Allelujah

I don't usually link to J.R. Jones of the Chicago Reader because he's one of the worst film critics around and it's best just to ignore him. But a short comment on his review of An Inconvenient Truth.

Here's what Jones has to say:

In Fahrenheit 9/11, which premiered at Cannes in 2004, Gore was portrayed as the ultimate loser, silencing members of the Congressional Black Caucus on the floor of the Senate when they tried to protest the Supreme Court ruling that robbed him of the presidency. But when An Inconvenient Truth premiered at this year’s festival Gore was treated like a superstar....[U]nlike the modern campaign biography, which presumes to lay bare the candidate’s character through some Oprah-friendly personal crisis (Clinton’s abusive stepfather, Bush’s heavy drinking, Kerry’s heroics in Vietnam), An Inconvenient Truth reveals Gore’s substance....Even the story of Nancy Gore’s lung cancer comes with a lesson in personal responsibility, as Al recalls how his Tennessee family finally “connected the dots” and quit growing tobacco: “Whatever explanations had seemed to make sense in the past just didn’t cut it anymore.”

So there are two Gores, the loser presiding over his loss of the presidency, and the new, substantial one learning life lessons.

Actually, one of Gore's greatest moments was that day in the Senate. Mind you, he only did what he was required to do, but that's practically bravery for a politician. The Congressional Black Caucus had no standing to speak (and no serious argument anyway) and I hope those involved in this outrage are forever remembered as people with contempt for the Constitution and no sense of honor.

On the other hand, Gore's been exploiting personal tragedy (including the lung cancer story) in his speeches for years.

Good work, Al. If the voters are as clueless as Jones, it's time to run.

Columbus Guy says: The man is Carteresque in his reprehensibility. I just heard a replay of his interview on "Fresh Air," during which he engaged in a lengthy discourse on multiple intelligences and how George Bush "is a very intelligent man. There are many kinds of intelligence . . ." Yeah. I'm guessing Bush has the idiot kind, with the Listens-to-Karl-Rove Savant variation.

But let me finish this post by speaking slowly, deeply and appending the following so that I'll sound intelligent the way Gore does: "If you will."

Please, please, Al. Run again. Please?