Gore to Carter: Dude… Stop Calling Me!
Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter would endorse former V.P. Al Gore if Gore would decide to run for President. Carter, however, also notes that he’ll most likely won’t run.
The former Democratic President asserted Gore could accomplish much more in the White House than he ever could as a private citizen, saying to Stephanopoulos, “His burning issue now is global warming and preventing it. He can do infinitely more to accomplish that goal as in the incumbent in the White House, than he can making even movies that get — you know, that get Oscars.”
Carter called every now and then to talk with Gore in the past… but lately not anymore. Why not, you ask?
“I’ve put so much pressure on Al to run that he’s almost gotten aggravated with me…. He almost told me, the last time I talked, ‘Don’t call me anymore.’”
If Al Gore would decide to run, it seems to me that he could do without the endorsement of Carter. Carter is a far too controversial person right now due to his new book Palestine: Peace or Apartheid.
Carter’s endorsement might do more harm than good, although it will most likely make exactly no difference at all.
Regarding Carter’s comment that Gore could accomplish much more as President than as a private person: perhaps that’s true – it’s most likely true, but life is less difficult for him right now. When I observe Gore’s behavior, it seems to me that he does something he truly believes in ánd… something he enjoys doing.
6 Responses to “Gore to Carter: Dude… Stop Calling Me!”
“Carter’s endorsement might do more harm than good, although it will most likely make exactly no difference at all.”
Right. So why post a story here about it? But, ok, some entertainment doesn’t hurt…
Both Gore and Carter have done an enormous amount of good as ex-presidents and ex-vice-president’s. It saddens me that Americans are willing to ignore everything that Carter has accomplished since leaving office, because he wrote a book that is critical of Israel. Another thread on TMV relates how he has almost eliminated the dreaded guinea worm and river blindness in Africa through The Carter Center. Are we that thin-skinned that we can’t even weigh a man’s lifelong good works, because some of his views clash with the current media blitz fed to us by Fox news and the neocons?
Gore should be proud to get his endorsement, though he may still choose, for his own reasons, not to run. People in public life should do what they love and what they are good at; Gore was a mediocre politician, but has become a tremendous spokesman for a cause he believes in. Looking back on the last 6 years, I must say, it has been our loss, not his.
“One of the mistakes quite some American liberalsprogressives are making, is that they pull fox and neocons into everything, while that is completely silly”
Strawman argument, Michael! WHO really pulls “fox and neocons into everything”???
MvdG- Ok, I’ll concede that there was criticism from other sources. But some of it really seemed ridiculous to me. Accusing him of anti-semitism, when his proudest achievement was the Camp David accords. He’s still the only man to have engineered a lasting peace agreement in the ME.
He told the Palestinians’ side of the story and was pilloried for it. He didn’t include the Jews suffering during the Holocaust. I just think we should judge the man on his life’s work, not on his latest book. He was not an effective President, but has strived as an ex-president to always be true to himself and his Christian ideals. If you ever listened to am talk radio, you would know that he’s a favorite target of the right —-they regularly lambasted him before the book came out.
If you compare how he’s spent his ex-presidency, as opposed to someone like Reagan who gave paid speeches before retiring to his ranch, maybe you’d get what a lot of people see in him.
I need to see Gore and Carter gather together all the other surviving Nobel Peace Prize winners and travel to Burma Now.
They need to demand to meet with fellow Noble Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. They need to remain in Burma as physical witnesses to the restoration of Democracy.
What is the point of having the Nobel Peace Prize if any Military Junta can imprison any laureate anytime they want, as in the case of Aung San Suu Kyi and the monks of Burma?