Daily Kos: The COLBERT Effect: Al Gore Gets It

The COLBERT Effect: Al Gore Gets It

by MadCasey
Sun May 14, 2006 at 05:26:19 AM PDT

"However Imperfect it was, however disappointing it was--we all have an obligation to try to make it better."
--Al Gore reflecting upon his youth, and feelings of dissolution in politics.

Before diving into specifics about how Al Gore relates to Colbert, I'd like to make the following video available to you immediately. Spike Jonze directed this never-seen campaign video back in 2000. If you watch nothing else in this video diary, watch this. Seeing him laughing, making jokes, being with his family, speaking honestly and passionately--it's yet another heartbreaking example of the Al Gore the American public never got to know:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-29385328971143264&q=al+gore

This is a multimedia diary. It contains several video and audio clips for your enjoyment. The video clips cannot be embedded in this website because Dkos understandably does not allow java scripts. To see a diary with the videos enabled, visit Deny My Freedom; otherwise, follow the links provided to the webpage containing the video.


Cross Posted at Deny My Freedom, The Gore Portal

Somehow, seeing Al visiting his mother, having dinner--it gets to me as I travel home to see my own mother today.

We've all done our fair share of chatting (analyzing, guessing, hoping...) about what has become known as The Colbert Effect --the resounding response felt throughout the liberal community via the both the blogosphere and networks such as MySpace. With almost no coverage in the mainstream media, the sensation has traveled nearly exclusively by word of mouth, the effects of which Daily Kos's NYCO
has been following with impressive regularity and unsurpassed analysis.

But what about Al Gore? Isn't this diary supposed to be about him? Well, let's consider the fact that last Saturday he appeared (nearly unannounced) on Saturday Night Live, to give an opening address by our "president"--Al Gore. It was a painfully true meditation on just what the world might be like, if he had actually been sworn in as president and served honorably. It's as painful as it is hilarious.

More analysis below, but if you haven't seen the video yet, it's great, and I highly recommend you watch it now:

http://www.ifilm.com/ifilmdetail/2725718

The Framework

His carefully timed appearance lends itself to two things--one fact, the other reasonable conjecture. It certainly has to do with the fact that his movie, An Inconvenient Truth, is coming out in a little over a week. But is there more to it? Perhaps he is continuing his slow but steady increase in time spent in the public eye, to both gauge public interest in a presidential run and to shore up support and name recognition for that prospective run.

But it's the methodology that caught my attention. It seemed incredibly reminiscent of Stephen Colbert. Here we have Al Gore, putting himself on the line and criticizing the president. Only... he doesn't criticize the president. He uses something called "satire" (known to confuse people inside the beltway) to make his point. He sits there, in a suit and tie, and pretends entirely to be representing something completely different--to be speaking about his accomplishments as President. Only he's not talking about his success as president; he's talking about Bush's Failures.

Sound familiar?

The Evidence

It has always seemed to me that Al has been the clear favorite when it comes to politicians who have their finger on the pulse of the grassroots progressive community. I mean, why should'nt he be: he is one of us. For years, he's worked with unglamorous PACs and public interest groups to help protect the environment.

And no one responds to the netroots vibrations better, it seems, than Al Gore. We have certainly seen Evidencehttp://www.gorenet.org/portal/node/90 that he's hearing the groundswell of populist support here in the blogosphere--no one has pushed harder for him to throw his hat in the presidential ring than we have.

It doesn't actually matter whether or not Al Gore is responding directly to Stephen Colbert's success--and I think he and the SNL writers were--the point is, he gets it. He gets humor, he gets satire, and he gets how to be close to the people. He always has. In 2002 he also appeared on SNL. During the nineties, as sitting Vice President he had two cameos in Matt Groening's animated satire Futurama.

It was the easy-to-swallow GOP assassination of this outstanding, humanizing personality that hurt Al the most in 2000 (*that, and a stolen election), but it's something he's working past, and I think that more and more people are seeing that now. I know I am.

The Salt Lake Tribune's Wayne Madsen reminds us that an Al Gore victory in '08 is as possible as it is revolutionary:

He served two terms as vice president under a popular president. He then lost the presidency in a razor-thin election. After eight years, he repackaged himself and won the race for the White House and was re-elected in a major landslide.

That person was Richard Nixon. What Nixon did in 1968, Al Gore could repeat in 2008. Like Nixon, Gore faces a nation divided by an unpopular war. And like Nixon, Gore could transform anti-war anger and general public malaise into votes.

A number of Americans strongly believe that Gore was unfairly robbed of the presidency in 2000. Two terms of George W. Bush have demonstrated that almost every point Gore raised in the 2000 election - the dangers posed by global warming, the criticality of alternative fuel sources, the foolishness of tax breaks for the ultra-rich, the need for international diplomacy and consensus building, prudence in Supreme Court nominations, and a commitment to civil liberties - were right on target.

There is no doubt that Gore made a drastic mistake in selecting a neoconservative Democrat, Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, as his running mate in 2000. Gore understands his mistake more than anyone else in America.

Gore, who has made no secret of his distaste for neoconservative policies at home and abroad, will be extra careful to ensure that his next running mate reflects the true values of the Democratic Party and not those of the pro-big business and neo-conservative aligned Democratic Leadership Council.

Who better could use the White House as a bully pulpit to demand fair and fraud-free elections? That is something that would benefit democracy and every political party and candidate.

http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/ci_3811383

We'll never find a politician more capable of being a human being, or with our own interests closer to his or her heart in the next two years than Al Gore.

Another treat after all this reading:

The New Yorker recently posted this song, written about Al Gore, by his neighbor--and it is as funny as it is true.
http://www.cartoonbank.com/newyorker/slideshows/040913algore.html

While Hillary Clinton consorts
with her pal Rupert Murdoch and Fox News, Gore has been back in the habit of grassroots reform and environmental protection.

The fact that the GOP and the entertainment industry's personality propaganda was his downfall in 2000 is one of the most painful ironies I've ever experienced, and this diary is in large part an effort to stress that emotion as much as I possibly can.

I hope you enjoyed reading this Gore profile as much as I enjoyed making it.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/5/14/82619/9711

The Veep Cuts Loose

Al Gore Plays for Laughs

Here's a little-known fact about the man consistently derided as America's most boring public servant: He has a wicked sense of humor. The Al Gore you don't see is loose, quick-witted, and given to spontaneous mischief-making. His aides and confidants offer a few favorite off-camera anecdotes.

By Daniel Kurtzman

-snip-
...The veep's playful antics are particularly legendary among staff members. On one flight home after a trip to the former Soviet Union, Gore ambled back through the staff section and came across his national security adviser, Leon Fuerth, fast asleep against a window. Sensing a photo op not to be missed, he sat down beside him and launched into an animated discussion of U.S. policy toward Russia. Gore leaned into him and grew increasingly demonstrative as Fuerth remained slumped down, totally oblivious to the tongue-lashing, the photographer and the circle of giggling staff members who had gathered around. According to his aides, Gore is notorious for such stunts -- and usually makes sure his unsuspecting target receives a copy of the photo.

...snip...

"He almost made me pee in my pants a few times," confessed a former senior staffer who traveled with him extensively. "He has a very sharp, biting wit and he just picks his moments."

Much of Gore's humor is purely situational. Some of it just rings funnier because he is the vice president of the United States. "He has an awareness of that and can play off of that," noted a former aide. Often what cracks people up is quite subtle -- a facial expression, a raised eyebrow, an inflection, an a side. Or it will be a playful gesture, like ordering the lights of his motorcade dimmed in honor of Elvis while driving past Graceland. Or stopping short while walking in front of over-aggressive Secret Service agents, causing them to barrel into him.

...snip...

Around the president, Gore has skillfully used humor to lighten up the mood as well. As George Stephanopoulos recounted in his book, "All Too Human," the Lorena and John Wayne Bobbitt sag a used to be one of Gore's favorite running gags. For weeks, he would begin Oval Office briefings with a detailed update on Bobbitt's surgical condition.

Presidential adviser Paul Begala called Gore's dry wit "a really rare gift because it deflates egos, it eases tension. In a very deadpan, exaggerated, comic sort of way," Begala said, "he'll make fun of the president or of other big-shots by sort of pretending to be an absolute yes man: 'That's a great idea. We should definitely do that. Why stop there?' It's a kind of humor that requires a deep reservoir of self-confidence, a sense of real familiarity with your colleagues ... and obviously high intellect to be able to turn it around." ....

http://politicalhumor.about.com/library/weekly/aa100300a.htm