It's too late.

This is now like etymology where the usage determines the meaning. For better, and in this case, worse, the Gore trope is a permanent fixture in the American language.

That's life on the misinformation highway.

'The chief obstacle to the progress of the human race is the human race.' Don Marquis

The answer is "yes", time to retire the joke. It is also one of my pet peeves. Not being true takes away about 95% of the humor for me, and no joke can afford that.

The joke owes it's ubiquity to Rove and sycophants like George Will. And the joke is especially funny to Republicans who know that it isn't true. Can't get any worse than that.

Nonsense Kevin. Gore has lied over and over again. Here are some of his lies that are listed in the National Review.

Link

"There was nothing shameful about Gore’s Vietnam war servicehe spent five months overseas as a military journalistbut he implied that he had spent years in the infantry. There was nothing wrong with his work as a journalist in Nashvillehe wrote an exposé that got several people indictedbut he claimed that he had sent many people to jail. The embellishments proceed ever onward and upward. He was a war hero. He was a heroic and crusading journalist. He was a romantic hero, the model for Love Story. He wrote speeches in 1968 for Hubert Humphrey. He invented the Internet. He "found" Love Canal."

Isn't it high time the entire media had a collective Murrow Moment?

They have gotten away with passing snarkiness off as insight for far too long.

There is one positive to the joke. I've won several bets thanks to this joke and it's kind of funny to watch someone scramble around in vain trying to document a fiction.

Kevin wrote: Isn't it time to retire this joke once and for all?

As Al's comment at 12:02PM demonstrates, the right wing never retires its lies. Rightwingers repeat the same old discredited lies over and over and over, forever.

Anyone who is a regular reader of these comment pages knows that.

Where is our counter-offensive?

If so many in the entertainment industry are Democrats, why haven't we developed humorous talking points like this?

It's too easy. Those who want to contribute to political debate but don't want to do the leg work of actually finding facts can hop on the bandwagon of tired and worn political faux pas to get an easy laugh and feel good about themselves. Trouble is, I'm not sure that practice is owned by the conservative right. Even those of us on the progressive left repeat fall visitim to such practices. eg. George Bush is a blundering buffoon. Yet somehow he got 53 million Americans to vote for him. So just who are the buffoons?

Drives me nuts too. I know quite a bit about Gore as a working VP from friend who worked with Gore in the group he formed to insure that the internet remained "democratic," i.e., that the gov would make it possible for small, poor and/or remote communities to have equal access to internet and tech resources. That's what we should be hearing about the guy, not this BS about his claiming to invent it.

One of the things this accessible internet should (and may well) be doing is to shame our corrupt corporate media into some minimal integrity. Maybe we should bomb AP, blog by blog.

It's interesting that the Brian Lehrer show (WNYC) had a call-in this morning "nominating" candidates for a Democratic presidency in 2008 and Gore was, effectively, "drafted."

The embellishments proceed ever onward and upward...

Self-parody and projection? Or fake self-parody and projection? Who knows?

The oddest thing about this joke is that it predated Gore's deliberately misinterpreted remark. It was originally a riff on the media attention to Gore's use of the catchphrase "Information Superhighway". I was joking about Gore inventing the Internet back in the late 1990s on Usenet, and never in a million years would have imagined that somebody would take it seriously or believe that Gore actually claimed this.

Where is our counter-offensive?

You know, that’s a damn good question. Where’s the jokes that goes something like:

A Republican is somebody who actually believes that God is on his evil side; that Al Gore claimed he invented the internet; that we will still find WMD in Iraq.

Ok, so I’m not the one to write the jokes.

Should it? Yeah, definitely?

Will it? Pfft.

Thanks, Kevin. A few more of these and you will have atoned for your stupid Hillary posts.

Please note that Steve Benen posted this post, not Kevin.

Hey, bobbo: It's Steve Benin not Kevin.

Maybe Kevin should read this post - or are Al Gore jokes on his permanent "ignore" list, like Ann Coulter? You know, because no one listens to Ann Coulter...

I know from personal experience this recycled inventing the internet crap leads directly into a discussion of why we need to believe Gore on global warming when he embellished his role inventing the internet.

How can we trust the main stream media to report accurately about the important issues when they keep recycling mindless and untrue "jokes" as standard talking points? They should be debunking the sources who feed them this crap, not the subject of the right's snarky ridicule.

This is one reason MSM has lost so much ground to the blogs in recent years -- no cahones. Maybe now that Democrats control Congress the right's media enablers won't have to worry so much about uncritically repeating conservative talking points out of fear of losing access to their "highly placed but unnamed sources."

If so many in the entertainment industry are Democrats, why haven't we developed humorous talking points like this?

Because a) their bosses wouldn't get the jokes, and b) if they did somehow manage to get such a talking point past the gatekeepers, they would immediately receive the stigma of having a "liberal bias" and their career would be threatened.

I often come across very funny liberal snark on blogs, but none of it ever gets picked up by the corporate media and becomes a meme spread throughout society.

Maybe we should remind people of Bush trying to claim credit for actually winning the presidency not once but twice.

When the internet puts AP out of business, Mr. Gore will have the last laugh.

Monchie,

Liberal snark is acknowledged to be untrue. The Republicans sell their "humor" as true. They are both funny, per se, but one is packaged for consumption by those already in the know. The other is packaged for the ignorant to believe.

Time to write a letter to the editor when you see something like that. I'm off to check my local newspaper for this crap.

They printed my lies about WMDs, so did you expect different?

-

Republicans will 'believe in' anything as long as its wrong.

Isn't the AP owned by the Moonies?

Not Kevin. Figures. Anyway, thanks, Steve.

Isn't it time to retire this joke once and for all?

Yes it is. For some reason, the media, which is usually biased in favor of Democrats, hasn't been nice to Al Gore. I don't know why that is.

Gore's latched onto the "invented the Internet" meme and made his own jokes about it. It's also more than six years old -- it was common midway through the Clinton presidency, a full decade ago. In any event, sure, retire it, but don't think Gore hasn't gotten some mileage from it himself even though he never actually made the claim.

Al:

I read your link. Did you read the "debunked" link in the original post? Try it. You might learn something.

Ah, Kevin.

Still harping on this old canard, eh.

Look, you're so in love with your boy Al, you just don't want to believe he said something so self-serving and malignant. But there he said it, in black and white: "I invented the internets." What idiot thinks the internet is a plural?

But keep running him. We'll crush him in '08!

UPI is owned by the Moonies, not AP.

Ah, Egbert...It's Steve, not Kevin.

And I am still waiting for an answer to the question I posed to you a couple of days ago...Has Kevin (or any poster in this forum) ever published a post with which you can't find fault.

(please note, that when egbert was asked this question he did not answer, instead he tried to turn the question back around and ask me if I had ever agreed with the president. I admitted I agreed with Afghanistan, which egbert then dismissed as "fitting my preconceived prejudices" - which I found pretty damned funny - that this contrarian knows me well enough to ascribe prejudices to me.)

Credit goes to the power of the Right Wing Noise Machine.

MSM journalists hear these charges through the RWNM. They are either too lazy to verify its accuracy or they think the charge is "too good to check" because it reinforces their own view of the politician.

In this case most MSM journalists had a strong dislike of Al Gore. They latched on to any charge from the RWNM and repeated it as fact.

Unfortunately for Gore there was no Left Wing Noise Machine to debunk the lies about him.

I think I understand the liberal mindset pretty well, GC. There are some people I work with at work who have liberal friends, and every thing they say about them is true.

little ole jim: The joke owes it's ubiquity to Rove and sycophants like George Will. And the joke is especially funny to Republicans who know that it isn't true.

Reminds of another "joke" that a few Republicans have admitted isn't true... liberal media bias.

Rich Bond, chair of the GOP during the 1992 campaign said:

There is some strategy to it [bashing the liberal media] . . . . If you watch any great coach, what they try to do is 'work the refs.' Maybe the ref will cut you some slack on the next one. [WaPo, Aug. 20, 1992, p.C1]

Regarding SCLM of the Reagan WH, James Baker said:

There were days and times and events we might have had some complaints [but] on balance I don't think we had anything to complain about.

Arch-conservative Pat Buchanan speaking of his presidential runs:

I've gotten balanced coverage, and broad coverage–all we could have asked. For heaven's sake, we kid about the 'liberal media,' but every Republican on earth does that." [LATimes, Mar. 14, 1996]

William Kristol, neocon extraordinaire, confessed:

I admit it. The liberal media were never that powerful, and the whole thing was often used as an excuse by conservatives for conservative failures. [New Yorker, May 22, 1995]

Primary source: Page 2 from the book, What Liberal Media? by media critic Eric Alterman.

But to answer your question, GC, no I never agree with Kevin, BECAUSE HE IS A LIBERAL. Duh. Do you ever root for the football team opposing your favorite team?

And yet, he we are, six years later, and the AP is still going for the cheap laugh.

Seven and a half years, actually.

Gore made his original remark about "taking the initiative" in March, 1999. A few days later, the staff in Dick Armey's office began circulating the "improved" quote.

They're not going for merely a "cheap laugh". They're putting nails in his Presidential coffin ante facto - preemptive swiftboating.

What idiot thinks the internet is plural?

Um, Egbert, that would be the Idiot in Chief, who hears "rumors on the internets".

But you are right: Bush is an idiot.

Duh. Do you ever root for the football team opposing your favorite team?

No, and I never, ever, under any circumstances admit when that opposing team has called or executed a good play. Even when the game is over and the other team has won, I refuse to allow that they might have been the better team or that they have played a better game.

Never!

Flubbed my post a bit. Sheesh.

Reminds me of another "joke"...

Regarding SCLM coverage of the Reagan WH...

I see European films all the time (just saw "Enduring Love") which leave me thinking, no one in America would have ever made that film, it's too mature for our culture.

Same with the Al Gore joke.

To info@ap.org

Come on- enough is enough.

Please inform Philip Elliot that no, Al Gore did not
claim to have invented the internet.

If Mr. Elliot presumes to write about the effect of
the internet on politics, I suggest he study his
subject a bit more closely. He might start here:

http://www.dailyhowler.com/

He may be amazed to learn that this particular lie has
a long and well documented history, and that his
repeating of it places him in a catagory of human not
entirely (or even a little bit) respected here.

This would stop once and for all if all of us reading this were to throw poop on PHILIP ELLIOTT, AP and put the result up on YouTube.

Isn't it time to retire this joke once and for all?

Republicans won't retire the "joke"(lie), and the pro-Republican media won't retire it either. The Democrats haven't learned how to call a lie a lie, and "jokes" like these will continue, until they learn how to refute them.

Every Democrat should have been saying "Gore never said he invented the internet. That's a lie, and you should be ashamed to repeat it".

It's not rocket science.

It's the holiday season. The AP has the third-string staff in. But that doesn't mean this canard shouldn't be jumped upon at every occasion.

In this case most MSM journalists had a strong dislike of Al Gore.

And let's not forget the way they adored St John McCain, and then jumped to Bush because of the better riders on the campaign bus and plane.

THANK YOU!!!!!! Finally the liberal media starts standing up for our leaders, like Al Gore, who have been waiting for you to defend them from this kind of FUCKING BULLSHIT FOR YEARS!

For some reason, the media, which is usually biased in favor of Democrats, hasn't been nice to Al Gore. I don't know why that is.

Your confusion may have something to do with the fact that you are starting with a flawed premise - in fact, it's so flawed, it couldn't get any wronger.

Gore made his original remark about "taking the initiative" in March, 1999. A few days later, the staff in Dick Armey's office began circulating the "improved" quote.

Very true. The greatest share of the blame, however, falls on the shoulders of the members of the so-called "liberal" media who were more than happy to parrot the RNC lies--even though Gore's actual quote was readily available.

The worst offenders were Ceci Connolly, Kit Seelye, Chris Matthews, Frank Bruni, Walter Robinson, Brian Williams, Tim Russert, and Howard Fineman. Dishonorable Mention goes to pundits such as Maureen Dowd (the person responsible for the "Love Story" nonsense) and Joe Klein.

And Hillary Clinton killed Vince Foster after a lover's tryst. And Bill Clinton fathered a child with a black prostitute. And the airport at Mena, Arkansas was a hub for cocaine trafficking when Clinton was governor. And so on and so on and so on.....

The Dirty Tricks Party (i.e. the GOP) preys on the ignorant and misinformed, who don't bother to research anything or to look for other sources of information other than Rush Limbaugh's radio program or NewsMax.com. So urban legends like this one about Al Gore persist.

Mark Twain knew this 150 years ago when he said, "A lie can get halfway around the world, before the truth gets its boots on".

Gore's latched onto the "invented the Internet" meme and made his own jokes about it. It's also more than six years old -- it was common midway through the Clinton presidency, a full decade ago. In any event, sure, retire it, but don't think Gore hasn't gotten some mileage from it himself even though he never actually made the claim.

Posted by: Shelby on December 26, 2006 at 12:53 PM | PERMALINK

Geeze Shelby, ever heard about making lemonade when life hands you lemons? You think Gore wouldn't rather that the lie/joke had never been told? He'd likely be president you meat.

They can't end the lie because any attempt to do so reveals the important role Gore played in shaping the internet. Obscuring that has been the most important effect of this "joke".

It's a waste of time worrying about the continued existence of the Gore trope. Maybe it's time to start our own fun ones, and repeat them until they're viral.

For instance, did you know that Ann Coulter [Dick Cheney; Dennis Hastert; etc.] recently had to go to the emergency room to have a gerbil removed from her ass? It's true! Pass it on!

Coming soon: the Karl Rove ball-gag urban legend.

"Reporting" like the distortions and out-right lying about Al Gore's statements as well as the laughs the MSM had about his choice of clothing during his run for office is part of the reason that newspapers have lost readership and are in deep trobule right now. It's also one of the reasons for the rise of the blogs and the power of the internets.

Heywood, it has to be something that offends conservatives and causes outrage in liberals: Newt Gingrich recently had to go to the hospital to have an orphan removed from his ass.

Way up near the top of the comment thread "Al" quotes a bunch of garbage from The National Review in an attempt to justify the media's continual reliance on old misinformation about Gore.

Seriously, the NR is gonna be as fair towards Gore as a gaggle of "Minutemen" would be to me if they saw me on the street

Yeah, the National Review, a bunch of ivory-tower wingnuts who have no problem with poverty or war as long as they have nothing to lose and plenty to gain.

Let me ask you something "Al"

Is K-Lo still beating the drum or whatever she was doing for Rick Santorum after he lost his senate race?

Is Derb still leering at little girls (since he did say that women aren't as sexy once they're legal)

Is Jonah still the chicken-hawkiest slab of proof that if that was how she was gonna use them, God should have never given Lucianne ovaries?

the NR... yeah, a wellspring of credibility

The way things work, in a generation (or, at most, two) at least 40 percent of Merkins polled will believe that Al Gore DID invent The Internets, and he thus will attain some of the respect he deserves, albeit for the wrong reasons. Poetic Justice - or perhaps Doggerel Justice...

Egbert's comments have illustrated the common win-at-all-costs mentality of the modern conservative movement- and the reason so many conservatives have made "bipartisanship" nearly impossible. According to Egbert (he of the party that was seriously thrashed in 2006), you must always, always, disagree with your opponent and repeat false or misconstrued statements to your opponent, even when you know the statements are false or miscontrued. And this from the party that claims to have the corner on morality.

Al Gore has a history of being decades ahead of other politicians on two major issues of this new century: the internet and global warming.

It is vital to the republican attack machine that these massive objective advantages over thier empty suit candidates be negated.

The Internet advantage has been completely negated thanks to journalists like the one who wrote that AP story, and the failure of others to effectively negate the lie. The second has up until today been negated but appears to be crumbling in the face of the facts. Fortunately for the right it may be too late for our country to benefit from the leadership of a man like Gore. He doesn't seem to want to go through another campaign.

Al Gore tried to make the internet simple enough for George Bush. He failed.

…the media, which is usually biased in favor of Democrats...is.ex-liberal at 12:53 PM

...there he said it, in black and white: "I invented the internets." … egbert at 12:58 PM

Did Al Gore actually glue all the tubes together, or did he just think of the idea?

I think Al Gore would be the best president for the times. He is brillant, has become "unstiffened" and he has a wealth of experience. It is a shame that the media continues to mention the"lies" about Gore. I wish that the Democratic party could see him for what he is and just have him for their presidential candidate. I think Nancy Pelosi would make a good vice president!

jefff wrote: "... it may be too late for our country to benefit from the leadership of a man like Gore. He doesn't seem to want to go through another campaign."

I believe that Gore has been entirely sincere in his numerous statements over the last couple of years that he has no plans to run for elective office again, and that he is committed to the work that he is doing in the private sector, and to building a grassroots movement -- the "Carbon Freeze" movement -- to stop global warming.

However, a December 11th AP article about Gore's efforts to promote the DVD release of his global warming documentary An Inconvenient Truth had this:

"I am not planning to run for president again," Gore said last week, arguing that his focus is raising public awareness about global warming and its dire effects. Then, he added: "I haven't completely ruled it out."

I supported Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004. Kucinich announced earlier this month (see second AP article at the link above) that he is running again for the Democratic nomination in 2008. At this point I plan to support Kucinich. If Gore enters the race, I would support Gore.

SecularAnimist: If Gore enters the race, I would support Gore.

Me, too. I voted for Al in 2000, and since then, my respect for him has grown.

Egbert points up an interesting aside to this discussion.I asked one of my fellow wizards why any sane person would blindly follow one political party or another and he said it was much like picking your favorite sports team.Half the team could be arrested for doing meth and assaulting little boys but once you picked them as your team they were your guys and that was that.I.E. there not sane. By the way his family came from Germany when the real nazis were ib control.

Apollo 13: Me, too. I voted for Al in 2000, and since then, my respect for him has grown.

I have lost all respect for him. He allowed Dumbya to walk all over him in the debates. He disgraced himself and the Democratic Party.

We need Democrats with backbones, if we can find any.

Shortly after introducing The National High Performance Computer Technology Act of 1989, Representative Al Gore testified to a House committee, in part:

"I genuinely believe that the creation of
this nationwide network ... will create an
environment where work stations are common
in homes and even small businesses."

Workstations in our homes! Can you imagine?

What I can't understand is how a libel charge can't be brought against the AP at this point, despite Gore's being a public figure. The first time such a charge is brought against a public person, I can understand how libel could be avoided, because the validity of the charge might be a little uncertain. After six years of vetting, such a absurd claim, now thoroughly researched, should prove malice on the part of the news agency. Gore should shut them down, totally and completely. The AP has earned it.

There are some people I work with at work who have liberal friends, and every thing they say about them is true.

Well, I for one find it well nigh impossible to argue with intellectual standards like the dreaded "some people at work"!

He allowed Dumbya to walk all over him in the debates.

Huh? When? Where?

In an alternate universe? In the imaginations of Republicans? In real time, just about every pundit judging the debates came away with the conclusion that Gore had won them all.

If Gore runs, this lie will be promulgated.

If Gore calls the first major media outlet who does it a liar, demands an apology, uses it as an example of corporate media bias, and make life miserable for the reporter/script reader who lies on the air, then it goes away.

Otherwise it stays.

Quaker in a Basement wrote: "In real time, just about every pundit judging the debates came away with the conclusion that Gore had won them all."

That was my feeling in real time, too. But then I thought Jimmy Carter mopped the floor with Ronald Reagan in the 1980 TV debates.

You are correct about the immediate reaction of the "pundits" and commentators, too. However, as Bob Somerby has thoroughly documented in The Daily Howler, the pundits all quickly changed their tune and began reciting the Approved Script -- that Gore "lost" the first debate due to his troubling sighs, that he "exaggerated", etc., while ignoring Bush's numerous gaffes, blunders and blatant lies.

The media coverage of the 2000 campaign was a scandal, and played an important role -- perhaps the most important role of anything in that election cycle -- of getting Bush close enough to victory to steal the election.

Google Newsweek Dec. 25, 2000/Jan. 1, 2001 " The Truth Behind the Pillars" by Evan Thomas and Michael Isikoff. It will upset you, but it bears reading for some insight into how the president was appointed by the Supreme COurt in 2000. Sandra Day O'Connor's role is disturbing.

draftgore.com

Why not?

"egbert" wrote" What idiot thinks the internet is a plural?

That tears it -- "egbert," or at least this iteration of the drive-by troll, is a parody. For, of course, it's none other than Bush who famously referred to the Internet as a plural.

Snopes on the Al Gore/Internet claims.

Wow. Libel charges against AP for using the internet joke? The Left can dish it out, but they sure can't take it. Plastic turkey, anyone?

Odd that there's no indignation at all about the AP apparently using non-existent sources for war reporting. But then, unlike jokes about Al Gore, that wouldn't be blasphemy, would it?

Not all presidential photo-op turkey is plastic.

It's all here from Vint Cerf the acknowledged father of the Internet. "Al Gore was the first political leader to recognize the importance of the Internet and to promote and support its development." It goes on from there.

If we didn't have the Internet the AP would continue to get away with this bullshit. That's the value of the Internet.

(http://www.politechbot.com/p-01394.html)

"GINGRICH: In all fairness, it�s something Gore had worked on a long time. Gore is not the Father of the Internet, but in all fairness, Gore is the person who, in the Congress, most systematically worked to make sure that we got to an Internet, and the truth is�and I worked with him starting in 1978 when I got [to Congress], we were both part of a �futures group��the fact is, in the Clinton administration, the world we had talked about in the �80s began to actually happen."

MUCH more: http://www.dailyhowler.com/dh120302.shtml

Odd that there's no indignation at all about the AP apparently using non-existent sources for war reporting. But then, unlike jokes about Al Gore, that wouldn't be blasphemy, would it?
Posted by: rnc

Gee rnc, this has only been debunked for a week now. You right wing dead-enders are truly pathetic.

In Sid Meier's game 'Civilization IV' the Icon that is displayed when your civilization creates the "Internet" world wonder has Al's face on it.

Vint Cerf himself has come out and said Gore had a big hand in creating the Internet. Let AP and the wingnuts howl. Reality has NEVER been the wingnuts strength and AP knows pandering to them keeps the flying feces to a minimum.

So the next time just say, "Yeah, Thank god for Al Gore." The 3 or 4 times I've gotten to use that it has shut them right up. Cerf's quote is a real bonus because then you get to rub their faces in feces they were about to fling.

Gee rnc, this has only been debunked for a week now. You right wing dead-enders are truly pathetic.

You might want to check that again. So far, nobody has come up with "Captain Jamil Hussein," and the only guy whose name is close, Jamil Ghdaab Gulaim, says he's never talked to AP.

The AP seems to be hoping if they just brazen this out long enough, it's going to go away. And that's just one example. Do we need to go to the Lebanon coverage? Incidentally, have you ever counted up how many of the news reports of bodies turning up in Iraq are sourced only from the police? No names, just "police."

I read the old Washington Monthly article and I found the Love Canal debunking convincing, but not the "I invented the Internet." I have also read Bob Somerby and found him very convincing on the whole "Gore grew up in a hotel" and other crap media spin, but neither has he said anything that convinces me about "I invented the Internet." I don't think you can win on this one, I'm very openminded and still.

PHILIP ELLIOTT: aiming to fill the vacuum left by John Solomon's departure.

He also voted for a highway bill, I suppose he took the lead in developing roads, engineers be damned, the smarts is all in the legislation. Congressional role in developing the internet? WTF is that? Hey companies, you can develop an internet, boy, saying that takes lots of time, guts, and ingenuity. Never mind "internets" have been around since the 60's. That's the funny part drummies, we know he never said he invented it, and we know it drives you nuts when we say it (kinda like the Bush plastic turkey thing). The hilarious part is your comeback - "He never said that!!! He said he paved the way for the development of the internet!!!" I'm not sure which is more pathetic.

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