Bush is not the only one who has said stupid things -
Al Gore -
""a long waiting line before they could get a biopsy or, uh, or a uh, another kind of, what am I looking for, a sonogram or...." People in the crowd shouted "mammogram." (Source: Fox News 09/18/00; MSNBC 09/21/00 - The News with Brian Williams)
"When my sister and I were growing up," Mr. Gore told a small audience made up mostly of women, "there was never any doubt in our minds that men and women were equal, if not more so." (Source: NY Times, 08/12/00)
Oct. 25 2000 JACKSON, Tenn. (Reuters) — Criticizing Bush's Social Security privatization plan at a rally in Tennessee, Gore said, "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." A trillion is one thousand billion, not a million billion. (Source: foxnews.com
Gore and the Internet "During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet" Gore said when asked to cite accomplishments that separate him from another Democratic presidential hopeful, former Sen. Bill Bradley of New Jersey, during an interview with Wolf Blitzer on CNN on March 9, 1999. Gore supported technological advances related to the advancement of the Internet, but to say that HE took the initiative in creating the Internet is a bit much. (Sources: Transcript wired.com )
"A zebra does not change its spots." - Al Gore, attacking President George Bush in 1992. (Sources: The Toronto Sun, 11/19/95; May 13th page of the "365 stupidest things ever said, 1999 Calendar." ALL quotes from this calendar are from a book called "The 700 Stupidest Things Ever Said")
"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." (Source: January 1994. From a Milwaukee speech to the Institute of World Affairs as quoted in Investor's Business Daily, October 25, 1996.)
"Who ARE these people??" Al Gore asking who the busts of our Founding Fathers are at Monticello before the Inauguration.
Maybe Michael Jordan hasn't made an indelible impression on everyone outside Chicago. Speaking at a D.C. function, Vice President Al Gore, wowed by the Bulls, said: "I tell you that Michael Jackson is unbelievable, isn't he. He's just unbelievable." ( Source: The Chicago Tribune June 17, 1998 )
"In his first appearance in a nationally televised candidates forum, Gore was asked to name a past US president from whom he drew personal inspiration. He replied that he especially admired another "dark horse" candidate, and a product of his home state, the great "president James Knox". (Source: Chicago Tribune of 7/24/87; The British Sunday Times; Michael Medved of KVI radio (570 AM based in Seattle).
"Machismo Gracias" - Al Gore trying to say something in Spanish at a largely Hispanic school in Albuquerque, New Mexico. (Source: KOB-TV in Albuquerque, New Mexico, 1996
"Gore smiled and admitted that he, too, has trouble turning on a computer - let alone using one." (Source: "Gore Touts Job-Training Programs at Pittsburgh Factory" Associated Press September 4, 1998
Al Gore visited Minneapolis Minnesota on October 12, 1998 and raised several hundred thousand dollars for DFL gubernatorial nominee Hubert Humphrey III and two Democratic congressmen. Too bad he forgot which state he was in. Gore misspoke when he tried to summarize their commitment to education. "They will be the education team that Missouri needs to move into the 21st century," he said. (Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune, October 13, 1998)
In a letter, an elderly couple, Mr. and Mrs. Delgadillo explained to Al Gore how much they rely on the government-owned Amtrak trains to visit their children and grandchildren in Chicago and on each coast. The couple reminded the vice president that President Clinton relied on train travel to reach the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. "The train has been our main-stay," the couple states. "Yet your administration is killing our Texas Eagle. This makes us sick."
The Texas Eagle is the Amtrak train that for years has operated between Chicago, St. Louis, Little Rock, Dallas, Fort Worth and San Antonio. But facing a $243 million shortfall in 1997, Amtrak President Thomas Downs recently targeted four Amtrak routes for elimination, including the Texas Eagle service between St. Louis and San Antonio. "What can you do to save our Eagle?" the couple pleaded to the vice president.
Gore responded with: "Dear Mr. and Mrs. Delgadillo, Thank you for your letter regarding the protection of the Texas eagle. I appreciate hearing from you. "I share your view that the urgent problem of species extinction and the conservation of biological diversity should be addressed. The first step in saving any plant or animal from extinction is to become aware of and respect the fragile ecosystems that make up our environment ... "Again, thank you for sharing your thoughts with me. I look forward to working with you for the future of our planet." It's strange he should talk about the ecosystem and extinction since the Texas Eagle is a TRAIN! (Sources: reported on Fox News Sunday on December 3, 1996, as well as quoted in the National Review and reported in the 12/6/96 Washington Times "Inside the Beltway" by John McCaslin)
Al Gore, when asked about his illegal fundraising activities that took place in a Buddhist temple: "I didn't realize I was in a Buddhist temple."
But Mr. Gore said he was sometimes inattentive and missed parts of fund-raising meetings. He told the F.B.I., according to notes of a 1998 interview, that "he drank a lot of iced tea during meetings, which could have necessitated a restroom break." New York Times, 3/11/00
from Gore's book Earth in the Balance: "It seems an easy choice - sacrifice the tree for a human life - until one learns that three trees must be destroyed for each patient treated. ...Suddenly we must confront some tough questions. How important are the medical needs of future generations?" -page 119
In 1990, Paul Ehrlich and Anne Ehrlich's book The Population Explosion called for reducing per capita income, reducing Social Security, increasing foreign aid, doubling gasoline prices, and favoring regulations telling Americans how many children they may have. Sen. Gore wrote a blurb for that volume: "The time for action is due, and past due. The Ehrlichs have written the prescription . . ." Source: Ben Wattenberg, The Washington Times, April 15, 1999
Tim |