Lindsay Beyerstein notices Adam Nagourney "dusting off the old slurs" against Al Gore. Nagourney, she writes, is "declar[ing] war on Al Gore's candidacy" painting him as a "bitter man who hates the press" and who thinks journalists are stupid.
Well, he's right, isn't he? Moreover, Nagourney isn't dusting anything off -- look at the quotes in his article. He characterize Gore basically correctly. When I was researching my article on the guy, what came clear was, in fact, his distaste for the media. To be sure, there's the environmental thread running through his post-2000 activities -- his global warming slideshow, his green investment company, his coming film. But more compelling, and more varied, were his efforts to evade the press's mediation. From blasting his speeches out through e-mail to starting a network with viewer-directed content to his Columbia School of Journalism course on what's gone wrong with political reporting, Gore really has sought to identify new methods of communication and expose the deep rot afflicting the gatekeepers of the old channels. Nagourney may not like it, but he's not making it up.
Update: Jonathan Singer has more from a back-and-forth with Nagourney, and it's a model of honest communication and good faith dialogue. Singer got answers on some of the weirder parts of Nagourney's article (why hadn't he seen the movie?), and retracted some criticisms that prove to be unfair. If more press-blogger interactions were so civil, we'd all be in better shape. I also agree with Lindsay in comments -- Gore can't fight a war against the press if he wants the nomination. This interview with Nagourney is, I think, evidence that he's not inclined to run.
