The Misanthrope’s Corner

“And on.

IS it really the case that messianic narcissism is okay by the American people? The Gore experience will test the question. The endless celebration of the candidate’s qualities: his virtuousness, his friendliness, his seriousness, his curiosity, his fidelity, his playfulness, his spirituality . . . STOP! We are being carried away! The torture is that we have to wait until November to vote for Al Gore! Between now and then five million people will starve, six million will go without medical care, seven million will have babies who would otherwise have been aborted, and seven million will not learn how to read. And the majority of all of the above live in Texas. And crime is at the lowest level in 25 years and we’ll have 50,000 more policemen. And Joe Lieberman is so outstandingly the best man to serve as vice president, Gore discovered him after a search that took only three months. Anybody else would have used up 15 months—and that would have made it impossible for Lieberman to be vice president because the election would have come and gone. Don’t you see that? Well, my daughter will explain it to you. Karenna, explain that to them. And who says Spike Jonze is an iconoclast? There is nothing iconoclastic in his view of me. Americans have not lost their faith. I would never permit that.

“And on.

IS it really the case that messianic narcissism is okay by the American people? The Gore experience will test the question. The endless celebration of the candidate’s qualities: his virtuousness, his friendliness, his seriousness, his curiosity, his fidelity, his playfulness, his spirituality . . . STOP! We are being carried away! The torture is that we have to wait until November to vote for Al Gore! Between now and then five million people will starve, six million will go without medical care, seven million will have babies who would otherwise have been aborted, and seven million will not learn how to read. And the majority of all of the above live in Texas. And crime is at the lowest level in 25 years and we’ll have 50,000 more policemen. And Joe Lieberman is so outstandingly the best man to serve as vice president, Gore discovered him after a search that took only three months. Anybody else would have used up 15 months—and that would have made it impossible for Lieberman to be vice president because the election would have come and gone. Don’t you see that? Well, my daughter will explain it to you. Karenna, explain that to them. And who says Spike Jonze is an iconoclast? There is nothing iconoclastic in his view of me. Americans have not lost their faith. I would never permit that.