Tweety at it again: this time says Al Gore has "psychological problems"

[beachmom]

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/5/9/82815/39401

Look -- I have no idea whether Al Gore will run for president or not, and obviously, he's not my first choice. But when I see an unfair attack like this against a Democrat who had to go through the same exact pain as Kerry has of losing to *, while being unfairly characterized by the media, I just think of him as a fellow brother in arms. And this is the same sort of crap that Gore was thrown with in '00.

This is just plain outrageous. I think Democrats should defend Gore on this.

[wisteria]

1. I agree, I think the party needs to address this and the accusations

that all Dem's are Kooks. These bullying and intimidation tactics have to be addressed and slammed down. The very though of someone suggesting that Bush has psychological problems would send the repubs into angry spin. Explain to me why we just say nothing or defend no one and allow them to continue to get away with these character assassinations.

[karynnj]

2. How creepy

Even if he was "depressed" after having the election stolen in 2000, he had cause - he, more than anyone - likely knew even then that they had cheated. So, not only was it a personal loss - it was possibly a loss in his whole belief in our government, which he had believed in and trusted his whole life. There is a problem with the word depressed, it is used to mean both clinical depression and bad times that don't come close to that.

At worst, Gore was clinicaly depressed as a result of an event. There is no reason to think it would re-occur. And as far as re-current major depression goes, Abe Lincoln, one of the best Presidents most likely suffered from depression his whole life.

If Gore was not depressed, he or one of the many talented people in his family, may want to handle this obliquely by putting out a photography book(Tipper) that has pictures of Al engaged in whatever he was doing or a book that includes reflections from that time. Part of what fuels speculation is that he rapidly moved out of the public eye.

If he was depressed, he can make the case that he emerged stronger. (If Bush can be the "prodigal son" after being a known bad tempered drunk - Al's story is more compelling and more believable.) I think Gore is the one who would have to address it and he can do so without even using the word depression.

Maybe the rest of us can just email Matthews that he is disgusting with this.

I think they may even be trying to say the same of Kerry, even though he was back to work within weeks and more productive then ever. The University of Texas "computer" found that Kerry's language seemed to be depressed and they spoke of his "long" face in other articles. So, even though Gore was gone for a time, it seems that they will "see" this even when it wasn't there.

[beachmom]

4. I think the "psychological problems" Tweety was referring to

was not his disappearance for a year (the way the RW like it), but his fiery speeches afterwards, especially against the Iraq War, how our democracy is threatened, and on the environment. It is true that Al Gore endorsed Dean, and I'm not sure if anybody is sore about that, but I like a lot of what he has said in the last couple of years.

On an aside: did anyone read Kristen Gore's book? She has a character in it named "Bramen", a stuffy, arrogant senator running for president. One cannot ignore the Brahmen reference to Kerry, but this character in the book is so awful and his staffers, too, he bears no resemblance to Kerry at all; still he is defeated by a "governor", which one could see as being Dean (who in reality, is more like the Bramen character). So is there bad blood between Gore and Kerry? Kristen's book came out in '04, and I think it was unhelpful to our campaign if anyone read into the book what I did.

[karynnj]

6. I never heard there was bad blood

Gore had Kerry on his short list for VP, which was all too public. This was after being together in the Senate for 8 years. If there were a personality conflict, Kerry wouldn't have been on the list at all. Kerry had more reason to have hurt feeling over this. Reasons why Kerry was not chosen were leaked. Someone posted here an article of Kerry going to NH with Gore in the primaries. Kerry was one of the few Democrats who stood behind Gore when the election was contested. (Kerry also let Gore speak at his convention which was a courtesy he didn't need to extend.)

I assume that Gore's endorsement of Dean was likely based on his view that Dean represented an anti-establihment anti-war choice. Also, Dean, as a conservative Democrat, was probably closer to Gore politicaly than Kerry.

Another possibility is that Kristen Gore, herself, might have been a Deaniac. It may be unfair, but her being a daughter of Al Gore, does make such a book seem to be a thinly veiled account of people she presumably knew. (Though I suspect she may not have ever met Kerry.) Was Senator Bramen tall and more dynamic than the average Senator with a brilliant exotic wife? If not, I'm not sure the average reader would make the connection to Brahmin or know the Boston use of the word.

If the book came out in 2004, it was likely written in 2003 - when Lieberman would have been seen as the bigger competitor to Dean. (Lieberman is stuffy) It takes several months to go from finished manuscipt to published book - though there are books rushed out on "current events", I can't imagine a novel being pushed this way.

[wisteria]

9. I never understood why Gore went with Dean other than the war issue.

He snubbed Lieberman and totally ignored Kerry. Kerry was on his list of potential VP candidates too.

[karynnj]

12. It may have reflected that Al Gore saw that Dean's supporters

were the main group of people openly supporting him. The establishment Democrats were a bit put off by his angry expressions. Also, in December when he endorsed Dean was when that one poll had Kerry lower than Sharpton.

Gore likely did very consiously reject Lieberman and possibly Edwards - how were at that time cheerleaders of the war. He may have thought Kerry's low numbers, when he was as prominent of a possibility as he was, confirmed part of his concern in 2000 - when supposedly Boston reporters said no one likes Kerry. I have no idea what if anything, Gore would have done if Kerry and Dean were running neck to neck. His goal may have been to give Dean a final push when he was already a front runner to make him an unbeatable front runner to keep a pro-war person out. (He served with Kerry long enough not to think him this and as a Senator he would have at heart known votes were yes/no)

[ginnyinWI]

13. maybe Gore has bad political instincts,

or listens too carefully to the wrong people? Either of which could have explained his presidential debates--I liked him but even I was confused by all the personalities he presented. But back then I thought all politicians were kind of phoney--that was before I knew anything about John Kerry.

[karynnj]

15. You might be right about this

He really didn't have much success in 1988 when he tried for the nomination. He stayed out in 1992 because he didn't think it was winnable. (maybe he thought 2004 was unwinnable when he said he wasn't running. There were articles mentioning that he could win the Dean people in the future.

I googled and found this fascinating 2003 article, although I think it's RW:

"The reality must be that Gore and Clinton are fighting a proxy war with pawns Dean (Gore) and Gen. Wes Clark (Clinton). The hope is to beat the other without actually beating Bush as this would be counter to both the long-term factions goals but you get the idea.

The person to gain the most from all of this is, of course, Sen. Hillary Clinton. She is now firmly the last person standing in the center of the party capable of making a run for it and able to consolidate power should Bush win reelection. That is only because it is clear that Al Gore version 2.0 has positioned himself in the liberal Dean camp and will be the only thing to stand in Hillary’s way come 2008.

You have to figure that Gore, Hillary, Bill, and many others have run the numbers and calculated that the most likely scenario this year is Dean winning the nomination and getting killed in the general election. That Gore will be there in November and onward to pick up the Dean/Move On pieces while Hillary takes control over the party. Say what you want about the Clintons, they are not politically stupid. They’ve won everything they’ve set out to win.

And Gore’s not stupid either. He’s hoping to wipe out an entire generation of Democratic candidates to make it possible that he could even be considered once more for a nomination. So you almost have to feel sorry for Dean, who at this point may be the patsy for both. "

Here's the only Kerry mention:
In one corner stand the Clintons,” writes Dick Morris. “Sending contender after contender out to center ring in an effort to stop Dean from taking over their party. First Joe Lieberman came limping back. Then Wesley Clark ran away from the early primaries and forfeited the match. And now John Kerry is so far behind in New Hampshire that he is down for the count.”


http://www.mensnewsdaily.com/archive/m-n/murphy/03/murphy121003.htm

_____________________________------------------------------------------------------------------

Funny that this could seem true - if so, Gore erred in estimating the size of the Dean group and the Clintons erred if they thought John Kerry would disappear like a good patsy. What is likely true is that Hillary stayed out because she thought 2004 would be harder than 2008.

[ProSense]

18. You know, every time I see

the name Dick Morris, I realize the majority of Democrats are on the right side of most issues. The man is a sleaze and has found a home among other sleaze in the right wing.

[wisteria]

8. They have also described Senator Kerry as being depressed

a couple of times. I consider the very mention of this junk to be nothing but smear tactics.

[karynnj]

11. Can I please please be depressed just like Kerry?!!!!

Although I could see a difference beteen the October 2004 rallies where Kerry's eyes sparkled, his smiles were huge and he radiated hope and the purposeful, focused Kerry I saw in NJ in 2005 - he absolutely was not depressed - He still was very quick to laugh at wise cracks or jokes.

[_dynamicdems]

25. If anything, there is anger there because he sees the crap that is going

on up close and personal like. I'll bet his disgust level is pretty high right about now. But I also get the impression that he's enjoying himself too. He looks tired at times but who wouldn't be tired with the schedule he's been keeping?

[emulatorloo]

3. Watch the clip - a lot of Kos style smoke?

Call me a nut, but it is not as bad as the KOS person makes it out to be. Esp when you think about Kerry in relation to it.

http://mediamatters.org/items/200605050007

[beachmom]

5. I can't get it to work. I just read the script.

Hmmmm . . . I also think it wasn't as bad and I foolishly read the comments that said it was about his current fiery speeches. Instead it looks like Matthews was saying Al Gore should have behaved . . . like Kerry . . . after the election, and continued to give speeches and walked tall.

I don't know. Is all of this rumor mongering about Al Gore running for prez? Doesn't he seem happier building media, giving political speeches, but NOT running for office?

[karynnj]

7. Thanks - just deleted a start to a Matthews letter

I agree with you - this is not at all what I thought from the earlier things. I actually think Matthews was correct - if Gore would have wanted to run in 2004, doing as Matthews suggested would have worked. Remember the cool NH Kerry video, even in August 2003, the threat that Gore entering was raised as something that would kill any hopes of Kerry (or others). That was AFTER Gore was angry. The CW for a long time after 2000 was the nomination was Gore's for the asking. The race changed after he announced he wasn't running.

Do you think that Matthews realises that he described what Kerry did? (Although Kerry didn't get more popular votes.)

[emulatorloo]

10. Who knows what goes on in that brain of his?

But Tweety has treated JK w great respect in the interviews he has had with him since '04.

[ginnyinWI]

14. yeah well

I might watch him now and then, but consider him the enemy. I haven't forgiven him for the way he regularly trashed JK in the run-up to the election.
If I'm ever tempted to forget, I just remember the day when it all crystalized for me. I had been watching regularly but the show had been getting more and more Bush-friendly. Then came the day in October 2004 when he started the show with four guest journalists on sitting all in a row at a table, and it looked like a contest to see which one could say the most mocking, inflammatory thing about JK. Tweety laughed and responded with his own jibes. The country's future is in the balance, and Tweety laughs. Within five minutes they had done an amazing amount of work for the GOP and I said, "thats enough" and didn't watch him at all for over a year. I'll watch him now but warily. He's two-faced, just like another one I can mention: Imus. Nice to JK's face, snarky any other time. (wow--I didn't know I still felt so strongly about this!)

Tweety, don't trash my heros! :grr:

[emulatorloo]

19. It was weird - Tweety said a lot of great things about JK during '04

and then he got extremely harsh on the bushbots over the RNC taking Kerry quotes from hardball WAY OUT OF CONTEXT to make Kerry look bad. He basically went off on Terry Holt (I believe), showing clips from the RNC vid, and then showing the real interviews in context. Tweety was livid at the manipulation of clips and livid at being used by the RNC.

There were a few more episodes like this, (Swiftie smackdown, Michelle Malkin smackdown, bizarre zell miller thing where zell challenged tweety to a duel) and then Karl Rove cut him off -- no more republican guests. Tweety even talked about being blacklisted by Rove when he was interviewed on the daily show. Then a few weeks later is when he started boostering for Bush, for lack of a better word- "Bush won the debates! etc etc" My sense was that he was genuinely SCARED of Karl Rove. I mean like realllllllly scared.

IMHO, FWIW

[ginnyinWI]

21. well then that helps explain some of it.

I mean, I was a regular viewer for most of 2004 and I hadn't gotten too repulsed up until that point by the Tweedster.

Really scared, as in "I'll end your career" or really scared as in, "I've got some nice cement boots for you to try on" ?

Either way, he didn't show enough committment to being a real journalist.
He's part of the problem now, when he could have been part of the solution for our broken media. I suppose he'll stay cowed-- at least until a Democratic administration gets in, or else when Rove lands behind bars.

[emulatorloo]

22. He has the best PLAMEGATE coverage on TV

Has always been good on that story and the importance of it.
Still bats the bushbots around over the Iraq war
Has Seymour Hersh on whenever he writes a scary expose
He does say things that piss me off, but that's what the fast forward button is for!

[beachmom]

16. Hey -- in case you're interested in seeing more beautiful Democrats

Go back to that dKos diary, which has been updated. There is a downright fantastic picture of Al Gore there -- has has a greying beard and a big smile. It's just like -- WOW. I haven't figured out how to post pictures -- anyone who can?

Between Tay Tay's JK photo from Pittsfield and this very natural photo of Gore, I think we really have it over the GOP in good looking guys.

[ginnyinWI]

17. yes!

here it is:



I love men in beards--it's my weakness--so I already had it saved to my computer. :)

[emulatorloo]

20. he looks great! EOM

[TayTay]

23. When was that taken?

I love the salt 'n pepper beard. It looks good on Gore because he has a relatively 'heavy' or well-rounded face. (Not a pejorative. I am not saying he is fat. I am saying he is a 'big guy' and the beard complements him.)

I wonder what John Kerry would look like with a beard. His face is too thin to pull it off, I bet.

[globalvillage]

24. I think it would be a mistake.

JK with a beard? Nope. His is not a face to be hidden with hair.
I also prefer Al sans beard. Personal preference, I'm sure.

[ginnyinWI]

28. I tend to agree--

although it would be interesting to see the effect.

[ginnyinWI]

29. must have been a while back--

I think his hair is thinner now. And of course the beard is gone.

[_dynamicdems]

26. Woooo! Hoooo! No that is a nice looking photo of Al Gore!

Yeah, I got a thing for beards too. Love that college professor look.

But my President is still John Kerry. :patriot:

[politicasista]

27. Wow! Nice pic n/t

[JI7]

31. great pic, i wish Gore would run even if it was just to tell these

morons off.

[JI7]

30. Tweety is such a disgusting beast

i always thought the negative crap at Gore came down to a "he has mental problems" type thing, and how he just coudln't help it.

while their negative thing with Kerry was more of "he is part of some evil commie group who wants to take over" shit.

[emulatorloo]

32. Watch the clip - it is not as bad as the KOS person claims

Link here: http://mediamatters.org/items/200605050007

[JI7]

33. your right, it isn't as bad, but i still hate Tweety

i read the other comments you and others made about Tweety and how he can be ok at times. but my big problem with him was that he kept doing shows on those swift boat assholes. having them on every fucking minute. that was one of the problems itself. that they were given time in the first place and made it seem as if there was something to debate.

Tweety is still an asshole and while he makes good points about what Gore should have done if he were to run again i'm sure he would have been attacking Gore every single time he did something.

[emulatorloo]

34. I recall him SMACKING down the swifties

When the first commercial came out, I remember he said something like "That doctor says he treated john kerry for his wounds. I guess you have to listen to that" Somebody from the Kerry campaign was on, and said, no that doctor never treated him. Check the records. And after that correction, Tweety seemed to really dig in w research on Swifties. Very soon after he had one one, led him down the garden path, and slaughtered him - you weren't there, you saw nothing, etc etc.

He was one of the few who actually questioned them and poked holes in their idiotic stories. I won't ever forget how he smacked down Michele Malkin when she was trying to pull one of those "Some people say John Kerry injured himself deliberately." Tweety called her on it so fast her head was spinning and she whined about it on her blog for days.

I agree -- he makes me very angry sometimes. Thank god to the TV remote and fast forward button.

[karynnj]

35. I remember that - and he did absolutely skewer them

I think he went after them after they distorted a comment of his in one of their ads.

Matthews did show exactly how weak these people were and how blatant their lies were. In retrospect, it's clear that if the entire media had questioned these people at all, their stories would have been exposed within a week. It should then have backfired on Bush due to all the links.