The Problem with Al

Jerk, pretender, fraud

We’ve heard it a thousand times: At home, around the dinner table, he’s a charming and effortless host. And funny. And straight-arrow honest. And hip. “Friends are puzzled by the Al Gore they see campaigning around the country,” begin the inevitable What’s-wrong-with-Gore? newspaper accounts. Occasionally, the “friends” cited are ill-concealed fellow Democratic politicians, but more often they are journalists themselves—CNN pundits and Washington Post reporters who want so much to like Gore, and are so confused by his strange hustings persona that they have manufactured a news story about it.

About the Author

Rob Long

Rob Long is a writer and producer and a co-founder of Ricochet.

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Jerk, pretender, fraud

We’ve heard it a thousand times: At home, around the dinner table, he’s a charming and effortless host. And funny. And straight-arrow honest. And hip. “Friends are puzzled by the Al Gore they see campaigning around the country,” begin the inevitable What’s-wrong-with-Gore? newspaper accounts. Occasionally, the “friends” cited are ill-concealed fellow Democratic politicians, but more often they are journalists themselves—CNN pundits and Washington Post reporters who want so much to like Gore, and are so confused by his strange hustings persona that they have manufactured a news story about it.