Al Gore's Unlikely Helpers (WaPo)

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/21/AR2006052101183.html

Al Gore's Unlikely Helpers

By Sebastian Mallaby
Monday, May 22, 2006; A17

Liberals famously love John McCain, but that's not the weirdest political coupling. The oil industry and its Republican allies are rooting for Al Gore, albeit unintentionally.

Gore stars in a movie that opens this week in New York and Los Angeles. The film features the once and maybe future presidential candidate lecturing about climate change: There are charts, bullet points and diagrams; there are maps of ocean currents and endless iceberg pictures. It's hard to say which menaces the nation more: movie stars who go into politics or politicians who go into movies.

Ordinarily this film would never have been made, let alone scheduled for release in hundreds of theaters. But President Bush and the congressional Republicans have created a Ross Perot moment: a hunger for a leader with diagrams and charts, for a nerd who lays out basic facts ignored by blinkered government. By their contempt for expert opinion on everything from Iraqi reconstruction to the cost of their tax cuts, Republicans have turned Diagram Gore into a hero. By their serial dishonesty, Republicans have created a market for "An Inconvenient Truth" -- the title of Gore's movie.

...

[e-mail]


I sent the following reply re: the "liberals love John McCain" statement:

I think you might want to recheck and update your
information on this. While this might have been true
of SOME liberals at one point, McCain has squandered
most of this good will during the past few years and
pretty well revealed himself as a standard issue GOP
party hack rather than the free thinking maverick he
postures as.

There's little love for McCain from any liberals I know.

[AX10]

1. There is no "love" for John McCain from me.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

2. Ya, I was thinking, "what planet is this dude from" when I read that first

line. :wtf:

[Minnesota Libra]

3. Your reply said it all and I totally agree. nt

[otohara]

4. Media Lives In A Bubble

just like the assholes they helped steal the white house.

[orwell]

5. Nice Hatchet Job...

...and the goring of Gore continues...

Liberal media?

[calmblueocean]

6. Have you been following DailyHowler.com?

DailyHowler has been focusing for several months on "media scripts" and how they make it nearly impossible for Gore to win unless they're changed. This article is a prime example of the lazy, hack writer resorting to just the same "media scripts" the Daily Howler mentions, some of which are:

- McCain is a "maverick" and loved by liberals
- Gore is a stiff, wooden, uncharismatic wonk
- Bush "won" because he was perceived as a "regular guy"

... and so on.

Even in an article that is ostensibly praising Gore's vision, the reader still leaves with the above media scripts impressed in his mind. The overarching theme of all these media scripts is that Republicans are authentic and Democrats are not, and Republicans have used this scheme over and over again to their advantage.

I've found DailyHowler to have some of the smartest, most necessary writing about Gore and media politics on the web. I think he's dead right that we need to change these media scripts if we want to get ahead. Check the site out if you get a chance.

[creeksneakers2]

9. I saw the newest one on Chris Matthews

The talking heads say there has always been a rivalry between Hillary Clinton and Al Gore. The heads imply Hillary and Al hate each other,plot against each other,and stab each other in the back every chance they get. Some of the Matthews talk ventured that Al Gore would run for president just to get back at Hillary.

Welcome to the new script.

[AndyTiedye]

11. We Can't Change the Media Scripts As Long as THEY Own the Media!

[Kahuna]

7. I sent an email too. I could not let that misperception go. Told him

the young woman who spoke at the New School last week is representative of how "liberals" feel about McCain.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

8. Yeah, I never write these guys but that phrase just about made me explode.

[AndyTiedye]

10. Liberals Don't Love McCain Anymore. Not Since He's Been Goin' Out With **