Gore and the BFEE

Feb. 5, 2007 -- This editor discussed some troubling aspects of George W. Bush's criminal personality with Democratic Party insiders at this past week's Democratic National Committee Winter meeting in Washington, DC.

The subject was Bush's conversations with Vice President Al Gore on election night in 2000. It will be recalled that when Florida was declared for Bush after having been declared for Gore, the Vice President, who was at his Nashville, Tennessee campaign headquarters, phoned Bush at his hotel venue in Houston and conceded. Just prior to Gore making a public concession, the returns showed Florida as being too close to call -- a mere 600 votes separated Bush and Gore in Florida -- and Gore phoned Bush back. Bush responded to Gore, "Let me make sure if I understand.

You're calling me back to retract your concession?"

Reports at the time stated that Bush was "not happy" to receive Gore's phone call. However, according to Democratic Party sources who were were with Gore in Nashville and could hear Bush on the phone, the conversation became menacing towards Gore and his family. In what amounted to a tantrum, Bush reportedly called Gore a "son of a bitch," spoke about the presidency as being part of Bush's "legacy," and made veiled threats against Gore and his family. Bush victory celebrations were already underway at the Houston hotel and at the Governor's Mansion in Austin at the time the phone calls were made.

Did Bush threaten Gore in 2000? If so, Bush committed a felony.

Section 871 of the U.S. Code prohibits knowing and willful threats to kill, kidnap, or inflict bodily harm against successors to the president, including the Vice President. Section 879 of Title 18 U.S. Code prohibits knowing and willful threats to kill, kidnap, or inflict bodily harm against categories of persons who are protected by the United States Secret Service, including members of the immediate family of the Vice President.

From press reports, it was revealed that Gore responded to Bush by stating, "You don't have to to get snippy about it . . . Let me explain something, your brother [Jeb Bush, the Florida Governor] is not the ultimate authority on this."

A Gannett reporter who was at the Houston campaign headquarters told this editor that there was definitely an aura in the suite where the Bush family was gathered that the "fix" was in and nothing could be done to prevent a Bush victory. However, if Bush, in any way, threatened the safety of the Vice President and/or his family, that would constitute a federal crime.

Gore surprised a number of election observers in 2004 when he told Lesley Stahl on CBS's 60 Minutes that he decided not to run for the office many felt was robbed from him in 2000:

Stahl: "You know, you’ve been all over television, all over the newspapers for this last week. You’ve given back-to-back interviews. You’ve answered virtually every question except one (laughs) and that is, are you or are you not gonna run in 2004? Are you gonna run?"

Gore: "Well, I’ve decided not to run. And I--"

Stahl: "You’ve decided not to run?"

Gore: "I’ve decided that I will not be a candidate for president in 2004 ... And I found that I’ve come to closure on this. I don’t think it’s the right thing for me to be a candidate in 2004."

Stahl: "The ambition to be the commander in chief, the ambition to sit in the Oval Office, that’s gone?"

Gore: "Well, I personally have the energy and the drive and the ambition-- to make another campaign. But I don’t think it’s the right thing for me to do. I-- I think that a campaign that would be a rematch between myself and President Bush would inevitably involve a focus on the past that would in some measure distract from the focus on the future that I think all campaigns have to be about."

Stahl: "You say you had the ambition. You still have it even you said. Still have the dream?"

Gore: "Well, you know never say never. But I-- I-- I make this decision in the full knowledge and-- and awareness that-- if I don't run this time, which I'm not gonna run (CHUCKLES) in 2004, that-- that's probably the last opportunity I'll ever have to run for President. Don't know that for sure, but probably it is."

Stahl: "You think you could beat the President?"

Gore: "Look, I think I could."

Stahl: I'm still trying to understand why you're not gonna run.

Gore: "The last campaign was an extremely difficult one. And while I have the energy and drive to go out there and do it again, I think that there are a lot of people within the Democratic Party who felt exhausted by that. Who felt like, okay, I don't wanna go through that again. And I'm frankly sensitive to that-- to that feeling."

Stahl: "Now I've heard you say a couple of times, 'this time.' You said, 'I'm not gonna be a candidate this time.' What about 2008?"

Gore: "Well, I've also said that I-- I make this decision in-- in the full awareness that it probably means that I will never have another opportunity to run for President. Now I'm not-- I'm not-- planning on some-- some future race."

At the time of Gore's 60 Minutes interview, in which he ruled out a presidential run in 2004 and 2008, many Washington observers commented that Gore seemed frightened of running -- and not because he was afraid of losing. If Mr. Bush and his crime family in any way threatened Gore or his family, it is one more reason why this dangerous sociopath and his political operatives within the administration should be immediately removed from office by the Democratic Congress.


....and the truth shall set us free.