Monica and Herb (me) of Draft Gore 2004 PAC digest the article in The Hill today...
This is our reading of the events...
Citing:
www.thehill.com/news/073003/gore.aspxwww.newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/news/politics/national/features/4064/Also, not talked about in the transcript but interesting:
reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=politicsNews&storyID=3188411Whitesides interviewed both Monica and I in early June but waitied until today to publish this?
What do YOU think of this??
Herb Riede
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(Taken from Instant Message Transcript, nicks changed, unrelated info removed)
Herb: I've been doing my typical ripping apart of the words of the article again and found some interesting points
Herb: Armistead, a good friend of Gore’s for more than 40 years, said ... ''I think he’d like to grit his teeth and jump back in''
Herb: The former DNC official, who was active in Gore’s 2000 campaign, said his prediction of another Gore campaign is based on more than a hunch.
Herb: MORE than a HUNCH
Herb: but then McLean (where'd she come from??) deflates most of it...(wasn't that a burger?)
Monica: I know ... this is the part that we keep hearing, too: “I’ve had a lot of people that know him real well tell me that he ought to get back in. I hear it daily. ‘He got out too soon.’ ‘I wish Al never got out of the race.’”
Monica: Also
Monica: He believes, as other Gore confidants do, that the political climate has changed significantly since December, making Bush more vulnerable to defeat in his bid for a second term.
Monica: So it's not just flip-flopping. He has good reason.
Herb: and according to
www.newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/news/politics/national/features/4064/Armistead saying ''people that know him real well'' implies very few
Herb: cause he knows him better than Tommy Lee Jones
Herb: Steve knows Al. They have been friends since Gore was 8 and Armistead was 9...
Herb: Al had met his second girlfriend, Tipper; his first and only other girlfriend was Steve's sister, Donna
Herb: Along with Tommy Lee Jones, he served as an usher at Al's wedding. (The night before, Steve says, he and Gore went on a bender, arriving noticeably hung over before the nuptials.) It was Steve whom Al approached for advice when he was tortured about his decision to go to Vietnam
Monica: Interesting. I should make a note of all this. But seriously, would such a close friend make up a story like this without Al's ok?
Herb: I don't know
Herb: "Oh, that's where he totaled the Chevy Impala," he says, pointing out the window, and recalling the day a teenage Al came running up to him on the farm, barefoot and horrified after he'd "flipped the car over about thirteen times into a gully" trying to pass a truck on his way back from summer class. Somehow, Gore crawled through the window and escaped unscathed, but was terrified of telling his parents about the wreck. "C'mon," said Steve, swinging an arm around his buddy. "Let's go tell your mama!"
Monica: lol ... tsk, tsk, Al, how could you?
Herb: Though he has no official role in the campaign, Armistead nonetheless exerts a powerful influence, derived from his history and obvious loyalty to the candidate. Steve would do just about anything for Al.
Monica: There's no way in hell he'd risk his frienship (or even a little part thereof) by talking about this without checking with Al. If he's not running, it's a trial balloon.
Herb: His other role in the campaign was to serve as an occasional reality check for Al, usually at Tipper's behest.
Herb: that sentence just floored me
Monica: like I say, he more than anyone makes me think it's serious. The other one is an unnamed source. But he went on the record.
