Lisa English over at RuminateThis was impressed with Al Gore's political comments on NPR yesterday. We saw and heard him on Larry King Live last night and had the same reaction as Lisa:

"...what captured my attention most were the comments both Gores had about the Election of 2004 and politics in general. Gore came across as a very human, engaging, brilliant and funny guy. If the race were to be run today, and the candidates leaving the starting blocks were those who've already indicated a desire or semi-interest in running, I've gotta tell you...Gore's looking damn good. He's not sounding like every other lefty politician, and maybe...just maybe...he does have it what it takes. This after all, is the guy who won more votes than any Democratic presidential candidate in US history, not to mention the fact that he beat George Bush by more than half a million popular ballots cast. Like I said...he's looking damn good."

We thought Gorewas surpisingly animated and unrehearsed --he had great comments opposing Bush's foreign policy and economic plans, and most important to us, he sharply rebuked the Bush administration for its civil liberties violations since Sept. 11--down to stating that if the TIA (Total Information Awareness) program were not removed from the Homeland Security Bill, he would have voted down "the whole dern thing."

We gained a whole new respect for Al last night. Now, if he'd only come out for a moratorium on the death penalty, or at least for the Innocence Protection Act, we might be actively supporting him rather than just praising him.

We also liked that he's still friends with Bill and went out of his way to describe their closeness since the 2000 elections. If Al will continue to say what he really thinks instead of what he thinks he is supposed to say, we'd say he's very much still in the ballgame.