Al Gore for Vice President?

Political blogger Ron Gunzberger, a veteran campaigner who for many years has operated the terrific politics1.com website out of South Florida, is moving beyond the Hillary Clinton for Vice President boomlet.

He's suggesting that former Vice President Al Gore is the right pick.

"Senator Barack Obama needs a Vice Presidential runningmate who will calm older, union, Jewish, blue collar and white voters who voted for Hillary Clinton ... voters who still admire the Clintons ... voters concerned about Obama's experience in foreign policy. Picking Hillary Clinton for VP, for example, is simply a terrible choice," he editorializes. "She entirely undercuts the message of change, canceling out the change message by adding a runningmate who is a leading practitioner of the dark and destructive political art of triangulation.

Then Gunzberger drops his suggestion.

"Yet there is someone else out there who has a solid past association with the Clintons ... who is untainted by the most unsavory moments of the Clinton White House years ... who is a Vietnam War veteran ... who has extensive government credentials on environmental protection and national security ... who has won both the Nobel Peace Prize and an Oscar ... and yet who remains a believable agent for change and health care and peace and for healing our planet," he writes.

"History shows us a former Vice President can return to political office and serve with honor and distinction. VP Hubert Humphrey, after a very narrow loss for President in 1968, returned to the US Senate in 1970 and served there for the remainder of his life. So I say "Draft Gore." Draft Gore because he believes in the concept of a higher calling, of service to nation and planet, who would appreciate the unique opportunity to return to public service to advance his causes ... and maybe even be given the opportunity to become President in 2016. While associated with the "old," Gore is clearly a proven agent of real change who can unify our party, and unify our nation. Obama-Gore '08. Show your support by downloading one of these banners and placing them on your websites and blogs. Email the Obama campaign: Let them know you support Al Gore for VP. For our party. To strengthen our nation. To heal our world."

Comments (47)

1. Dear God no. No no no no and no. The LAST thing Obama should do is look to the past. The break needs to be clean from the entire Clinton era, and that includes Gore. They are all done and they should be, their actual accomplishments for the country are minimal. Turning the page means leaving the past behind. Plus you honestly think Al wants to be second fiddle AGAIN??? Come on.

   Posted by yutsano at 06/05/2008 @ 3:59pm

2. posted by John Nichols on 06/05/2008 @ 3:52pm

   Do you realize the ammo you just gave HSUB?! You probably did this on purpose just so we'll have to listen to it! You SUCK!

   Posted by Benchrest at 06/05/2008 @ 4:05pm

3. This post was a waste of your time writing it and my time reading it, Mr. Nichols. Besides, since Mr. Gore has moved on, so should we. Thanks.

   Let them know you support Al Gore for VP. For our party. To strengthen our nation. To heal our world." To make me throw up.

   Posted by k330k at 06/05/2008 @ 4:15pm

4. Dumb, because:

   1) Al was submerged in that VP bucket of warm piss for 8 years. What in the name of all that's sane makes you think that now when he's earning tens of millions year, doing very interesting work, he wants to go back into the bucket?

   If you have nothing interesting to write, do stop writing.

   2) Obama needs a VP who'll bring in voters that he doesn't attract. That's not Al.

   C'mon, get serious or stop writing.

   Posted by sloper at 06/05/2008 @ 4:30pm

5. The man's got a Nobel Prize .. VP is kinda sliding downhill dontcha think?

   Posted by leftofcenter at 06/05/2008 @ 4:37pm

6. No. Next question.

   Posted by srjenkins at 06/05/2008 @ 4:45pm

7. No because the right person is Tom Daschle.

   Posted by agentweez at 06/05/2008 @ 5:01pm

8. As much as I like Al Gore - especially post-Clinton - he would represent the "politics of the past" that Obama is turning the page from.

   Al Gore used the VP position in the Clinton years to shake down lobbyist and others for campaign cash, and it is this kind of politics that must end.

   Gore is dead-on, however, on environmental issues, and his counsel should be followed by Obama in whatever capacity he wants to play for the environment.

   Posted by Metteyya at 06/05/2008 @ 6:36pm

9. My reading is so much less noisome and tiring when I put the freaks like "LibzRfreaks" on IGNORE. Whew.

   Besides, the real choice in not "back to the future." No Gore, no Clinton. (Unless it's George Clinton.)

   Obama needs to partner with the one other honest man in politics: Russ Feingold.

   That would be history-making in the truest sense: an authentic all-liberal ticket and some hope of returning to reason & sanity in public policy making.

   Posted by goyadad at 06/05/2008 @ 6:46pm

10. Posted by agentweez at 06/5/2008

    Tom Daschle couldn't even win his own seat. He's from South Dakota - not a swing state. He also has a wife that had/has questionable lobbying ties. What exactly makes you think Tom would be a good VP candidate, because it eludes me.

    Posted by srjenkins at 06/05/2008 @ 7:05pm

11. Here's another thing: Veep choice is completely immaterial to electoral success--unless you muck it up in hopelessly obvious ways.

    How many votes did Gore bring in for Clinton? How many did Kempt get for Dole?How many was Cheney worth for Bush? Lieberman for Gore? The last one is especially telling since Joey was supposed to ice the "Jewish" vote in Florida--you know, all those dowagers in Boca Raton, etc. Fat lot of good that did. Now he's working for the other side.

    No, pick someone you can work with during AND after the election who won't hurt you. (Hmmmmm. Does that describe HRC? Mebbee not.)

    On the other hand, McCain needs to pick Charlie Crist. Not only will Charlie get him FL, his name will look GREAT on the bumper sticker ("Crist" is same as "Christ" in the eyes of ignorant peckerwoods . . . "ain't thut th' way yuh spill iyut?") and you can't go wrong with all that WHITE HAIR on two WHITE MEN.

    Posted by goyadad at 06/05/2008 @ 7:24pm

12. "Gore is an eviromentalist fraud and I expect Obama to listen to him without questions...just like Gore doesn't question."

    <Posted by JOMAMMA at 06/5/2008>

    Haw, haw, haw. You make me LAUGH, Mamma. Things are getting TOUGH for you Righties, aren't they? Even your golden boy, W, has jumped on the Enviro bandwagon, and he's not even up for reelection. He's admitted that global warming is real & has even started to let policy slide in that direction.

    Not everyone is a flat-earther dope like you, Mamma. You seen some of the satellite imagery of the N. Pole lately? You read (ha! ha!)up on the ice core data from Greenland & Antarctica, you dimbulb? I have a Ph.D. qualified scientist relative who has actually been in the field & done the work first hand. We are already in a climate regime that hasn't existed since the Age of Dinosaurs. Probably a promising outlook for Stegosaurus-brained morons like you, but for the rest of us more evolved specimens, it's a frowny-face forecast.

    But that's okay. Just keep your radio tuned and call in crying, "Say it ain't so, Rush! Say it ain't so!" All will be well. You can have your SUV and vacation in Cabo all in one, 'cuz Cabo is coming to your town soon (even if you live in Alaska).

    Posted by goyadad at 06/05/2008 @ 7:39pm

13. If I do recall there was this HBO remembers-the-chad-thing that clearly illustrated the Al FL popular vote win-- and this year they, FL, have to utilize usable and verifiable paper ballots. Last I saw Al was polling pretty well with high positives and low neg's. Got's tons of street cred/name reg. Right on the war, right on the constitution, right on torture, right on spying, right on New Orleans, right on just about every issue... Even a lot of moderate repub's and independents would vote for Al Gore. With all the other awards, why wouldn't Al want a little more cred in history-- like: he helped get the first black president elected... helped the world clean up, restored the US Constitution, successfully helped convict the hsuB/cHeney admin for financial corruption, constitutional subversion, obstruction of justice, etc.

    Very few have a resume equal or even close to Al's. I'm pretty sure he's not finished adding to it.

    That the far right looney's go crazy at the very mention of his very name-- is just icing on the cake.

    Gore/Obama - Obama/Gore, either way is fine with me.

    Posted by hsuBfools at 06/05/2008 @ 7:55pm

14. Aren't like Al and Barack both like way into our constitution-- like they both have a high degree of love for it, 'unlike' the new con repubs?

    I can see why they wouldn't want the two to get together...

    Posted by hsuBfools at 06/05/2008 @ 8:01pm

15. Like both on impeachment...

    John Nichols and HSUBFOOLS will be wrong on this.

    HSUB...open the PayPal account, $1000 if Gore becomes Veep or if Obama gones totally insane and becomes his Veep.

    You in?

    Posted by Mask at 06/05/2008 @ 8:24pm

16. I know he probably finished fourth grade, and that IS an accomplishment especially considering his upbringing, but LibzRfreaks" still begs for IGNORE. So... OK, boink!

    Posted by winyahn at 06/05/2008 @ 8:33pm

17. I think the national memory/association to Gore is too wrapped up in the 2000 loss (/rip-off).

    Plus (more importantly) he comes up short on the redneck rambo rocky roughneck factor. The Gaia/Earth out of balance, hanging with Bono, etc., leaves him ripe for treehugger/hippie/elitist shadow campaign slurs.

    There's a tiny "pure" bump, but not enough for Ohio, Penn, etc. Try and write your next piece after speaking 30 minutes in an Ohio Super Walmart.

    Posted by winyahn at 06/05/2008 @ 9:04pm

18. Woops - spending not speaking

    Posted by winyahn at 06/05/2008 @ 9:07pm

19. gore?

    telecommunications act.

    no-fly zones (i.e war in iraq)

    repeal of glass-steagall.

    no thanks.

    at least make sure the new person looks different,

    even if they won't change anything.....

    Posted by frosty zoom at 06/05/2008 @ 9:27pm

20. During the Bush/Gore debates, someone told Al to get close to George and try to intimidate him. Bush gave Gore 'the look' and that's all we saw until the live feed was over. Afterwards, we were all treated to the sight of Al scampering back to his chair like a scared puppy. I knew at that moment he was toast.

    Then there was Kerry. A PW'd whiner if I ever saw one.

    What Obama needs is someone with balls. I like Senator Webb or Gov. Napolitano. These are tough people who don't blanch.(I hate it when so many Democrats do that.)

    No more Weasels!!!

    Posted by RAGGEDSTEP at 06/05/2008 @ 9:49pm

21. throwing our economic engine under the solar powered bus,parking my car, turn off my furnace, and you anouncing there is no more oil( a lie for sure) is going to save the planet

    Typed by JOMAMMA

    jm,

    oil is solar energy.

    wind is solar.

    solar is solar.

    some solar is cleaner, way more abundant, and ultimately cheaper.

    the time has come to leave oil behind.

    what, plants are smarter than americans?

    Posted by frosty zoom at 06/05/2008 @ 10:07pm

22. the sun.

    it's hot.

    Posted by frosty zoom at 06/05/2008 @ 11:00pm

23. Obama needs to "calm" older Jewish voters? Calm them huh-my flesh actually crawls when I think of the things Obama and his cult say.

    Posted by behonest at 06/05/2008 @ 11:06pm

24. Okay okay Al Gore proposed a theory that suggests radical changes abd the cons are up in arms, nothing new there. Can we get back on track here before we descend into environmental mayhem? The cons ain't changing their mind since, well, why should they? Keep moving along, nothing to see here.

    Posted by yutsano at 06/06/2008 @ 12:53am

25. Posted by Mask at 06/5/2008

    Just like you being right about your Frito AG and that hsuB would 'never' boot'em out?

    Ouch.

    Posted by hsuBfools at 06/06/2008 @ 01:54am

26. Posted by hsuBfools at 06/6/2008

    Sure. But I wasn't ready to bet a grand on it.

    I WILL bet a grand on "Gore as Obama's Veep". And you've been trying to keep that fantasy alive, so....

    ready to put your money where your text is?

    Posted by Mask at 06/06/2008 @ 06:59am

27. That would be a dream for we conservatives.

    Posted by lvliberty1

    I think you mean wee conservatives

    Posted by emile duBois at 06/06/2008 @ 09:43am

28. Posted by JOMAMMA at 06/5/2008

    You make an interesting point. People in modern society cannot function without petroleum, and petroleum has only been around since the 1840s. On the other side of that coin, I think it shows that having an entire civilization built on a finite resource is a recipe for disaster.

    It seems likely that not only have people lived without petroleum in the past, they will very likely do so in the future. Whether it will be by looking back on this time as the Petroleum Age or because this age has been forgotten and people are left banging rocks together is the open question.

    I'm of the opinion that we will likely kill the majority of the human population or have a natural event - such as an eruption of a megacaldera(Thanks, Yellowstone) - do the task for us.

    Posted by srjenkins at 06/06/2008 @ 09:59am

29. I'm of the opinion that we will likely kill the majority of the human population or have a natural event - such as an eruption of a megacaldera(Thanks, Yellowstone) - do the task for us.----Posted by srjenkins at 06/6/2008

    Well, you're just a bundle of laughs, aren't you, SRJ?

    If so, why so diligent and passionate about politics, if we're "doomed"?

    Posted by Mask at 06/06/2008 @ 10:15am

30. what, plants are smarter than americans?

    Posted by frosty zoom at 06/5/2008

    I'd have to say that yes, plants are smarter than about 28% of the Americans out there.

    Posted by Wolfgang1 at 06/06/2008 @ 10:44am

31. Nichols:

    I got up in a good mood this morning. Walked the dogs, had coffee, planned the day's events. Then I read this Gore crap. You alone have convinced me that there exists a gap in the American public that is so vast and deep it will never be healed. Do you actually believe what you wrote or do you just throw this stuff out to irritate people. No Gore, not now not ever again!

    Posted by sntauri at 06/06/2008 @ 11:24am

32. JOHN MAASCH,

    Where's my beer? LOL, you owe me buddy!!! Your horse came in second...

    Posted by ILOVEPHYSICS at 06/06/2008 @ 11:41am

33. Criswell Predicts.........

    "By Spring 2008, American blogs will be overrun by strange creatures from Transylvania!!!"

    Posted by Mask at 06/06/2008 @ 12:24pm

34. 4 Reasons Obama must pick Hillary Clinton as his running mate....

    www.e-paperview.com/4reasons.html

    Posted by RedBlue7 at 06/06/2008 @ 12:36pm

35. Posted by RedBlue7 at 06/6/2008

    H.T.O.T.D.?!?!?!?

    She's still got enough money to keep paying you guys?!?!?!?

    Posted by Mask at 06/06/2008 @ 1:44pm

36. The last gasp of the true believers I think Mask. Her speech tomorrow has to be nothing less than spectacular or her career as a Democrat is over.

    Posted by yutsano at 06/06/2008 @ 2:55pm

37. Posted by yutsano at 06/6/2008 |

    And any post-Saturday appearances here by FRANKGRITS will be MOST interesting as he calls Hillary either "stupid" or "unpatriotic" for supporting a man FG has said will be "dangerous" for America!

    Posted by Mask at 06/06/2008 @ 3:06pm

38. Al Gore has a great resume & is a genuine leader, but he's already been VP.

    He's having more fun now that he's out of electoral politics, anyway. He gets to pursue his true passion (environmentalism) in a meaningful way now on a daily basis ... how many of ANY of us, not to mention politicians, can say that?

    EV

    Posted by EnviroVarmint at 06/06/2008 @ 3:09pm

39. I can't believe the extent to which so many posting forget the basics. The "media" = the public manipulation side of runaway multinationals raping the planet, war profiteers, artery choking fast food / SUV / Garbage TV / outsourcing / Prozac, etc. AND YES very cool stuff too, they'll sell immoral widgets and moral widgets. Ugly boring govt / "rule of law" has to keep them in line and the situation has passed the tipping point with the oilmen in chiefs --- --- -- -- WANT Hillary! Because she's the vixen they'll trash and drown so easily. They want her to be the blue collar fighter. It's their myth. All her narcissism and all that people have always disliked will be on parade if she has some prominent role, e.g., VP.

    Posted by winyahn at 06/06/2008 @ 4:22pm

40. She & Bill were Vince Fosterized, Starr-reported, Whitewatered, Hillary was cast as bitter cheated-on woman of runaway scorn. The VP thing would be a gaping opening for the whisper campaign equating her with danger/fear / deranged / irrational / socialist mega-bitch - a lovely swiftboatification.

    Posted by winyahn at 06/06/2008 @ 4:29pm

41. Finally! I have been talking about this for months with friends. Obama needs to connect people to the good economic times in the 90's and who better than the v.p.?

    I also think it's great since he left politics. Obama is the outsider and any pick he makes that has the experiance he may lack would compromise that. I know there is old stereotypes about Gore, but since he left and came back he is more like "Gore 2.0" which fits Obamas web philosophy.

    I could keep going with real reasons but I'm sure that most of it has been covered. I will just add a few short things..

    1. How irresistable would it be for people to vote for the first black president AND the first Nobel prize winning VP on the same ticket?

    2. For some people the fact that he has an academy award will actually help.

    3. The expanded power that the vp now has, thanks to Cheney, may be enough to lure Gore back. He could basically be president of Global Warming =) (Even though I think Obama would include Schwartenegger in his cabniet for that)

    Posted by M_Laka_Fett at 06/06/2008 @ 4:36pm

42. (Even though I think Obama would include Schwartenegger in his cabniet for that)

    Posted by M_Laka_Fett

    isn't Schwarzenschnitzl a republican?

    Posted by emile duBois at 06/06/2008 @ 5:50pm

43. Mamma,

    I see you don't really have any FACTS to offer do you? Just "Gore's a fake," "enviros are liars," and "Rush is Right!"

    Don't you see that all that stuff is wearing a bit thin these days? You can't fool even the US public on that idiot's delight forever.

    Life in Red State America is going to change, my friend. (Note the homage to Mad Mac here. Whenever Mad Mac wants to indicate his contempt, he calls his interlocutor "my friend.") Get ready for a new American majority--the majority who are sick of being fed a line of bullshit to back up a faked war in Iraq, a trillion dollars put in the pockets of war profiteers by Cheney & his cronies, a stall of 16 years getting workable technology as an alternative to Big Oil, a stall of 12 years doing anything with the rest of the world on climate change (the change? yep, warmer), a chain of dungeons and special goon squads to round up "enemies of W" like Brandon Mayfield and Maher Arar, more goons to eavesdrop and pry into our mail and our library records, all the while letting a ridiculous real estate bubble build til bursting, letting Wall Street attack the one major asset most WORKING Americans own, letting folks drown on the Gulf Coast then rot in FEMA trailers for 4 years while stalling on recovery efforts . . . and so on. Even redneck America, out of work, out of prospects, out of their homes, on the move, having to pay $5 for a gallon of fuel(wait for it--diesel's already there), even those stupid peckerwoods have reached the point where they have to admit, "I voted for him cuz he wuz a good ol boy like me. But he done me wrong. He just done me wrong."

    63 Dem. Senators, 283 Dem. House, 1 Dem. POTUS, 1 Dem. Veep, 37 Dem. Governors, 39 Dem. controlled state legislatures. We're gonna paint the country Blue this fall, my friend. Then we're coming after YOU. My friend. Your truck, your gun, your Bible, your porno collection, and all the rest of it. It will truly be morning in America that day. My friend.

    Posted by goyadad at 06/06/2008 @ 6:47pm

44. Posted by Mask at 06/6/2008

    Individuals, species, planets, stars - everything dies Mask. No one gets out alive. But instead of using that as some excuse for nihilism, I think of it instead as an excellent motivator to enjoy the life we've got and do what we can to make our time here as good as it can be - hence the interest in politics.

    Posted by srjenkins at 06/06/2008 @ 7:23pm

45. Goyadad:

    Sure you are of this?

    On it bring you...

    The stuff is stong in this one!

    Posted by sntauri at 06/06/2008 @ 9:03pm

46. Point of order: everything Yoda says is technically grammatically correct. That, is why you fail, Sntauri.

    I think Obama sits on this for awhile. Too much attention on HRC right now to even come close to a rational decision, plus I get the feeling he wants Grandpa to pick first, then upstage him.

    Posted by yutsano at 06/07/2008 @ 01:30am

47. I do believe, that some day our grand children will ask the incredulious(sp) question..."You mean you actualy BURNED petroleum in cars? What a waste when all you needed was water..."...

    ...

    My point to Frosty is about ALGORE as a fraud(govt in general on this issue)and that a change is coming as to our petroleum usages

    Posted by JOMAMMA at 06/6/2008 | ignore this person | warn this person

    .

    John, yes, our children and their children will some day look at back at us and say a lot of things. I think they will also look back and ask, quite incredulously, what kind of person could have denied the obvous science, and the urgency required to take action in light of that science and what is at stake. They will wonder at the thought processes of those who place partisanship above all else.

    They will also look back at Al Gore as a hero for making this the issue that it has become. The world is finally waking up and it WILL change. We see it now...everywhere...but mostly in the attitudes of our childfen. THEY get it. And Al Gore gets the credit for that. Sorry, you may not like that, but thats just the way it is.

    The Academy Awards committee has already seen that. So has the Nobel Prize selection committee.

    Only your partisan hatred of Al gore blinds YOU to it.

    Posted by Lillian at 06/07/2008 @ 1:04pm