4 more years of 'Scamalot'?

Let me begin, again, with my standard caveat on political columns: I
don't have a dog in this presidential race. (And, believe me, there are
some dogs in this race.)

So, when I tell you that one candidate is lying through his teeth and
knows it, please don't suppose I am supporting another candidate. I have
not endorsed any candidate personally, nor has WorldNetDaily, nor do we
expect to do so.

I have written that I personally cannot vote for either Al Gore or
George W. Bush because neither will faithfully execute the limited
duties of president as described by the Constitution.

Having said all that, I've got to tell you that Vice president Al
Gore, despite all the lovey-dovey, family-man propaganda we witnessed at
the Democratic National Convention last week, is carrying the torch of
his lying mentor, Bill Clinton, exceedingly well.

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Let me give you one example of many.

Jim Guirard Jr., a Washington attorney and government affairs
consultant, notable for coining the endearing term "Scamalot" for the
Clinton years, has done a little research on Gore's claim that "Texas is
the most polluted state."

Interesting that Gore would make this claim about Texas, while
showing very little concern about the environmental state of affairs in
his own backyard.

On a "square mile for square mile" basis, Al Gore's home state of
Tennessee produces 3.1 times more toxic emissions than does Texas. On a
per-capita basis, it produces 1.6 times more. And while Texas has
reduced emissions by 47 percent over the last decade, Tennessee has done
so by only 38 percent.

Here's the hard data, according to Bill Clinton's own Environmental
Protection Agency:

• In 1998, Texas toxic emissions totaled 169,996,600 pounds,
  while the much smaller Tennessee produced 78,245,857 pounds.

• Texas' emissions per square mile equaled 617 pounds, while
  Tennessee's were a whopping 1,898 pounds.

• Texas' emissions per capita were 9.2 pounds, while Tennessee's
  were 14.6 pounds.

• According to the EPA's "Toxics Release Inventory" tabulations,
  there are several other states whose emissions also exceed the Texas
  levels when weighed against relative state sizes and populations.

Maybe, you say, this is a small thing -- the kind of hyperbole
that's used in political campaigns routinely. Unfortunately that's all
too true. But only since Clinton and Gore came on the scene has such
distortion and manipulation of statistics become the very bedrock of
presidential campaigns.

Frankly, it seems to me, Bill Clinton and Al Gore literally don't
know how to talk to the public without lying. Lying is the essence of
what they do. It is their profession. They have raised deception to a
high political art. Textbooks will some day be written, I believe, about
how these men conned the American public.

Even sadder is the fact that most of the American press establishment
fails to challenge the lies. True, they come so fast and furious, it's
difficult to keep up. Yet, no serious person can doubt that somewhere
around 90 percent of the media elite voted for Clinton and somewhere
around that same percentage will vote for his hand-picked successor.

In one sense, Gore strikes me as a more dangerous demagogue than
Clinton. Both fan the flames of phony crises -- environmental, health,
financial -- to lay the groundwork for their non-solutions that, not
coincidentally, pave the way for their own empowerment. But Gore
actually seems to believe his own lying rhetoric, while Clinton just
seems to be the consummate actor playing a part.

Did you hear Gore's speech on the closing night of the convention? It
was a 30-minute prescription for statist intervention in every aspect of
our lives. As corrupt as Clinton is, he always camouflages his extremist
agenda far more skillfully and cleverly. In fact, I'm not even sure
Clinton has a real political agenda other than his own empowerment. Gore
actually does. He is a true believer. He is, like Hillary, an ideologue.
He is, like his Unabomber fan, an extremist.

How bad is he? How much worse even than Clinton? I think the answer
hit me while reading

an interview with my friend Ward Connerly in
WorldNetDaily yesterday.

He thinks Gore is even meaner than Clinton. He says if Gore is elected he will seriously think about moving out of the country. Ward Connerly, I have to tell you, is not a man who makes such statements lightly or without thinking. He says just what he means.

Gore says what he means, too. When he lies, which is frequently, he knows it and means it.