Posted 10:46 AM by Scoobie Davis

Blast from the Past
I was sad to hear about Al and Tipper Gore's recent separation after 40 years of marriage. This reminds me of a conversation I had with Rush Limbaugh during the 2000 campaign. Even though it was ten years ago, the 2000 presidential campaign was in a very different media atmosphere: the right had a very strong echo chamber and the meme from the right was that Al Gore was a habitual liar; unfortunately, Media Matters for America was yet to exist, the blogosphere was very young, and MSNBC had a weak lineup. For a good media postmortem of the 2000 election, click here.

One small bright spot during the campaign was when Rush Limbaugh devoted a program to Gore supporters. I got past the screener by not sounding particularly bright and then I kicked Limbaugh's fat ass all over the place (for the transcript, check out my modestly named blog on the subject).

Addendum: Some things don't change One of the low points of the 2000 was the unethical reporting of then-Moonie Times operative Bill Sammon. Sammon attempted to create the phony "Floodgate" non-scandal. Also, The Daily Howler uncovered blatent journalistic misconduct in Sammon's book about the campaign. Not only was Sammon not punished for these misdeeds but has since become vice president of News and Washington managing editor of Fox News; Sammon and Fox News are a good match.