DEAN-GORE ROUNDUP
As most have heard by now, Al Gore is set to endorse Howard Dean for the Democratic nomination.
The blogosphere is positively giddy. Well, they’re posting on it, anyway.
- Matthew Yglesias invokes John Kerry’s middle name in cursing Gore for doing this in conflict with TAP’s deadline.
- Kevin Aylward is going to post a video and run a contest. He also thinks Dean must now choose whether to please the Hard Left or make a mad dash to the center.
- Steven Taylor politely disagrees, and thinks this further sinks the Other Eight.
- Dan Drezner thinks this makes Dean the Establishment candidate, wonders what Gore gets out of it, notes this further demonstrates the Gore-Clinton rift, and links to several other bloggers’ reactions.
- Chris Lawrence explains why the primaries matter anyway, even though Dean is sure to win.
- Michele Catalano is busy doing other things, but will make a button for Dean if he asks.
- Rosemary Esmay thinks this is a big Kerry You to Lieberman.
- Kevin Drum can’t think of anything to say, but has drawn 114 comments so far.
- Glenn Reynolds has yet to weigh in. I predict he’ll find one of the above comments he agrees with, quote it briefly, and give it the “Indeed” seal of approval.
Personally, I’m not sure what the point is of doing this now. Dean is the presumptive run-away winner, so Gore just looks like a me-too guy trying to get a little camera time at this point. (Quick: When was the last time you thought of Al Gore?) Had he done this either a couple months ago or waited until some point in the future when Dean was falling in the polls because of some bump in the road–which is virtually inevitable–then Gore could have emerged as an Elder Statesman.
Yep, Reynolds is pretty fucking worthless.
And I think of Al Gore constantly, because the Thorazine isn’t working.
Oh, I don’t know about that. Dean hasn’t gotten a lot of high profile endorsements yet, so I think Gore gets some points for being one of the first. And of course it’s quite possible that Dean promised him something in return.
Of course, I hate to mention the other possibility: There’s nothing mysterious here at all. Gore has decided that Dean is the best candidate and is endorsing him because he likes him.
Sorry, naive of me, I know….
It is more than acknowledging the inevitable, it is speeding up the inevitable, which is an invaluable service on Gore’s part. Question: of Kerry, Gep, Clark, and Joe L., who drops out, and when?
WELL- You know what they say about opinions….
I had a different take. I think Gore is a charter member of “The Angry Left.”
He is still soooooo pissed about Florida that he signed on the drink the Dean Kool-aid. I don’t see this as making Gore the elder statesman. I see this as Gore joining the tin foil hat crowd that thinks Bush knew about 9/11 etc etc etc.
Even Hillary says Saddam had WMD.
(I’m almost positive that… ) Gore said Bush lied about them even though he knew damn good and well as veep what he had.
Basically, Gore has BDS