The Al Gore story: What to make of Bambi and the sex poodle

[stevedeshazer]

http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/steve_duin/index.ssf/2010/06/the_al_gore_story_what_to_make.html

Her story feels painfully cinematic and over-rehearsed. She three times ducked the opportunity to follow up with Portland police investigators, then tried to micromanage the Portland Tribune's attempt to report the sexual assault. And, according to the executive editor of the National Enquirer, she demanded $1 million for her side of the lurid tale.

Yet for all that, I tend to believe Portland's red-headed masseuse and her accusations about Al Gore. Though she does carry on in the 67-page play-by-play she finally dumped on police detectives in 2009, there's the ring of truth in the breathless narrative about a politician coming on like Bill Clinton to a woman who has no interest in being Monica Lewinsky.

Late on an October night in 2006, the massage technician arrived at Gallery Suite 903 of the Hotel Lucia to meet the former vice president, fresh off his latest speech on the great moral challenge of our time.

That would be climate change, by the way, not the love-boat load of aging politicians -- John Edwards, Eliot Spitzer and Mark Sanford among them -- who will go to stupid lengths to have mindless sex with women who did not attend their weddings.

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more @ link. MUCH more.

[bluestateguy]

1. It was 4 years ago, and we have far more important matters to be concerned with

I don't give a crap.

[Dawson Leery]

2. 4 years ago. She didn't want to file charges

yet wants a monetary settlement. She is nothing but an opportunist, a cheap and petty one at that.
We have more important matters to deal with at this time.

[napi21]

3. Who GAS? I sure don't! nt

[Better Today]

4. You really want to keep this alive? It's bs, she's bs, and there are more important matters.

[grasswire]

5. the local newspaper is really flogging the story

Of course the new publisher of the paper IS from Orange County California.

[Better Today]

6. Of course neocons are, but do we have to here?

[Zoeisright]

7. What a dumb post.

I think the board you want is somewhere else. This isn't the place for trash.

[stevedeshazer]

9. You may not like it, but it's out there.

I don't like it either, but ignoring it is just as 'dumb'.

[Warren DeMontague]

11. It sounds like something that was written for a Community College Creative Writing Class.

"The Birkenstock Tribe"? Get real.

And no, I don't believe it. The part about trying to sell the "story" (get it?) for a Million bucks sort of confirms that position, in my mind.

[stevedeshazer]

12. I never said I thought it was true.

I don't really know, and neither do you.

[Warren DeMontague]

25. I'm commenting on the story itself.

You're right, I don't know if it's true, but the writing is bad, she tried to sell it for a million dollars, and generally the default position is innocent until proven guilty.

[grasswire]

10. I disagree

I think posting attacks seen in the press on prominent Democrats is necessary. I'd rather not be blind to trouble ahead.

[Warren DeMontague]

8. I'm waiting to find out how she's connected to James O'Keefe.

Just a hunch.

[Dawson Leery]

13. +1

[tanyev]

30. I'm thinking there's somebody that helped her embellish that story.

He dragged her to the bed to make her listen to Pink's "Dear Mr. President"? That has a ring of truth? C'mon.

[JI7]

14. she has no credibility , refusing a criminal investigation but wanting to go to tabloids

in exchange for million dollars ?

[SunnySong]

15. She is a fifty year old masseuse.. the story reads like science fiction.

I could buy some 25 or 30 year-old strumpet but not Lucille Ball meth addict.

[The Straight Story]

16. Like many possible sexual assault victims - if we like the accuser more than the accused

Then the accuser is making it all up and we need to poke all the holes into their 'story' as we can.

Bet you a million if same story were in the news but about bush/cheney/clarence thomas/etc folks on the left would be seeing her as a victim and trying hard to see her side of the story.

I hate hypocrisy from either side of the aisle, especially when it comes to someone who is claiming assault.

If she is making it all up, then prison time for her IMHO. But to rush to the defense of someone because we like their political party degrades victims everywhere.

I hope to god one of my kids is never assaulted by someone who has a job in politics because the people backing their accusations or denying them won't really care one way or the other about truth.

[stevedeshazer]

17. *ding*

[Stargazer09]

19. I agree

The problem is the fact that she seems to have been playing around with the police, but she's more than willing to tell her story to a tabloid.

I'm not making a judgement on whether or not any of her story is true. For all we know, it could very well be true, and that's not for us to decide. But I find her actions to be suspicious.

The timing is strange, too. Why did she suddenly come out and try to sell her story right after the Gores announced their impending divorce?

[The Straight Story]

20. My view on that, as someone who was molsted when he was younger

Police and newspapers are a world apart when it comes to feeling 'safe'.

You tell something to cops and wheels get into motion and you lose control - something which has already happened to you.

There might be arrests, you are told it is your word against theirs, and when someone famous is involved it can get a lot worse.

Get frustrated and forget the police - easy to see why at times. But a reporter is someone who might listen - and if and when they look into it all more you don't have all the legal stuff over your head that may well spin it all out of control.

I despise, more than anyone can know, those who falsely accuse others. I think those people deserve long long prison sentences.

I also hate it when people call into question someone claiming to be a victim mainly because of politics.

[TexasObserver]

32. It's so obviously a made up story.

Merely claiming to be a victim doesn't make a person a victim.

Some people do it for attention, or because they like to play the victim, or because they're incorrigible liars, or just to garner sympathy from others.

Many people lie about victimhood, particularly if they think there's a payday, as here.

She's not a victim. She's only someone who claims to be a victim, and many don't believe her, for good reason. The notion that anyone who claims to be a victim has to be believed is wrong. Each matter rests on that particular alleged incident. There is absolutely no reason to believe an anonymous claimant looking to get paid is telling the truth. The correct presumption is: she's after money and doing this for the money.

I don't believe her story at all. It has the ring of SCAM to it.

[Stargazer09]

34. I've been there, done that, too

I completely understand why she might have felt that way, particularly when it involves a famous person. Unfortunately, I do think going to a tabloid undermines her case against him, regardless of her reasons. And the public will see her as someone who is just trying to make some money by claiming something wild about Al Gore. Right or wrong, she's battling more than just one person now.

If what she says is true, she deserves to be compensated for what was an awful experience for her.

If she is falsely accusing him, then I can't have any sympathy towards her.

In the meantime, I'm waiting to see how this plays out.

[Chulanowa]

21. And if the accuser's story holds water like a seive?

Sorry, suddenly launching out an alleged 4 year old incident that involved refusing to make a police report while trying to get a million bucks out of a tabloid for it all, and the tabloid turned you down because the story simply wasn't credible enough...?

Nobody's saying "Gore is one of us, he couldn't have done this!" - we're saying the woman's story doesn't add up on any level. And we're all familiar with the "accuse a celebrity of something and hope they settle" moneymaking method. Throw in a little obvious political bias in the accuser's statement, and we've got a pretty easy case to dismiss

[JI7]

22. she refuses criminal investigation but runs to the media looking for a million dollars for her story

[sandnsea]

23. I think it's about the character of the man

Not the political party. I would be equally skeptical of this kind of story about Lincoln Chaffee for instance.

I just don't believe it. I think she decided that she could get some mileage because of Al & Tipper's separation, when no one would have believed her at all before.

[amandabeech]

24. Yes. n/t

[Warren DeMontague]

26. I didn't like the Duke LaCrosse team.

But they were innocent until proven guilty, too.

[Obamanaut]

29. Outstanding response! nt

[sufrommich]

35. +1. Some of the comments about this woman

are really disturbing. We don't know what really happened but automatically calling her a liar because it's Al Gore she's identified is stupid. He is no doubt a mere mortal like the rest of us.

[Stargazer09]

18. "the Energizer Bunny"

I do NOT want to think of Al Gore as "the Energizer Bunny."

The woman sounds insane.

[PCIntern]

27. "Get off me you big lummox!"

Both :puke: and :P ...

Slowly, he moved his huge, scarred hand up towards my trembling breast...my breathing became shallow and I could feel my loins responding...

LOL.

[SpiralHawk]

28. "the lance of Appolo steadily approached the Cave of Venus." - Republicon Tabs

:puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke:

[TexasObserver]

31. It sounds like 100% bullshit, completely made up.

She may have strung together lines and events she had seen over the years, attaching them to Gore after the fact, to contrive this claim.

Nothing happened until she decided to invent this story, after realizing it was Gore and there might be a payday.

She's a scammer.

[marions ghost]

33. I'm having a hard time believing that

any self-respecting woman these days would not have been able to quickly and effectively deal with unwanted advances. When you visit men to give them private massages, you need to have a plan for dealing with this type of (alleged) bad behavior. If he didn't forcibly detain her, why didn't she just grab her stuff and go at the first suggestion of any extra expectations--ie. leave so fast it would make his head spin.

I don't care who it's all about, if the story is as reported, she doesn't have much cred. Either she led him on intentionally for future gain, or she's a real slow learner.

[treestar]

36. I don't believe it, and it doesn't matter anyway. What is Al Gore's job now?

Is he a private citizen by now?