One can only speculate as to why Albert Gore decided to stay hip even though he's no longer a candidate. Could it be that he still craves the approval of those who almost brought him to the dance -- but for the dastardly and decidedly "unhip" (at least as to the Bush vs. Gore decision) United States Supreme Court?
But why should we expect Al Gore to treat himself with respect? When former President Clinton could have oral sex in the Oval Office without risking the support of his party's base, we can be pretty sure that not much is sacred in that party anymore.
Indeed, the more disrespectful you are to traditional values, the more you prostitute yourself to the pop culture, the better you fare in the Democratic environment. That's why Howard Dean can not only proclaim his pro-choice credentials with political impunity. He can rhetorically elevate the depraved procedure of partial birth abortion to a sacred right.
That's why on the day President Bush signed the bill banning the practice Dean was able to say fearlessly, "Today marks a sad day for American women, who are seeing their reproductive freedoms restricted by a president acting in concert with a right-wing congress. As this controversy moves to the judicial system, we are reminded anew of the importance of electing a pro-choice president next year."
That's why Dean can say -- disingenuously -- that "This law will chill the practice of medicine and endanger the health of countless women."
And that's why hapless candidate General Wesley Clark can remind us of his military credentials 'til he's blue in the face and it won't do him any good with the Democratic Party, whose love affair with the military ended years ago.
We're definitely living in a divided America, with one half (and hopefully more) still clinging to those things almost every American once held sacred, and the remainder having "graduated" to become "progressives." The 2004 election will not only be a contest between the presidential candidates, but a referendum on America's values.