I managed to recover the rant I composed last night in response to Gore's decision not to run: Gore's not running My emotions are pulling in so many different ways right now I don't know what to say. In fact, I suspect I will probably snap at more then a few people for the next few days. Sorry in advance. For all of Gore's talk about learning the lessons of the 2000 election, I think he still doesn't get it. The word behind the scenes is that he doesn't want to run because he doesn't think he can get the support he will need. He is wrong. It is only amongst the power-brokers in the DNC and DLC that he has problems. But the rank-and-file want DESPERATELY for him to run. It is precisely the bowing and scraping to the powers that be that, I think, doomed his run in 2000. He's listening to the wrong people once again. I am reminded of the push a few years back to have Pat Schroeder run for President. A lot of people got behind the idea and were really psyched to see her do it. When she came out and announced that she wasn't going to run the gasp in the audience was so loud it made her stop in mid-announcement. She nearly break down crying. I don't think she understood until that very moment how much people wanted her to run. Similary, I don't think Gore really understands how much the rank-and-file want him to run. If he made his decision because he thinks that he will be more influential NOT as a candidate then he has, once again, ENTIRELY misread the political landscape. I can say that is virtually 99% certain that no one in the establishment media will give him a moments notice from now until the day he dies (when there will be a brief comment about the death of that guy who "lost" to Bush in 2000 despite "winning" the popular vote). I can say with all honesty that Gore was the only Democrat out there that even gave me the hope of something different this time around. He has squashed that hope because he has, once again, listened more to the voices of the powerful then has to the voices of the people.

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How naive of anyone to think that anyone would have an easier time of it in 2004 then Gore did in 2000. But this is the attitude that continues to dominate the Democratic leadership. I tell you that NO Democrat will ever be successful against the Republicans unless they face up to the fact that NONE of them are immune from the kind of smearing that Gore faced in 2000. Gore was a boyscout. Before the 2000 campaign, you would have been hard-pressed to find ANYONE in Washington who had anything seriously negative to say about the guy. But that didn't stop the GOP from turning him into the second coming of the Marquis De Sade. Any Democrat who thinks they can do better and suffer less then Gore did in 2000 is walking into an abatoir with a smile on their face. They are doomed.