Why Gore Won't Run Again

This is from The Daily Howler, a website I clearly love, referring to a joke about the Foley folly being partially Al Gore's fault for having invented the internet. I'll note I've seen that joke twice at Democratic Underground this morning, incidentally.

Starting in March 1999, why did the RNC and the mainstream press corps keep claiming that Al Gore said he invented the Internet? Duh! They did it to make a joke out of Gore—to help spread such punishing claims as “Al Gore is a liar, just like Bill Clinton,” “Al Gore has a problem with the truth,” “Al Gore will do and say anything” and “Al Gore is delusional.” As you may recall (if you’re over 11), Invented-the-Internet was ceaselessly repeated, for the next twenty months, as a way to ridicule Gore. This theme—this powerful, relentless propaganda campaign—put George Bush inside the White House. He then sent the US Army to Iraq.

Now, here comes the part which is apparently too complex for large numbers of us liberals to grasp. When we ourselves insist on repeating these themes, we continue to spread the unhelpful idea that Al Gore is a big fucking joke. This helps degrade Gore’s public image—and it helps degrade the public image of Major Dem Leaders as a whole. Beyond that, it helps explain why Gore, not being completely crazy, almost surely won’t run for the White House again. After all, if this is the way his supporters portray him, how could he expect to be portrayed by the RNC and the mainstream press corps? The sheer absurdity of this matter simply boggles the mind.

He's not wrong.

Think about it this way. Imagine you are watching two people. One of them is making a joke, the punchline of which is that the person he is talking to is stupid. What do you think of that second person of he laughs along? Do you think he has a good sense of humor? Or that he's a weak pushover?

Some people prefer to surround themselves with weak pushovers, but nobody respects them. Or wants to be like them. Or wants to elevate them to positions of power.