Category: Election 2004: Here We Go Again
Monday, December 8, 2003
Former Vice President Al Gore intends to endorse Howard Dean for the Democratic presidential nomination, a dramatic move that could boost Dean's front-runner position.
Gore, who lost to President Bush in the disputed 2000 election, has agreed to endorse Dean in Harlem in New York City on Tuesday and then travel with the former Vermont governor to Iowa, sight [sic] of the Jan. 19 caucuses which kick off the nominating process, said a Democratic source close to Gore.
We'll see if this comes to pass, but if it does, it's definitely a Big Deal!
UPDATE: Well, it's not speculation any more: Gore came out for Dean this morning in Harlem.
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Ick.
And I was starting to get over my aversion to Dean's pandering trade comments. Then this happens.
An endorsement from the junior Senator from Disney/RIAA.
The guy who managed to lose to the George Bush of 2000.
The guy who decided that every American was an enemy combatant of IP infringement and ordered that you should pay a percentage of every blank tape purchased to mega-corporations, without a trial.
The guy who sponsored that in return for his extremist right-wing wife in getting corporate compliance in censoring artists.
The guy who is basically everything I hate about Republicans--a moralizing corporate whore.
He wants me to support Howard Dean.
Well, I guess I won't stop liking dogs because Hitler had one.
Don't hold back, Sandy, tell us what you REALLY think :-)
Hey, I'm no fan of Gore's either. I thought he ran a miserable campaign in 2000. I've never liked the way he hews to the political winds, and his involvement in the '96 campaign finance unpleasantness was a big minus in my book.
That said, I still think this is an important story. Not so much because I think Gore's endorsement has some kind of intrinsic moral value, but because it is the first big endorsement of a DLC "insider" for Dean -- indicating a potential collapse of the resistance that the Clinton/From folks have been putting up to Dean's candidacy. To win the nomination, Dean will need the legitimacy that these folks can confer, whether we like them or not. It's better for us if they give it outright rather than Dean having to win it by selling out to them.
So, don't think of it as Al Gore wanting you to support Howard Dean -- think of it as Al Gore finally figuring out what you figured out a few months ago :-)
Hey, I still like dogs and use Macs, don't I? ;)
The only caveat I have is that Gore isn't the DLC insider he was before the 2000 election...a large figure, but I don't think he and Bill Clinton have tea, or a beer, or fail to inhale together. It's sort of like Dean's labor endorsements--they're there, they're not trivial, but they're not the AFL/CIO.
But then I don't dislike them the way I dislike Al Gore, so that's just going to be a problem for me until he's finally laughed off the stage at some point.