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Opinion: Now there’s a familiar face and words

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For someone who keeps saying he has no intention of running for president we keep seeing Al Gore pop up in all kinds of places where he can reach millions of people. Maybe billions if his 24-hour Live Earth global concert works this weekend, although there are reports of problems, including tepid ticket sales.

This morning Gore showed up on the Today Show on NBC, which just happens to be broadcasting the concert. “I don’t have any plans or intentions to be a candidate again,’ he said. He said he preferred to be involved in combating climate change, which he called ‘the most serious crisis our civilization has ever faced.’

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Then he made an admission. ‘“I’ve kind of fallen out of love with politics,’ said the politician.

But wait a minute. Then the former vice president and senator showed up on Larry King Live. Larry asked him right off about his son, Al Gore III, who was arrested early Wednesday for going 100 miles an hour in a Prius on the San Diego Freeway. According to a Times story, sheriff’s deputies reported finding a small amount of marijuana in the car along with four types of prescription drugs--Xanax, Valium, Vicodin and Adderall--not prescribed to him. The 24-year-old Gore was released that afternoon on $20,000 bail to appear in...

...court Aug. 1 on felony drug possession charges.

‘How’s your son doing?’ Larry asked. ‘Oh, thank you, Larry,’ Gore said. ‘He’s -- he’s doing very well. We’re treating it, of course, as a private family matter. We’re very happy that he’s sought and is getting the treatment that he needs. And beyond that, we appreciate the good wishes that have come our way. And we’re treating it as a family -- a private family matter.’

Also, and this may come as a shock to political spectators, but Gore says he used to be objective about George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, who so narrowly beat him in the 2000 election. Gore says, ‘I am afraid I’ve been losing my objectivity of them. I’m not a big fan, didn’t vote for him, and didn’t think--this will sound harsh--but I think that Vice President Cheney has done a lot of harm to our country. I really do. He was the strongest advocate of scrapping the U.S. participation in the efforts to solve the climate crisis.’

So apparently what that also means is that Al Gore voted for himself in 2000. What does that say about the chance of him running again?

--Andrew Malcolm

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