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Gore and the Truth? The truth has never been Gore's friend With enough time passed to adequately digest the 150 pages of transcripts released by Al Gore, how does his claim that "the truth is my friend" stand up to scrutiny? Is Al Gore being open and honest? A look at the timing and the spin control of the struggling Gore campaign's latest problem may help answer the question. TGIF- Thank God It's Friday First, let's remember when the White House announced that Gore had indeed been interviewed about the Buddhist Temple event last April. True to form it was a Friday afternoon. Friday afternoon is the perennial dumping day for the Clinton-Gore White House. If something has to be released and it is possibly damaging, it will be released on a Friday afternoon. While it may be blatant spin control, it is also very smart. It dares the media to keep the story going until Monday morning without exhausting itself. All weekend the media can report and re-report, analyze and re-analyze the story from every angle. But, guess what? No one is watching. Depends on what the definition of "is" is. "I want the truth to be known about this," Gore said Friday to a group of reporters on Air Force II after releasing the transcripts. The funny thing is, if you actually read the transcripts, you find Gore gets himself in trouble and the truth isn't all that clear. And he sounds way too much like Clinton: Gore: Well, let me define the term ``raising,'' if I could, because if you mean by it, would they be events at which money was raised, the answer is no. Sound familiar? Then, there is the part when Gore forgets that he's still not supposed to know the Buddhist Temple event was a fundraiser: Q: Do you know when you were first informed by the DNC of problems related to the Temple visit? Gore: No, I don't, but I believe that it was the day when I first found out that, that it was a fund-raiser and that it was -- that it had become public and that the DNC was embarrassed by having done this and that they were sending back the contributions. I had a conversation with -- I was on my plane, still on the campaign trail, and I believe David Strauss (then Gore's chief of staff) told me. And I said to him, David, you told me this was a community outreach event. He said it was. And I gave the interview to (National Public Radio reporter) Nina Totenberg that you quoted earlier on the plane a few hours after that. Q: So that would have been the date that you first learned -- Gore: I believe so. I believe so. Q: Well, you said that you learned it was a fund-raiser. I thought you just said -- Gore: No, he asked me if it was the first time I learned that they had reimbursed the expenses and the contributors, and I believe that's the first time I learned that. Q: Well, I still want to go back. You said you learned it was a fund-raiser. Gore: That was also the first time I learned it was a -- Q: I thought you said previously you didn't, you still don't know whether it was a fund-raiser. Gore: Well, that's right. That is more accurate. Let me, let me amend that. That was the first time that I learned it was alleged to be, to have been a fund-raiser. And, again, I still do not know that any funds that any money changed hands there. And I asked you earlier if you knew, but that's probably not your role to say. Oops! Could it be statements by the Vice President like these that have led almost every official appointed to look into this matter to recommend an independent investigation? And what makes this really sad is that the only reason Gore amends his statement is that his personal lawyer interrupted him and informed him that he had misspoken. It really helps you appreciate how good of a liar Clinton is. You figure after almost 8 years of watching the Clinton technique, Al Gore would be a little better polished. Keep practicing Al.
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