Al Gore takes page from Nixon playbook

The Baltimore Sun ^ | 11-25-02 | Jules Witcover

[Oldeconomybuyer]

WASHINGTON -- Once upon a time, there was a narrowly defeated presidential nominee who, after licking his wounds over a long period, sat down and examined why he had lost.

This former vice president decided he had done it wrong the first time around and vowed if he ran for president again he would profit from his mistakes. He would campaign in a different way, avoiding the errors that had denied him the White House.

So says Al Gore now as he masquerades his active re-entry into presidential politics as a book tour. And in so saying, he is merely emulating the late Richard Nixon, who put his losing 1960 campaign against John F. Kennedy under a microscope and crafted a winning strategy for 1968 that was diametrically opposite from the earlier one.

Mr. Gore, in effect, says that if he runs in 2004, he will eschew his cautionary approach of 2000 and say what he really thinks, regardless of the political consequences. The pitch is that the "real" Al Gore will then come shining through.

That, however, is hardly what Mr. Nixon did in his comeback of 1968. Rather, he took the opposite tack, switching from an undisciplined strategy in 1960 in which he foolishly pledged to campaign in every state and ran himself ragged racing up to Alaska in the closing days.

[snip]

[BlessedAmerican]

Is anyone keeping up with the number of gore reinventions? He must be setting some kind of record!

[Rodm]

What! He's hiring G. Gordon Liddy! LOL

[goldstategop]

No Algore's hiring Bob Haldeman

[AF68]

Mr. Gore, in effect, says that if he runs in 2004, he will eschew his cautionary approach of 2000 and say what he really thinks, regardless of the political consequences. The pitch is that the "real" Al Gore will then come shining through.

Hey, Algore! Tell the American people what you really think -- more restrictive gun control, wacko enviromentalism, and higher taxes (especially for Tennessee).

[goldstategop]

Amen. Let the Gorebatross run as an authentic tax and spend liberal. I'm sure the American people will be grateful for his complete honesty.

[isthisnickcool]

Is anyone keeping up with the number of gore reinventions? He must be setting some kind of record!

Nixon didn't run over and over. This is Gores third go. He is becoming the Democrats Lyndon LaRouche. Which works for me.

Gore does not have "it". Neither does his wacky wife. And she does matter. We can smirk at Hillary for that.

Oh, and the administration and Congress will be doing even more now to reduce voter fraud. That's has to hurt any Democrat.

[IncPen]

After 8 long years I feel I've earned the right to laugh at Al Gore. Out loud.

Bwa hahahahahahahah!

[Mr. Bird]

Witcover omits the obvious: 1968 America looked nothing like she does now. What, will Gore run on a promise to end the "War on Terror"? Not likely. Also, Nixon was not running against an incumbent president, something Gore will be facing in '04. Lastly, if Gore runs on his ideology, he loses huge. The "accomplishments" of the Clinton/Gore administration were Republican initiatives; the American public is much more conservative than Gore.

[isthisnickcool]

Witcover omits the obvious: 1968 America looked nothing like she does now. What, will Gore run on a promise to end the "War on Terror"? Not likely. Also, Nixon was not running against an incumbent president, something Gore will be facing in '04. Lastly, if Gore runs on his ideology, he loses huge. The "accomplishments" of the Clinton/Gore administration were Republican initiatives; the American public is much more conservative than Gore.

Yep. Witcover (never heard of him before) just pulls a thing or two out of thin air and then constructs some absurd fiction. Read some of Witcover's other stuff here. You may need a barf bag on some of the items.

[finnman69]

Meanwhile, Gore's book continues to tank.....

Joined at the Heart
Amazon.com Sales Rank: 2,481

[oust the louse]

It's kinda like buying a car...you haggle with the salesperson for a price,then you go someplace else,get a better deal and come back only for them to match your new price,then you squeeze em for a bit more.

If Al is somebody different than before like he says he is,democrats have all been hoodwinked.He's not as he was proposed to be and democratic voters didn't get the real deal.Man I'd be pi$$ed if I were a democrat and there really is a great politician in that empty shell of what is parading around as Al Gore!

[TankerKC]

That was when he famously declared at his "last press conference" that the press would not "have Nixon to kick around anymore." I believe he actually said, "You won't have Dick Nixon to kick around anymore!"

I don't know why, but that strikes me as funny.

[discostu]

Nixon also had the good luck to run against The Hube while the Dems had America embroiled in an unpopular war that they lacked the courage to win.

[Jimmyclyde]

WASHINGTON -- Once upon a time, there was a narrowly defeated presidential nominee who, after licking his wounds over a long period, sat down and examined why he had lost.

Al, the reason you lost?

In one word....

TENNESSEE

[TX Bluebonnet]

Al Gore takes page from Nixon playbook

I am not a Crook!

[Destructor]

Let's hope he eventually follows Nixon by telling the American voters that they "won't have Al Gore to kick around anymore!"

[mwl1]

Are you kidding? Jules Witcover, along with David Broder and Teddy White, is one of the deans of political reporting and has been for about two generations.

[mwl1]

Numerous commentators are saying Gore won't run until 2008. I disagree. Gore is running in 2004, and in fact he is already running. Gore cannot wait for 2008. PIAPS has dibs on 2008.

[Eva]

They got it a little backwards, Clinton is the one who emulated Nixon's second campaign.

Nixon won by adopting alot of the liberal issues of the day. He formed a strategy to win the war in Vietnam (which would have succeeded if Watergate had not intervened), he put the teeth into the civil rights bill, and he adopted much of the environmental legislation that is still plaguing us, today.

Nixon ran as a RINO. It is the same plan that Hillary has for her run on the presidency, as well. You can already see her moving more to the center on issues, and you know that like Nixon, she doesn't believe one word of what she is saying.