Gore sometimes shows publicly that he lacks Clinton's finesse. Take a reception in Los Angeles last month. It was Gore's moment to shine before donors who ponied up $2.8 million. But he wound up egg-faced when he compared electing a Republican as president to rejecting an Oscar-winning team in favor of the producers of the Hollywood clunker ''Howard the Duck.'' One of the evening's hosts, Jeffrey Katzenberg, was a driving force behind ''Howard the Duck.'' The crowd tittered.

Hey! It's Super Tuesday... oh wait...

Several Tennesseans tried to cast votes in the presidential primary, thinking that their state was part of Super Tuesday. They weren't alone. Vice President Al Gore seemed to think so, too. Knox County registrar Pat Crippens said, "I just got off the phone with a gentleman. I had to explain we're not Super Tuesday, we're just next Tuesday." His office got about 30 calls from confused voters. In 1988, Tennessee and 12 other Southern states decided to hold their presidential primaries on the second Tuesday of March, dubbing it "Super Tuesday" in hopes of gaining national political clout. Several Northern states also held their primaries that day. More than a dozen states have since moved their primaries to the first Tuesday of the month, creating a new "Super Tuesday." Tennessee - the vice president's home state - is among six that have stuck with March 14. As reporters and photographers watched from the lobby of his Nashville headquarters on Tuesday, Gore called a "Miss Ferris" and told her, "Today is the presidential primary in Tennessee ." His expression changed as he listened to her. "Well, you know, that is right. You are absolutely right," he said before hanging up and quickly dialing the next number on his voter call list.

The Republicans controlled the Senate in '93? Do the Democrats know this?

From Meet the Press 12/19/99
MR. RUSSERT: Senator, what did you think of the 1996 Clinton-Gore campaign's approach to fund-raising?
MR. BRADLEY: I thought that a lot of people in politics were embarrassed by it, quite frankly. I think Republicans and Democrats were disgraceful in that fund-raising program in 1996. Now, I think Al had the right point. It's the lessons that you learn. In 1990, I raised a lot of money for my Senate race. I raised too much money. I discovered that you can have too much money in a political campaign. I think that's what George Bush is going to discover. Now, in Al's case, the attorney general investigated it fully and determined that an independent counsel was not needed. And so - and the Republicans might make that an issue, but that's the reality. But I think the question is what you learn from this. And what I learned is that you've had seven years to actually do something on campaign-finance reform, and nothing has happened. I remember visiting the White House in 1993, Democratic Congress, both Senate and House, and urging the president to act on campaign-finance reform. Now, I don't know if you were in the loop or not, but the fact of the matter is that no action took place. And when we say what we...
VICE PRES. GORE: Because all the Republicans voted against it.
MR. BRADLEY: ...what we need to do...
VICE PRES. GORE: And they controlled the Senate.
MR. BRADLEY: ...what we - where was the effort made, Al, in 1993?
VICE PRES. GORE: We got every single Democratic senator to vote for it.

"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.

"A zebra does not change its spots." - Al Gore, attacking President George Bush in 1992.

E plu...what?

"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."
E Pluribus Unum is the motto on the Great Seal of the United States of America, and is Latin for "out of many, one," not "out of one, many."

Mary and Joseph were homeless??

"Speaking from my own religious tradition in this Christmas season, 2,000 years ago a homeless woman gave birth to a homeless child in a manger because the inn was full."
Hello! Mary and Joseph were not homeless!

A new type of tree!

Al Gore, giving a speech for Yellowstone National Park's 125th Anniversary <http://198.137.240.91/WH/EOP/OVP/speeches/yellowst.html>, Albright Visitors Center, Sunday, August 17, 1997: "When we come here, we see the longpole pine and the Douglas fir."
Sorry Al, it's LODGEpole. There is no such thing as a LONGpole pine.

Michael who?

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."

Manliness Thanks!

In 1996, Al Gore visited a school in a largely Hispanic portion of Albuquerque, New Mexico. In an effort to fit in, he decided it would be appropriate to say something in Spanish as he took the stage. He was supposed to say "Muchas Gracias" (thank you very much). Instead, he walked on stage saying "Machismo Gracias" - roughly translated to "manliness thanks. There's a video clip of the press in Albuquerque giggling about it and saying, "Oh well, he's trying."

James who?

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". The only problem is that the history books show that nobody named Knox ever occupied the White House. He most likely meant James Knox Polk.

"I certainly learned a great deal from 3,000 town hall meetings across my home state of Tennessee over a 16-year period" in Congress, the vice president told NPR’s Bob Edwards.
Do the math. That’s 187 town hall meetings per year, or a meeting in Tennessee every other day for 16 years, including weekends, holidays, vacations, and time spent running for president in 1988 and for vice president in 1992.

Microsoft doesn't share code, Al.

Vice President Al Gore's attempt to speak nerd-talk to computer programmers has developed into a high-tech faux pas. A message hidden in the programming code for Gore's presidential campaign Web site touts his support for sharing software codes. But the high tech aficionados who went looking behind the scenes found the entire site is built using products from Microsoft Corp. - a company that refuses to share its programming code.
"It's like he's saying he's all for buying American cars and then driving around in a Honda," said Jim Jagielski, a core developer of the Apache software that powers most Internet Web sites.

"We feel, and the Defense Department feels, that problem is not going to be a problem. Of course, it can't be a problem. We won't allow it to be a problem.... We're confident that it is going to be solved, but we're going to be doubly, triply and quadrupally confident that it's going to be solved before September of this year."
And I didn't even know "quadrupally" was a real word! Special thanks to <http://www.duh-2000.com/> for this!

"I seek this office to restore the rule of law and respect for common sense to the White House." ...

"Americans in every region and in both political parties have been shaken by the betrayal of public trust ... and the dishonesty of the public officials."...

"Any government official who ... lies to the United States Congress will be fired immediately."
Gore must be talking about the standards he'd apply to a Republican White House! After all, he referred to Clinton as "one of our greatest presidents" at the White House Post-Impeachment Pep Rally on December 19, 1998.

Gore Loves Courtney Love.

Finding himself talking to the controversial rock star Courtney Love at a Hollywood party, Mr. Gore attempted to charm her by telling her he was a fan. Rather than just accepting the easy compliment, Love cross-examined him.
"He goes 'I'm a really big fan'," said Love. "And I was like 'Yeah, right. Name a song, Al'." The answer came limply back: "I can't name a song, I'm just a really big fan."
Mr. Gore and his wife, Tipper, were the driving forces behind the campaign to make record companies put stickers on records that contained lyrics with sexually explicit content.

Left-wing idiot.

Back in 1994, Al Gore called Oliver North "the colonel of untruth" and said Mr. North was counting on political contributions from "the extra-chromosome right wing."
AL APOLOGIZES
Vice President Al Gore sent out a letter apologizing for his embarrassing "extra chromosome" jibe at Oliver North supporters, saying he had "learned an important lession [sic]. "

He "took the initiative in creating the Internet", but can't use a computer.

Pete Talek, a U.S. Steel employee speaking with Al Gore: "I am a few credits shy of earning a master's degree and could use federal funds to help defray tuition costs because he also is putting a daughter through community college. "I worked with a 14-inch pipe wrench for years and a coal shovel." Adding that he since has added a computer keyboard to the list of tools he can now use.
"Gore smiled and admitted that he, too, has trouble turning on a computer - let alone using one."

Where am I again?

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.

Does this mean he'd fire Clinton?

"My first pledge will be to restore integrity to the White House. And I'll fire anyone who has lied to the American people or the United States Congress."

The earth is upside down!

In the spring 1998 - Gore called The Washington Post's executive editor to tip him off on an ''error'' in the paper.
''I decided I just had to call because you've printed a picture of the Earth upside down on the front page of the paper,'' Gore said.

Gore loves tobacco.

"Throughout most of my life, I raised tobacco. I want you to know that with my own hands, all of my life, I put it in the plant beds and transferred it. I've hoed it. I've dug in it. I've sprayed it, I've chopped it, I've shredded it, spiked it, put it in the barn and stripped it and sold it.

"Sometimes, you never fully face up to things that you ought to face up to." -- Al Gore, discussing why he accepted checks from his family tobacco farm and contributions from tobacco companies for years after the tragic death of his sister that he spoke about so emotionally at the 1996 Democratic convention.

A straight answer?

"The theories - the ideas she expressed about equality of results within legislative bodies and with - by outcome, by decisions made by legislative bodies, ideas related to proportional voting as a general remedy, not in particular cases where the circumstances make that a feasible idea... "

Is it a train? An eagle?

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!!

Bow and Missouri

"The Japanese surrendered on the 'bow' (he pronounced it like 'bow ' tie) of the 'aircraft carrier' (instead of the battleship) Missouri."

Rip-Tootin'

At the opening of the new Gore 2000 HQ, Gore said something about a "rip-tootin'" campaign.
Maybe he meant "rip-snortin'" or "rip-roarin'" or "rootin'-tootin'"?

It was a Buddhist Temple?

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."
Yeah...I know a lot of places where bald men run around in orange robes with incense burning.
Wait though... he may have not realized it was a fundraiser because he was in the bathroom!
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

Gore in Malaysia.