Photo: Clinton greets Gore at Clinton Global Initative today. Oh, to be able to read Gore's face!

[flpoljunkie]

Former President Bill Clinton, right, greets his former Vice President Al Gore, before a panel discussion at the Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting, Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2007, in New York. (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow)

[SaveElmer]

1. Wouldn't mind reading Clinton's as well...

[jmp]

15. I know what Bill was thinking.

He was thinking that Gore road his coattails to the White House ... and then threw him overboard ... and lost as a result.

Gore is probably in denial about costing himself the Presidency.

[Ethelk2044]

22. What cost Gore was the election machines and the GOP stole the votes.

[Uncle Joe]

30. I agree to a certain extent, however I believe the primary reason

the race was close enough for them to steal, was the endless corporate media slander and trashing of Al Gore's integrity and credibility. I believe the corporate media were motivated in large part because Al Gore championed the Internet while he was in Congress. They saw the Internet as a growing threat against their monopoly on information, information = money, power and influence, so they played Zeus to his Prometheus. The corporate media didn't want the primary political champion of the Internet in power. They were intent on attacking his credibility and integrity above all else, because they had been busy making integrity and credibility the central issue for the previous eight years with the Clinton Witch hunt prior to the selection of 2000, raise your hands if you ever saw Clinton hug Lewinsky more than fifty times. This is precisely why Bush ran on "restoring honor and integrity to the White House". Whenever Al Gore started to pull away, the corporate media went off on him again on some fabricated B.S. regarding his integrity, some of them even admit they just wanted to keep the race close.

[Cameron27]

2. Why, Gore was Clinton's VP and seemed very happy

at the time.

[nightrider767]

3. Gore Might Be Thinking

"Thanks for nothing Pal".

[flpoljunkie]

6. Welcome to DU, nightrider767!

[Cameron27]

7. Hey, it was Gore's decision not to use Clinton

in his campaign and to go with Lieberman for the "morality" vote. I think he would have been better off with Clinton, who was still extremely popular in many parts of the country.

[journalist3072]

8. Exactly right!!!! Thank you for re-inserting the FACTS into this debate

You're absolutely right that it was Gore's decision to have Clinton sitting on the sidelines in 2000.

[blm]

12. Unfortunately, it was Bill's decision to oversee the collapse of party infrastructure

after 1996 in states he decided were a waste of money.

But then, a secure election process overseen with diligence by the DNC working to counter the RNC tactics would have resulted in a huge win for Gore in some of those states like Florida and Ohio.

Or for Dems in 2002.

Or for Dems and Kerry in 2004.

So - when did Hillary2008 go operational?

[jefferson_dem]

14. True. But remember...Clinton fatigue was widespread at that point.

The "Big Dawg" was fairly toxic in 2000 just like Chimpy will be this round.

[Carolina]

21. Clinton fatigue was a RW, MSM myth

If Bill could have run for a third term, GWB would not have come close enough to steal the WH.

[journalist3072]

25. Exactly. It amazes me that some DUers so easily buy into the RW talking points

such as "Clinton fatigue."

[AlGore-08.com]

33. In 2000, Clinton's "likability" was at -55 to -60 and Bush 1 trounced him in hypothetical match ups

I hate to actually bring history into a discussion of the past, but it was only Clinton's job performance rating that was above 50% in 2000. Clinton's personal likability rating was -60 nationwide in 2000, and even a little lower in swing states. This is why Rove's publicly stated strategy in 2000 was to "link Gore to Clinton". (Even in 2004, the Kerry campaign had trouble figuring out how use Bill Clinton in a way that gained more votes than it lost.)

F.Y.I. here are some actual polls from 2000...

http://archives.cnn.com/2000/ALLPOLITICS/stories/08/06/cnn.time.poll/index.html

CNN/USA TODAY/GALLUP POLL
August 4-5
Favorable Ratings
Former President Bush 73%
Hillary Clinton 45
Bill Clinton 42

Sampling error: +/-3% pts


CNN/USA TODAY/GALLUP POLL
August 4-5
Whose Opinions Do You Respect More?
Former President Bush 61%
Bill Clinton 34

Sampling error: +/-3% pts


CNN/USA TODAY/GALLUP POLL
August 4-5
Who Would You Vote For?
Former President Bush 53%
Bill Clinton 42

Sampling error: +/-3% pts


http://archives.cnn.com/2000/ALLPOLITICS/stories/08/13/cnn.poll/

CNN/USA TODAY/GALLUP POLL
August 11-12

Does Vice President Al Gore's ties with President Bill Clinton make you feel more favorably toward Gore or less favorably toward Gore, or do they have no effect on your view of him?

More favorable 7%
Less favorable 32
No effect 60

Sampling error: +/-3% pts

CNN/USA TODAY/GALLUP POLL
August 11-12

If the Democratic nomination for president were still being decided and if Bill Clinton could run again, would you rather see the Democrats nominate Al Gore or Bill Clinton for president?

Gore Clinton
Democrats 48% 46%
Independents 52 29
Republicans 58 12

Sampling error: +/-6% pts


http://archives.cnn.com/2000/ALLPOLITICS/stories/08/11/cnn.poll/index.html

CNN/TIME POLL
August 9-10
Is Gore too close to President Clinton?

Now 1999
Yes 49% 55%
No 45 37

Sampling error: +/-3% pts

[Catherine Vincent]

28. Clinton fatigue?

Give me a break!

[Carolina]

20. Exactly

again. Clinton could have helped him carry Arkansas and Tennessee, his home state. Then FLA would not have been an issue.

Distancing himself from Clinton and choosing Liebermann were huge mistakes. Jeffrey Toobin's book Too Close to Call is excellent on this and other issues of the failed Gore campaign.

[flpoljunkie]

9. You conveniently forget that Gore did win the election in 2000.

How many times did Bush say he was going to restore "honor and dignity" to the White House. What do you think that was about?

[Cameron27]

18. I didn't conveniently forget anything,

and I also didn't forget that in 2000 the party effectively abandoned the Clintons. I've never heard any bitterness about that from either one of them, and I certainly don't wonder why Bill kept a low profile through the 2004 campaign.

[chaumont58]

11. I wonder how much to do Shrum had with Gore's decision on VP choice and Clinton

Ole 0 for 8 Shrum was the consignment beltway insider. Of course, he was only 0 for 6 when Gore choose him. And, it had to be the candidates. It couldn't have been Shrum!

[Cameron27]

19. I wouldn't be surprised if Shrum played a big part

in Gore's decision.

[nightrider767]

31. Well I'd have to say

I concede that you make an excellent point and in fact are more accurate than I. I'm just going on a personal feeling. I can't back it up. But even though what you're saying may be correct, I just got a bad feel for the whole affair. It was something in Bill's manner, something in the way he performed interviews about the election...

I got the impression that he couldn't care less if Al won or not.

Even now,,, for all the time they spent in office together, seems like they got no working relationship.

My 2 cents worth... Just a guess.

[snappyturtle]

16. I think Gore is saying, I've made a movie, been a big hit on the

lecture circuit, received an Emmy and hopefully, the Nobel Prize....what have you been up to other than campaigning?

I saw Gore on tv today...can't remember why or who was interviewing him...Woofie maybe...he was asked who he's going to endorse and he said he didn't know and that he might not endorse...at least that's how I took it. I am a never die Gore supporter....It was Woofie...I just remembered because I thought Wolf would ask if he (Gore) was going to enter the race....I think Gore thought he'd be asked too...I just have this wonderful feeling, looking at Gore today, that he might still run!!!!!!! Oh, be still my heart. Tomorrow I'm writing Gore another letter.

[durrrty libby]

17. Bill has been doing plenty to help people around the world

Check out mycommitment.org


I find it hard to believe you don't know about his Global Initiative Foundation

[snappyturtle]

23. Hey.....I know about this Global Initiative Foundation! But who

has been the bigger, of the two, headliner on climate change? I think Gore wins that hands down.I think you took me too seriously....I'm just a big Al Gore fan.

[polichick]

4. Lol, that's great! nt

[jillan]

5. He's thinking "No Bill, I am going to take my time to decide who to endorse"

[Bitwit1234]

10. I think that if Gore had focused on all the good things

Clinton and he had done, if he has associated himself with Clinton he would have gotten more votes and he would have been able to get more electoral votes and won. They wouldn't have been able to steal it in Florida.

I really think he screwed himself some.

[Virginia Dare]

13. They're grown-ups..

I'm sure they can put their differences aside for the good of our country.

[William769]

24. Yep, where would Al be today without Bill.

[Uncle Joe]

26. Or where would Bill be without Al?

Al was doing quite nicely when Bill chose him as his VP running mate. I believe this to be the turn of events that influenced Perot to drop out of the race temporarily, hurting his ultimate chances and increasing the success of Clinton/Gore coming to power.

[AlGore-08.com]

34. I respectfully suggest that the Clinton owes a great deal to Gore

In the middle of the 1992 Presidential campaign, Jennifer Flowers publicly charged Bill Clinton with having a 12 year affair with her. The accusation and the media frenzy nearly derailed his campaign. One of the reasons Gore was asked to be Clinton's running mate was because Gore was devoted to his wife and children - - and the public knew it.

Additionally, Bill Clinton's experience was limited to being the Governor of a small, landlocked state. Bush Sr. was making the most of the "experience" meme. Al Gore brought a great deal of international and defense experience to the ticket. (Gore was an internationally recognized expert in nuclear disarmament, for example.)

Before Cheney stole his way into office, Gore was acknowledged to have been the most powerful Vice President in history. Clinton left Gore in charge of many aspects of their administration - - technology, REGO (reducing Government bureau racy), etc. Many of the things that worked in the Clinton administration were Gore's ideas, or Gore administered them.

What Clinton really owes Gore for, IMNSHO, is for Gore's character during the impeachment. If Gore had been driven by his own ego, he could have used the impeachment as a way to gain the Oval Office for himself and (potentially) be President for 10 rather than 8 years. He could have worked behind the scenes with the Republicans to make sure that Clinton was impeached - - and that Gore was running as an incumbent President in 2000. Or he could have publicly called for Clinton's impeachment and gotten the adoration of the press. Instead, he stood by Clinton and called him a great President.

IMNSHO, the fans/supporters of Bill Clinton should be grateful to Gore, and treat him with respect.

[ronnykmarshall]

27. Holy SHIT!!!

My god .... what could this mean????

[Catherine Vincent]

29. Nothing.

They are probably happy to see each other.

[Cameron27]

32. Best answer!

[Milo_Bloom]

35. "I know something you don't know" (nt)