White House Civil War (Gore v. Clinton)

[CatWoman]

Excerpted from For Love of Politics—Bill and Hillary Clinton: The White House Years, by Sally Bedell Smith, to be published this month by Random House, Inc.; © 2007 by the author.

http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2007/11/clinton200711

Promised real power as Bill Clinton's vice president, Al Gore found he had a rival for that role: the First Lady. And when Hillary decided to run for the Senate, a tense competition got ugly. In an excerpt from her new book about the Clinton White House years, the author reveals how conflicting agendas—the triangle of a scandal-ridden lame-duck president, the wife he'd betrayed, and his designated successor—sapped Gore's 2000 campaign as the bond between two couples dissolved into distrust, anger, and resentment.

[Name removed]

1. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[cuke]

2. It's just so we can know how she will be attacked

because people on DU have no idea that she will be attacked over the Clenis

[CatWoman]

3. well, excuse the fuck out of me

I bought a Vanity Fair today, found the article interesting, and thought others might too.

Don't like it? Find another thread to piss in.

[Peace Patriot]

20. You go, girl! The Clinton-Gore rivalry is very important for entrail-readers to

understand, in making good guesses about what's going on in our political establishment, and thus how to strategize to get our country back. I have little doubt myself that that bitter rivalry was a factor in Gore's decision not to run for president this year (it's pretty apparent that he HAS made that decision), although I think the matter of NOT politicizing the global warming issue (any more than it has been already) was probably the biggest factor. I think he figures that global warming overrides everything else--we're losing the planet!--and he needs to be above the political fray, to try to slow it down, deal effectively with its impacts, and find some way to stop it. It was probably a wise decision. He needs to work with whoever gets crowned emperor. Still, it leaves us with a broken, rigged election system, and another global corporate predator-anointed president. How fit are we to stop global warming, with a broken democracy? Not very. Could Gore's leadership as candidate and president have helped? Yes. On the other hand, no "knight in shining armor" is going to save this democracy. We have to do it ourselves. And there are many ways that the Clinton/global corporate predator money-corporate news monopoly-rigged voting machines system could have scuttled Gore, as to re-gaining his rightful title as President of the United States.

We need to keep our eyes open--be realistic in our analysis--and think long term, if we want to repair our voting system, our democracy and our country. Looking at Hillary, or even Gore, with rose-colored glasses because one has been anointed, or the other is our good king-in-exile, is not good preparation for the struggle ahead of us. Best to have all the facts. Best to understand things as they are. And best to get to work, as citizens, patriots and human beings, on creating the kind of country we want to live in.

[mod mom]

28. I'm not so sure. After reading of his plans to run a campaign different from the past with a two

dialogue with the people, (I'll have to look up the source) I still have hope that he might run. What we get with a Gore candidacy is a populist willing to have this dialogue with the people. What we get with a Clinton candidacy, is pre-tested words compiled by her corporate handlers (think Mark Penn, James "Traitor" Carville and Howard Wolfson) and a top down rule. It will be business as usual.

I agree we dwon't have a knight in shining armor and we do have to do it ourselves, but I won't believe he has finalized his decision until I hear it form him.

peace.

[mod mom]

29. here you go. :

CHECK OUT CURRENT.COM from DU:
"disintermediation". Simply put, Klein (and others) were saying that Gore was bypassing the American press in order to get his message out directly. In 2003 he began a series of speeches on the decline of America due to Bush’s disastrous foreign policy and contempt for our Constitution.

http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=the_new_new_gore_031906


He has continued that path with a movie on global warming, An Inconvenient Truth, which has fundamentally changed the American debate on this most important issue. Along with publishing a companion book for the movie, he has also published a book (The Assault on Reason) on the decline of American discourse, due to the corporate control of television and other media. He goes on to talk about the power of the Internet to change American discourse so that it is two-way in nature (rather than one-way like television) with access for all citizens so as to re-vitalize our democracy.

I believe Al Gore is now running for president. He is using these principles of disintermediation and democratic discussion to run the kind of 21st century campaign worthy of his visionary record.. On Friday he held a news conference acknowledging his latest international honor, the Nobel Peace Prize. Toward the end, he stated

“I will be doing everything I can to try to understand how to best use the honor and recognition of this award as a way of speeding up the change in awareness and the change in urgency. It is truly a planetary emergency and we have to respond quickly.”

Gore has stated in recent months that he is waiting to see if the Democratic candidates will give this issue the attention it deserves and that he isn’t currently satisfied with what they have done.

Today, Gore launched his new version of Current (formerly current.tv, now current.com). Not only did he launch it, for the first time he added content. Today he took three major positions:

1. We should get out of Iraq as quickly as practicable;
2. Universal, single-payer health care for all Americans; and
3. The need for new protections for all Americans from governmental spying.

http://current.com/people/algore

In other words, he has taken common sense positions on major campaign issues that leave Hillary and Obama sucking his dust. Of course his concrete proposals on climate change are also light years ahead of any viable Democratic candidate. Soon, I believe he will follow up on his promise to reflect on how best to use his award to help save our civilization by formally announcing his candidacy. It won’t be a traditional campaign, but a visionary one.

Just as 1960 was the first campaign where television changed the race (television viewers thought Kennedy won the historic debate, while the smaller number of radio listeners thought Nixon won), the 2008 campaign will be the first where the Internet plays a major role in determining the outcome.

In 2000, the press framed Al Gore as a liar. That is why some people still believe that Gore said he invented the Internet, or discovered Love Canal, or the Love Story lie, etc., etc. This is why some people still believe that Gore didn’t emphasize the environment, because of the lies of the press. In 2008, Al Gore will be speaking for himself to a much greater extent, aided by fact-checking bloggers. That is a truth which could be much more than convenient, for us and our planet.

[Moochy]

4. Shove your calls for "du allowing" this and that

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

7. I've always known Catwoman was a freeper.

I keep telling people, but nobody will listen.

[CatWoman]

23. Good news, everybody

:)

:hi:

[spanone]

25. been proven time and again

:toast:

[mattclearing]

30. Maybe that should tell you something.

:eyes:

[Hell Hath No Fury]

8. Can't stand the heat?

Welcome to primary season on DU.

Deal with it. :shrug:

As a big fan of Al Gore, I find this article both interesting and illuminating. And confirms a lot of what I have suspected in the past.

Thanks for posting it, CW! :hi:

[WilliamPitt]

14. Vanity Fair is eeeeeeeeeeeeevil...

...or something.

:eyes:

[dionysus]

16. who the fuck do you think you are to tell her what she can post?

grow up and get over yourself already

[bunkerbuster1]

22. You people?

Ross Perot? that you?

[Rageneau]

26. A quick read exposes this as yet another slime piece by the DC "in" crowd.

This article includes no backing for the wild suppositions that this angry woman is attempting to pass off as fact. There is almost no "evid4ence" in this article; its accusations consist of how the authoor has decided that the Clintons "think" about things, and how they "are" as internal personalities. This woman and her sources want to tell us what the Clintons were REALLY up to when it looked for all the world as if they were only eating donuts (or something as innocent).

This article goes so far as to quote Sally Quinn -- a well-known, badly painted, Clinton-hating whore from the brothels of Foggy Bottom.

[Moochy]

5. Interesting read

Thanks for posting

[CatWoman]

6. and thank you, Moochy

politeness seems to be in short supply around here.

:hi:

[Moochy]

9. It's my new tactic in the war on sanity here at DU!

:hi:

[PCIntern]

11. I also am getting a little tired of being

told that my subjects and posts are 'shitty' and WTF am I to say this about whomever. If Catwoman posts an article like this, her bona fides are good enough for me, and they should be good enough for anyone who's been around here for a while, and has read what's what.

I've been here a lot longer than these people with 287 posts who seem to follow me around. Anyone else feel this way?

P.S. Maybe my posts are shitty, but for different reasons than those given by the posters!

[KoKo]

17. It's Rock Throwers who are "visitors" from knuckledragger sites. The VF article is interesting

and most people here believe in reading to keep informed, rather than shutting their ears to what they don't want to hear.

[Eurobabe]

21. you can say THAT again!

god forbid anyone posts anything that someone doesn't like. :eyes:

[rox63]

10. Gore has good reasons to dislike the Clintons

Read the article before judging its intent or content.

[Virginia Dare]

13. I think they're in the process of burying the hatchet though..

just in time for 2008, it's all good!...:kick:

Global warming, poverty, health and education took center stage at the opening of Clinton Global Initiative conference Wednesday as former President Clinton and his vice president, Al Gore, briefly reunited on a common cause.

Although there has been a chill in their relationship, the two Democrats spoke warmly of each other. Clinton praised Gore for his environmental activism, and Gore plugged Clinton's new book.

Gore, who won an Academy Award for his documentary "An Inconvenient Truth," had appeared at the United Nations across town on Monday, where he cited a lengthening list of global warming's impacts and urged world leaders to act now.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2007/09/26/clinton-and-gore-reunite-_n_65979.html

[KoKo]

18. I wouldn't expect the gracious Gores to Spit at the Clintons...though. Would anyone

see that as necessary? :shrug:

[Virginia Dare]

19. I sure wouldn't. The Gores are a class act...

despite what some folks around here imagine them to be. I don't understand where all of this "Gore is going to get revenge", "Gore is going to turn his back on the Democrats" memes are coming from. The people perpetuating them obviously don't know squat about Al Gore.

[TheDoorbellRang]

33. ??? Somehow I missed those threads

Gore's out for revenge? He's turned his back on democrats? I haven't seen any of those. Are they recent?

[Virginia Dare]

37. Gore's running as a third party candidate..

because he hates what the Democrats have become and he's pissed that the Clintons sabotaged him in 2000...I've seen lots of them.:crazy:

[JackORoses]

12. Hill shanked Al in 2000, now it's his turn to return the favor.

Now that's a Primary!

[Virginia Dare]

15. Nah, they need each other too much...n/t

[desi]

31. How would that author reconcile the following?

President Al Gore swore Hillary in when she was elected Senator on 1/3/2001

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=%3Fv%3D1%26c%3DViewImages%26k%3D2%26d%3D17A4AD9FDB9CF193875DCB1DD8387ABBFEED682395DF7DDD284831B75F48EF45&imgrefurl=http://www.viewimages.com/Search.aspx%3Fmid%3D735480%26epmid%3D1%26partner%3DGoogle&h=354&w=483&sz=30&hl=en&start=1&tbnid=RbhkWMgqJFPMiM:&tbnh=95&tbnw=129&prev=/images%3Fq%3DSenator%2BHillary%2BClinton%2BBill%2BClinton%2BAl%2BGore%26gbv%3D2%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG

There's another nice pic here of Candidate Gore and Hillary..

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=%3Fv%3D1%26c%3DViewImages%26k%3D2%26d%3D17A4AD9FDB9CF1939057D9939C83F1065219BE172DD78B3C5A5397277B4DC33E&imgrefurl=http://www.viewimages.com/Search.aspx%3Fmid%3D1592478%26epmid%3D1%26partner%3DGoogle&h=521&w=594&sz=49&hl=en&start=2&tbnid=1zEO2Z_RtXLyWM:&tbnh=118&tbnw=135&prev=/images%3Fq%3DHillary%2BClinton%2B%2BAl%2BGore%26gbv%3D2%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG

[Uncle Joe]

24. This paragraph jumped out at me.

"Before Hillary officially established her exploratory committee, she began directly competing with the vice president for money, sometimes even at his own fund-raising events. When Tipper's friend Melinda Blinken and a group of women planned a Gore fund-raiser in Los Angeles, Hillary insisted on being invited—over the objections of the event's organizers. Hillary then shocked the vice president's supporters by soliciting donations for herself in front of Tipper."

Personally, I believe Bill Clinton screwed his loyal Vice-President over three times before Al Gore ever reached the podium at the 2000 convention that was to nominate him for the Presidency.

The first was the adolescent throw back affair it self, this is when Bill Clinton forgot the theme song from his own 92 convention, Fleetwood Mac's "Don't Stop Thinking About Tomorrow", I still have ambivalent feelings whenever I hear that song. This also told me Bill Clinton didn't truly believe the looming catastrophe of Global Warming was for real, or he wouldn't have jeopardized his Vice-President's upcoming election. I believe as bad as this was, it wasn't insurmountable because it was primarily a betrayal against his own family and many would consider this private behavior.

The second and much more devastating betrayal against Al Gore was when Bill Clinton looked the American People in the camera lens and told them quite adamantly that he never had sexual relations with that woman. This turned a family betrayal in to a national one, he lied to everyone at this point, he and certainly Al Gore would've been much better off had he kept his mouth shut or at least admitted the truth up front, because this act gave Bush the integrity issue ammunition on a silver platter. Bush's cronies knew it as well, that's why he ran on "restoring honor and integrity to the White House".

The third time was at the 2000 convention it self, read the paragraph below and couple that with what seemed like a ten minute self aggrandizing walk down the hall way, when he could've used that precious national prime time air time to promote Al Gore for President. It was always about Bill and when Hillary had him by the short hairs it was always about Hillary, this is a large reason as to why we have Cheney/Bush in the White House today.

"During his all-night conversation with Ken Burns in June, Bill "spoke movingly of the Democratic National Convention that was coming," Burns recalled, "and how because he was on the backside of scandal and impeachment he had a more delicate role to play."

Final conclusion, does anyone see any irony in the corporate media's 180 on the Clintons; people they waged a witch hunt against from the beginning to the end of his eight years in office. Today the same corporate media believe the same man should be our nation's very first First Gentleman. I believe their primary target was Al Gore from the beginning precisely because he empowered the people when he became the primary political champion of the Internet, thus threatening their monopoly on information, information = money, power and influence and as the Internet grew in power and influence they came to resent Al Gore for it.

[Pastiche423]

27. Great post, Uncle Joe!

Thank you for posting this, CatWoman. Vanity Fair has been coming out w/some hard hitting articles in the past six months. I'm happy to see this one as well.

K&R!

[Uncle Joe]

34. Thanks, Pastiche,

have a good night.:hi:

[Pastiche423]

36. You're welcome

And you too!

[MethuenProgressive]

32. Sally Bedell Smith, mercenary gossip monger.

Her "non fiction" hit job on JFK was despicable.

[mondo joe]

35. Politics isn't a business for the thin-skinned. I'm sure Al and Hillary can both

dish it out and take it.