Gore, in feisty interview, tells NYT's Nagourney to stop covering politics

NYT: Political Memo
Back in the Limelight, Gore Insists He's Over Politics
By ADAM NAGOURNEY
Published: May 28, 2006

....What Mr. Gore wanted to talk about in a call from New York the other night, as he waited for his daughter to arrive with his grandchildren, was the threat facing Planet Earth. "My whole objective is to change the mind of the American public so all the presidential candidates in both parties will want to talk about global warming," he said.

But in a feisty and frequently argumentative telephone conversation, Mr. Gore brimmed with disdain at the state of American politics and political journalism, urging his interviewer to quit a career of covering politics to turn to matters of real consequence.

"Stop covering politics; cover the climate crisis. It is not too late!" he said, with a boom of laughter.

"Have you read my book?" he asked a moment later. "Have you seen the movie?" Mr. Gore cluck-clucked at the "not yet but I will" response.

To hear Mr. Gore talk about the state of politics and journalism today — this from a man who has a history in both professions — it is hard to imagine him ever running for office again. Politics, he said, has become a game of meaningless, mindless battles, conducted by unscrupulous methods and people, designed to transform even the most serious policy debates into sport....."Most of all, (he said) political scribes have to take off their cynical lenses through which they view every moral challenge as political spin."....Mr. Gore said of the movie "...people see it outside of a partisan context. Now, I know you will not see anything outside of the political context."

He laughed....

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/28/washington/28gore.html

I don't want to! Doesn't sound too promising at this point,.

Gore, by not announcing his intention to run, is still free to comment on whatever he wants in any manner he chooses. Gore decides the metanarrative this time around, not the media. The public perception is changing and Gore is doing it by using the press.

I'm down, I'm up, I'm down, I'm up!

Here's another excerpt you'll enjoy:

2004 that he was ready to make another run and the next thing we knew, he was saying he wouldn't run. TPTB got to him, I suspect. Let him announce his candidacy on his own time frame. I think he will run in '08! Please! Please! Please!

Frankly I could give a rat if he ever ran for office again. He is taking the bull by the horns and the bull thinks it can ignore him. If he holds on long enough it wont be able to ignore him anymore. I say another year of strange winter and the issue will be at the front and center.

is best for him. If that means running for the US Presidency, so be it! I think he would be a great President! I believe that he cares about us and his/our Country. He will do what he thinks he can. I can respect that.

This guy is the embodiment of what is wrong at the NYTimes.

Beautifully put.

TC

Nagourney is one of the visages of the Anti-Christ as far as I'm concerned.

TC

to the 08 race, and trivialize totally the issue. This guy needs to go (Nagourney, not Gore).

when I read the article. It is like Nagourney is being forced to tell the truth: Nagourney should get off the political beat. Perhaps Gore should have gone ahead and told Adam to pursue his fiction writing in a novelized form rather than continuing to use journalism as a venue to spin his fanciful tales.

acted like Al Gore! He's right on the money; the NYT should be shut down and prosecuted for holding a story from the public at the command of the White House. Journalistic opportunists

but they also gotta hear Al's talk about the journalistic crisis.

The failures of the bush regime are also the failures of the press corps.

Maybe all journos should take a couple years off like Al did and come back with a fresh perspective and less bull shit.

right now i have an idealized vision of al gore

it makes sense that he cannot talk about a presidential candidacy at this moment
but he is talking passionately about a centerpiece topic should he decide to run (or has he already decided)

but in my mind this al gore IS the best hope we have for this country
in my mind - when he is able to let loose and truly debate and answer questions - he is going to take it head on and speak out
he will be able to display his clarity, thoughtfulness, humanity and his fight in a way that we have not seen for some time from ANY candidate

the speeches he has given - that received little coverage - over the past few years have made all the difference about how i see him

like i said i know i am idealizing but i do think its possible
the pundits and dlc can take their swings at him all they want to but i feel like if america gets to hear any of this man v 2.0 (in a crucial part of the journey he has turned away from the disconnected dc- insider group and connected with himself and his beliefs in a powerful way) then i truly think he can win hearts and minds across the country

he has the experience and the courage and the passionate intelligence and ability to communicate
if the perfect storm really does come together i think al gore will blow people away
in my idealized mind this man will be unlike any other politician we have seen in recent times and NO WAY will he let the right wing noise machine control the debate or define who they want him to be

He's a talent! :eyes:

nt

If anyone has the right to complain about the sorry state of American journalism today it's Al Gore.

http://www.adamnagourney.com/




WIMBLEHACK!
first match: Tumulty vs. Nagourney
http://www.nypress.com/17/40/news&columns/feature.cfm

He's perpetuating the Kool Kids' narrative: "Gore is nutty."

first, by refusing any and all corporate money . . .

second, by running on a progressive platform . . .

and . . .

third, by simply telling the truth to the American people . . .

"If I had to do it all over again, I'd just let it rip," Gore said a year ago. "To hell with the polls, the tactics and all the rest. I would have poured out my heart and my vision for America's future."



Yes Mr Gore....just let it rip....you are exactly what we need.

I hope you come to see that you have no choice. You must run.

The quality of politics is seriously degenerated. Gore's right to mock it. But he's being disingenuous to suggest that we're going to solve global warming without the same old political fighting that has preceded every major movement of progress in the human condition. If we're going to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, we'll need politicians and all of their tricks working for us. The public realm is the only place where effective measures can be taken.

But it's still a pretty smart tack for Gore to take. He gets points for being the smartest guy in the field. I like him more and more, every time he opens his mouth.

He is on a media blitz.

"Mr. Gore will be interviewed by Terry Gross on
NPR's "Fresh Air" on Tuesday, May 30, and will appear on CBS' The Early
Show with Harry Smith on Wednesday, May 31. Mr. Gore will appear on The
Tonight Show with Jay Leno on Thursday, June 8, and on The View on
Monday,
June 19. He will appear on The Late Show with David Letterman on
Friday,
June 23. In addition, Mr. Gore will make at least a dozen more major
national appearances to promote the book. He is slated for
book-signings
in New York, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Nashville, Houston,
Vancouver,
and other major cities. In anticipation of high demand for the book,
Rodale has already shipped more than 100,000 copies to stores. This
book
has been certified carbon neutral by Native Energy. For more
information
go to www.nativeenergy.com (link:http://www.nativeenergy.com/)”

"Unitary Executive"?
Free to ignore all checks & balances.

When I worked for Wes Clark's campaign in 2003/2004, Nagourney got so many things wrong in his reporting, you would have thought that it was his first year in Journalism school.

Of course, he is getting paid to do a job... for his corporate bosses.

Personally, I hope he waits until the last possible moment (within weeks) to get on the ballot for the primaries/caucuses. That would be early 2007, right? I can wait another seven months to get the right person for the job.

If he makes the decision to run (and I support him either way) I'm certain that he can raise the dough overnight (he'd probably get like $20 million the first 24 hours), and he can avoid several months' worth of being a target of the so-called Liberal media and miss most of the comparisons and infighting between the Democratic candidates.

He is meant to be governing; he doesn't like campaigning. Should the people who like campaigning or who are good at it be public servants in OUR government?