# Has Al Gore's time come? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [May 16, 2006, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-al-gores-time-come/356905 "2006-05-16T00:42:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2006, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-al-gores-time-come/356905/101 "2006-05-18T14:56:28Z")
> [@spoke-](#): > > Really? Which centrist Democrats do you mean? Well, I’d like to see an amendment that supercedes it - spelling out that semi-automatics are OK, but not fully automatics, or that fragmenting ammuniation may be considered explosives and are not protected under ‘firearms.’ Whatever the conclusion is - but spell it out. I don’t see myself as fringe-left either - socially liberal (but within a standard deviation of ‘middle America’), but economically conservative. ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2006, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-al-gores-time-come/356905/102 "2006-05-18T15:02:08Z")
Ya know, I just came back here to admit that I overstated my position and to amend it before I got hammered on it. Too late I guess 😉 But let me try anyway. RTF claimed that centrist Democrats have all along stood up for a “reasonably expansive” interpretation of the Bill of Rights. Rather than saying that “Lotsa centrist Democrats would like to see the 2nd amendment disappear,” a more accurate claim would have been, “Many centrist Democrats have argued not for a more _expansive_, but rather a more _restrictive_ interpretation of the 2nd amendment.” That would be a more accurate claim than what I said previously. So perhaps I can try to answer that question instead, spoke-. Would that be okay? To do so, however, I need to know first which Democrats **you** , or whoever else wants to chime in here, consider to be centrist. I’m not gonna throw up a list of Democrats that I think are centrist who’ve argued for more gun restrictions just to have them dismissed by others as non-centrists. I’d much prefer to begin with a list of congresscritters acceptable to you. Fair enough? ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2006, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-al-gores-time-come/356905/103 "2006-05-18T15:31:03Z")
[A more complete summary, for the disbelievers.](http://www.slate.com/id/91350/) ---
**Author:** ![DoctorJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctorj/32/2904_2.png) [@DoctorJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoctorJ)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2006, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-al-gores-time-come/356905/104 "2006-05-18T15:31:51Z")
> [@](#): > > No I don’t acknowledge this nor deny it, because it is the perception of the public that matters, not the truth, not the spin that matters, but what the voting public thinks really happened that matters. > > Right now there is a percentage of the public that thinks Al Gore is a sore looser and a crybaby. Some think he tryed to steal the election through underhanded and dishonest means. The fact is that people beleive it. If people beleive this it could influence their vote. > > Even if you can prove that Al Gore did no wrong, and really tried to count every vote, it dosn’t matter - you are just one small voice and there will be others with contradicting ‘facts’. Then it seems like the best thing you could do, as someone who agrees politically with most of those people but recognizes that their views of the 2000 election may be based on misinformation, would be to get the facts straight and let those people know about it. As I found out during the Terri Schiavo fracas, some people (though, unfortunately, not all of them) are willing to change their minds if they know that their assumptions are wrong. Though I shouldn’t be, I’m astonished that the “Sore-Loserman” meme has survived for this long. Do people honestly think that GWB would have gracefully conceded if the margin had been 600 votes in Gore’s favor, instead of asking for the recounts and the remedies for irregularities that the law provided for? > [@](#): > > RTF claimed that centrist Democrats have all along stood up for a “reasonably expansive” interpretation of the Bill of Rights. Rather than saying that “Lotsa centrist Democrats would like to see the 2nd amendment disappear,” a more accurate claim would have been, “Many centrist Democrats have argued not for a more expansive, but rather a more restrictive interpretation of the 2nd amendment.” That would be a more accurate claim than what I said previously. True, but I think gun control is so far down the list that I don’t think gun owners have anything to worry about for the foreseeable future. A lot of Democrats would be happy to see gun control left alone completely (or even relaxed) for the next several years if it meant getting some adults in charge overall. ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2006, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-al-gores-time-come/356905/105 "2006-05-18T16:15:25Z")
> [@DoctorJ](#): > > True, but I think gun control is so far down the list that I don’t think gun owners have anything to worry about for the foreseeable future. A lot of Democrats would be happy to see gun control left alone completely (or even relaxed) for the next several years if it meant getting some adults in charge overall. Perhaps, but there are at least 52 (one for each state + D.C + the United Nations small arms conference coming up on July 4 of all days) more facets to gun control than the ones seen at the national level. And the anti-gun crowd, I’m sure, is slavering at the prospect of a chance to push their agenda on a national stage since it’s been effectively thwarted (and maybe even worse for them, _ignored_ for so long. So, I’m not quite so sanguine, myself, that the Democrats could ignore that constituency. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2006, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-al-gores-time-come/356905/106 "2006-05-18T16:27:43Z")
> [@Menocchio](#): > > Hillary would appear to make the ticket swing left . . . :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2006, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-al-gores-time-come/356905/107 "2006-05-18T16:28:58Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > I think there was enough bad blood between the Clinton and Gore people during the 2000 campaign . . . I don’t recall that. Details? ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2006, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-al-gores-time-come/356905/108 "2006-05-18T16:34:55Z")
As I remember it, Gore didn’t want Clinton’s endorsement because of that whole silly impeachment taint. I seem to recall that the Gore committee went as far as even asking Clinton to not speak on Gore’s behalf. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2006, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-al-gores-time-come/356905/109 "2006-05-18T17:07:17Z")
I recall quite the same as UB. I think the Clintons were mad because Al didn’t want them working for his campaign and the Gore people thought that Clinton’s impeachment made their job harder. I never saw anything official on that, just scuttlebutt. ---
**Author:** ![Monty22002](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@Monty22002](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty22002)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-al-gores-time-come/356905/110 "2006-05-26T15:09:59Z")
Run Al run! For the sake of us Republicans, RUN! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-al-gores-time-come/356905.md?page=5)