Has Al Gore stuck his foot in his mouth or has he articulated a view that even some Republicans may be privately saying? YOU decide:
Al Gore has made his sharpest attack yet on the George Bush presidency, describing the current US administration as “a renegade band of rightwing extremists”.
In an interview with the Guardian today, the former vice-president clls himself a “recovering politician”, but launches into the political fray more explicitly than he has previously done during his high-profile campaigning on the threat of global warming.
Denying that his politics have shifted to the left since he lost the court battle for the 2000 election, Mr Gore says: “If you have a renegade band of rightwing extremists who get hold of power, the whole thing goes to the right.”
But he claims he does not “expect to be a candidate” for president again, while refusing explicitly to rule out another run. Asked if any event could change his mind, he says: “Not that I can see.”
He made the comments while promoting his critically acclaimed movie “An Inconvenient Truth” at something called the “Guardian Hay Festival” but it doesn’t sound like he was horsing around. So now the questions become:
Was he making such an unusually blunt statement because he truly DOES want to run (despite what he says) or because he knows he isn’t? Was it smart — or political crazy?
Various reports say he truly does not want to run. And, certainly, the bluntness of these comments would slice off many cross-over votes he might need if he decides to run.
On the other hand, you do (despite what some commentors on this site may say) find many Republicans as you travel this country that are concerned over this administration. They feel it has has focused on pleasing the “new” conservative base versus the older Goldwater/Reagan conservatives. Just as many Democrats on the left feel alienated by the DLC’s strong influence on the direction of their party, there are some Republicans who feel their party has veered either too far to the right or away from traditional conservative tenets.
So Gore may be saying aloud what others are whispering….which, as refreshing as it is, still may not be a plus for someone who needs broad-based support if they wish to run for the highest office in the land. If that’s what he really wants to do…
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.