Wednesday, July 04, 2007

This is not something I take any pleasure in reporting. Al Gore III, the son of the former vice president and current climate Cassandra has been arrested for possession of drugs. He was arrested after getting caught screaming down the highway in his Prius at 100 miles per hour.

I am trying to suppress my schadenfreude at the tragedy of the Gore family today, but I have to admit it's difficult. I have always found Al Gore to be one of the most fatuous individuals on the national and now international scene - a phony scientist, a phony filmmaker, a phony Internet inventor, I could go on and on - and the fact that his son was arrested today with a pharmacy's worth of painkillers in his car (plus a little grass) is no surprise. If the Gores were my parents, I'd want to medicate myself too. And make no mistake about it, young Gore was trying to medicate himself - not seeking enlightenment through drugs as many of us did in our time (not that we found much). You don't take Xanax and Valium for mind expansion.

In this case I have plenty of sympathy for the son and absolutely none for the father and mother.

I understand the impulse to treat politics as a bloodsport, but even those who prefer that mode should really limit their attacks to the combatants. Today's story about the arrest of Al Gore III provides a case in point:

The 24-year-old son of former Vice President Al Gore was arrested for drug possession on Wednesday after he was stopped for speeding in his hybrid Toyota Prius, a sheriff's official said.

Al Gore III -- whose father is a leading advocate of policies to fight global warming -- was driving his environmentally friendly car at about 100 miles per hour on a freeway south of Los Angeles when he was pulled over by an Orange County sheriff's deputy at about 2:15 a.m.

The deputy smelled marijuana and searched the car, said sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino. The search turned up a small amount of marijuana, along with prescription drugs including Valium, Xanax, Vicodin, Adderall and Soma. There were no prescriptions found, he said.

I know that some bloggers are having fun with this, and I don't mean to be too critical of my friends, but it's at the same level as the attacks on Jenna and Barbara Bush. We may dislike Al Gore's policies and sanctimony, but that shouldn't apply to his son. His misfortunes tell us nothing about his father's policy or sanctimony, and as an adult, Al III answers for himself. Attacking Gore through his son amounts to a cheap shot.