Gore: Genius or idiot?

Why does the media go ballistic every time Al Gore gives a speech?

Michael Kelly went absolutley nuts when Gore recently gave a speech about the coming war in Iraq. Kelly all but suggested that Gore should be medicated for being a pathological liar.

The Daily Howler responded by constructing its "Four Pundit Rules" that must be followed when reporting on a Gore speech.

The Editors of the New Republic were somewhere in the middle, saying that Gore is more of a typical (i.e., weasel) Democrat.

I remember how I felt about Walter Mondale during the 1984 campaign. What a dork! And I didn't much like Mike Dukakis either.

So maybe liberals like Kelly hate him because, most importantly, he blew it.

And the Reps hate him because, like Joe Klein writes in Newsweek: the Republicans are afflicted by a near psychotic rhetorical twitching whenever the man who won the popular vote in the year 2000 makes a public appearance.

James Robbins of the National Review is alone in suggesting that Al Gore may eventually have the last laugh.