[Prodigal Son]

"Al Gore left his stool and walked slowly, stiffly, toward his opponent, arms at his sides, palms pointed behind him, looking oddly like [a] robot. . . . Bush glanced over his shoulder, took a beat--and nodded once, as if to say: Hi there--be with you in a moment. The audience laughed, and Al Gore was finished for the night."

I watched the debates in England and I remember being struck at the bizarreness of what Gore did that night (the walking over to Bush thing). I was literally like "what is this idiot thinking?" At the moment, my gut reaction was that Gore was going to push Dubya or something, and I couldn't get over that, what did he want to do with that gesture? Did he expect Dubya to flinch or back away? The only thing that could've happened is the thing that did- he wound up looking like a total moron. Did his handlers tell him to do that or was he improvising?

[Pokey78]

It was an attempt at schoolyard intimidation, and it failed miserably. I was totally stunned when it happened.

That had to be an AlGore original. I don't think the DemocRat politcal gurus are that stupid.

[Bonaparte]

"Did his handlers tell him to do that or was he improvising?"

I believe that Naomi Wolfe and his daughter Karena were his handlers at the time, and they could have told him to do anything. As I recall, they were working on boosting his "alpha"index. That's probably what that bone-head move was all about.

However, Lehrer as moderator looked even worse than Gore. I honestly don't know why he was even there. He refused to hold Gore to the rules of debate.

[Nea Wood]

At the moment, my gut reaction was that Gore was going to push Dubya or something

Later on Barbara Bush said that she thought Al was going to hit George. LOL!

[anniegetyourgun]

Gore is a headcase, therefore I have to think he did this all on his own. I recall it well and it made him look like a schoolyard bully.

[billva]

I remember the night Gore walked over to Bush also. What a jerk he appeared to be. Wait, that shouldn't be appeared to be, it's a fact, he's a jerk.

Great article by the way.