A Challenge To Jonah Goldberg
A Challenge To Jonah Goldberg
Jonah Goldberg has a regular column in the LA Times. This week, he decided to use the space to attack Al Gore and his movie, An Inconvenient Truth. The best he could come up with is this impressive piece of opposition research concerning Gore’s adolescent summer camp attendance:
Gore told Huffington that this was his second trip to Cannes. “The first was when I was 15 years old and came here for the summer to study the existentialists — Sartre, Camus…. We were not allowed to speak anything but French!”… Though according to David Maraniss’ biography of Gore, the former vice president’s 15th summer was spent working on the family farm. [Ed note: Oh snap!] Remember those stories about how Al Sr. said, “A boy could never be president if he couldn’t plow with that damned hillside plow”? That was the same summer.
Goldberg continued this piercing line of attack on the National Review blog this afternoon:
As for Gore spending a summer at existentialist sleep-away camp in France, I’ve seen no evidence that this ever happened. I will gladly post any reliable evidence or testimony someone sends me saying he did.
This is a HUGE issue.
ThinkProgress is ready to devote our full efforts to uncovering the truth about this matter. All we ask is that, before we begin, Mr. Goldberg provide us with a comprehensive list of everything he ever did during the summer from age 6 through the age of 17. As your column demonstrated, we can’t take you at your word, so please provide documentary or testimonial evidence to substantiate each activity.
UPDATE: Gore was born in March, so the summer when he was 15 was actually his 16th summer. (HT: commenter thehim)
UPDATE II: Jonah Goldberg responds.
UPDATE III: Greg Sargent calls Gore’s representatives who confirm he did go to Cannes when he was 15.
Circus never ends
May 26th, 2006 at 3:44 pmNo comment yet………… it’s really not worth a comment. other than get a life.
May 26th, 2006 at 3:44 pmSince when do farmers have to plow the fields in the summer? Typically that is when the crops are growing. You plant in the early spring and then harvest in the fall.
May 26th, 2006 at 3:46 pmI think Al deserves a pass here too. I mean didn’t he already claim he invented the internet or something like that. That pretty much proves he is dislusional. Sure glad he’s not our president!
May 26th, 2006 at 3:47 pmWell, they have a point. If Gore is mistaken about what he did while he was 15, then it’s entirely possible that he’s exaggerating the whole global warming as well.
May 26th, 2006 at 3:52 pmA person’s 15th summer is when they’re 14 years old. The first year you’re alive, your age is 0, not 1.
May 26th, 2006 at 3:53 pmrosencrantz #3 - in summer, june usually, wheat is harvested, the fields tilled and hay or another cover crop is put it… in these parts, anyway… just sayin’
May 26th, 2006 at 3:54 pmPoor poor randy all he does is decry Al who was vice president and actually won the popular vote BEATING the chimp
May 26th, 2006 at 3:55 pmNot that it means anything, but Gore’s 15th summer was when he was 14.
May 26th, 2006 at 3:56 pmRandy I guess this is your first day with TP. Subject covered, Al never said that, yada, yada, yada. Now if you cannot come up with real materail go away.
May 26th, 2006 at 3:56 pmDon’t forget that they don’t understand sarcasm. They will howl about how you admitted that it is a big deal and then did not follow up.
May 26th, 2006 at 3:57 pmDeleted by admin.
May 26th, 2006 at 3:59 pmIf he studied Sartre or hiked through Europe in a quest for the tomb of Emanuel Kant it’s irrelevant. Global warming is a fact, and only a couple of crackpot, energy company funded “scientists” deny it. These guys really have a problem with truth. If the facts don’t fit their ideology, hen attack something irrelevant! Interesting tactic.
May 26th, 2006 at 3:59 pmMan, I can’t believe anyone is still parroting that ridiculous “haw haw Al said he invented the internet” facile bollocks talking point again. It just doesn’t matter how many times things get rebutted, does it. They just get trawled out time after time, just as stupid and unfounded as they always were.
May 26th, 2006 at 4:00 pmIf he was 15 at the time, wouldn’t that have been his 16th summer?
May 26th, 2006 at 4:00 pmRight On! Hold these juveniletroublemaking fraudster accountable.
All I think you can do is keep telling the truth and correcting their lies in as many media forms as possible. Take legal action if appropriate. One would think that there were enough thinking people that the lower-quality news and opinions would go away, but for some reason it doesn’t. I think there are very wealthy, self-centered, somewhat odd (not in a good way) people, funding this crap, thus distorting the markets.
May 26th, 2006 at 4:02 pmRandy,
Old news and debunked news. Look it up your self. Unless laziness sets in. Gore said, During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet. I took the initiative in moving forward a whole range of initiatives that have proven to be important to our country’s economic growth and environmental protection, improvements in our educational system.
If you like delusional statements though, I could link you to some really funny idiotic things that Bush has spewed from his mouth.
May 26th, 2006 at 4:02 pmDang - what does it matter whether he was 13 or 21. He is older than I am and I cannot remember my 15th summer, or the summer when I was 15, whatever!!!!
They will use any bulls**t to try to railroad him.
May 26th, 2006 at 4:03 pmI do believe that the point being made here is a bit too subtle for trolls to comprehend. But then again that’s likely good because they’ll spend their time and energy attacking the wrong issues. Dumb trolls. It is good entertainment reading their stupid posts.
May 26th, 2006 at 4:12 pmA million comedians out of work, and we have one for a blogger. ;)
May 26th, 2006 at 4:12 pmThis is a HUGE issue.
ThinkProgress is ready to devote our full efforts to uncovering the truth about this matter.
I think Judd’s feeling the same weird hyper thing I’m feeling. Maybe he’ll join me on my hike this Sunday. ;)
That’s all ya got, Goldberg!? WATB.
May 26th, 2006 at 4:17 pm#18 - Jules, Randy needs a hooby. ;)
May 26th, 2006 at 4:19 pmWho is the bigger idiot, Algore moron that he is or Judd for for being his toady?
May 26th, 2006 at 4:24 pmZoo - I hope there is a hooby shop near him!!!
May 26th, 2006 at 4:26 pmIn Goldberg’s April
20 article, he says the movie is so scary that it makes “The Texas Chainsaw
Massacre” seem like “Toy Story 2.”, and that ” Gore is not alone. A host of new
environmental scare books are out or on the way.”
Now it’s “Same Al Gore, different
May 26th, 2006 at 4:28 pmday.”? Goldbery also suggested that he knew the reason behind Gore’s smears; That they were for a good cause. I’d love to know the reason behind Jobah’s
smears. Comedy?
Well, it may be that his fifteenth summer was when he was fourteen, and he didn’t make the distinction clear… It may be that he spent MOST of the summer working on the farm and spent two weeks, or even a month, in France.
Does it really matter? Of course not. The discrepancy can be explained in a myriad of ways…
I could be wrongs, but I bet the biography of Al Gore doesn’t start…
Day one… Born today… Screamed, slept, pooped, ate…
Day two… More of the same.
Day three… …
As Douglas Adams pointed out the nitty gritty details of everyday life fill countless pages but don’t actually tell you anything. The fact that one biography doesn’t say that Al Gore went to France when he was fifteen is, frankly, irrelevant. Perhaps the biographer didn’t think it was worthwhile mentioning.
Z.
May 26th, 2006 at 4:28 pmWho is the bigger idiot, Algore moron that he is or Judd for for being his toady?
Comment by troll — May 26, 2006 @ 4:24 pm
Dang - that’s an easy one, you!!
May 26th, 2006 at 4:29 pmWho is the bigger idiot, Algore moron that he is or Judd for for being his toady?
Comment by troll — May 26, 2006 @ 4:24 pm
Don’t Know any Algore…but Judd doesn’t seem to be an idiot so that only leaves you troll
May 26th, 2006 at 4:29 pmCliff that comment just makes you the toady of the toady.
May 26th, 2006 at 4:33 pmtime to roll the troll.
May 26th, 2006 at 4:40 pm# 27 and 28
Yeah I agree.
We have a winner for the idiot contest!! Ding, ding!!
I read the links. What Goldberg wrote is stupid and does not hold up to logic
May 26th, 2006 at 4:40 pmThey actually pay him to write this drivel? His bosses at the LA times are on crack or Rush Limburger’s Oxies.
Cliff that comment just makes you the toady of the toady.
Comment by troll — May 26, 2006 @ 4:33 pm
Oh goody..goody.. do I win any award..or it as usual for you idiot repugs praise but no proof
May 26th, 2006 at 4:45 pmThere is absolutly that J.Goldberg or his mother would say or write is of any interest .This admistration and certain repubs with money have given birth to an army of industrial , political whores and leaches , it is possible that they would find thair names in that long list , right along with Broder …etc… etc…..
May 26th, 2006 at 4:52 pmJonah didn’t fall far from his mothers tree.
Makes ya think stupidity might be an inherited trait.
May 26th, 2006 at 4:53 pmYou see Goldberg is just another wing nut attacking not the message or the facts. It is an admission that Gore’s film and it’s message that Global warming IS a real an present danger. Let stop quibbling over summer camp and silly wingnut distractions and smears.
May 26th, 2006 at 4:56 pmAnd, truth be told, if it is true, don’t you think it’s really weird that this is what a fifteen year-old kid wanted to do with his summer?
Aaahh… Goldberg’s argument from incredulity…
Why is it strange that a 15 year old would want to spend his summer in France?
Thinking like a 15yo: “I will meet lots of *very* cute French girls! Are we there yet!?”
May 26th, 2006 at 4:58 pmIf W got C’s in French Jonah would croon about how authentic and just like you and me it makes him. Yummy.
May 26th, 2006 at 4:58 pmGoldberg: Obviously these guys think they’re being super clever. Though I don’t think they’ve chipped much rock off the stereotype of earnest, humorless, liberals.
He tries to have a sense of humor, but can’t quite manage it. So precious.
May 26th, 2006 at 5:00 pm“What a waste it is to lose one’s mind. Or not to have a mind is being very wasteful. How true that is.”
– Vice President Al Gore
“Democrats understand the importance of bondage between a mother and child.”
– Vice President Al Gore
“People that are really very weird can get into sensitive positions and have tremendous impact on history.”
May 26th, 2006 at 5:02 pm– Vice President Al Gore
Troll comment #1 is about your present situation
Comment #2 is because your lack of compassion reveals a lack of the bonds between you and your mother….
Comment #3 is the present Administration..and the weird…sensitive positions are about Jeff Gannons white house visits
May 26th, 2006 at 5:07 pmTo Troll, “Bring em on” or how about ” so doctors can practice the love with their patients”. Any guesses who spewed these out?
May 26th, 2006 at 5:10 pmI lack the semiotics background to decode that enema/toothbrush thang. Maybe Jonah picked it up during his lost year in Prague.
“(T)he most important reason American leftists love France is that French elites say bad things about America. French intellectuals call us racist, stupid, imperialistic, simplistic, etc. — and that alone is proof of their intellectualism. So long as you call America “racist,” you could add that an enema is as good as a toothbrush and some professor of “communications theory” would applaud.” — Jonah Goldberg
May 26th, 2006 at 5:11 pmWhy hasn’t Jonah tried to find out what Shrub was doing during his vacations from the National Guard? Until those questions are answered why would he believe anything shrub has said? shrub, in his biography said he was flying jets in Alabama which everyone knows for certain isn’t true. Now, there’s a mystery to get to the bottom of.
May 26th, 2006 at 5:14 pm#39 - You had to go there, didn’t you? These are only for May, 2006, so not a complete list:
“Trying to stop suiciders — which we’re doing a pretty good job of on occasion — is difficult to do. And what the Iraqis are going to have to eventually do is convince those who are conducting suiciders who are not inspired by Al Qaeda, for example, to realize there’s a peaceful tomorrow.” —George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., May 24, 2006
“I would say the best moment of all was when I caught a 7.5 pound largemouth bass in my lake.” —George W. Bush, on his best moment in office, interview with the German newspaper Bild am Sonntag, May 7, 2006
“You never know what your history is going to be like until long after you’re gone.” —George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., May 5, 2006
“The point now is how do we work together to achieve important goals. And one such goal is a democracy in Germany.” —George W. Bush, D.C., May 5, 2006
“That’s George Washington, the first president, of course. The interesting thing about him is that I read three — three or four books about him last year. Isn’t that interesting?” —George W. Bush, while showing German newspaper reporter Kai Diekmann the Oval Office, Washington, D.C., May 5, 2006
“Finally, the desk, where we’ll have our picture taken in front of — is nine other Presidents used it. This was given to us by Queen Victoria in the 1870s, I think it was. President Roosevelt put the door in so people would not know he was in a wheelchair. John Kennedy put his head out the door.” —George W. Bush, showing German newspaper reporter Kai Diekmann the Oval Office, Washington, D.C., May 5, 2006
“That’s called, A Charge To Keep, based upon a religious hymn. The hymn talks about serving God. The president’s job is never to promote a religion.” —George W. Bush, showing German newspaper reporter Kai Diekmann the Oval Office, Washington, D.C., May 5, 2006
I rest my case.
May 26th, 2006 at 5:14 pmTroll,
The quotes you falsely attribute to Al Gore were actually uttered by Dan Quayle. Get your facts straight.
Here is a run-down of Quayle quotes.
May 26th, 2006 at 5:15 pmI fail to see the logic in his accusation that IF Gore was forced to speak French for a month then surely he woul dhave got higher than a C in his french class.
First, grades in a class reflect more the effort put into the class and not necessarily the persons abilities or knoweldge.
Second, nowhere does Gore claim to be FLUENT in French…just that they were forced to use it during his classes. I was forced to use French in high school French class…it doesn’t mean I learned much or that I became fluent in it.
Finally, I still fail to see why Gore spending a month speakign French means he didn’t help plow the fields. Farming last many months and maybe it was a late/early season depending on the weather.
No matter how you spin it, Goldberg is grasping at straws to smear Gore for ideological purposes. Surely if he was truly interested, he oculd have done some sort of enrollment check, or found out it such a class was taught at the time. OOPS! My bad…that would be real journalism and we all know the right-wingers hate real journalism. It’s that whole “reality has a liberal bias” thing.
May 26th, 2006 at 5:16 pmI don’t agree with Goldberg on much… but some of this is just absurd. Gore told Huffington that he went to France for the summer when he was 15, that he was in Cannes at that time, and that he learned to speak French fluently (which, according to Huffington, he still does). Goldberg makes a couple of modest points - a) that Gore was apparently in Carthage, TN, during his teenage summers (the Wikipedia link in this post says the same thing), and b) that Gore got Cs in French in school, and it’s as if the world’s gone mad. I’m sorry, I tend to agree with Goldberg - this seems like one of those things where Gore at least overstates his experience, when there’s really no need to do so. It doesn’t mean the environment isn’t in danger or that Gore doesn’t have some very fine qualities. But really. He studied existentialism in Cannes? And you buy this? I’d add one more to Goldberg’s - if you are studying existentialism in France (and what, exactly, you’d get there you wouldn’t get at seminar in an American university baffles me), wouldn’t you be in Paris? Just asking…
May 26th, 2006 at 5:18 pmApologies to Jules and dlet.
#4. references to al gore and the internet:
May 26th, 2006 at 5:18 pm>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
http://www.dailyhowler.com/h032699_1.shtml
Here is what the VP said when he chatted with Wolf on March 9:
GORE: During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet.
And of course Gore did take the lead, within the Congress, in promoting and advancing the technical developments that have led to our now-beloved Net. Here’s what Internet guru Vinton Cerf told the Post’s John Schwartz:
SCHWARTZ: Vinton G. Cerf, a senior vice president at MCI Worldcom and the person most often called “the father of the Internet†for his part in designing the network’s common computer language, said in an e-mail interview yesterday, “I think it is very fair to say that the Internet would not be where it is in the United States without the strong support given it and related research areas by the vice president in his current role and in his earlier role as senator.â€>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
http://www.cnn.com/ ALLPOLITICS/ stories/ 1999/ 03/ 09/ president.2000/ transcript.gore/
GORE: … During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet. …
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
http://www.interesting-people.org/ archives/ interesting-people/ 200009/ msg00052.html
From: vinton g. cerf
As you know, there have been a seemingly unending series of jokes chiding the vice president for his assertion that he “took the initiative in creating the Internet.†Bob and I believe that the vice president deserves significant credit for his early recognition of the importance of what has become the Internet.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
http://www.dailyhowler.com/dh120302.shtml
On September 1, 2000, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich addressed the American Political Science Association. His remarks were broadcast on C-SPAN:
GINGRICH: In all fairness, it’s something Gore had worked on a long time. Gore is not the Father of the Internet, but in all fairness, Gore is the person who, in the Congress, most systematically worked to make sure that we got to an Internet, and the truth is—and I worked with him starting in 1978 when I got [to Congress], we were both part of a “futures groupâ€â€”the fact is, in the Clinton administration, the world we had talked about in the ’80s began to actually happen.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
It’s pretty clear that Al Gore does not think he invented the internet. It’s equally clear that Newt Gingrich and Vinton Cerf think Gore’s remarks are absolutely accurate.
I don’t understand why anyone wants to get into a pissing contest with Goldberg. He’s an inconsequential man not fit to shine Gore’s shoes.
As for his obsession with Gore’s every utterance, one can only hope some concern about the likely consequences of global climate change will osmose into his fevered brain if he can understand Gore’s important message.
If he was a reporter rather than a barking ankle-biter, he would have made an inquiry to Gore; that he chose to write about his doubts instead of seeking definitive information says all one needs to know about Mr. Goldberg.
He’s a wanker.
May 26th, 2006 at 5:23 pmBoy it’s great that everything is so hunky-dory that everybody can waste their time arguing about when to plow the fields.
May 26th, 2006 at 5:28 pm“I’m very familiar with the importance of dairy farming in Wisconsin. I’ve spent the night on a dairy farm here in Wisconsin. If I’m entrusted with the presidency, you’ll have someone who is very familiar with what the Wisconsin dairy industry is all about.”
(Sources: Sunday, June 18, Atlanta Journal Constitution and The Washington Post, June 14, 2000)
“I’ve been a part of the discussions on the strategic reserve since the days when it was first established.”
(Source: Washington Post, Sept. 24 2000)
“A zebra does not change its spots.” - Al Gore, attacking President George Bush in 1992.
(Sources: The Toronto Sun, 11/19/95;
“We can build a collective civic space large enough for all our separate identities, that we can be e pluribus unum — out of one, many.”
“Who ARE these people?”
Al Gore asking who the busts of our Founding Fathers are at Monticello before the Inauguration.
“Machismo Gracias”
“there was never any doubt in our minds that men and women were equal, if not more so.”
(Source: NY Times, 08/12/00)
“He is proposing to privatize a big part of Social Security and he’s proposing to take $1 trillion, a million billion dollars out of the Social Security trust fund and give it as a tax incentive to young workers.”
“I accompanied James Lee Witt down to Texas when those fires broke out.”
May 26th, 2006 at 5:31 pm(Source: New York Post, October 5, 2000 “Gore’s nose is growing again”)
Comment by troll — May 26, 2006 @ 5:31 pm
The Inconvient Truth scares you all THAT much eh?
May 26th, 2006 at 5:36 pmAll Jonah is asking is why no one, including Al Gore, has ever brought up this magical summer in France studying existentialists before. John Kerry practically bathed in his experiences with France during the campaign. Wait a minute. I think I answered by own question.
May 26th, 2006 at 5:38 pmFor Bush cultists like troll, misspeaking is a very bad thing -unless you are a Republican, in which case it is ok to say bald-face lies in order to invade a nation that poses no threat.
And troll still has to acknowledge he made a mistake when attibuting Quayle’s quotes to Al Gore. I guess admitting an error is not part of a Bush culist’s life experience.
May 26th, 2006 at 5:41 pmJonah is eating paste again, I guess.
Though I don’t think they’ve chipped much rock off the stereotype of earnest, humorless, liberals.
Actually, we’re making fun of you. You’ll call that humorless because you’re a washed-up, dishonest hack.
Yeah, we knew that.
May 26th, 2006 at 5:42 pm.
I wonder if Mr. Goldberg realizes how deliciously ironic his rebuttal is. Was that purposeful? I doubt it. He smacks around Gore for being an “exaggerator”; making a huge deal about how Gore said this and then said that and the two can’t both be true. He’s called on it, forcing him to face the very real possibility that he, in fact, was wrong to make the claim as factual. So in answering someone who called him on being extremely petty, he accuses them of being petty.
We never really grow up, do we? Well, some of us, anyway.
Goldberg: “And, truth be told, if it is true, don’t you think it’s really weird that this is what a fifteen year-old kid wanted to do with his summer?”
That has to be my favorite part of his rebuttal. Just because some kid wanted to spend his summer in France studying, and didn’t want to spend it at home smoking pot and drinking with his friends, that somehow makes him less than worthy. I feel sorry for Mr. Goldberg — he appears to be a very small-minded person. But those who argue the indefensible, such as the National Review’s claim that Global Warming is a “myth”, you can almost skip to that conclusion anyway.
May 26th, 2006 at 5:43 pmtroll is repeating Limbaugh’s phony quotes from six years ago.
Basically, they took a bunch of Quayle quotes (including one that was made up by another Republican), stuck Gore’s name on them, and people like troll here were dumb enough to believe it.
No wonder he’s a conservative. He’s clearly stupid enough.
May 26th, 2006 at 5:44 pm.
“What a waste it is to lose one’s mind. Or not to have a mind is being very wasteful. How true that is.â€
– Vice President Al Gore
“Democrats understand the importance of bondage between a mother and child.â€
– Vice President Al Gore
“People that are really very weird can get into sensitive positions and have tremendous impact on history.â€
– Vice President Al Gore
Comment by troll
The first of your quotes has been around for a long time; it was uttered by Vice-President Dan Quayle, as was your second quote but with the word “Republicans”–rather than “Democrats.” I even remember hearing Dan Quayle saying such things, and I verified my memory by googling his misstatements. I haven’t bothered to look up the origin of the last quote you cited, because whether or not Al Gore actually said it has nothing to do with the real issue of global warming.
May 26th, 2006 at 5:46 pmAlso, I don’t know how old you are; but at a certain point one does get confused whether, let’s say, something happened 20 or 21 years ago. As for my own 15th summer, I can recall taking a cruise with my mother towards the end of it. I don’t remember what I did up until then–probably read a lot of books and saw some movies.
A few questions:
1. Is “serial exaggeration” limited to liberal politicians or can anyone become a serial exaggerater?
2. Can pundits be “serial exaggeraters”, too?
3. How many exaggerations are required inorder for a pundit to become a “serial exaggerater”?
4. Is being a “serial exaggerater” better or worse than being a “serial liar”?
5. Would a “serial exaggerater” make a better chief executive than a “serial liar”?
6. Would a Congress full of “serial exaggeraters” be better or worse than a Congress full of “serial liars”?
May 26th, 2006 at 5:49 pmIf you can’t remember spending AN ENTIRE SUMMER in France studying existentialism, you are 100 times dumber than anything George Bush has said or done.
May 26th, 2006 at 5:49 pmBut it is the way he and other trolls seem to be attacking so much that it makes me think they are scared..given that Hurricane season is just around the corner and another Katrina even in Florida or the Carolinas would combined with ideas from the movie An Inconvient Truth could get a significant number of voters asking the wrong questions later this year while the ZRovian spin machine is attempting to steer the debate for the midterm elections…
the repugs are scared of the movie and the man
May 26th, 2006 at 5:50 pmGore in a recent interview: ” Nobody is interested in solutions if they don’t think there’s a problem. Given that starting point, I believe it is appropriate to have an over-representation of factual presentations on how dangerous it is, as a predicate for opening up the audience to listen to what the solutions are, and how hopeful it is that we are going to solve this crisis.” This is the “reality-based” community. Fabulists unite!! Gore-Kerry 2008.
May 26th, 2006 at 5:50 pmDan Quayle, Vice President to George Bush from 1988-1992, is one of the most famous misstatement makers ever. Here is a collection of some of his most notorious flubs.
* “Hawaii has always been a very pivotal role in the Pacific. It is in the Pacific. It is a part of the United States that is an island that is right here.”
* “What a waste it is to lose one’s mind. Or not to have a mind is being very wasteful. How true that is.”
* “You all look like happy campers to me. Happy campers you are, happy campers you have been, and, as far as I am concerned, happy campers you will always be.”
* “El Salvador is a democracy so it’s not surprising that there are many voices to be heard here. Yet in my conversations with Salvadorans, I have heard a single voice.”
* “I believe we are on an irreversible trend toward more freedom and democracy — but that could change.”
* “Verbosity leads to unclear, inarticulate things.”
* “I have made good judgments in the past. I have made good judgments in the future.”
* “We’re going to have the best-educated American people in the world.”
* “We have a firm commitment to NATO. We are a part of NATO. We have a firm commitment to Europe. We are a part of Europe.”
* “I love California. I practically grew up in Phoenix.”
* “My friends, no matter how rough the road may be, we can and we will, never, never surrender to what is right.”
* “I deserve respect for the things I did not do.”
* “I feel that this is my first year, that next year is an election year, that the third year is the mid point, and that the fourth year is the last chance I’ll have to make a record since the last two years; I’ll be a candidate again. Everything I do in those last two years will be posturing for the election. But right now I don’t have to do that.”
* “This President is going to lead us out of this recovery.”
* “We are ready for any unforeseen event that may or may not occur.”
* “For NASA, space is still a high priority.”
* “[The U.S. victory in Gulf War was a] stirring victory for the forces of aggression.”
* “Bank failures are caused by depositors who don’t deposit enough money to cover losses due to mismanagement.”
* “The Holocaust was an obscene period in our nation’s history. I mean in this century’s history. But we all lived in this century. I didn’t live in this century.”
* “Welcome to President Bush, Mrs. Bush, and my fellow astronauts.”
* “Mars is essentially in the same orbit. Mars is somewhat the same distance from the Sun, which is very important. We have seen pictures where there are canals, we believe, and water. If there is water, that means there is oxygen. If there is oxygen, then we can breathe.”
* “The future will be better tomorrow.”
* “People that are really very weird can get into sensitive positions and have tremendous impact on history.”
* “Illegitimacy is something we should talk about in terms of not having it.”
* “We’re all capable of mistakes, but I do not care to enlighten you on the mistakes we may or may not have made.”
* “One word sums up probably the responsibility of any Vice President, and that one word is ‘to be prepared.’”
* “Let me just tell you how thrilling it really is, and how, what a challenge it is, because in 1988 the question is whether we’re going forward to tomorrow or whether we’re going to go past to the — to the back!”
* “The loss of life will be irreplaceable.”
* “Bobby Knight told me this: ‘There is nothing that a good defense cannot beat a better offense.’ In other words a good offense wins.”
* “It’s wonderful to be here in the great state of Chicago.”
* “This isn’t a man who is leaving with his head between his legs.”
* “Unfortunately, the people of Louisiana are not racists.”
* “We lead in exporting jobs.” — Committing a Freudian slip while speaking to the Chamber of Commerce of Evansville, Indiana, a city which lost four large companies in the previous four years. He quickly changed the word ‘jobs’ to ‘products.’
* “If you give a person a fish, they’ll fish for a day. But if you train a person to fish, they’ll fish for a lifetime.”
* “We don’t want to go back to tomorrow, we want to go forward.”
* “Votes are like trees, if you are trying to build a forest. If you have more trees than you have forests, then at that point the pollsters will probably say you will win.”
* “[It’s] time for the human race to enter the solar system.”
* “Clinton cannot possibly win in 2000.” — Referring to Bill Clinton, who had already served two terms as President by 2000.
* “The American people would not want to know of any misquotes that Dan Quayle may or may not make.”
* “Every once in a while, you let a word or phrase out, and you want to catch it and bring it back. You can’t do that. It’s gone, gone forever.”
* “I stand by all the misstatements that I’ve made.”
Try again troll
May 26th, 2006 at 5:53 pmIf Gore said that instead of French Camp he was in the Air National Guard but he couldn’t exactly prove he showed up, I suppose Goldberg would protect Gore with his life.
May 26th, 2006 at 6:01 pmThe Los Angeles Times gave up Robert Scheer’s columns in exchange for Jonah Goldberg?
For God’s sake, WHY?!
May 26th, 2006 at 6:03 pmClif,
May 26th, 2006 at 6:03 pmNice list. But I don’t think Quayle has a chance of becoming the Republican’s nominee for President, let alone dog catcher. For good reason, in my opinion. So we agree on Quayle. As for being scared about Gore, quite the contrary, I’m still open to voting Democratic in 2008, thus what I’m scared of is being given a Gore or Kerry and having no choice but to vote for the Republican candidate.
#26 Zwack
May 26th, 2006 at 6:03 pmYour logic is simply too — well,– logical!
Back to Goldberg’s question of how someone who spoke French fluently over the summer could go back to the US and get C’s in French class at school, I imagine that Gore’s C’s were based on paper tests. In high school, I usually performed better on paper tests in Spanish classes and had better grades (A’s) than most of the Latino kids who spoke the language fluently at home and among themselves.
May 26th, 2006 at 6:05 pm#55 - Great diary at DKos, Grand Moff Texan. He knows he’s stupid, so he must think we’re stupid.
May 26th, 2006 at 6:07 pmNo Cliff, Algore and his half wit followers scare me that much. I too am concerned about global warming but this nut job needs to be ignored. He is delusional. The chimp is not the brightest bulb in the pack but the left keeps offering kooks like Kerry, Gore, Mondale, Dukakis. Next time nominate someone who does not belong in a nut house and maybe you’ll win.
I am a moderate who supports conservatives because I value our way of life and I recognize that freedom and democracy face serious threats from within and without. Many of the Democrats are the threat. They are so obsessed with regaining power they are willing to throw away the baby with the bath water. They have lost all sense of balance and perspective. Algore personifies this lunatic fringe as is evidenced by his statements oversees as of late. He is the epitome of a demagogue.
May 26th, 2006 at 6:08 pmNick what demogcrat would you prefer..remember it must be a democrat since you said you were open to voting democratic
May 26th, 2006 at 6:09 pmJonah Goldberg is nothing but a fat, I mean overweight, I mean obese blow hard with nothing better to do than attack people he considers as liberals. It’s fools like him that like to throw 9-11 up to support the tactics of the Bush administration and to justify their stupid attacks on anyone who questions the righwing partisan idiots like himn. I’d like to remind Jonah that Al Gore wasn’t President when we got attacked. Also Al Gore didn’t fly any planes into the twin towers. Third the terrorist didn’t wait to check to see if they were killing conservatives or liberals, they just wanted to kill as many Americans as they could.
Fools like Jonah Goldberg shouldn’t even be allowed to express their hateful BS in any newspaper while getting paid for it. I have said some hateful things about Mr. Goldberg, but I’m not getting paid to say them. I’m saying them because I believe he deserves them, and it’s my right as a citizen.
May 26th, 2006 at 6:13 pm“The fact that one biography doesn’t say that Al Gore went to France when he was fifteen is, frankly, irrelevant. Perhaps the biographer didn’t think it was worthwhile mentioning.”
Even if it wasn’t worthwhile to mention in one biography, it would still be mentioned somewhere by someone. I want to believe. I in fact am even prepared to give Gore the benefit of the doubt, having been a fan of his back in his more centrist years, but why isn’t there some factoid somewhere that can be linked to? Or did I miss that part of the thread having jumped to its end.
May 26th, 2006 at 6:18 pmI am a moderate who supports conservatives because I value our way of life and I recognize that freedom and democracy face serious threats from within and without. Many of the Democrats are the threat.
Comment by troll — May 26, 2006 @ 6:08 pm
You sir are NO moderate..this section of your post proves this…our “way of life” is rooted in the US Constitution…which is under attack by the neo-cons and conservatives, not the democrats..thus your delusional posts before…
As for our way of life…the changing political world and energy situation has more to do with changing it…first because most countries caught up with us by the end of the 70’s from the destruction of WW2 thus the economy had it’s first real test against a fully operational world economy..and we ain’t doing so well.. we are outsourcing our industrial capacity…borrowing like junkies to balance an out of balance trade situation…and federal budget where the repugs you seem to love..have mortgaged the future for some rich people today…sorry it is the repugs starting under raegan who started down this road and the repugs both in the white housw and congress have continually made it worst …ans SCREAMED to high heavens when Bill Clinton and the democrats tried to curtail all the borrowing of our childrens and grandchildrens futures for the pigs at the trough today…remember the tax package of 1993 and the howling and screaming that went on then…well Clinton oversaw a relativly good economy and left us in better shape than when he came to office…Bush will NEVER be able to say that…but bloviate..delusionally onward
May 26th, 2006 at 6:19 pmYeah, too bad he wasn’t in the the Nat. Guard like GWB. Who exactly cares about this? Why is Goldberg making this a huge issue? Grow up J.
http://www.lcoliberal.blogspot.com
The latest on Ken Lay’s conviction
Right now on LCL
http://www.sunstateactivist.org
May 26th, 2006 at 6:20 pm#74 - Clif, troll seems like a con with a commitment problem.
May 26th, 2006 at 6:22 pmplease, bitter Libs…run Algore in 08…pretty please??
May 26th, 2006 at 6:23 pmClif,
May 26th, 2006 at 6:27 pmWhat Democrat? I’d be open to Clinton, if she distanced herself from the Albright crew (the North Korean debacle leaves a bad taste in my mouth) and went with the give Bush a gold watch and retire him route. Meaning: finish the job in Iraq. Keep the rhetoric high and lofty. Exhibit no signs of Bush Derangement Symptoms. I’d be open to Bayh. Though I think he is a bit adrift lately. Lieberman, but he is scorned by the party I was born into and raised up by. Who else? Warner, maybe. Don’t know what his foreign policy would look like. I’m sure there are others.
please, bitter Libs…run Algore in 08…pretty please??
Comment by Kona — May 26, 2006 @ 6:23 pm
Unlike the repugs who pick their candidate and steam roll or swiftboat every body else..the democrats will pick who ever they pick and since Al Gora already beat you all once..and Katherine Harris and Ken Blackwell are gone along with probably the gov.s of NY, Ohio, California..I woulkdn’t ask for it too much you just might just get what the dems of 68 got
May 26th, 2006 at 6:28 pmClkinton has sold hgerself way too much for me…
warner is OK but might not have enough national exposure to pull it off this time..but he needs to run to get exposure…
Libermann PLEASE
May 26th, 2006 at 6:30 pmHey Clif,
You know I never voted for a Republican candidate until 2004. I had my reasons. I havae no regrets. Sometimes I think I won’t be given the chance to vote for a Democratic candidate ever again. Having read your last few comments this is one of those moments. More people voted in the last election Republican than Democrat. Millions more. Some, like me, for the first time. By calling me stupid and a Repub and so on, do you really think you’ll ever help get my vote back again? “Libermann PLEASE,” seals my fate.
May 26th, 2006 at 6:39 pmLibermann PLEASE
Comment by Clif — May 26, 2006 @ 6:30 pm
Something we agree on.
May 26th, 2006 at 6:42 pmBush Derangement Syndrome? That is demagoguery defined, my friend.
Go to redstate.com where they appreciate such nonsense.
May 26th, 2006 at 6:44 pmtroll, you realize that saying your opponents belong in a nut house makes you a demagogue, right?
Just checking.
It’s people like you, refusing to engage in real debate, that makes politics so frustrating and drives out everyone except dirty tricksters like Karl Rove and his whisper campaign squad.
May 26th, 2006 at 6:47 pmThe only reason to choose Lieberman over gore is that so many uneducated voters have bought into this BDS BS and think Al Gore said he invented the internet, and vote out of fear rather than hope for the future.
As an example, take two possible solutions to high gas prices. One is to increase CAFE standards, reducing demand by 10%. The other is to drill in ANWR, increasing supply by 1%. So we have Bush supporters screaming for option #2. Given that, and the debacle in Iraq, massive deficits in a time of prosperity (which they insist is not a problem at all), exactly how am I supposed to think these are smart people with good decision-making skills?
May 26th, 2006 at 6:51 pmNo BSL lieberman is a statesman and a moderate not a wacko partisian hack like Algore.
May 26th, 2006 at 6:56 pmbasic science lesson,
Read up this thread. I give you my perspective as someone who voted for Bush, as did his parents–both former precinct chairs in the Dem. party, and many of his friends, many of us voting Republican for the first time. From my perspective I have no ground to stand on here, there is little interest in hearing why it is I came to vote as I did and I’m being called names (Repub–though technically I have not yet switched my registration) and my intelligence is being questioned. No matter that I live abroad and speak multiple foreign languages and have an advanced degree. I seem not to get something that fundamentally must be gotten if one is going to be a good Democrat these days. Fine. I won’t go to redstate.com, but I won’t give the Dems. my money, my time, nor my vote. Good luck in 2008. (p.s. those three million votes that the Dems lost by in 2004 weren’t the evangelicals or the so-called “value” voters or some nefarious gaming of the election, they were me and those like me.) Again, good luck in 2006 and 2008. But I think you are going to have some more rude awakenings. Cheers.
p.s. you’re right that language was inappropriate. Shouldn’t have let other language I consider inappropriate push me over the edge. My bad.
May 26th, 2006 at 7:05 pmUnlike Clinton or Gore, Bush actually won the majority of the popular vote last election. To me, that counts for more than lame opinion poll bragging. Clinton’s so-called high approval ratings did nothing to deliver Congress to his party. I don’t see why Bush’s low ratings will do the opposite.
May 26th, 2006 at 7:06 pmMaddox,
That’s one of the rude awakening I was alluding to; thanks for stating it so concisely.
I’m out of here. Thanks Think Progress for allowing my comments. Have a good weekend all!!
May 26th, 2006 at 7:13 pmShorter Goldberg response: “I can’t remember what I did either, but Gore is still a liar.”
May 26th, 2006 at 7:13 pmWell, nick, we’ve been called names for years now. Names like traitor and moonbat. So don’t take it personally. You are on a blog, after all.
Incidentally, it would be impossible for me to have a rude awakening. I remember the Iran-Contra scandal. People who sold weapons to our enemies are today called heroes. The party that won majority did so on a platform of fear. Fear that Gore and Kerry would surrender to terrorists and get us all killed. Total BS, but what can I do about it? Nothing. They think we’re idiots. The economy is doing well, primarily because of all the technological innovation that takes place in liberal parts of the country. But still, Bush supporters think we’re stupid. So stupid we endanger their lives. I see evidence to the contrary.
So say it now troll. Was invading Iraq a smart thing to do, or a stupid move? And I won’t take lessons on statesmanship from supporters of George “Bring Em On” Bush, thank you very much.
Partisan hack, good one there pal.
May 26th, 2006 at 7:17 pmDoes nick not realize that liberal blogs don’t support censorship? I think he has this place confused with redstate.
May 26th, 2006 at 7:18 pmNick speaks for many of us whom you simply write off. You want so bad to believe you are so sophisticated that in your minds you cannot come to grips with the fact that intellignt well informed persons would vote Republican. Rather than reflect on where dems could be wrong you demonize the right and dig into the positions which cause you to lose over and over again.
Kyoto is a prime example. Why didn’t Clinton push it? Because he knew it was unfair and that it would destroy our economy. He wasnt about to do that to his “legacy”. But now libs will throw darts at Bush for the same. The hypocracy is transparent. Americans are not as stupid as you think they are and the arrogance and conceit of the party led appropriately by Howard Dean is a major obstacle to Demoratic national victory.
May 26th, 2006 at 7:26 pm” didn’t he already claim he invented the internet”
No. He didn’t claim he invented the internet.
May 26th, 2006 at 7:40 pmThat’s your delusion.
Get your facts right, moron.
Ummm, troll. I wasn’t talking about Kyoto. I’m talking about how many of us believe invading Iraq was an incredibly stupid thing to do. How about the way Bush drove N. Korea deeper into isolation, rather than pulling them into the international community. Same with Iran. Or now that Iraq is going badly, Bush supporters are blaming those who were against the invasion to begin with. But you want so bad to believe that we’re just wackos, that you write off any criticism, or ignore it and change the subject to something else (like Kyoto for example). Bush’s assertion that good environmental stewardship would destroy our economy is laughable. A tired talking point. Kyoto is the least of his sins. Raping public land, pushing for offshore drilling (until it became politicall inconvenient in Florida), insisting on free market controls and the corpo9rate honor system. I guess we have to wait until the national debt crushes us and our army is getting chewed up in Iran before you’ll be doing any reflecting. Until then you’ll just keep insisting you’re right about everything, perhaps? And we’re just crazy moonbats with BDS?
The problem with Democrats is the Americans who think that anyone from the coasts is a threat. The blind hatred for anyone who doesn’t fit the heartland style. THAT is the problem.
And can Republicans please stop calling themselves the Party of Lincoln? I’ve seen Lincoln’s electoral map, it is identical to John Kerry’s.
Bush made more enemies with his “statesmanship” and got our army and its equipment chewed up in Iraq for 23 bogus reasons. Every child born in this country has a $30,000 share in the national debt. And my poor right-wing Gore-hating relatives in the heartland are now complaining about the trouble they have with skyrocketing energy prices. Stupid is as stupid does.
May 26th, 2006 at 7:43 pmThe weasel-wording has begin. Goldberg’s latest post (May 26, 2006, 4:33 PM) is pharased such that he was right about Gore if any of the following are true:
– If Gore spent the summer in France, but not the whole summer, then Goldberg was right.
– If Gore spent the whole summer in France, then he is really weird for wanting to do so and, in an odd way, Goldberg is right again.
Funny, I thought he would only be right if Gore didn’t actually spend the summer in France. I guess that shows what a shallow thinker I am.
Maybe I should spend more time on the existentialists…
May 26th, 2006 at 7:45 pmHuh. It’s almost as if demagoguery and attacking your opponents’ personalities isn’t working for Republicans like it used to. What will they do now? Point out their success in Iraq? Or show how much smaller the government is since they took control? Or maybe they’ll tell us we never have to pay back the national debt, and give us another big tax cut.
Come on Republicans, surely more ad hominem attacks can only help your cause! Tell us how Al Gore said he invented the Internet! Or how Gore is a partisan hack, not a wise statesman like Dubya!
Must be frustrating to be part of the 51% of this country who has to constantly say, “We’re really not that stupid!”
May 26th, 2006 at 7:50 pmLife was so much easier for Republicans when voters made their decisions based on who they would rather have a beer with.
I think they would do a lot better if the world were as simple as Bush pretends it is.
May 26th, 2006 at 7:52 pmGoldberg is an asshole. When Gore was 15 he couldn’t spend his 15th summer anywhere. As it was his 16th summer.
Dumbass.
And even if he had spent time on the farm when he was 15 does that mean that he couldn’t travel to Cannes during the same summer? We are talking about 3 months.
And he doesn’t know something about Gore’s life so it’s sure didn’t happen.
Imagine that whenever Gore did something in the last 58 years he immidiately run to talk about that to some scribe in the media. Yep.
What do you think? Is this the only one thing Goldberg doesn’t know about Gore or is there 100s of other things, as well? I just wonder.
May 26th, 2006 at 7:52 pmI am a moderate who supports conservatives because I value our way of life and I recognize that freedom and democracy face serious threats from within and without. Many of the Democrats are the threat.
Oh, you mean the freedom and democracy that we have when the NSA spys on us? That was ordered by the Democrats? The government sure has been able to ID many terrorists from that program.
How about the democracy that we enjoy when Democrats lie us into a war? Oh, wait… that was the Republicans. And, I forgot, we are fighting the Iraqis there so we don’t have to fight them here.
You forgot to mention how secure our government is economically and how that security will safeguard our freedom and democracy. Oh, wait again! The Republicans are big on corporate welfare and crime, for zero taxes on the rich, and spending like there’s no tomorrow. I’m sure that, when our government goes bankrupt, we’ll continue to enjoy all kinds of freedom, like freedom from any cohesive government, any security forces, any public education, any of our…well, even you can probably get the idea. And with the continued dismantling of our manufacturing sector and the unstopped flow of jobs due to outsourcing, we will soon be free from work, too.
Nick, pray tell, oh wise one, how does the U.S. finish the job in Iraq? By sending in 700,000 troops and forcing a united, democratic government upon them whether they want it or not? Please tell us your plans for ending this conflict so someone can clue in Bush and Blair.
Nick, could it be that you prefer the well phrased rhetoric of Bush? As when he said:
“…put food on your families”
“Is our children learning?”
“Fish and people can peacefully coexist”
And, the ever popular:
“Bring it on!”
That one was really big with the families of the armed forces members who were serving in Iraq and Afghanistan at the time.
As far as exaggeration goes, who can beat:
“We have turned a corner in Iraq” - Bush, 2004, 2005, and 2006
While I’m at it, I listened to Warner and he does not support a single payer system for health care although that is by far the most efficient system. He could not articulate exactly what he does support.
Bill Richardson was the latest ninny to give time to the old Gore/internet lie. During a recent address at the University of New Mexico, he said something like, “Things were very different when I went to college. Back then, Al Gore hadn’t invented the internet yet.” With friends like these!
May 26th, 2006 at 7:57 pmI went to Cannes when I was 15. We got to stay on a great big boat. French chicks are easy when you have a great big boat. Good times. Didn’t see Gore there, but I’m a bit younger than he.
May 26th, 2006 at 7:58 pmIncredible. Look at this dishonest moron how he twists Gore’s words then declares that Gore is the exaggerator:
“These folks never want to engage whether Gore was in fact telling the truth or exaggerating. Do they think Gore ever really spent a whole summer as a teenager speaking fluent French about Sartre et al only to come home and get C’s in French? If it’s not true, isn’t it really weird that he would say it?”
In fact Gore didn’t say that he spent “a whole summer” as a teenager speaking “fluent French” about Sartre et al”.
He said this:
“The first was when I was 15 years old and came here for the summer to study the existentialists — Sartre, Camus…. We were not allowed to speak anything but French!â€
How does these mean that Gore was fluent in French or that he spent a whole summer in Cannes?
Here is a message to you, liar: there is no evidence that Gore did not tell the truth or that he exaggerated. If you accuse him of doing just that it’s your job to prove it not ours or Gore’s to prove a negative.
May 26th, 2006 at 8:01 pmFrom Jonah’s response:
But, since this nonsense so perfectly mirrors so much email I’ve gotten from liberals whining about my Gore column, I might as well make a point or two. First, while I don’t know if they actually think this is a serious rebuttal of some kind, lots of readers do. So let me spell it out: I’m not the former vice-president of the United States. Nor am I the new annointed savior of liberalism or, if you believe some Gore disciples, planet ship earth. Comparing me to Gore is a silly category error. Seriously, lots of angry liberals have written me to whine that Al Gore is a better and more important man than man, as if this is a refutation of anything I wrote. My point was straightforward, there is no new Al Gore. He’s the same man he’s always been with the same faults and the same strengths. But this runs against the increasingly hysterical storyline that Gore has been reborn as a prophet for our age and we must all pay heed. Please.
Jonah sells himself short; as the founding member (well, actually the only member) of the American Association of Progenous Journalists, he courageously leads the way for other writers, those who also long to step from the shadows of an overbearing momma. He should be commended for his ability to shine a light on others’ life stories, while quite unself-consciously keeping his own “modest beginnings’” light safely hidden under a bushel of denial, just as a journalist should. The constant stress (of being raised by a buzzard) this young man must have endured on a day-to-day basis, is something for which he should be praised not vilified. Jonah, I salute You!
May 26th, 2006 at 8:05 pmFirst the thread is in regards to Algores movie on climate change, so the kyoto reference was appropriate.
Did you just fall off the turnip truck? Do you really believe the party that a few short years ago was arguing that the debt did not matter would today be balancing the budget? Get real.
N Korea and Iran both duped Clinton a lot of good his “diplomacy” did.
Saddam himself said he had WMDs so yes I support the war and still do.
Gas still costs less than a gallon of milk. I dont see libs giving back the windfall profits from the sale of their real estate. Which is just as much of a concern for our economy. Though I will admit it hurts and both parties are responsible.
Our soldiers are not being “chewed up” and we are unlikely to invade Iran though I know you will continue to demagogue this issue with fear mongering.
May 26th, 2006 at 8:06 pmGoldberg: “And, truth be told, if it is true, don’t you think it’s really weird that this is what a fifteen year-old kid wanted to do with his summer?â€
Is he serious? I was also studying Camus when I was 15. Guess what I read my first Camus when I was 14. Geeeeeeee. Impossible.
What a moron.
May 26th, 2006 at 8:13 pmTell you what, Judd - your challenge to Jonah Goldberg reminded me of the taunts of my little brothers friends when they were about 9 years old. (Translation - their 10th summer) Stop throwing like a girl and tell us EVERYTHING you ever did during all those rustic summers in the city, or the farm or wherever wanderlust took you. I might be more inclined to view your “research” with a bit less skepticism - just kidding.
Dear gringo - While you are busy figuring out the meaning of the word “is” or “whole” let me give you a tip to help you dig out of that hole you’re in.
May 26th, 2006 at 8:13 pm““The first was when I was 15 years old and came here for the summer to study the existentialists — Sartre, Camus…. We were not allowed to speak anything but French!â€
PAY ATTENTION gringo - “came here for the summer” IS NOT the same as “I spent part of my summer” or “I spent several weeks in France the summer I was 15.” The boy-genius Al Roar, MAY have made a mistake. I certainly would hate to think he was a pathological liar….
weboy,
Would you give just ONE logical explanation as to why someone cannot study Camus in Cannes?
And would you be able to understand that when Gore was 15 it was his 16th summer?
No? Go back to school.
May 26th, 2006 at 8:18 pmMaddox,
Gore didn’t say that he spent his ENTIRE summer in Cannes. That’s the invention of that moron Goldberg.
May 26th, 2006 at 8:20 pmnick,
Are you crazy?
Which part of this you don’t understand?
†Nobody is interested in solutions if they don’t think there’s a problem. Given that starting point, I believe it is appropriate to have an over-representation of factual presentations on how dangerous it is, as a predicate for opening up the audience to listen to what the solutions are, and how hopeful it is that we are going to solve this crisis.â€
May 26th, 2006 at 8:25 pmtroll,
You are not moderate. Gore is a moderate. You are just another liar wingnut who is scared to death by that mushroom cloud in New York. That’s what you are.
May 26th, 2006 at 8:31 pmDo they think Gore ever really spent a whole summer as a teenager speaking fluent French about Sartre et al only to come home and get C’s in French?
Here’s his strawman.
May 26th, 2006 at 8:33 pm#96 - “And my poor right-wing Gore-hating relatives in the heartland are now complaining about the trouble they have with skyrocketing energy prices.”
Comment by basic science lesson
*****Perhaps you should take a fascinating course called, “Basic Economic Lesson” I believe they illustrate theories pf supply and demand with granola bars and Twix. Seriously, most of the whining I’m hearing about gas prices has been from a couple of prog friends. I WAS SHOCKED! I told them, “I must have been mistaken - EVERY prog I know has asserted the need for higher gas prices to slow consumption…. and the opportunity to join the sophisticates of Europe in driving rolling tin cans. Oooh la-la!!” Somehow, they were hoping everyone else could pay higher prices for fuel - not them.
May 26th, 2006 at 8:36 pmOur soldiers are not being “chewed up†and we are unlikely to invade Iran though I know you will continue to demagogue this issue with fear mongering.
Comment by troll — May 26, 2006 @ 8:06 pm
Why not go to Iraq and confirm that? You’re just taking war pimps’ word that everything’s peachy.
Let me predict your answer:
May 26th, 2006 at 8:37 pm“But I’m too old, fat, stupid … etc. to serve” - right? Why don’t you give blood? The military has announced a shortage, and at least then you could brag that PART of you is in the “war on terror.”
I gotta say, I do not understand Mr.Goldberg’s purpose here. I do know he wishes to slander him, it is a very popular idea, currently. But this story is his weapon of choice? Pretty f*cking weak. If the contents of biographies are going to be bandied about as evidence of a person’s credibility, let’s have a look at the one about GWB. I’m sure we could find all sorts of examples of his sterling qualities, like how he wouldn’t ‘waste’ the opportunity to do what he wanted to do, if he was a ‘War President’, like his father did. Oh no, he would take full advantage of it. He has always been willing to use ‘opportunities’ that came his way, it is easier that way, and we all know how he feels about ‘hard work’.
May 26th, 2006 at 8:41 pmIf Gore is so “proud” of this alleged summer or part of the summer or whatever he spent in France studying these guys, why hasn’t he mentioned it to anybody besides Arianna Huffington. Obviously the guy knew it would make the Bubbas see him as a wussy.
May 26th, 2006 at 8:49 pmClearly Goldberg is missing the point. He responds to the question posed by ThinkProgress which asked what he had done “between the ages of 6 and 17″, which I think was a bit excessive. The greater question is “Why exactly are you in all seriousness (and I would assume with integrity?) wasting our valuable time with such snippety garbage?” If the LA Times feels it is relevant copy letting Goldberg expound on the legitmacy of taking an existentialist field trip as a privileged child, maybe they could have him contrast Gore as a 15-year old in France versus a teenage W utilizing a Yale scholarship to get completely inebriated beyond recognition.
May 26th, 2006 at 8:55 pm” “came here for the summer†IS NOT the same as “I spent part of my summer†or “I spent several weeks in France the summer I was 15.†The boy-genius Al Roar, MAY have made a mistake. I certainly would hate to think he was a pathological liar….”
Liar. When someone says I “came here for the summer†does not mean that “I spent the whole summer here” i.e. 3 months and nothing less. You may stop fooling yourself, if you prefer.
May 26th, 2006 at 8:55 pmBut I know you prefer to remain a liar.
Gringo, usually when someone says, “I came here for the Summer/Winter/Arbor Day”, they mean they spent a majority of the time period at the place mentioned. If I said I spent the Summer of 2006 in New York with my family but was only there for 5 days, don’t you see that I am being somewhat misleading? It is a trivial topic of discussion, but I think Jonah is trying to relate the opinion that Gore has reinvented himself.
May 26th, 2006 at 9:02 pm“If the LA Times feels it is relevant copy letting Goldberg expound on the legitmacy of taking an existentialist field trip as a privileged child”
Yes, as we all know privileged children usually have to work on a farm together with adults. And it was not just one summer.
Gore’s parents were not rich when Gore Jr was a kid. (Farifax — which was owned buy Gore Sr’s cousin — back then was not a fancy hotel. And anyway, if they were so ” privileged” why couldn’t they buy a house in DC or Virginia?) Gore didn’t even have his own bedroom. He had to share it with his much older sister. I don’t know about you but I wouldn’t ask for that “privilege”. And I’m sure Bush didn’t have similar problems.
May 26th, 2006 at 9:10 pm“To absent friends and fallen comrades”. Have a safe and respectfull Memorial day weekend. Go play with the kids, say Hello to a stranger. Get out outside.
May 26th, 2006 at 9:13 pm#98- You know, I still don’t get why people would want to have a beer with a recovering alcoholic? That seems like a bad idea to me. Never did see the logic behind that line of reasoning. Says alot about the people who use it for their ‘criteria’ for choosing a president. Not really thinking it through.
May 26th, 2006 at 9:14 pmWhy are the Repugnants so afraid of Gore? And Hillary, for that matter?
Smell the fear.
Smell the glove…
May 26th, 2006 at 9:15 pm“Gringo, usually when someone says, “I came here for the Summer/Winter/Arbor Dayâ€, they mean they spent a majority of the time period at the place mentioned.”
Aha, all of a sudden just majority. Earlier it was the “whole summer”. So which is it?
And usually? Just because you say so? I for example do not speak like you. Nor do many people I know.
If I say “I came here for the summer” it can mean 1 month, 1 month and 5 days, 2 months, 2 months and 11 days etc. And noone, other than a wingnut asshole would interpret that as 3 months just because I didn’t say precisely that I came here to spend 1 month and 25 days”.
Moreover, noone could prove that Gore in fact didn’t spend 3 months in France when he was 15 so try something else.
May 26th, 2006 at 9:18 pmI mean Fairfax.
May 26th, 2006 at 9:19 pmGringo, this topic is pretty stupid, so this will be my last post about it. I would be surprised if Al Gore spent 2 seconds studying existentialists in France when he was 15, let alone 1 month and 25 days. If you exagerate time periods in your regular speech, its none of my business. I just prefer to be specific in my speech.
May 26th, 2006 at 9:28 pm“Obviously the guy knew it would make the Bubbas see him as a wussy.”
Obviously you don’t know what you are talking about. Nor do you understand Gore.
For him to study ANYTHING is the most natural thing in the world.
And he doesn’t do it because the Bubbas (like you) will think this or that about him. He doesn’t give a shit about that, frankly.
Did you know that he also studied Maurice Merleau-Ponty? Phew….everyone in the world who studies Merleau-Ponty is a wussy. Who would have thought?
For normal people that’s not a big deal. Nor is it weird
What is weird is that anyone in the US media would ask such an inane question.
There are many 15 years olds in the world who study not only Camus but even more complex subjects. If you didn’t keep your head so deep in Rush Limbaugh’s ass you would understand that.
Grow up.
May 26th, 2006 at 9:33 pm” I would be surprised if Al Gore spent 2 seconds studying existentialists in France when he was 15, let alone 1 month and 25 days.”
And why does it matter whether you’d be suprised? It only shows that you don’t know Gore and that you have a kid’s brain. Well that may in fact be an exaggeration. You are much more underdeveloped than an average kid.
“If you exagerate time periods in your regular speech, its none of my business”
I do not exaggerate time periods in my regular speech, I just do not come across assholes like you who would spin my words out of control and demand exterme precisity when at the same time they do not hold themselves to the same standard, especially not during casual conversations.
May 26th, 2006 at 9:40 pmBefore you pick on it:
extreme preciosity
Nice tautology.
May 26th, 2006 at 9:44 pm“I just prefer to be specific in my speech.”
Crap. I believe it when I see it. And your performace so far proves that the opposite is true. You are as specific in your speech as Bush was specific about Saddam’s nuclear program.
May 26th, 2006 at 9:48 pmEvery one of those summers Jonah spent locked in the basement by his mother with copies of Mein Kampf and Machiavelli’s The Prince.
By his eighth summer he learned how to pleasure himself. It now takes up most of his time, and is the reason why he has yet to join the National Guard (he claims they wouldn’t take him, but he hasn’t even taken the physical exam).
He still spends time locked up, although now he’s chained to his crappy ideology.
May 26th, 2006 at 9:49 pmwell, if we’re going to hold gore accountable for what he did (or didn’t) do when he was 15, i guess we have to haul in bush over all the coke he did, the dui he got, evading national guard service, the satan-glorifying rituals with skull & bones, bankrupting an oil company in midland texas, the august 6, 2001 pdb, what he did (or didn’t do) on sept. 11, the wmd’s, ‘wiretapping requires a court order’…
i mean, if mr. goldberg is serious about accountability, that is…
oh, i forgot — he’s just a whackjob, hypocritical, son of a bitch republican.
May 26th, 2006 at 10:20 pmthey don’t do accountability.
Maddox, rick, troll, mighty aphrodite,
Here’s the guy you can see when you look in the mirror:
This was also a signal to working-class voters, who generally resent intellectuals and were baffled when Al Gore mentioned his admiration for the French philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty. (Bush made fun of Gore for this on the campaign trail.)
http://query.nytimes.com/ gst/ fullpage.html?res=9D04E4DB153BF935A15752C1A9669C8B63&sec=&pagewanted=2
This is all you are. You are making fun of candidates who like philosophy. It’s all you can do.
But why oh why does Gore admire The Phenomenology of Perception when there are morons out there like Bush, Maddox, troll, mighty aphrodite and rick? Probably because he doesn’t give a big fat shit about what you morons think. More power to him!
p.s. for starters:
May 26th, 2006 at 10:43 pmMaurice Merleau-Ponty’s work is commonly associated with the philosophical movement called existentialism and its intention to begin with an analysis of the concrete experiences, perceptions, and difficulties, of human existence.
However, he never propounded quite the same extreme accounts of radical freedom, being-towards-death, anguished responsibility, and conflicting relations with others, for which existentialism became both famous and notorious in the 1940s and 1950s.
http://www.iep.utm.edu/m/merleau.htm
A little birdie says that it would be worth asking Jonah why, in his teenage years, he had acquired the nickname “Jonah Goldcard.”
May 26th, 2006 at 11:08 pmGoldberg has a good point - and it is not that global warming is not true (though he believes that) - but that Al Gore seems to exaggerate things.
When Al Gore was 15 (or 14 if it was his 15th summer) he spent the whole summer in France studying philosophers and speaking only french?
And then he came home and got Cs in French (where is that record - is Goldberg making that up?)
I voted for Gore and would again in a heartbeat by the way.
May 26th, 2006 at 11:18 pmok - I got that wrong - when he was 14 he farmed, 15 he studied philosophy. Did he get C grades in French? If so the story sounds fishy. If not - maybe Gore is remembering accurately.
Either way I would vote for him - if exaggerating and being stiff are his worst traits he looks pretty good to me - compared to our other presidents.
May 26th, 2006 at 11:21 pmSo… The White Whale comes back with this?
[giggling]
What a dumbass.
May 26th, 2006 at 11:23 pmDon Kelly,
Goldberg doesn’t have a good point as he exaggerates Gore’s real words claiming that
1.Gore said he spent the ENTIRE summer in France
2.that Gore said he was fluent in French
When in fact he didn’t say either of those.
Just because someone is told to talk in French in classes or anywhere else does not mean that he is fluent. You don’t want to say that every student who HAS to learn a language indeed learns it, do you?
Moreover, even if he been fluent that doesn’t mean he could do well in school.
The one doesn’t follow from the other. As I know people who can speak a foreign language pretty well — i.e. people understand what he says — but would not get an A or a B in school if it came to a test. For example if you listen to those Iraqis who speak in English how many of them would get an A here?
Goldberg has zero evidence that Gore exaggerated. But he himself is a bastard exaggerator for sure. Just because he says something or speculate about something it will not be the truth especially when he so obviously twists Gore’s words to support his preconceived agenda. We saw that “journalistic” tactic already with regard to Love Story and Love Canal and the Internet.
BTW what’s Goldberg source? How does he know that Gore got a C? And when did he get that? The next year? By that time he could pretty much forget whatever he learned in France — if he learned the language well at all while being there.
May 26th, 2006 at 11:38 pmGoldberg, change your diaper.
Also, God knows when I want stand-up comedy and humor I automatically think…Hmmm…Where are the conservative jokesters at? Some witty Nazi repartee with Ary-Ann Coulter? Some cringe-filled humorless jabs with Michelle Malkin? Perhaps some quips and some olive loaf sandwiches with John Podhoretz? Sharing limericks and gelding pointers with Ramesh Ponnuru? An eveing of knee slapping fun and hijinx with Sean Hannity?
God Goldberg, get over your doughy self.
P.S. Your mother is rumor mongering, chain smoking, and as unfunny as you and she’s a skag too.
-GSD
May 27th, 2006 at 12:32 am#138- Now THAT is what I would call a “B*tch-slap-Backhand”!!! Can I get a witness?!? AMEN!! :)
May 27th, 2006 at 1:19 amThe civilized way to settle this is by a tobacco growing contest on the lawn of the Hotel du Cap,
May 27th, 2006 at 1:46 amwith Al and Jonah competeing to get the most out of the terroir blonde . They can invite us all to judge their contour plowing technique and flue curing skills .