Profiles in Courage Award Winner, 2008

In a stunning display of political backbone, Al Gorelioni came out in favor of the Barack Obama for President movement.

Earlier in the day, the guy who could have cleaned Bush's clock if he'd ran an even mildly-competent campaign in 2000 also announced his support of July coming after June and China hosting this year's summer Olympics.

Al's Had a Good Week

Hillary finally hit a rough patch this morning with the announcement that Albert Gore won the Nobel Peace Prize.

God, this would be great if he jumped in the race now...

What Rock Concert Would Jesus Attend?

Well, kids, today is the big concert day for Al Gore.

His Live Earth concert, taking place in several places around the globe should be kicking off shortly.  One of my co-workers is out at the Giants Stadium event.  I saw my last Grateful Dead concert there, so the place is a bit haunted to me.

But, I digress.

The thing I'm most interested in today is to what degree an impartial third party will audit just how many carbon points went into this whole affair.  

As others have found out the hard way, it's a tough balancing act when you start playing holier-than-thou.  You start preaching to people and they'll be extra-motivated to find any Monkey Business you've been up to!

I hope someone's keeping an eye out for them and finds some dirt under more than just the hippy girls' toenails.

Speaking of the Oscar winner... Paddy Power has the odds of Gore becoming the Democratic nominee in 2008 at 4-1 at this hour.

I'm Just an Ordinary Average Guy

An interesting little tidbit made it into the NYT today.

Apparently, man of the people Al Gore had to be traveling on the day that the last Sopranos was shown.  He called and pleaded to a bigshot at Paramount for an advance copy and was able to come up with the goods.

Why didn't I think of that?

But after a night of tossing and turning, Mr. Grey had a change of heart. On the Sunday of the finale, he had a Halliburton-made steel case, containing a copy of the episode, delivered to the tarmac where Mr. Gore’s plane sat in Chicago. The case was locked with a code (some might call it a “lockbox”). Mr. Gore could not open it until the plane was in the air, when he was instructed to call Mr. Grey’s office for the numeric code. Mr. Gore sent Mr. Grey a photo of himself trying to pry open the case, which Mr. Grey now keeps on his desk.

Al Gore Denounces Our Entertain-News Culture

Former Vice President Al Gore (seen above during a skit when he hosted Saturday Night Live), is out on a book tour to support The Assault on Reason, criticized the "destruction of the boundary between news and entertainment" on Friday.

This is a great move and the public will buy it.  While Newt Gingrich and Fred Thompson are taking on a slower-paced version of the same strategy by giving enough serious speeches and appearances in the hopes of being pushed into the race by supporters, Al Gore is playing it masterfully, to date.

He's saving money by not having to do the ad spends and other obligatory Iowa/New Hampshire ass kissing that the other announced candidates are doing.  With the increasingly-compressed primary season next year, the time and money spent in I/NH should bring back lower electoral dividends than they ever have in the past.  

Rather, he's opting for free, or actually profitable press, since he's out pitching his movie and book.   On top of that, he can build an illusion of taking the high road, of speaking out because he loves the country and the planet, not because he has something like the Office of the President to personally gain by doing so.

Let Obama and the Junior Senator from New York duke it out while he reaps all the benefits of not having to engage them directly as a candidate.

Bring it on!

Where Have You Gone, Rudolph Giuliani?

I was one of...just about everyone...who said that if the Al Gore who gave the concession speech after the Supreme Court verdict had been the one who ran against Gee Dub in 2000, he'd probably be tapping the Tipper on Pennsylvania Avenue right now.

But he got too ambitious, lost his way, and let others guide him through the campaign.

And  we ended up with a shell of the man who I really don't have an enormous problem with.

I've posted here before that I think it's a mistake for Rudy to run on this terrorism platform, especially one that calls into question the dedication or ability of those on the other side of the aisle to deal with as well as Republicans.  History has little support for his contention.

Thanks to my friend, Cody, I have linked up a speech Rudy gave when he was Mayor of NYC in 1994 on crime at a NY Post seminar.

Read through it and comare the decisive Rudy then to the one who, when asked about Roe v. Wade the other night, sounded like a nervous junior high kid trying to decide if he likes or Likes-Likes a girl.

Come back, Rudy.  Be your own man again.  Even if you lose, you won't have to live the rest of your life wondering what would have happened if you hadn't sold out.  Just ask former Vice President Al Gore how it feels.

There are many, many things that can be done in law enforcement to protect us better. There are many things that can done to create a government that is more responsive and more helpful. The fact is that we're fooling people if we suggest to them the solutions to these very, very deep-seated problems are going to be found in government. . . .

Mayor Rudolph Giuliani in 1994, before losing his way

The Gore Shadow Candidacy Rumours Continue

Britain's Telegraph is reporting this morning that TeamGore is not not starting its campaign.  While they don't name names, people 
sympathetic to a 2008 Gore run are being asked if they could kick it into high gear towards the end of the year.

Gore's been quoted off and on for the past several months as saying that he has no intention of running in '08, but has so far refused to categorically rule it out.

Most people seem to agree that there's no love lost between Albert and Hilary Clinton, so this news, in addition to the continuing popularity of the Junior Senator 
from Illinois cannot be welcome news to their campaign, which kicked off with a real air of inevitability.

With the cycle starting unusually early this year, this storyline is not entirely unique to Gore.  On the GOP side, Chuck Hagel, Fred Thompson and Newt Gingrich are also getting their names out there without having taken official steps to begin their campaigns.

Game on!

>>2:20PM EST....TeamGore denies that a candidate would sink so low as to sit on the sidelines, disingenuously waiting for a groundswell of support to "force" the candidate into the campaign.

Easter. The Other Winter Holiday

Picture courtesy of Thomas Ondrey of the Plain Dealer.  This was from yesterday's annual Easter Egg Hunt in suburban Chardon.  I wonder if that's on government property? ;-)

Last Saturday, I cut the grass.

Last Tuesday and Wednesday, I comfortably wore shorts to work.

By Thursday, I was wearing long johns (and regular pants, thank you).

Yesterday, I cleared out a little snow, but it was pretty discretionary and more a function of wanting to get outside in the crisp air.

Now, I just came in from shoveling no less than 6-7 inches of snow that have fallen since last night.

It's starting to get a little bit silly around here.