GORE LOSES IT: I'm no fan of cheesy soft-money gambits, but the notion that the sale of three photographs from the first year of president Bush is somehow vile and disgusting seems to me to be way over the top. The controversial photo is of Bush on the phone, for goodness' sake. MoDo describes this banal little montage thus: "Bushies are using that dark and sacred day to divide and conquer." Well, she would, wouldn't she? Al Gore, who did far crasser things for soft-money and who worked for the sleaziest soft-money pol in recent history, had the following to say about it: "While most pictures are worth a thousand words, a photo that seeks to capitalize on one of the most tragic moments in our nation's history is worth only one -- disgraceful. I cannot imagine that the families of those who lost their lives on September 11th condone this -- and neither should the president of the United States." I'm sorry, but I fail to see how anyone can be appalled by the use of such an insipid photo. As part of a trio of images of Bush's first year, it's utterly inoffensive. In fact, since some kind of photo about the most important event in his presidency would surely be necessary, this strikes me as one of the most inoffensive imaginable. The morphing of Al Gore into Terry McAuliffe began in earnest during his appalling, principle-free, lame presidential campaign. It now appears to be complete.
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