Why is this site obsessed with Al Gore?

October 6, 2005 6:27 PM

Al Gore speeches baby yeah! And that's just the tip of the iceberg. Question: Why is this site obsessed with Al Gore? I mean, he's no Steve Jobs. :-)

Seriously, though, why? He doesn't represent some Democratic ideal. He wasn't an incredibly successful politician. Hell, he wasn't even all that likable (unlike Clinton).
posted by SeizeTheDay to MetaFilter-related at 6:27 PM (53 comments total)

Al Gore is on the board of directors at Apple.
posted by birdherder at 6:30 PM on October 6, 2005

Oh my god, the conspiracy!

Seriously, before this thread gets conbliminated, I do agree with you. I had an interminable dinner conversation with one of my mother's friends once about how awesome Al Gore was. Oh, the hurting...
posted by selfnoise at 6:33 PM on October 6, 2005

Umnn, SeizeTheDay, have you been drinking?
posted by onalark at 6:35 PM on October 6, 2005

Because it's nice to hear a Democrat call a red truck a fucking red truck. Unfortunately, the kicker is that no one gives a damn.

But five speeches since April, 2002? If this is obsession, we are well on our way to rummaging through Lost's trash, stealing its cell phone, and sodomizing its butler. And then we will have truly jumped the shark.
posted by hototogisu at 6:38 PM on October 6, 2005

Al Gore gives a really good speech every once in awhile, and some people like to read them.
posted by interrobang at 6:41 PM on October 6, 2005

The phonemic similarity to "All Gore" clearly appeals to the bloodthirsty snake brain lurking beneath the placid pools of even the most progressive thought. This bloodthirst, all the more intense for its repression in a "left-leaning" consciousness, lends an inexplicable glamour to memes and tropes which stimulate it. This can be seen the "veins in my teeth" lines from "Alice's Restaurant" and the choice of many liberal slogans and organizational names - "Move On" for instance, with it's imagery of the victorious combatant having a "movement" atop the body of a defeated opponent.
posted by freebird at 6:42 PM on October 6, 2005

frag him and move on
posted by mr.marx at 6:42 PM on October 6, 2005

mr. marx: that's a pleasent image. Mefi as Half-Life. Freebird needs a cheering section.
posted by hototogisu at 6:44 PM on October 6, 2005

Just the tip of the iceberg, hototogisu. But I'm too lazy to do a full search. Just look up "'Al Gore' speech" and find your results.

I may have had a drink or two, onalark. But my insight is fucking ridiculous.

Come on...don't take this thread too seriously. Don't you find it kinda weird that Al Gore has such a strange popularity here?
posted by SeizeTheDay at 6:45 PM on October 6, 2005

If Al Gore didn't make a speech our strange population didn't agree with, once in a while, he wouldn't be popular. Now, the real question is, what are you drinking? Cause I'm about to join you.
posted by hototogisu at 6:46 PM on October 6, 2005

I was just surprised it was labelled as "surprising". This is who Al Gore is now.
posted by smackfu at 6:54 PM on October 6, 2005

My snake brain just exploded after it consumed an alligator.
posted by Dr. Wu at 6:55 PM on October 6, 2005

Did somebody say Jews?
posted by Mid at 6:55 PM on October 6, 2005

As long as there's a Bush in the White House, there'll be interest in the man who rightfully belonged there.
posted by amberglow at 7:04 PM on October 6, 2005

What the fuck are you guys talking about?

-- Todd Lokken
posted by grateful at 7:05 PM on October 6, 2005

I guess posting one link featuring one of his speeches every couple of months constitutes "being obsessed" now?
posted by clevershark at 7:07 PM on October 6, 2005

Al Gore is no Steve Jobs? So what? Steve Jobs is no Steve Jobs.
posted by lodurr at 7:09 PM on October 6, 2005

Why is this site obsessed with Al Gore?

The bastard still owes me money, is why. Told Dokken.
posted by wakko at 7:13 PM on October 6, 2005

I really wish Todd hadn't stopped signing his posts.
posted by undule at 7:14 PM on October 6, 2005

mr. marx makes me cum
posted by matteo at 7:14 PM on October 6, 2005

I guess posting one link featuring one of his speeches every couple of months constitutes "being obsessed" now?

Change "Al Gore" to "Michael Dukakis". One every few months you see a speech of his posted here. You don't find that odd?

Again, come on...appreciate the subtle humor I'm trying to use here. Of all people, why Gore? amberglow is approaching the target, though with too much seriousness. Don't you find it odd that people here tolerate a speech every few months from a guy who didn't effect much change in this country, simply because he was "robbed"
posted by SeizeTheDay at 7:14 PM on October 6, 2005

Al Gore is an asshole for taking NWI off the air and replacing it with unispired resume tape tv.
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 7:18 PM on October 6, 2005

Why is this site obsessed with Elvis? I mean, he's no Al Gore.
posted by my sock puppet account at 7:19 PM on October 6, 2005

STD (BTW, that is "Seize The Day" not "Sexually Transmitted Disease") :

Don't you find it kinda weird that Al Gore has such a strange popularity here?

Heck, you should try searching for "Santorum".
posted by R. Mutt at 7:33 PM on October 6, 2005

my insight is fucking ridiculous

Well, yeah. But you'll be sober in the morning, while we'll still be "obsessed" with Al Gore.
posted by soyjoy at 7:49 PM on October 6, 2005

I think that violence has that capacity 
because of our evolutionary heritage, 
because of the laws of nature - 
tooth and fang.
   -Al Gore

posted by freebird at 7:51 PM on October 6, 2005

yeah, but STD (god, you really set yourself up for that one, eh?) no one gives a shit what he thinks "because he was robbed"--if he was making stupid speeches, you'd see amberglow rightfully calling him a fucking idiot.

all is harmonious
posted by hototogisu at 8:16 PM on October 6, 2005

It IS harmonious isn't it?

/me hums along
posted by Pretty_Generic at 8:20 PM on October 6, 2005

Yeah, but it's just so indistinct.
posted by hototogisu at 8:23 PM on October 6, 2005

Jesus Christ, does no-one use IE in this godforsaken web community?
posted by Pretty_Generic at 8:27 PM on October 6, 2005

Pretty_Generic writes "does no-one use IE in this godforsaken web community?"

I'm shocked that so many people do, when they should know better by now...
posted by clevershark at 8:31 PM on October 6, 2005

Not to inject a little seriousness, but why do we spend so much time talking about Paris Hilton? compared to Lindsay Lohan?

Because Paris does a better job with PR.
posted by delmoi at 9:11 PM on October 6, 2005

in retrospect, that post didn't really end up containing much seriousness.
posted by delmoi at 9:12 PM on October 6, 2005

STD (BTW, that is "Seize The Day" not "Sexually Transmitted Disease") :

I don't think you saved many keystrokes, there.
posted by delmoi at 9:14 PM on October 6, 2005

Um... how to phrase this...

W. T. F.??!!

THIS METATHREAD HAS MUSIC.
posted by dreamsign at 9:38 PM on October 6, 2005

Jesus Christ, does no-one use IE in this godforsaken web community?

Maxthon, baby! [/shill]
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 11:02 PM on October 6, 2005

It seems very obvious to me, SiezeTheDay.

It's the alternate history thing. But for a very contentious and close decision in Florida that many see as wrongly decided, Al Gore would have been the president in 2000.

The world would be a very, very different place had that played out. When Al Gore thus gives a speech that makes it patently obvious that his idea of where he wanted to take the country is quite different from what Bush's ideas turned out to be, well, you get interest.

We were "this close" (Maxwell Smart holds up fingers), so many people are going to be fascinated by that tantalizing alternate reality.
posted by teece at 11:39 PM on October 6, 2005

You know what? Al Gore gives dynamite speeches. I just read the whole thing and it is probably the best thing I've read on the internets in the past year. Every time he speaks, he reminds me of Cicero's dicutm that a speechmaker ought to "teach, delight, and move"; Gore is one of the few politicians who can still do this.
posted by eustacescrubb at 4:06 AM on October 7, 2005

Thank you for the Spanish Flea, Pretty_Generic. I now know what the inside-my-brain soundtrack for the entire day will be.
posted by Faint of Butt at 4:11 AM on October 7, 2005

The Gore speeches I've seen linked are generally very good speeches, so I can't say I'm surprised to see them come up a lot. If Dukkakis also made excellent speeches, and only Gore is getting linked up, then the question isn't so much "Why is this site obsessed with Al Gore?" as "Why is this site obsessed with Al Gore when there are other people worthy of equal or more obsession for the same reasons?"
posted by Bugbread at 5:17 AM on October 7, 2005

This site is obsessed with Karl Rove.
posted by LarryC at 7:01 AM on October 7, 2005

He wasn't an incredibly successful politician.

Wow, I had no idea that serving in the House for three terms, being elected Senator for two terms, two terms as VP and winning the popular vote for President made you an unsucessful politician.
posted by Pollomacho at 7:01 AM on October 7, 2005

Pollomacho: he lacks cameras.
posted by cortex at 7:58 AM on October 7, 2005

I'd still like to be that unsuccessful in my career one day!
posted by Pollomacho at 8:23 AM on October 7, 2005

I wish you all the lack of success in the world!
posted by cortex at 8:47 AM on October 7, 2005

I read that (great) speech without realizing who it was from. (honestly, I probably wouldn't have even read it if I had known...)

I wish someone who mattered more politically had given it, there are many things in there that more people should be saying.
posted by sonofsamiam at 9:21 AM on October 7, 2005

You know what? Al Gore gives dynamite speeches.

Very true. I often confuse him with jesse jackson.

Come on, dynamite speeches? He reads them like a disney animatronic character (it's a running joke, remember?), until lately when he's gone all fire and brimstone on us.

Me thinks the dymanic aspects of his speeches might be highly correlated to the degree you agree with his politics. Just a hunch.
posted by justgary at 9:28 AM on October 7, 2005

Snake brain, man, snake brain.
posted by freebird at 9:49 AM on October 7, 2005

I donated to Al Gore's campaign he's just paying me back.
posted by The Jesse Helms at 10:14 AM on October 7, 2005

justgary: I'd be willing to wager you haven't heard a single Gore speech since the 2000 election. Would I be winning or losing that wager?
posted by teece at 11:03 AM on October 7, 2005

So who's the bigger snake brain now, huh?
posted by Mid at 11:17 AM on October 7, 2005

Yes, but is it a snake brain ... on a plane?
posted by Wulfgar! at 11:37 AM on October 7, 2005

Five Al Gore speeches in 3.5 years.

We must have different definitions of obsessed.
posted by I Love Tacos at 4:58 PM on October 7, 2005