News meme of the 2000 Election: “Al Gore, Serial Exaggerator”

[JaneQPublic]

If the news media could spend much of the 2000 election cycle chiming in unison that Al Gore was a "serial exaggerator," then they damn well better be screaming from the rooftops about the flood of habitual, bald-face lies that Romney and Ryan have been spewing.

Back in 2000, Gore was branded as an exaggerator on the basis of just a couple of mis-remembered events and something he never actually said (the thing about inventing the Internet). Here’s an example from ABC News:

This just in: Al Gore has a penchant for exaggeration.

From tales about his relatives to claims about his own achievements, the vice president’s embellishments frequently send media “truth squads” cracking and campaign aides back-peddling.

Pants on Fire
Gore’s latest trouble with the truth came Tuesday in his first presidential debate with Republican candidate George W. Bush. When moderator Jim Lehrer asked the candidates about their “ability to handle the unexpected,” the Texas governor cited his handling of wildfires that swept through part of his state in June 1998.

“I accompanied [Federal Emergency Management Agency Director] James Lee Witt down to Texas when those fires broke out,” Gore said in his response.

MORE... http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=122765&page=1

The article goes on to say that Gore was in Texas but not primarily because of the fire. Amazing! All this fuss because he can't remember every detail of his appointment calendar over the past 8 years?

The article then recounts several other times when Gore mis-remembered some event, all of which were either piddly little details about his personal history or something he never said.

However, none of Gore's supposed overstatements were as consequential as totally making shit up about what the opponent has said or the policies he supports. That's the kind of stuff Romney/Ryan are guilty of doing time and time agan.

So where is the media outrage this time around?

Apparently, a few news sources are just beginning to mention parenthetically in the tenderest of terms that Ryan's claims weren't true about Obama causing the Janesville auto plant to close. But that's not good enough.

After the way reporters dogged Gore in 2000, I want to see the media shouting from the rooftops and ringing the alarm bells that R/R are lying their asses off to the American public.

Do I expect to see that happen? Oh hell no!

[arcane1]

1. Those media “truth squads” went into hibernation shortly thereafter

Funny how that works.

[bongbong]

2. Just following orders

The MSM is very obedient.

[unblock]

3. the most telling moment for me was in the debates, when gore walked next to shrub and shrub flinched

any remotely unbiased reporting would have characterized the taller candidate walking over to the shorter candidate as a completely standard debate maneuver and in fact it had been widely predicted.

for shrub to have flinched when he saw gore had approached him, again as a result of a widely anticipated maneuver, was frankly astonishing, and stark evidence that he is not remotely a natural leader, and that he is easily rattled. there had been talk about "alpha-male" traits during the campaign, and this was clear proof that shrub was NOT an alpha-male.



and yet the press instead tore gore a new one for "encroaching" shrub's "space".

i had been well aware of a right-wing bias in the media for quite some time by then, but this had taken things to a whole new level of outrageousness.

[JaneQPublic]

4. Here's the ticket...