AUSTIN, Texas -- Humanizing Al Gore is the topic du jour, so let me
contribute my mite.
In the summer of '92, the Clintons and Gores were on a bus trip in East
Texas having a whale of time. As they rolled through the small towns, when
there weren't enough people to justify getting out and forming a rope line,
the bus would go into a "slow roll" while Bill and Al stood on the steps
leading down to the glass doorway, waving at people and letting them get a
good look.
At one point, Clinton went to the back of the bus and Gore was left in the
doorway by himself, waving and smiling genially at the folks while muttering
something like: "Hi there. Bill Clinton wants your vote very much. Right now
he's in the bathroom, but he still wants your vote. Hi there."
Of course, it wouldn't seem so improbable to see headlines about "Fun Al
Gore" if the media hadn't created the Wooden Al stereotype in the first
place (with a little help from Gore in his Mr. Rogers mode).
Meanwhile, we continue to enjoy the faux-naif routine offered by
Republicans and their media flunkies: What could Gore mean by "the people
against the powerful"?