6.23.00
Gore the Rich-Basher

6.16.00
Co-Opt City

6.12.00
Reform, Part II

6.09.00
Bipartisan with a Vengeance

6.08.00
What’s Wrong with the Gore Ads?

6.01.00
The Unbearable Lightness of Being W.

5.30.00
Cold Beer, (Not) Here!

hey say George W. Bush has been a master at spouting centrist rhetoric despite his conservative policies. Well, at the moment, Al Gore seems engaged in the opposite — talking left, while moving to the center. Gore has spent the last two weeks partially surrendering on Social Security accounts and tax cuts, but it would be hard to tell from his words.

In his Social Security speech, he attacked "the ones who think comfortably about their savings over scotch in the club looking out at the golf links." This isn't even Walter Mondale liberalism talking, but rich-bashing straight out of FDR's most heated speeches. Then, in his recent speech touting death-tax relief, Gore said Republicans "want to give away the store to those who already own the shopping center."

Finally, there is Gore's attack on oil interests — a real Golden Oldie. "It's time to put our feet on the brakes of what may well be Big Oil's price gouging," he declared. This is the dumbest anti-corporate rhetoric since-well, actually, since John McCain and Gary Bauer earlier this year; but you get the point.

Why, when Gore is obviously undertaking a well-thought-out centrist retooling of his campaign and message, would he still engage in this sort of traditional liberal rhetoric? My guess is that he can't help it. It isn't even entirely an ideological thing, although it is partly thatGore is a purer liberal than the more agile Clinton.

It is primarily a matter of temperament. Gore can't shed his self-righteousness, his belief that the other side is not just wrong, but evil. It is this that helps drive his need to attack. And the most readily available terms for expressing his sense of self-righteousness, for launching attacks on its behalf, are the old liberal lines.

So, Gore's head may tell him one thing — move to the center — but all his instincts say another — attack the evil bastards. Since the only way he can win is with his head, Republicans should be cheered every time the instincts, the real Gore, shows through. Go ahead, Al, give 'em hell.

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