They didn't yank him at all:
> 6) Though CNN has had many elected officials host Larry King
Live over the years, controversy over the plan to have Vice
President Al Gore serve as the host led CNN to change its
arrangement. But Gore still appeared and got plenty of time to
emote caring and advocate his policy ideas on how to reduce youth
violence.
At the top of the May 6 show Larry King told viewers:
"You may be wondering why I'm here, since we told you last
night that Vice President Al Gore would be sitting in for me
tonight. Larry King Live has a tradition of using famous guest
hosts. I won't run down the lists. Trust me, it's impressive.
Vice President Gore had a long-standing host invitation from us,
and he finally accepted. But after taking a long, hard look at the
political calendar, we decided it was too close to the 2000
election to have a presidential contender as an interviewer, not
interviewee. So the good news is, the Vice President has
graciously agreed to give me back my microphone."
A few minutes into the program King prompted Gore: "What do we
know now that we didn't know before Littleton?"
Gore took full advantage of the platform to demonstrate how
much he cares: "I think what most people think we know is that
this is a warning of something deeper than just the widespread
availability of guns, and violence in the media, and video games
and the Internet sites that have been involved, and deeper even
than whatever failures of parenting have gone into this. I think
that it is being seen and heard all across our country as a
spiritual signal, that we really have to take stock of what we
want in our country -- what kind of families, what kind of
communities. I think we've got to make a lot of changes.
"Larry, I was deeply affected -- and I told this story the
other day. I thought a long time before I told it, because it was
shared with me in a private moment. Tipper and I went out a couple
of Sundays ago and physically embraced the families of all those
who died in Columbine High School. And one of the fathers -- I
won't use his name to protect his privacy; he might not even care,
but it was so private -- he whispered into my ear during the midst
of the embrace, ‘These children cannot have died in vain. We have
to make changes. Promise me we'll make changes.' And then he
repeated it with a tone of urgency and insistence that went just
straight to my heart and my soul. He said, ‘Promise me.' And I
said, ‘I promise,' and I meant it, and anybody would have said the
same."
It all depends on what your definition of "private" is. In
Gore's case, it means tell everyone you were told something in
private and then proceed to announce it.
Later, the Reverend Robert Schuller and Dr. William Pollack,
author of Real Boys, joined the panel with Gore.
CNN gave Gore all the advantages of hosting, like uninterrupted
time to talk, without the chore of actually hosting. -- Brent Baker
***Media Research Center CyberAlert***
Friday May 7, 1999 (Vol. Four; No. 78)
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