Does Al's interview suggest he'll run?

Al Gore appeared on Countdown a few nights ago to promote his new book, The Assault on Reason, in an uncharacteristically long interview by Keith Olbermann. He makes a number of good points, but notice his careful comments about Cindy Sheehan - the nature of his remarks about the polarizing anti-war figure have the fingerprints of a presidential candidate all over them. Perhaps I'm over analyzing, but his comments on Sheehan, especially when considering his historically vehement opposition to the War in Iraq, are evidence that he's being pretty careful. Gore's been through the presidential ringer before, and he knows full well that anything he says now can and will be held against him as a candidate.

Gore's non-denial denials about his presidential candidacy are becoming more and more comical. I don't mean that in a demeaning way, but the fact that he won't say, unequivocally, that he's not running is very telling. In the current edition of Newsweek, Howard Fineman reveals that Gore is 50/50 on running for president:

He is "50-50," according to one of his closest friends and financial backers. On the one hand, Gore inquires about Manhattan office space for his business and charity ("It has to be a 'green' building," said this source, who didn't want to be named discussing Gore's affairs). On the other hand, he keeps his face in front of big donors, as he did at a recent dinner in Miami. Gore is all the rage among corporate executives, who see wisdom—and profits—in going green, and who appreciate Gore's prescience. "Al has set this up so he can jump either way in the fall," said the close friend. "If there is an opening, I say he goes."

In a way, if he has every intention of running, he's being smart by staying out for now. While staying on the sidelines legally bars him from fund raising, it also gives him a distinct advantage - he's sort of exempt from press scrutiny and attacks from both the left and the right if he's not yet a candidate. If he were to enter the race in September, he would still have plenty of time to raise money; he still has a vast fund raising network in place from his 2000 campaign and a large cadre of Hollywood friends.

I've written it before and I'll write it again many, many times - run Al, run. My absolute dream ticket for 2008 would be Gore/Obama. I think the ticket would be unbeatable, Rudy Giuliani, John McCain and Mitt Romney be damned.

Urge Gore to run by e-mailing him at: AlGore@algore.com.

"Racust" in the Morning blabbers on

I have no idea what kind of a person Don Imus is. But maybe his idiotic statements from last week about the Rutgers University Women's Basketball Team is knowing enough. If I owned the radio station that Imus works for, I'd fire him. Without equivocation.

The only good thing about this is watching this old lizard squirm and try to come up with some reason, any reason, that he should be kept on the job.

I laughed in this video when I heard him say that "these young women don't know me." They don't need to, moron. A racist is still a racist, so Imus' attempt to put his comments into context adds nothing. Zero.

"I'm a good person who said a bad thing"? I dunno - it sounds like a PR job to me.

His lame explanation that "we make fun of everyone on this show, including me" is no defense, either. So, he's been making fun of everyone for the past 30-odd years on his show, Imus in the Morning. So what?

Hey, I'm a Howard Stern fan, and had he said the same thing, I'd think he should be fired, too. Stern has toned down his act quite a bit since moving over to Sirius Satellite Radio, though. I wonder if money has anything to do with it? He only got a $500 million, five-year deal. It's a whole new ballgame when you cross over to the largely uncensored medium of satellite, but I digress.

When Howard was on terrestrial radio, he should have been fired on a number of occasions, and on a few, he was. Since I've been a fan, the one big thing that I remember he got into hot water about was making fun of Selena's death, but in that instance, he wasn't making fun of her race, if I'm remembering it right. Still, one could have made the case that he should have been fired, and he nearly was.

Anyway, back to Imus - yes, he does do a great deal of charitable work, without question, but it's obvious why he's bringing it up now - to try and save his job. His charitable work does not excuse what he said.

It's interesting to see him go on the Mel Gibson/Michael Richards apology tour. It's fun watching him squirm and agreeing to talk to Al Sharpton and to meeting with the basketball team. He wouldn't be doing any of this if his job wasn't in jeopardy.

Here's footage of Newsweek's Howard Fineman giving it to Imus this morning on his radio show, but in a respectful way. Nice job, Howard. And Fineman's right - this is a teaching moment. Maybe he'll survive this and continue his show. He does have the support of a great many politicians who come on his show, but I don't know if they support him in this case.



By the way, Imus seriously needs to consider putting the cowboy hat back on - without it, he looks even more disturbing.