Why, after all, was Mr. Gore’s popular-vote margin in the 2000 election narrow enough that he could be denied the White House? Any account that neglects the determination of some journalists to make him a figure of ridicule misses a key part of the story. Why were those journalists so determined to jeer Mr. Gore? Because of the very qualities that allowed him to realize the importance of global warming, many years before any other major political figure: his earnestness, and his genuine interest in facts, numbers and serious analysis.
And so the 2000 campaign ended up being about the candidates’ clothing, their mannerisms, anything but the issues, on which Mr. Gore had a clear advantage (and about which his opponent was clearly both ill informed and dishonest).
Or, as The Daily Howler sums up Krugman’s point:
Why did those idiots [in the press] sit and jeer Gore—then invent all those stories about him? (Al Gore said he discovered Love Canal!) Krugman offers an explanation. He suggests they hated Gore because they’re idiots—and because Gore isn’t.
Yeah, every time I hear some clown chuckle about how, “Al Gore said he invented the Internet,” I set him straight (whether he wants to be set straight, or not).
What he really said was perfectly fair and rational, and the press decided to make a joke out of it, and him, for reasons unknown to me.