What would Al have done about 9/11?

When asked this question, his answer was recorded on a camera phone (Gotta love modern technology!). Here's his answer (thanks to Celcias for pointing me to this vid):

For more on this, buy Assault On Reason. Seriously. It's amazingly intelligent.

Effectiveness of a grassroots campaign in the days of big money politics

Found this opinion article: Will 'Draft Gore' movement bring change? I have to say, I do understand the points and agree with a lot of them. Al Gore is in a place right now where he can let the proverbial mud slide off his back. What does he care if an article gets written about exaggeration? He knows his points and the data are getting through to the people he wants to hear them. But if he ran for president, all of a sudden, he'd be in the middle of all the crap that's being slung around. People would attack him (and his books and his movie and everything he's done and enjoyed doing the past 8 years) and he would be forced to care. Because he wouldn't enter the race unless he knew he could win. He wouldn't enter just to run again. It's too damn hard and time-consuming and exhausting and, frankly, the man has better ways to spend his time and money. He'd join the race to win.

That being said, I would like to reiterate that I think there IS a way to run a presidential campaign in the age of social media and the new millennium and trash the old ways of chucking crap at your opponents, all the while hoping they'll endorse you when they get kicked out of the race by your attacks. There's a nice, effective, community-oriented way to talk to voters; it doesn't have to be a dirty mud-wrestling battle. If anyone can figure out the details of that way, a real change in political tactic, Gore and his people can. How can you run a campaign you're truly proud of, while not wasting time and money and resources, while not viciously attacking opponents without due discussion, while not pandering to the lowest common denominator, while not extending the campaign season longer than it really needs to be? I'm halfway done Assault on Reason; I'm convinced the author of that book can gather around him the brightest minds of today and form a team with them to figure it out. It's a big problem. But so is climate change. And Al's figured out a way to educate millions of people around the world on that.

Assault on Reason wins Quill Award

Congratulations to Al Gore on winning the Quill Award for book Assault on Reason. Yet another prize for Gore -- his mantle must be getting quite full! His daughter apparently accepted the award for him, as he's in Europe right now.

Length of this campaign

I think one thing Gore & Co. have been figuring out this past summer is how to run a campaign that will get noticed and be in the political press spotlight, but that will be a campaign he WANTS to run. No dirty money, no corporate sponsors, no 15-second sound bytes, no bowing to the lowest denominator. He wants to reform campaign strategy. He said so in Assault on Reason. I don't think he necessarily meant he wants to reform it himself by leading an example of how a campaign could go, but all the better if he does. Lead by example. Wasn't that another point of his book? The leaders should be people you look up to and emulate. He doesn't need to waste time or money starting earlier than he has to. I agree that I'll let him and his skilled people know when that time is. They clearly know WAY more about this than I do!

Does this count?

Apparently Gore said on Norwegian TV, "'I don't have plans to be a candidate again,' the former US vice-president told Norwegian television. 'I'm involved in a different kind of campaign, a global campaign to change the way people think about the climate crisis.'"

Don't you think he would have addressed the huge grassroots movement in some way? Told us to stop our efforts, like he apparently did in 2003? And why would he do it on Norwegian TV, not American TV or (ahem) Current.com?

And why would he have released those 3 political videos on Current.com and also written Assault on Reason, which is NOT an environmental book but a political one, through and through?

Gore talks about Assault on Reason

Straight from his lips to your ears...

So now we're reviewing forewords?

Apparently we are. The new (written last year, presumably right around the time he was working on Assault on Reason, Gore took a crack at redoing (and thus reprinting) his 1992 book, Earth in the Balance.

Read the review of the new foreward. I'm on page 50. It's hard to put the book down when I finally get a few minutes to read it. It's interesting reading the perspective from 15 years ago.

I'm sure this isn't the book's only point...

...and yet everybody seems to be talking about the way Gore dismisses entertainment news. So here's yet another post about it.

I think the people that criticize Gore are missing the point, as the aforementioned blog post points out. I don't think he's saying there's no place for entertainment news. I think he's saying that America shouldn't consider it the most noteworthy news and certainly shouldn't let it pass for political news. He's trying to engage Americans to get back into the conversation that matters. Because, let's face it, who got their Hollywood tummy tucked this week doesn't matter in the grand scheme of the world.

I'm not sure Gore's saying, "Let's do away with all frivolous entertainment," because, let's face it, everyone needs their vegging time, whatever that may mean to them. But he's saying, rather, let's put that junk in its place and consider it junk food, not filet mignon.

Gore Watch

A Google search on "Gore watch" yields a good blog post on how the media really doesn't even get Gore's message about them (dig on them?) in his Assault on Reason.

Reminds me a bit of Diane Sawyer's GMA question about his weight: "Down in Brazil, your former campaign manager has said, 'If he drops 25-30 pounds, he's running.' Lost any weight?" Gore laughed it off then said, "But listen to your question!" Nice slide, Al.

Lappe is baffled

Francis Moore Lappe wrote a review of The Assault on Reason, in which she claims that Gore has missed the boat by saying that wealth and democracy are enemies. I'll defer my opinion until I've read the book. I have a feeling, though, that I'll disagree with her...

New York Times review of Assault on Reason

"Al Gore has decided to lay it all on the line with a blistering assessment of the Bush administration." Read the review.

Timing

as they say, is everything. As I see it, there's no need for Gore to declare anything at all right now, as most of the country already knows what he stands for and what his major areas of interest are. He would just be wasting his money and his energy.

What he's doing now -- building chatter about his new book, The Assault on Reason, stretching once again his political muscles, biding his time -- will get him where he needs to be (if not just where we need him) by January 2009.