Thinking about Gore Again…
Paul Krugman writes today about Al Gore’s movie, An Inconvenient Truth. In his column he talks about the disinformation campaign waged by oil companies, how working to slow global warming would not adversely affect the economy, and…
Why, after all, was Mr. Gore’s popular-vote margin in the 2000 election narrow enough that he could be denied the White House? Any account that neglects the determination of some journalists to make him a figure of ridicule misses a key part of the story. Why were those journalists so determined to jeer Mr. Gore? Because of the very qualities that allowed him to realize the importance of global warming, many years before any other major political figure: his earnestness, and his genuine interest in facts, numbers and serious analysis.
Stop. Could anyone use the words “earnestness, and his genuine interest in facts, numbers and serious analysis” to describe George Bush and keep a straight face? No…
And so the 2000 campaign ended up being about the candidates’ clothing, their mannerisms, anything but the issues, on which Mr. Gore had a clear advantage (and about which his opponent was clearly both ill informed and dishonest).
I won’t join the sudden surge of speculation about whether “An Inconvenient Truth” will make Mr. Gore a presidential contender. But the film does make a powerful case that Mr. Gore is the sort of person who ought to be running the country.
If he does run, it won’t just be him that will have an opportunity for a “do over.” Krugman asks if the voters are up to the task of electing the right kind of man for the job. I ask if the media, given the same opportunity for a “do over,” is up to the task.
Given this piece of shit about the Clintons that passes for journalism in The New York Times, I think not.
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