Gore's daughter says no 08 run for her father. :(

[CoffeeCat]

Well, I guess I can finally come out of denial and begin the grief process. Kristen
Gore says that her father is not running. His daughter would know. She
wouldn't be saying this, if she wasn't sure that he wouldn't mind her
saying that he wasn't running.

Let the grieving begin. Oh well, this country had a nice run for a couple of centuries or so...

---------------
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2007/07/gore-daughter-0.html

ABC News' Teddy Davis Reports: During a Friday book signing in Washington, D.C., one of former Vice President Gore's daughters seemed to go further than her father in saying that a 2008 White House run was not going to happen.

"He's really not going to get in the race," said Kristin Gore when asked if she has any special insight into her father's political plans. "He's really liberated working on things he cares about."

The former vice president regularly says that he has "no plans to be a candidate for president." But by stopping short of a "so-called Sherman statement," completely ruling out a presidential run, speculation has continued to surround the future plans of the man who won the 2000 popular vote for president.

Kristin Gore was at Politics and Prose bookstore to discuss her recently published second novel. "Sammy's House," in the words of the book's promotional literature, is about a "courageous and klutzy heroine" who works as a health-care adviser to a newly elected administration.

[Subdivisions]

1. Then we'll just have to draft him. n/t

[Kazak]

3. Exactly.

Draft Al Gore!

[cali]

6. I'd love to see him run

but I honestly don't think he's going to be swayed by any draft effort. He knows a lot of us would love to see him run. He'll either get in or he won't.

[book_worm]

44. In this day and age a draft doesn't work

It actually worked better when the bosses controlled the process.

[saltpoint]

2. You know, honestly, a lot of people never heard of Kristin Gore. We have.

And we like her. I like her a lot, but I'm not sure she's a household name across the country. We pajama-clad socialists on the world wide web follow the news, but a lot of other people either don't watch any news or watch FOX, which is even worse.

I personally believe that Kristin Gore is running a media errand for her dad. I personally feel this remark was to be dropped into the speculative pool to dampen expectations which might in fact heighten the impact once an announcement is made in October. Fake right, go left.

At this point in the calendar, I think Al Gore is about to become a candidate.

[Demoiselle]

5. And when he does declare..

We can all get out of our pajamas and go work for him!
(I'm ready, Al. PLEASE!!!

[MonkeyFunk]

9. oh good lord

he's not running.

I expect to see people posting here in November, '08 asking about whether Gore's about to announce.

[saltpoint]

12. I'm not a theist, but feel free to invoke all the lords you want. I'm cool

with that.

You may very well be right about Gore's intentions.

You also might be wrong.

[EFerrari]

20. Isn't it a little late on a Sunday to be invoking lords all over the place?

:rofl:

[saltpoint]

28. For me, it depends on who's doin' the invokin'.

Different invokin for different folken.

I'm having trouble with Chapter One of the Schama title, sfexpat. Here's the problem I'm having: it's too damn good. I read a paragraph and don't want it to stop. Is this an indication of a serious mental health complication? Should I be taking something for it? Would group therapy be of benefit?

The man is a damn genius.

What an absolutely sensational recommendation. Thanks again.

You poet, you.

[EFerrari]

49. Is it okay to want to come back as people who are still alive?

So glad you're enjoying him.

:hi:

[saltpoint]

50. ! another thanks, and a good evening. I'm headin' to Slumberville.

[MonkeyFunk]

33. I might be wrong

but only on DU would Kristen Gore's declaration that he's not running be interpreted to mean he is running. It's nuts.

[saltpoint]

42. It's nuts if it's wrong. But damned clever if it's right.

As pointed out upthread someplace, this Kristen Gore comment is now ancient history -- from months ago -- and is reinserted into the debate tonight for reasons I won't speculate on.

Not because I'm lazy but because I don't have a clue in hell why it should be that pertinent.

I will say that Kristen Gore is among the most impressive young folks I've ever heard speak. Very impressive. One might say, better than her dad at public speaking, and that's saying something.

Gore's position is pre-eminent in the party and the community of environmental activists, who love him to death.

I don't blame them.

[emilyg]

43. That article was from July.

[never_get_over_it]

15. I would love to think you are correct

and until I read this post I actually had hope he might run - but I really don't think your theory that this was some kind of media errand makes no sense to me....and I'm really disappointed

[saltpoint]

19. Perhaps you should pull up the Smilies lookup table. I find it to be a

handy supplemental tool whenever disapointment rears its head.

A word to the wise: don't expect me to assauge your notions of American politics. It's not my job.

I have my hands full as it is trying to understand it myself.

[man4allcats]

22. Your point is a good one.

I wouldn't blame Gore if he didn't run even though we need him badly. He might, however, be more effective doing what he's doing, and what he's doing is at least as important as sitting in the the Oval Office and arguing with corporate America about how what they want and expect is antithetical to civilization, democracy and the survival of the planet. Also, he'd be stepping into a huge mess and would catch bloody hell if he didn't fix everything. He already got unfairly nuked once, and we almost certainly wouldn't be in this mess if he hadn't, but you know damn well he'd catch all the blame if he couldn't put everything right.

Don't get me wrong. I feel it's incumbent upon us to vote Democratic in '08 (assuming there is an election in '08) even if in winning, we end up with a bloody nose because we might not be able to correct all the problems in our republic that occurred during and as a result of the tenure of Dubya. As Barbara Boxer has stated, this is as close to a dictatorship as we have ever been. Even if there is an election and even if we win, it won't be easy to fix that kind of corruption, and trying to fix it might even be dangerous. I never believed that JFK and RFK were assassinated by madmen.

If Al Gore jumps in, he'll have my support - and my sympathy.

[saltpoint]

31. To start with, I say thanks to you for your mentioning of Barbara Boxer.

Wow, do I miss being represented by Barbara Boxer.

She's a long-time favorite of mine.

And I'll take her criticism of Bush's administration as "a dictatorship" over Bush's lies that it isn't any day.

On Gore. He's in a terrific position right now, seems like. He can do just about anything he wants and it is likely to be a justifiable, worthy pursuit. He could jump in to the presidential race or not, as it suits him, and either decision makes sense from his perspective.

I feel that he would not seek the White House for the adrenalin of the pursuit or the power it represents but to influence meaningful change where it's deperately needed. If he decides against a run, then wherever he is we are going to hear his voice of reason cutting though the haze. And I hope he remains in sound health.

Thanks for your post, anotheryellowdog. Much appreciated.

[CoffeeCat]

25. I would love it if that were true...

...but I feel that he is not running now.

I applaud your positive thinking, and you may be right. However, I am
sensing that she did her father a favor--by breaking the news to the world--so
that he wouldn't have to do it.

His responses were always lukewarm, and left the door open. Maybe, he thought it
was best if she broke the news--possibly before he endorses someone?

I don't know. I'm very bummed about this. In my opinion, there is no hope for our
democracy without a Gore run.

So, I would like to be proven wrong. That's for sure.

[EFerrari]

4. We have a deep field of candidates as it is. And you know,

if Al Gore doesn't run, he'll probably add ten years to his life span. I'd love to vote for him again but whatever he decides is fine with this commie pinko.

[saltpoint]

7. Very sound reasoning. I'm with ya on that, sfexpat2000.

He doesn't owe us another second of service, but if he wants to give it, my guess is he wins the White House.

Also I believe an Al Gore candidacy announcement changes the polling scenarios instantaneously.

[MannyGoldstein]

8. Deep As In Dog Doo?

Sorry, I'm just not seeing the excellence in this crowd - possibly Obama, but possibly not. Two of the three frontrunners voted to attack Iraq and voted for or cheer-led permanent "free" trade status for China and NAFTA. These are Democrats?

[saltpoint]

You aren't looking hard enough to see excellence, Manny. You're always in

slasher mode.

It's your agenda.

[MannyGoldstein]

14. Do Insane Wars And Wholesale Obliteration Of Livelihoods Deserve Any Less?

Should I be complacent, like the nice Jewish families in 1920s Germany? I've read enough history to know that we are in a really, really fucked up situation, and that complacency won't make it go away.

"In these sentiments, Sir, I agree to this Constitution with all its faults, if they are such; because I think a general Government necessary for us, and there is no form of Government but what may be a blessing to the people if well administered, and believe farther that this is likely to be well administered for a course of years, and can only end in Despotism, as other forms have done before it, when the people shall become so corrupted as to need despotic Government, being incapable of any other." - Benjamin Franklin, from his final address at the Constitutional Convention

[saltpoint]

16. Some of my ancestors were among the Jewish populations of that time and

place.

We all decide the measure of severity visited upon us from forces without so we can chart our navigation through imperfect societies despite limitations within.

I just wish you'd have an affirming conversation with people on these boards more often than you ordinarily do and stop trying to horsewhip people into unworkable far-left positions.

Any U.S. government elected in 2008 will be elected with the center of the ideological spectrum and will govern within that zone.

Right wrong or indifferent, that's how it is. In a perfect world situated to the grandest specifications of each of us as individuals, that is NOT how it is.

But that world isn't this world.

You could afford to be a bit nicer. You've got the brains. But you aren't very nice.

[Swamp Rat]

23. Sticks and stones!

:D I saw a few stones tossed your way, but thank goodness you ducked. :D

[saltpoint]

27. Hey there. We're half done with September and George Bush is still

a clueless fake cowboy, I guess.

How ya doin'?

I hope all's well down your way and that your city is reviving (despite the Bush administration's negligence, I mean).

[MannyGoldstein]

29. We Also Had Relatives Murdered By The Nazis...

...but even more were murdered by Stalin.

Of great interest is a good friend of my family, a Jewish woman born in Germany in the 1920s. Soon after Hitler took power, her father pulled the family out - they went to France, then to the US.

Their relatives pleaded with them - said they were overreacting, that they were being alarmist, that it would blow over in a little while.

The relatives died in the Concentration Camps and Death Camps. Some came out of the cattle cars to be gassed in just hours. Others were enslaved and worked to death - or if they did not cooperate by dying from overwork, they were ushered along in the process by the gas chambers. Do you think that this cannot happen here?

I spent a good bit of time studying how Germany, which was probably the most liberal nation on Earth, turned in just a few years to hell. Did you know that Jews in 1920's Germany were as integrated into society as Jews are integrated into US society? That the intermarriage rate of German Jews was roughly 50%, same as it is in the US today? What happened in Germany can definitely happen here.

We are living in a country where, for a few shekels, the "left" aids and abets hundreds of thousands of deaths in wars for oil, destruction of livelihoods, torture, and wanton violation of the Constitution, and basks in fundraisers thrown by Sir Rupert while our President tries to plan yet another insane war on Iran. Can you acknowledge this? Do you not believe it to be astonishing? Do you think it will just blow over in a little while, unless We The People wake up and do something?

I sometimes look at my lovely seven-year-old boy, who would have been exterminated by the Nazis, along with his parents. And I think of all the lovely seven-year-old Iraqis torn asunder by our handiwork, and I wonder - what comes next for us?

[saltpoint]

40. Manny, we're crossing cyberpaths on a blog for god's sake. What is it you

want us to do? Berlin was certainly a tolerant city pre-Third Reich, but the Bavarian countryside was not noted for its social liberalism.

Gore Vidal, a man I respect a whole lot (strangely enough related to Al Gore, though different men they be), believes that "The police lieutenant is the way he is because Americans have never understood the Bill of Rights."

That is a statement of some measurable doom, and brings to my mind the image of a Chicago cop holding a pistol to the head of Mary Travers, the 'Mary' of Peter, Paul & Mary, as she sang Dylan's "Blowing in the Wind" on a flatbed truck in Chicago during the 1968 Democratic convention.

As if a folksinger could threaten a democracy. Worse, as if a folk singer could reveal that there was not a true democracy in place.

In some manner of speaking, that's the hinge we are swinging on in the United States since we dumped the tea into the harbor. In many societies for many years, the rebel is suspect, the reformer is hounded, the union organizer is isolated and beaten up, the intellectuals, scientists, and artists collected and hauled off to incarceration, and so on. First, the bloodline is cut down in its tracks; then the smart folks are shoved into box cars enroute to Auschwitz or Siberia. The identifying nature of power for its own sake is the refusal to accept intellectual challenge.

And of course we see it in the Bush team, and have from the start. Alexander, an odd mix of spiritual transcendance and ditch-and-bones warfare, made it a point to invite and sanction the arts and sciences in his court. They exalted him as an individual and lifted his vision of what empire might become, and how it is defined. BushCo's assault on Iraq was about oil only. The museum in Baghdad was sacked and all Rumsfeld could offer the historical record was, "Stuff happens." The back-of-the-hand clearing of the table, the arrogant signal to all saying "We. Don't. Care."

You get no argument from me on any day that we are faced with obstacles to our liberties and well-being, and that it's by no means exclusively American in definition. You and I and your 7-year old have no quarrel at all with Iraqis or Iranians. None at all. It should not be supposed that we do based on the foolish and cruel actions of our greedy government. History is capable of unthinkable cruelties. I have no remedies for that and haven't read many texts that offer any. If we have the examples of transcendant accomplishment -- and we do -- there is Einstein, Wiesel, Da Vinci, and so forth -- we also have Pol Pot and Stalin and John Negroponte running death squads in El Salvador and Nicaraugua under the guise of "freedom fighting."

I like some of our candidates better than our other candidates but am not under any illusion that any politically successful figure is likely to be worth one of Shakespeare's sonnets or one sculpture in the court of Alexander. Leonard Cohen's "Suzanne", it seems to me, is more likely to survive than a dozen presidential candidates of any era.

Had we been second or third-generation Americans during the lead-up years to the Civil War, we would have felt it coming and grieved in trajectory for the lives likely to be lost, especially under the apparent emergence of this scrawney hick from the hills, this Lincoln guy, whose voice grated the human ear and who was -- my god in heaven -- a 1-term Congressman?! The very last person you'd want in the White House with the nation falling apart at the seams. Antietam Creek had to run red with human blood until History was going to let people past that time and place. I feel the weight of the many, many absences in Lincoln's Address at Gettysburg, a speech he felt was inadequate for the landscape of loss, but which we honor today as a decidedly spiritual insight to national healing.

In the short term, I'm a Democrat of long-standing, a mere volunteer. I see good coming from good people working toward common goals. Paul Horgan wrote "While admitting to the worst of all possible worlds, we must behave as if we could be the best of all possible people."

That's hard work. But there are places we can begin. At the very least, we have a vote to cast. I'm unashamed of my choice and will support our ticket. No change there. There aren't any precinct/polling places in the void beyond.

[MannyGoldstein]

52. Thank You For A Very, very Thoughtful Post

Lincoln is an apt example of what needs to be done. His then-brand-new Republican Party rose from the ashes of the Constitution which had been savaged by the Judiciary with the passive and active consent of the other branches of government. A group of good people, standing on solid ground, said "It is atrocious that some can legally hold others in perpetual bondage, and now we have a flagrant violation of the Constitution to spread this evil. Enough is enough: if we lose the Constitution, we lose everything". Those good people saw the calamity, and rose to the occasion.

Are we facing any less of a calamity today? The Constitution has been shredded by one party, with the passive and active consent of the other. Our country has become a menace to its own people and to the rest of the world. So many people have suffered and died to enrich a few, and I have zero faith that this will be reversed by the craven triangulators that sit in Congress - they will only sit themselves ever-so-slightly to the left of the Republicans, who are now fringe crazies. Unless we do something very substantial it will only get worse - unless we get people of good character into the White House and the Congress. We must do our all to get good people in office, and to keep bad people out of office.

[saltpoint]

54. Lincoln's young party sure was a different party then than it is now.

I seriously doubt he would recognize the political sensibility of someone like Tom Coburn or Jeff Sessions.

He would wonder what happened to the Republic he thought he saved.

It is never out of the question for a worthy soul to emerge as a national figure, and in rare but certain special cases, ride a wave into political influence. Lincoln's name came to mind because the odds of the young man he had been ever becoming the great leader he eventually became were very long indeed.

Kucinich, for example, has the fire and the clarity. But there is no apparatus of support for him to break into double-digit support, even among Democratic voters. The test case then is not whether this is Kucinich's fault (I think his virtues eclipse the subject of "his fault") but whether he can summon more imaginative strategies to gain traction. There will have to be alliances in greater profile and number, with some more cash, before he emerges as one of those above-sited figures.

Outside my window, the political landscape looks better for 06 and 08 than it has for a while, but it never looks "great." For my part, the electorate is obstinate and fractal. In Ohio, Dennis Kucinich drew the support of 9% of Democrats in the 2004 Ohio primary. Kerry won, Edwards second, both with totals mirroring their Iowa percentages, and then Kucinich at 9%. But in a fractal, and polarized, political landscape, 9% -- not a bad total for a campaign with a shoestring budget -- doesn't close the deal. Ohio sends Kucinich to the Congress, as it sent Howard Metzenbaum. I loved Howard Metzenbaum, by the way. But Ohio also sends John Boehner and Mean Jean Schmidt to that same Congress. That's the landscape any Democrat is up against: they only enjoy sustained support from a minority of most U.S. congressional districts. Hence we are often at the mercy of the much more conservative majority's picks -- and they lately have run along the line of Strom Thurmond, Ted Stevens, Rick Santorum, and so on -- men who not only have added nothing to national discourse but who have actually subtracted from its dignity.

I would love it if my first choices won nomination all the time. And then of course won the general election following the convention. We'd then have had a President RFK, a President McGovern, a President Udall, a President Abzug, a President Cuomo, a President Hart, a President Bradley, and President Kerry. But fellow Democrats chose other nominees for most of those races.

Manny, I say thank you for this exchange. I will support your perogative to support your first-tier candidates but will defend mine when they are besmirched on the DU boards, as they often are.

PM me any time you want on the issues. I would welcome it and look forward to learning something.

Peace.

[EFerrari]

11. Are you trying to get me in trouble?

You're right. The party has gone 'way to the right while fending off the right. What you resist, you become. NAFTA is a disaster for working people.

In order to have deep, you have to have shallow -- for context. :evilgrin:

[ossman]

13. And the top 3 Dems are ALL against gay marriage cause of Jesus

I'm kinda torn on the Gore thing. Why if climate change is so important, wouldnt he take the only position IN THE WORLD that could do something about it? Then again, he doesnt owe us shit. But it makes me wanna put the incandescent light bulbs back in if he wont change the world. Oh yeah, I am that spiteful. Bye Bye compact florescents.

[MannyGoldstein]

17. Jesus?

It's no fun to say it's because of polling data, so they say Jesus instead.

And welcome to DU!!!

[derby378]

10. If Gore won't run, it's definitely Bill Richardson for me...

But if Al has a last-minute change of heart, I've got his back.

[Bread and Circus]

18. Unfortunately, he's not going to run. Gore knows...

that he is not likely to beat Clinton for the nomination and he knows if he jumps in and loses he will likely lose the real world cache he has built up over these past few years. He will go from amazing Statesman to "just another candidate".

I kind of Blame the Democratic party for not really getting him into the race. The insider power elite could have, but they didn't. Gore knows that without the political power structure and the media, you are dead meat.

It's better for him to be above the fray.

[DesertRat]

21. Old news. This story is from 2 months ago. n/t

[never_get_over_it]

30. Thank you

didn't look at the story - until I saw your post...I think there has been news since then that seemed like there might be a bit of hope - so I won't give up on him just yet....

[DesertRat]

34. Keep hope alive!

Remember Bill Clinton didn't announce until Oct. :)

[melody]

37. Good grief, this is the story from June?

Old information, already digested. lol

[book_worm]

47. maybe old news but it still probably is true. Gore has said for months maybe for over a year

he has no plans to run.

[fujiyama]

24. It's been obvious for a while now

It's been getting irritating when people keep bringing up his name when there has been no evidence he was going to run.

He never looked like he wanted to deal with the Hillary machine. I can't say I blame him. Oh well, he's still not too old for any later run, but it seems less likely he'll run again. He would have made a great president.

[mark414]

26. we survived the Revolution, the burning of the White House, the Civil War, World War I,

the Great Depression, World War II, the Cold War and the Cuban Missile Crisis, Vietnam, etc. etc. etc.

As much as I wish it would happen, Al Gore not running does NOT signal some great disaster for this country. Don't give these buffoons in charge that much credit.

[OzarkDem]

35. Our country is in far worse shape

than any of those, with the exception of the Great Depression. Dems were incredibly lucky to have FDR in those days, but our party no longer produces those kinds of leaders - willing to stand up to big money interests, proud of Democratic ideals and willing to work hard to improve things. Its not the same Democratic Party as in those days, though the base is as strong and motivated as it was then.

Maybe we have to accept that its just a "down cycle" and eventually, maybe in the next decade or so, new leaders will emerge.

[OzarkDem]

32. Beginning to lose hope

The field of Dem candidates is too far from traditional Democratic principles, having bargained it away for campaign donations.

The current Dem leadership in Congress is flaccid, incurious and frightened of their own shadows. Good ideas, fixing our country and economy and planning for our future are no longer of interest to them.

The hope that our country and future could be restored that was so strong last November has all but evaporated. 2008 will bring us nothing more than 4 years of GoP lite: fear, failure, anger and division as the GOP and news media spend the next four years attacking Dems who will cower in fear. Dem candidates for 2008 have already sold our future to corporate donors and their fear of being labeled "tax and spend liberals" will continue to make them hew to a conservative agenda.

We won't see an end to war

We won't see real health care reform

We won't see a return to a prosperous economy

We won't see media reform

We will see our rights continue to be eroded

We'll do ok. My husband and I make a good living. But I pity the others who will suffer and sacrifice in the coming years. I'm saddened that in spite of my political acitivism there will be such a mess for my children and grandchildren to inherit. My grandparents and gr-grandparents whose leaders were FDR, Truman and Kennedy must be turning over in their graves.

I'm not sure what more I can do except run for office myself or hold out hope for change in 2010. Good luck to all of you who are backing someone in 2008, but count me out. I'll vote for whomever my party nominates, but that's it.

[DesertRat]

38. I'm still very hopeful

The article in the OP is two months old. I will patiently wait until Al Gore says NO, I'm NOT running and endorses someone else. Until that happens, there's still a chance that he'll announce. I'm thinking October. :)

[OzarkDem]

39. Just noticed that

Not sure what the OP was trying to pull. Its looking grim, though. I hope we hear something soon from Gore, otherwise very slim pickings.

[CoffeeCat]

51. I'm the OP...

...and I wasn't trying to pull anything. I apologize if the post
was dated. I saw the story on DU. Another poster posted a link
to it. I assumed it was a current story--released that day.

I apologize...I should have looked closer.

[melody]

36. Those taking comfort from the relatives saying he's not running

... or wanting to interpret Al's words as saying he's not, or those of us who leave the question open will just have to wait till November for a definitive answer.

Krisin's a grown woman. If Al wanted to keep things absolutely close to his vest (and
that would be what he would be doing), he might have only told Tipper, at best.

[DearAbby]

41. "no plans to be a candidate for president."

sounds pretty definate to me, its not vague...says he isnt planning on running. His daughter just restated it. Whats hard to understand?

I would have LOVED an Gore campaign. I pleaded the case to whatever is out there that would listen. But have to face the facts. "no plans to be a candidate for president." sounds pretty definate, at least to me :cry:

[book_worm]

45. Then he is never going to be president, imo

'08 is his best opportunity. The issues are on his side--Bush, the man who stole the presidency from him in '00 is vastly unpopular. The Dems will probably win the election in '08 and then they will (probably) be in for 8 years and then in '16 the VP will be the heir apparent. Gore said he has no strong urge to be president and I believe him. If he did--he is politically smart enough to know that '08 was the time to do it.

[SlowDownFast]

46. This article is 2 months old.

Just sayin'.

[book_worm]

48. So? Gore has been saying for months that he has no plans to run

but people won't take his word for it. Just sayin' too.

[EFerrari]

53. Sure, but he's always been a little arch about it.

He is a politician and a damn good one. lol