered! Then again, Gore didn't manage that feat either...

But it was a good endorsement, and his two MoveOn.org speeches have been good.

BTW, anybody else go to a MoveOn.org screening of Uncovered, the whole truth about the Iraq war? It was a well done movie, but preaching to the choir with MoveOn members, hopefully it gets in front of more people. The gathering I attended was pretty fun too.

Hehe:

http://cagle.slate.msn.com/news/DeanMorris2/Gore-Dean/best/arial.gif

I've read the reports where Gore "tried to reach" Lieberman the night before but couldn't. But I'm not buying it. I suspect that is more damage control than anything else. He did receive some criticism on that point. As his running mate in 2000, I feel he owed it to him to INSURE that he heard about it from him first.

But I do agree that Lieberman is also upset about the endorsement period. Can't say as I blame him; he's only human. But I can't blame Gore for favoring Dean over Lieberman either. Lieberman just isn't electable.

The only problem I have with Gore (or any Democratic heavyweight) endorsing a candidate during the primary, is he/she risks losing their campaigning effectiveness in the general election should the candidate they endorsed during the primary not get the nomination. I believe Reagan held this view as does Clinton. Both publicly stated that they would wait and campaign for the eventual nominee of their party.

jamesk840, lieberman's home state is not florida but conn.

because lieberman held off running until gore said he would not and showed him that respect he was owed that in return. since the election, gore has really turned me off; while i am not a george bush fan, gore has shown that he probabally would not have made a good president either; just reinforces that our last choices for president were not good ones.

actually, while i do not her as a person, i think the best policy is coming from hillary who seems to be following bill's middle of the road approach (that's where the votes are!). for best entertainment value, only al sharpton makes the grade; he's a slime ball but i do like his wit.

That was my point. It's my understanding that if Connecticut had been a blue state Florida wouldn't have mattered. And don't forget hw's the same shmuck that ran for both Senate and VP, so if Gore had won (ahem) he would've had to abandon an entire term, his replacement to be appionted by a Republican governor I think. Remember how close the Senate was at that time!

The party doens't owe Bush-light anything, other then a swift kick in the ass.

>That was my point. It's my understanding that if Connecticut

>had been a blue state Florida wouldn't have mattered.

Your understanding is correct. But the same can be said had Tennessee (Gore's home state) been a blue state as well. You can't just pin it on Lieberman.

> And

>don't forget hw's the same shmuck that ran for both Senate and

>VP, so if Gore had won (ahem) he would've had to abandon an

>entire term, his replacement to be appionted by a Republican

>governor I think. Remember how close the Senate was at that

>time!

Again, I agree. By why just lay the criticism on Lieberman? Lieberman couldn't have been on the ticket if the person who was actually running for president hadn't actually asked him to be.

>The party doens't owe Bush-light anything, other then a swift

>kick in the ass.

Again, I agree. The party doesn't owe him anything. But Gore did.

I guess you don't like Lieberman, huh.

Other then his past civil-rights record, I see nothing to like and am sick to death of his whining. So I guess you could say that.

Yep, I knew about Gore's state as well. Not to mention Clinton's... really quite a bad showing, and a crap strategy.

Not to say I'm not all for the new, MoveOn speech-giving Gore, if he's genuine. Some say it's the old Gore, that 2000 was an aberration, I don't think I believe that.

>Other then his past civil-rights record, I see nothing to

>like and am sick to death of his whining. So I guess you

>could say that.

I couldn’t agree more. Lieberman seems like a decent enough guy, but he has no presence. Ideally, the President should have charisma, but at a minimum he or she at least has to have a forceful personality that people will follow. (As much as I dislike Bush, I will give him his props in that category.) Poor Joe seems like such a wimp.

I saw an interesting spin on one of the talking head shows that said this whole thing was actually a battle between the Gore and Clinton camps within the Democratic Party. The Clinton camp is assuming that Bush will prevail in 2004 so is positioning itself for control of the Party apparatus in order to ensure Hillary’s nomination in 2008. The Gore camp is not ready to admit defeat in 2004 and this was a preemptive strike. Assuming that Dean will be the nominee, the Gore camp gains prestige my getting on the band wagon first.

God only knows if this is true, but it sounds reasonable.