Gore says don't count on a 2008 run

Sun Jun 4, 11:44 AM ET

Al Gore, the Democrats' nominee for the White House in 2000, says he has all but ruled out running for president in 2008, saying the best use of his time is to educate people about global warming.

"I haven't made a Sherman statement, but that's not an effort to hold the door open. It's more the internal shifting of gears," said Gore, referring to Civil War-era general William Tecumseh Sherman. "I can't imagine any circumstances in which I would become a candidate again. I've found other ways to serve. I'm enjoying them."

Gore referred to Sherman's famous words upon retiring from the Army in 1884, which put to rest talk of a presidential run: "If nominated I will not run; if elected I will not serve."

Gore, in an interview broadcast Sunday on ABC's "This Week," stopped short of issuing such an equivocal statement. But he said his time is best spent educating people on heat-trapping gases raising the Earth's surface temperature. He's promoting "An Inconvenient Truth," a film that chronicles his intricate slide shows on global warming.

Sen. Joseph Biden (news, bio, voting record), D-Del., who is planning a run in 2008, said Gore would be a strong candidate if he decided to enter the race.

"He would be viable, and he would be welcome," Biden said on "Meet the Press" on NBC. "It would add to the debate in this party to have him."

Regarding his own prospects, Biden said he doubted that his vote to authorize the war in Iraq would be a main issue for him or for Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., who voted likewise, should she also seek the Democratic nomination in 2008.

On Friday, Sen. Edward Kennedy (news, bio, voting record), a prominent Democrat, declared his vote against the Iraq war the best he has cast since being elected in 1962.

Regarding his own vote, Biden said Sunday, "I think misunderstanding this administration was the worst calculation I ever made."

Gore, vice president from 1993 to 2001, ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination in 1988 and narrowly lost the 2000 presidential campaign to George W. Bush, despite collecting more popular votes than the Texas Republican.

"I honestly believe that the highest and best use of my skills and experience is to try to change the minds of people in the U.S. and elsewhere in the world about this planetary emergency that we simply have to confront," Gore said.

"I have no plans to be a candidate for president again," he said. "I don't expect to ever be a candidate for president again. I haven't made a so-called Sherman statement, because it just seems unnecessary, kind of odd to do that."

The Link

*mutters*

I hate to say it, but as President couldnt he do alot to help the evoiroment? I think they scared him in some way.

Yes, "they" being the insipid mainstream news media who turned the campaign into a joke.

Just a couple of examples:

Al Gore, Alpha Male -- with a Feminine Touch

Prescription story is a pill for Gore

Gore moves quickly to explain latest exaggeration

The misrepresentation by the entire press went on and on. They also ignored Gore's policy stances in favor of stories about clothing and the fact that Bush served better food on his jetliner.

These excerpts from Time correspondant Margaret Carlson's book Anyone Can Grow Up: How George Bush and I Made It to the White House say it all:



Check out this article from last Friday's Media Matters:

Murtha, Reid, and Hillary Clinton are just the latest progressive leaders to face deeply flawed media coverage -- but they won't be the last

I won't give up hope. Gore's my man. I want him more than anyone. He's the only one who understands how it all works from the inside and outside. He'd hit the ground running. He has great ideas. He's got a terrific sense of humor that the MSM winger nutjobs would have a harder time concealing this time around. FUCK the press, especially whores like MoDo and Screamer. FUCK the policy wanks and talking heads. THEY don't get to decide, WE do. Everything he said could go wrong has, and more. Much more. We NEED him...I think he'd respond to a huge grassroots draft Gore movement. He didn't shut the door...no Sherman speech, and he knew exactly what he was saying. Exactly. What he DOESN'T need is a bunch of asshole consultants and DLC swine telling him what to do. He is who he is and he should ignore advice on how to behave. If he wants to roll his eyes and sigh he goddamned well CAN. Fuck the media assholes who helped rob us blind. Anyone who trusts their opinions doesn't deserve anything decent ever again. I get excited just thinking about that fine mind working on our behalves. The man cares about us and the entire planet.
As MM said, imagine what he could do for the environment from the Oval Office. He knows that. He realizes the power of the position...and he'd have his work cut out for him, but if anyone can start to fix what the thieving bastards have done, it's Al Gore. I'd go door to door, street by street for him and mean every word I said in support of him. He IS exciting. He IS electable. He IS a decent and fair man. He deserves to be president...now, do we deserve a man of his calibre? We'll see if we can live up to him.

Panda,

He wouldn't have to be official for 2 whole years!
By then, Bush could be impeached, Cheney could be in jail, and Rummy could be a playground toy in Baghdad!

I think it's wise that Gore distance himself from any idea of being a candidate, until the spring/summer of 08.
Let the Repugs focus their energies on Hillary!