Al Gore 2016

[JFK-Democrat]

I am going to make this short and sweet. Al Gore is a Genius, we need his experience and intellect to really get this country back on track. I know it's supposedly Hillary's turn but we really need the best and brightest so a Gore-Clinton ticket would be my personal preference with Al running for only one term.

I know you guys are going to say Gore is old news, but the Presidency really should be more than just the flavor of the month. Gore is a wonk an out-of-the box thinker. We had a goddamned buffoon George W Bush ruin this country and Obama as done a great job of trying to get things back on track but i want Gore to help this country transition to the new economy.

For those of you who think a comeback is impossible just look at what another supposedly washed up Democrat -Gov. Jerry Brown is doing in California - slowly fixing a state screwed up by Republican - Arnold Schwarzenegger. If Brown was younger he would be on my VP short list.

So how many would support an Al Gore run in 2016?

[badgate]

Would he lose weight again?

[seanNJ9]

He distanced himself from Bill Clinton during the 2000 campaign, he's no genius.

[JFK-Democrat]

Would he lose weight again?

Who cares if the man is overweight, he is clearly a very smart man. I remember hearing that everyone wanted to have a beer with Bush in 2000, and Gore was too stiff. Well how did that turn out for us? The country is still trying to dig itself out of a ditch that the drunken cowboy drove us into.

[Eraserhead]

No thanks.

[BluegrassBlueVote]

He distanced himself from Bill Clinton during the 2000 campaign, he's no genius.

This. Certainly not politically.

Al Gore being robbed of the presidency will always be one of the greatest tragedies of the Democratic Party, but it's his own fault for even being neck-and-beck on Election Day with one of the least intelligent nominees in modern history. He let his brains be turned against him and purposefully dumbed himself down on the campaign trail (ala Jindal, though not quite as bad), and for that I'll never forgive him.

[Oakvale]

He distanced himself from Bill Clinton during the 2000 campaign, he's no genius.

This. Certainly not politically.

Al Gore being robbed of the presidency will always be one of the greatest tragedies of the Democratic Party, but it's his own fault for even being neck-and-beck on Election Day with one of the least intelligent nominees in modern history. He let his brains be turned against him and purposefully dumbed himself down on the campaign trail (ala Jindal, though not quite as bad), and for that I'll never forgive him.

Bearing in mind that most polls had Gore losing virtually the entire union to Bush I don't think he did so badly.

[BluegrassBlueVote]

He distanced himself from Bill Clinton during the 2000 campaign, he's no genius.

This. Certainly not politically.

Al Gore being robbed of the presidency will always be one of the greatest tragedies of the Democratic Party, but it's his own fault for even being neck-and-beck on Election Day with one of the least intelligent nominees in modern history. He let his brains be turned against him and purposefully dumbed himself down on the campaign trail (ala Jindal, though not quite as bad), and for that I'll never forgive him.

Bearing in mind that most polls had Gore losing virtually the entire union to Bush I don't think he did so badly.

Using hindsight, Gore wins if he doesn't do everything in his power to distance himself from Clinton.

[bedstuy]

He distanced himself from Bill Clinton during the 2000 campaign, he's no genius.

This. Certainly not politically.

Al Gore being robbed of the presidency will always be one of the greatest tragedies of the Democratic Party, but it's his own fault for even being neck-and-beck on Election Day with one of the least intelligent nominees in modern history. He let his brains be turned against him and purposefully dumbed himself down on the campaign trail (ala Jindal, though not quite as bad), and for that I'll never forgive him.

Bearing in mind that most polls had Gore losing virtually the entire union to Bush I don't think he did so badly.

Using hindsight, Gore wins if he doesn't do everything in his power to distance himself from Clinton.

It's pretty easy to say any small change would have won the election for Gore.  After all, if the votes were counted fairly, Gore won Florida and thus the election. 

But, Bill Clinton wasn't all that popular in 2000.  He was favorability rating was definitely under 50%.  Al Gore should have definitely ran as the continuation of Clinton's policies, but embracing Clinton wouldn't have helped much.   

[Negusa Nagast 🚀]

Clinton wasn't that popular? His approval ratings were in the 60s for crying out loud.

[BluegrassBlueVote]

Clinton's favorables were low, but his administration's approval ratings were sky high and a VP should have taken credit for that. Instead, Gore ran away from those accomplishments and wasted his own veep selection.

Gotta think Clinton could've at least helped in a state like Tennessee, which he carried twice.

[bedstuy]

Clinton wasn't that popular? His approval ratings were in the 60s for crying out loud.

People liked his policies and the general direction of the country.  Clinton was still damaged by the Lewinsky scandal and many people saw him as a liar and a joke.  He wasn't anywhere near as popular as he is now.

Clinton's favorables were low, but his administration's approval ratings were sky high and a VP should have taken credit for that. Instead, Gore ran away from those accomplishments and wasted his own veep selection.

Gotta think Clinton could've at least helped in a state like Tennessee, which he carried twice.

Sending Bill Clinton to do a rally or an interview on local news wouldn't have helped much.  I think the problem was more that Al Gore's strategists were timid.  They had no real message and they didn't attack Bush nearly enough.

[heatmaster]

Are you kidding me? Al Gore a genius? What planet are you from? I mean if Gore was so much of a genius, how come he couldn't manage to defeat one of the "dumbest" nominee's any major party opted to select: Gore couldn't even manage to win his home state; guess the folks from Tennessee knew the guy well enough, that he just didn't pass the smell test; he was after all the incumbent Vice President, serving under a fairly popular president, and had plenty of advantages, a strong economy, peace and prosperity and a stellar record in public service, with all these factors at his disposal and the advantages such factors should have bestowed; he came across as an obnoxious twit, a phony schmuck and the idea of Gore, a pedantic narcissist of the worst order, pontificating in that lecturing tone of his, to the masses for four years, was a bit of a turn off. Whatever 'Dubya's' faults, he pretty much was a straight shooter, you liked him, you didn't like him, he didn't give a crap either way and he had a likeability factor that worked. He followed a built in compass, and I guess most folks were comforted by that knowledge. So the idiotic suggestion of having Al Gore run in 2016, is simply ludicruos and when you have O'Malley, Cuomo, Warner, Biden, Patrick and Clinton waiting in the wings, Gore ain't gonna make it beyond New Hampshire; he's an embarrassment to the Democratic party, nice to have around like the eccentric uncle, but beyond that, ain't happening buster.

[BluegrassBlueVote]

Are you kidding me? Al Gore a genius? What planet are you from? I mean if Gore was so much of a genius, how come he couldn't manage to defeat one of the "dumbest" nominee's any major party opted to select: Gore couldn't even manage to win his home state; guess the folks from Tennessee knew the guy well enough, that he just didn't pass the smell test; he was after all the incumbent Vice President, serving under a fairly popular president, and had plenty of advantages, a strong economy, peace and prosperity and a stellar record in public service, with all these factors at his disposal and the advantages such factors should have bestowed; he came across as an obnoxious twit, a phony schmuck and the idea of Gore, a pedantic narcissist of the worst order, pontificating in that lecturing tone of his, to the masses for four years, was a bit of a turn off. Whatever 'Dubya's' faults, he pretty much was a straight shooter, you liked him, you didn't like him, he didn't give a crap either way and he had a likeability factor that worked. He followed a built in compass, and I guess most folks were comforted by that knowledge. So the idiotic suggestion of having Al Gore run in 2016, is simply ludicruos and when you have O'Malley, Cuomo, Warner, Biden, Patrick and Clinton waiting in the wings, Gore ain't gonna make it beyond New Hampshire; he's an embarrassment to the Democratic party, nice to have around like the eccentric uncle, but beyond that, ain't happening buster.

What does Gore's faults as a national candidate have to do with the fact that he's an extremely intelligent person? You might as well have just described Mitt Romney to a fault there, who is also highly intelligent.

Look, you STOLE eight years of the the White House thanks to Al's mistakes and weaknesses on the campaign trail. The least you can do is thank the guy.

[CountryClassSF]

From the conservative perspective....

Why on *earth* would you want a has-been like Al Gore to run when you can run Hillary Clinton who has a 70% approval rating right now?

Al Gore's environmental extremism isn't going to win him any friends in Appalachia. He barely beat  Bush in popular vote despite a good economy.

If I'm a Democrat, it's just common sense going with a candidate that's by all stretches of the imagination liberal, and most popular. Why take the risk of losing?

There seems to be a faction on the extreme left that does not want Hillary.  If she is tossed overboard by the "new" left again, I think PUMAs will have evolved into conservatives.


Though far be it from conservatives to stop you

[Sopranos Republican]

Are you kidding me? Al Gore a genius? What planet are you from? I mean if Gore was so much of a genius, how come he couldn't manage to defeat one of the "dumbest" nominee's any major party opted to select: Gore couldn't even manage to win his home state; guess the folks from Tennessee knew the guy well enough, that he just didn't pass the smell test; he was after all the incumbent Vice President, serving under a fairly popular president, and had plenty of advantages, a strong economy, peace and prosperity and a stellar record in public service, with all these factors at his disposal and the advantages such factors should have bestowed; he came across as an obnoxious twit, a phony schmuck and the idea of Gore, a pedantic narcissist of the worst order, pontificating in that lecturing tone of his, to the masses for four years, was a bit of a turn off. Whatever 'Dubya's' faults, he pretty much was a straight shooter, you liked him, you didn't like him, he didn't give a crap either way and he had a likeability factor that worked. He followed a built in compass, and I guess most folks were comforted by that knowledge. So the idiotic suggestion of having Al Gore run in 2016, is simply ludicruos and when you have O'Malley, Cuomo, Warner, Biden, Patrick and Clinton waiting in the wings, Gore ain't gonna make it beyond New Hampshire; he's an embarrassment to the Democratic party, nice to have around like the eccentric uncle, but beyond that, ain't happening buster.

I love how these Dems define Al Gore as a genius and George W. Bush as an absolute moron.

[BluegrassBlueVote]

Are you kidding me? Al Gore a genius? What planet are you from? I mean if Gore was so much of a genius, how come he couldn't manage to defeat one of the "dumbest" nominee's any major party opted to select: Gore couldn't even manage to win his home state; guess the folks from Tennessee knew the guy well enough, that he just didn't pass the smell test; he was after all the incumbent Vice President, serving under a fairly popular president, and had plenty of advantages, a strong economy, peace and prosperity and a stellar record in public service, with all these factors at his disposal and the advantages such factors should have bestowed; he came across as an obnoxious twit, a phony schmuck and the idea of Gore, a pedantic narcissist of the worst order, pontificating in that lecturing tone of his, to the masses for four years, was a bit of a turn off. Whatever 'Dubya's' faults, he pretty much was a straight shooter, you liked him, you didn't like him, he didn't give a crap either way and he had a likeability factor that worked. He followed a built in compass, and I guess most folks were comforted by that knowledge. So the idiotic suggestion of having Al Gore run in 2016, is simply ludicruos and when you have O'Malley, Cuomo, Warner, Biden, Patrick and Clinton waiting in the wings, Gore ain't gonna make it beyond New Hampshire; he's an embarrassment to the Democratic party, nice to have around like the eccentric uncle, but beyond that, ain't happening buster.

I love how these Dems define Al Gore as a genius and George W. Bush as an absolute moron.

One candidate was very intelligent and the other was not. You can choose to use further hyperbole.

[Sopranos Republican]

Are you kidding me? Al Gore a genius? What planet are you from? I mean if Gore was so much of a genius, how come he couldn't manage to defeat one of the "dumbest" nominee's any major party opted to select: Gore couldn't even manage to win his home state; guess the folks from Tennessee knew the guy well enough, that he just didn't pass the smell test; he was after all the incumbent Vice President, serving under a fairly popular president, and had plenty of advantages, a strong economy, peace and prosperity and a stellar record in public service, with all these factors at his disposal and the advantages such factors should have bestowed; he came across as an obnoxious twit, a phony schmuck and the idea of Gore, a pedantic narcissist of the worst order, pontificating in that lecturing tone of his, to the masses for four years, was a bit of a turn off. Whatever 'Dubya's' faults, he pretty much was a straight shooter, you liked him, you didn't like him, he didn't give a crap either way and he had a likeability factor that worked. He followed a built in compass, and I guess most folks were comforted by that knowledge. So the idiotic suggestion of having Al Gore run in 2016, is simply ludicruos and when you have O'Malley, Cuomo, Warner, Biden, Patrick and Clinton waiting in the wings, Gore ain't gonna make it beyond New Hampshire; he's an embarrassment to the Democratic party, nice to have around like the eccentric uncle, but beyond that, ain't happening buster.

I love how these Dems define Al Gore as a genius and George W. Bush as an absolute moron.

One candidate was very intelligent and the other was not. You can choose to use further hyperbole.

Bush went to Yale, and he went to Harvard Business School. Even Tony Blair wrote that the idea Bush is dumb is ludicrous and that he is very smart. I'm not saying Bush was a great president, I'm just saying that he isn't stupid.

[Joe Biden 2020]

Last time I checked, President Bush wasn't a bad president.  I'm a Democrat, but IMO, he was the better person to handle 9/11.  President Bush was also far from "dumb".  He is extremely intelligent (almost too much for his own good).  He wasn't a great president, but he wasn't a bad president, either.  I think history will smile on his administration overall.  Iraq was not a mistake, initially, it was IMPERATIVE to get Saddam Hussein out of there.  The problem lies in not being prepared for such a quick and decisive victory over the Saddam regime.  Al Gore would have been alright, but he's just not a likeable guy.  President Obama, OTOH, is very likeable and very intelligtent.  Al Gore needs to stay in the background, otherwise he will pretty much guarantee a Republican will be inaugurated on January 20, 2017.  Also, Hillary is far from a guarantee.  Even if she does run, she's not automatically going to win.  America is still a center-right country.

Nobody, and I mean nobody, can call George W. Bush dumb and be correct.

[seanNJ9]

Last time I checked, President Bush wasn't a bad president.  I'm a Democrat, but IMO, he was the better person to handle 9/11.  President Bush was also far from "dumb".  He is extremely intelligent (almost too much for his own good).  He wasn't a great president, but he wasn't a bad president, either.  I think history will smile on his administration overall.  Iraq was not a mistake, initially, it was IMPERATIVE to get Saddam Hussein out of there.  The problem lies in not being prepared for such a quick and decisive victory over the Saddam regime.  Al Gore would have been alright, but he's just not a likeable guy.  President Obama, OTOH, is very likeable and very intelligtent.  Al Gore needs to stay in the background, otherwise he will pretty much guarantee a Republican will be inaugurated on January 20, 2017.  Also, Hillary is far from a guarantee.  Even if she does run, she's not automatically going to win.  America is still a center-right country.

Nobody, and I mean nobody, can call George W. Bush dumb and be correct.

Check again.

You would be hard pressed to find many Democrat's who agree with you, then again you'll be hard pressed to find many fellow Democrats in Utah.

[badgate]

Would he lose weight again?

Who cares if the man is overweight, he is clearly a very smart man. I remember hearing that everyone wanted to have a beer with Bush in 2000, and Gore was too stiff. Well how did that turn out for us? The country is still trying to dig itself out of a ditch that the drunken cowboy drove us into.

Listen! I know it's shallow, but he kind of looks like the frog from that Disney movie

[Paul Kemp]

Gore will be 68 and just sold his network to Al Jazzera and has a net worth more than Romney at this point.

I think we're done with Al.

[JFK-Democrat]

You guys miss the point, yes Gore is not a fresh face, but the man is very smart. George W Bush was and is a blowhard, look what he did to the country. Also, us Dem's are not obsessed with Gore's wealth and we support his position on the environment. I think if he ran he would have more than a 50/50 shot at the nomination.

[Darth Maul]

I would not support him. He'd lose badly in the general as he is far to liberal.

[Joe Biden 2020]

You guys miss the point, yes Gore is not a fresh face, but the man is very smart. George W Bush was and is a blowhard, look what he did to the country. Also, us Dem's are not obsessed with Gore's wealth and we support his position on the environment. I think if he ran he would have more than a 50/50 shot at the nomination.

Bold Part #1 - Incorrect.  Everybody knows Bush is smart and he did quite a few great things for this country.  He did not get us into recession, the factors that caused the recession that we're still trying to dig out of started toward the end of Clinton's Presidency with his deregulation of the banks, and is one of the stains on Clinton's term.  Bush probably could have done more to prevent the recession or soften its blow, but Clinton has to take some of the blame for this recession.

Bold Part #2 - Maybe, but Gore would have around 25/75 shot at the Presidency, 33/67 at best.