Text 2224, 116 rader
Skriven 2004-09-13 22:47:05 av John Hull (1:379/1.99)
Ärende: Gore is Losing it Big Time!
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Al Gore has abandoned all pretense of civility and decorum lately as he
campaigns for Kerry, calling Bush everything but low down and foul smelling.


Monday September 13, 2:50 AM - World-AP 
Gore Unleashes Fury on Democrats' Behalf

 
Al Gore's stiff jokes are gone now, replaced by recount jokes. The cautious
campaigner of 2000 is gone, too, replaced by a fire-breathing Bush basher. 

When Gore delivered his latest-in-a-series slam at the Republicans last week,
faulting Vice President Dick Cheney for "sleazy and despicable" criticism of
the Democrats, a White House spokesman dismissively responded: "Consider the
source." 

Well, Gore used to be the vice president. And, as he likes to say, he used to
be the next president of the United States. 

Now, he is Al Gore, private citizen _ unleashed. 

Speaking with a freedom and passion less frequently seen in his own political
campaigns, Gore is happily making speeches, raking in money and generally
raising hell for John Kerry and the Democratic Party these days. In his spare
time, he's also teaching at three universities and raising money for himself
through various business ventures. 

In recent weeks and months, as an uncensored voice for the Democratic cause,
Gore has skewered President Bush's team for moral cowardice, the "lowest sort
of politics imaginable," aligning itself with "digital brownshirts" who
intimidate the press, and political tactics as craven as those of Richard
Nixon. Just to cite a few examples. 

It's red meat for loyal Democrats, to whom Gore is the embodiment of what is at
stake on Nov. 2. 

"There's a lot of emotion that's wrapped up in the outcome of 2000, which I
think he can use constructively in 2004," says Democratic consultant Michael
Feldman, a former Gore adviser. 

Just ask 76-year-old Jim McNeil, a retired steelworker who turned out to hear
Gore speak at the United Steelworkers of America headquarters in downtown
Pittsburgh last week. 

"There stands the real president," said McNeil, who then made just the
sought-after segue into support for Kerry on Election Day. 

Republicans, however, say Gore's passion on the campaign path has reached an
unhealthy fever pitch that could do Democrats more harm than good. 

GOP strategist Keith Appell likens him to "some kind of cheerleader on acid." 

"Some of the things he has said have been outrageous and he says them in this
high-pitched scream," Appell said. "I really don't know what to call that." 

When Gore, in an interview with The New Yorker, compared Bush's faith to "the
same fundamentalist impulse that we see in Saudi Arabia" and elsewhere, the
Bush campaign distributed a statement from GOP consultant Ralph Reed, a former
leader of the Christian Coalition, calling the comments "reckless and
irresponsible." 

If Kerry's advisers have any nervousness about Gore's high-octane attacks,
they're not showing it in public. 

"Gore will be a tremendous asset to us in a number of targeted battleground
states and we're happy to have his help," said David Morehouse, a senior Kerry
adviser. As for Gore's more outspoken criticisms, Morehouse adds, "He's a
former vice president who's entitled to say what he believes." 

Gore isn't just stumping for Kerry. He's also campaigning for other Democratic
candidates for whom the former vice president can be a huge draw. 

Last Wednesday, for example, Gore and wife Tipper hosted a house party for
Tennessee legislative candidates that raised a record quarter-million dollars.
On Thursday, he made two stops in Pennsylvania for Kerry. On Friday, he was in
Illinois, raising money for Democratic House candidate Melissa Bean. 

Pollster Andy Kohut, director of the Pew Research Center for the People & the
Press, said Gore is "emblematic of happier days" to many Democrats. 

But Kohut cautioned that "swing voters tend to be moderate, and if he comes
across as too over the top, there's a risk." The pollster added, though,
"Certainly he's not any more over-the-top than Dick Cheney." 

Gore, who talks with Kerry frequently, had a first-day speaking role at the
Democratic convention in Boston, where he toned down his rhetoric in keeping
with the party's goal of projecting a positive tone from the podium. 

But party activists are happy to see Gore take a harder line on the hustings.
And some wonder how the 2000 election might have ended if only Gore had been
similarly passionate in his denunciations of Bush then. 

"He was shackled with the trappings of the office of vice president in 2000 and
it's a shame, because I think it certainly held him back," says Warren Gooch, a
lawyer and party fund-raiser in Gore's home state of Tennessee. "If he had been
a little more forceful, a little more open and perhaps a little less cautious
in 2000, it could possibly have made a difference." 

Gore was warmly cheered as he took center stage in Boston. Before speaking, he
paused to acknowledge the ovation, patting his hand on his heart in a reprise
of the same gesture he made four years earlier, when he was accepting his
party's nomination rather than merely endorsing its choice of another man. 

This time, the gesture had an almost wistful element to it. And then Gore
heaved a sigh and went on with his speech. 




John 

America:  First, Last, and Always!
Go to www.madgorilla.us for all your Domain Name Services at the lowest rates.

--- Msged/386 TE 05
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