DeTomaso Mailing List: November 2000, Message #236

	(but it still doesn't mean bush ain't an idiot!)  ;~)

	Al Gore About Himself
	 
	==========================================================
	Good afternoon. I'm Al Gore, and I'd like to tell you about myself.
	I know a lot about hardship, because I came into this world as a
poor
	black child in a tiny town in the backwoods of Tennessee. I was born
in a log
	cabin that I built with my own hands. I taught myself to read by
candle-light
	and helped support my 16 brothers and sisters by working summers as
a
	deck hand on a Mississippi River steamboat.

	My mother taught me the value of education, so every day; I would
walk
	5 miles to a one-room schoolhouse. I was a mischievous, fun-loving
	scamp, thought I never dreamed that one-day, my youthful escapades
would
	serve as the inspiration for "Huckleberry Finn."

	Back then, black folks in the south were second-class citizens.  One
day, a
	traveling minister came through town, and I asked him if anyone was
ever
	going to do something to guarantee civil rights for all Americans.
Well, I
	guess I made an impression. You see, the minister's name was Martin
	Luther King, Jr.
	 
	My father was a United States Senator. He once perched me on his
knee
	and said, "Son, if you work hard and listen to your mama, someday
you
	can live in a hotel in Washington, D.C., and go to an exclusive prep
school."
	But life of privilege was not for me. After getting my high school
diploma, I
	took a job in a hot, dirty textile mill. I was so appalled at the
treatment of the
	workers there that I organized a union. Later, that experience
inspired a
	movie - which is why, to this day, my close friends at the AFL-CIO
call me 
	"Norma Rae."

	When word got out what an 18 year old factory worker had done,
Harvard
	called and offered me a scholarship. I captained the hockey team to
4
	consecutive national championships, but I also played football and
was
	good enough to win the Heisman Trophy. During my college years, I
lived
	in a housing project and moonlighted playing lead guitar for a
little rock
	band.  You may have heard of it -- the Rolling Stones.
	 
	But there was a war going on, and I felt I had to serve my country.
So I
	enlisted in the U. S. Army and went to Vietnam. I was deeply opposed
to
	the war, but I did my duty as a soldier and came back home with the
	Congressional Medal of Honor and the Croix de Guerre.

	When I got back, I took a long journey across this great land of
ours.  I've
	crossed the deserts bare, man, I've breathed the mountain air, man,
I've
	traveled, I've done my share, man, I've been everywhere. And the
people I
	met at truckstops and campgrounds and homeless shelters on that
journey
	all said the same thing: "Al, we need you in Washington."

	I knew they were right, but first I had to take care of some other
business
	---building the World Trade Center, founding the Audubon Society,
doing the
	clinical research that proved smoking caused cancer, and coming up
with the
	recipe for Mrs. Field's chocolate chip cookies.

	Finally, I deferred to the demands of the people of Tennessee and
allowed
	them to elect me to the House of Representatives and the Senate,
where I
	established the US Strategic Oil Reserve. And then one winter day
nearly 9
	years ago, for no particular reason, I answered the call of the
people once
	again and took the oath of office as Vice President of the United
States.

	Since then, I've been part of the most successful administration
inAmerican
	history. And, in my spare time, I invented the Internet.  Many times
Bill
	Clinton has been pondering some grave decision and has asked me what
to
	do. And when I would give him my thoughts, he would invariably say,
"Of
	course. That's brilliant. Why didn't I think of that?" During the
darkest days
	of the impeachment battle, the President told me he only wished he
had
	listened when I told him to stay away from that dark-haired intern.

	So after I decided to run for President, I sat down with him and
asked if he
	had any suggestions about how to conduct my campaign. And Bill
Clinton
	gave me a few simple words of advice -- words I'll never forget.  He
looked	
	me in the eye and he said, "Al, just tell the truth, it's always
worked for me."