Right wingers owe Al Gore an apology

From working for change:

Indeed, Mr. Gore became a safe, easy target for every Republican politician and every right-wing commentator, who brandished Earth in the Balance as if it were The Communist Manifesto. “This is a book written by an extremist, and it's filled with extremism …. He wants to do away with the automobile as we know it today,” complained Jim Nicholson, then the Republican national chairman (and now the Secretary of Veterans Affairs). What was once the most controversial recommendation in Mr. Gore's book-phasing out that infernal combustion engine- is today the official objective of the Bush administration.

And, of course, the same hacks who shrieked back then about the damage this radical change would inflict on the American economy would surely praise President Bush for his farsighted leadership.

Now that nearly everyone else acknowledges Mr. Gore's point, however grudgingly, those who attacked him so viciously owe him copious apologies. He would be wiser, unfortunately, to anticipate further assaults instead. The inevitable intrusion of reality has restored his stature, but the mean character of his enemies remains depressingly the same.

I remember during the 2000 campaign that was the right wingers main arguement against Gore, that he was some sort of environmental extremist. If Gore does decide to run for president in 08, and that's a huge if, i wonder how they'll try to smear him since their biggest arguement against him has been taken away.