Enquirer Says Gore MassageGate Accuser Asked for $1 Million

By Jeralyn, Section Media
Posted on Thu Jun 24, 2010 at 11:12:27 PM EST
Tags: Al Gore (all tags)

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Howard Kurtz at the Washington Post reports that the Enquirer says the masseuse accusing Al Gore of sexual improprieties asked for $1 million for her story. It says it decided not to pay her anything and conducted only a brief interview with her, verified some facts (like Al Gore was in Portland and the woman had billed the hotel for his massage) and then wrote the story mostly from police reports.

The accuser told police she had no interest in money. Here's what she says in her January, 2009 police statement on page 22:

I consulted with an attorney as this was so overwhelming and I felt the need to understand my rights and choices in a private setting. Since all I have ever been interested in with this situation is stopping this from happening to others, I decided I was not interested in making any money from this case.

I did not want to be labeled a gold digger like women in this situation are often labeled. And I don't care about judgments for money and some army of lawyers fighting another army of lawyers who would not bring back my pre-assault sense of peace and safety. I don't want to be bought off into silence. I only want Justice and having this ugly thing come out of the shadows and into the light where it cannot continue any more. And for this man to be stopped from what he has been doing which should have been done a long time ago. I know that I'm not the first Woman to be assaulted by him.

[More...]

My guts told me that when I was struggling in the room with him and I stand by it today. I hope the others will feel brave enough to come forward in spite of his public stature and army of lawyers. I even wonder who he may have already paid off to shut them up. I believe if someone has spoken up before, this would have not happened to me. And I feel like I must speak up to prevent, if I can, Some other woman from going through what I went through or worse.

He should not get a free pass merely because of his position. People in power are not to be given a license to behave in ways that the rest of us are not, to be above the law and to abuse women through criminal acts. Women like me and others out there in this world with their precious jobs working and just doing their best, trying to make a living, keep a roof over their heads and put bread on their tables. I want this behavior stopped and I want people to know who he really is and what he's done. And this is not just my story but this is the story of women in the world and how it is I really think this is and it needs to stop.

Howard Kurtz also reports:

According to a source friendly with the Gores, Al Gore confirmed that he received a therapeutic massage in his hotel room that night, and likely from the therapist making the accusation. But, the source said, Gore remembers getting a massage without incident and the therapist leaving on good terms.

How long before Gloria Allred is retained to come to the woman's defense?

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Enquirer Says Gore MassageGate Accuser Asked for $1 Million | 73 comments (73 topical)

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How long before Gloria Allred is retained (5.00 / 3) (#2)
by FoxholeAtheist on Thu Jun 24, 2010 at 11:32:54 PM EST

to come to the woman's defense? Dunno.

I'm more concerned about how long it will take for Al Gore to get his reputation back after the hellacious hazing he's been subjected to in the past 24 hours.

One might get the impression that there is a pernicious trend toward overnight take-downs of venerable progressive icons -- just when we need them the most.

I doubt his reputation will suffer (5.00 / 2) (#4)
by Jeralyn on Thu Jun 24, 2010 at 11:42:34 PM EST

much from this unsubstantiated rambling accusation. It will be joke fodder for late night for a few days and then disappear. It's the woman whose reputation will be ruined as soon as the papers which know her name but haven't printed it come up with dirt on her.


We'll see... (5.00 / 4) (#7)
by FoxholeAtheist on Fri Jun 25, 2010 at 12:07:34 AM EST

It's hard to imagine that this media wilding won't damage Gore's public image to some degree, isn't it?

At the very least, I expect it has been a personally harrowing experience for him. And it's hard to imagine that he will take a highly visible stance on something as politically sensitive as the BP Oil Spill any time in the near future.

Although I'd certainly love to be proven wrong on that!


He's a Big Boy (3.50 / 2) (#8)
by squeaky on Fri Jun 25, 2010 at 12:13:13 AM EST

At the very least, I expect it has been a personally harrowing experience for him.

I am sure that someone who has been through what Gore has been through, regarding the public, has a strong enough ego to brush this off as nothing.

IOW, if this was personally harrowing for him, he would have left the public sphere a loooong time ago. Thick skin is part of the standard issue equipment for people as renown as he is.


That's too facile to warrant any further response. (5.00 / 3) (#9)
by FoxholeAtheist on Fri Jun 25, 2010 at 01:24:31 AM EST

: lol (none / 0) (#15)
by squeaky on Fri Jun 25, 2010 at 09:42:28 AM EST

Some things are simple, and obvious, you are right.

Reputation? (3.00 / 3) (#3)
by squeaky on Thu Jun 24, 2010 at 11:39:43 PM EST

how long it will take for Al Gore to get his reputation back

Reputation for what?

And, more to the point, I do not believe that Gore has lost any standing or that his reputation has slid one iota. This will be forgotten in a week. It is celebrity gossip. Even the Enquirer seemed to think it sketchy.


Why don't you tell me. (none / 0) (#5)
by FoxholeAtheist on Thu Jun 24, 2010 at 11:52:22 PM EST

You're the one (Squeaky) who just said:

I do not believe that Gore has lost any standing or that his reputation has slid one iota.

(My emphasis.) What "reputation" did you have in mind when you said it wouldn't be damaged?


: The One You Refer To (5.00 / 1) (#6)
by squeaky on Thu Jun 24, 2010 at 11:56:22 PM EST

Elliot will have his own show on CNN (none / 0) (#27)
by BarnBabe on Fri Jun 25, 2010 at 11:40:47 AM EST

And that was a proven story. This one. Hazy at best. If she was so astounded by anyone's advances, she would have packed up her oils and left and immediately reported an incident to the hotel. Instead she claimed she tried to find a spot that would put him to sleep. She stayed. Not about money? A million dollars? To the National Enquirer which has no qualms about exposing anyone? Editorial rights at a newspaper? Maybe she is being truthful or maybe she is related to the balloon guy.


The Portland Tribune... (5.00 / 2) (#10)
by Romberry on Fri Jun 25, 2010 at 02:06:46 AM EST

...had some interesting things to say yesterday both to Salon and on their own site. I recommend both stories. Links follow.

Salon: How one paper tried, and failed, to confirm Al Gore sex allegations

Portland Tribune: Our decision on Gore story based on evidence, responsibility

: Here's hoping we start to see more stories (none / 0) (#40)
by FoxholeAtheist on Fri Jun 25, 2010 at 02:41:10 PM EST

that highlight the kind of context-driven, de-sensationalized information put forward in the two sources you've cited Rom.
Salon's Eli Sanders, and the investigative journalists at the Portland Tribune, quite effectively undermine the veracity of the allegations and affirm the absence of any wrongdoing by Gore. (Which, of course, is the same conclusion reached by the police who didn't file charges because they also found no evidence to support the allegations.)
This kind of emphasis on the details of the exculpatory evidence would seem to fit well with the TL mission to defend the rights of the accused.
The following portion is particularly well-stated, from the Salon story How one paper tried, and failed, to confirm Al Gore sex allegations:
Using a combination of sources and shoe leather, the Tribune spent a year tracking down the alleged victim, reaching out to associates of hers and of Gore, and learning about their habits and their accounts of the evening in question. The paper went so far as to take out ads on Craigslist searching for more potential victims in other cities that Gore had visited. But in the end, the Tribune could not put together a story that met its standards of journalistic responsibility.
We'd be in much better shape if the Washington Post and their ilk held themselves to the standards of the Portland Tribune!

oh my jeralyn, there's (5.00 / 2) (#11)
by cpinva on Fri Jun 25, 2010 at 02:12:33 AM EST

much more to kurtz's story than mere lack of payment:

esquire didn't trouble themselves to contact mr. gore, for his side, for "competative reasons".
their story relies primarily on the police report, which is, conveniently, solely the lady in question's story.
they only briefly interviewed the accuser. again, getting solely her story.

all of which adds up to...................nothing. nothing but allegations lacking even sufficient basis in provable fact, that the oregon police didn't bother wasting mr. gore's time even asking him for his "side".

once again, the enquirer has publicly displayed its complete lack of anything remotely resembling journalistic standards.

color me stunned.

: Not Esquire but Enquirer, no? (nt) (5.00 / 1) (#65)
by good grief on Fri Jun 25, 2010 at 08:57:02 PM EST

Thank you - this sets my teeth on edge, too. (5.00 / 1) (#17)
by Anne on Fri Jun 25, 2010 at 10:08:41 AM EST

"Watergate" wasn't about "water," it was the name of a hotel, for heaven's sake, where a crime took place.

Doesn't seem to matter; "-gate" it is for everything.

: Yes (none / 0) (#19)
by squeaky on Fri Jun 25, 2010 at 10:17:47 AM EST

Like "saran wrap" "tin foil" et al., "gate" has become the generic suffix to connote scandal involving politicians.

Beyond journalistic laziness and (5.00 / 1) (#21)
by brodie on Fri Jun 25, 2010 at 10:27:04 AM EST

concerns about language usage, attaching "gate" to every sleazy set of unsubstantiated allegations that manages to get published connotes an elevation of the story to a status of real scandal that it doesn't deserve.

Unlike Watergate, this one is not worthy of front-page blog story status except to clearly indicate its utter one-sidedness and baselessness.

I wish this one hadn't been run so prominently here, or had been framed with a more clearly skeptical and even sarcastic attitude. But, hey, it's not my blog, and I post here only at the blogmeister's sufferance.

Sex smears are a tested tactic (5.00 / 1) (#28)
by KD on Fri Jun 25, 2010 at 11:42:58 AM EST

Remember how Paula Jones upended Bill Clinton's Presidency with no proof of wrong-doing other than her say-so? I don't think Gore would forget that so quickly.

Also, if the allegation were true, why wait four years to go to the press? And by her own description, the allegation amounts to little more than an unwanted pass.

(I say this even after having been burned by that idiot Edwards, who suckered me into contributing to his campaign!)

Why? (none / 0) (#29)
by squeaky on Fri Jun 25, 2010 at 11:53:01 AM EST

It appears that she was holding out for a big payoff.. Once it was clear that that was not going to happen, she decided to go public with the hope of getting her 15 minutes, and the $$ that may follow.

No doubt that her name will be public rather soon.


But why hold out? (none / 0) (#30)
by KD on Fri Jun 25, 2010 at 12:02:32 PM EST

After 2006, Gore wrote a book, got an Oscar for his movie, got a Nobel Prize.... Why not come out with the charges back then? Why now?


: Not Sure (none / 0) (#31)
by squeaky on Fri Jun 25, 2010 at 12:16:01 PM EST

But if she couldn't cash in earlier, maybe she thought that she could do it now. Statute of limitations, are four years but longer for those not from the state.. so, not sure..
In any case the story is out and she could not get the Enquirer to pay, so she may be thrashing now hoping that with some PR she someone will pay her for an exclusive interview.
Certainly, her spiel about her reason for going public now, is less than convincing, to be generous.

: Tiger Woods and John Edwards. (none / 0) (#73)
by oculus on Fri Jun 25, 2010 at 11:20:46 PM EST

What happened in January 2009 that made (5.00 / 3) (#33)
by esmense on Fri Jun 25, 2010 at 12:18:36 PM EST

this woman decide to tell her story to the police?

A Democrat became president.

Is it likely she assumed that Gore might enjoy some position in the new administration, or other public role, that could make her story valuable to the media and to the political opposition alike? Hence her decision to get her story on the record? I think so.

That didn't happen, of course, but, given her asking price, it seems obvious she hoped the Gore divorce would finally provide the money-making opportunity she was looking for.

Of course, she could always just be trying to profit from the truth.

The fact that she has devoted some time to trying to figure out how to make money from her experience with Gore doesn't mean that experience isn't as she has described it.

My reasons for doubting her have nothing to do with assumptions about her or Gore's character -- neither of which I'm in any position to judge.

I just think that given the political and media environment we've enjoyed for the last 20 years, and the benefits such scandals provide for the political opposition, if Gore was the boorish, clueless, personally reckless person described in her statement, we would have definitely found out about it long ago (at a time when such knowledge would have been much more politically useful).

Why mock a man for "inventing the internet" when you can destroy him with reports of his behavior with licensed massage therapists?

I find MassageGate every bit as offensive as (5.00 / 3) (#41)
by FoxholeAtheist on Fri Jun 25, 2010 at 02:45:25 PM EST

the term "Abortion-Doctor", routinely used herein to characterize the life's work of the late Dr. George Tiller.

: Well, Then (2.33 / 3) (#42)
by squeaky on Fri Jun 25, 2010 at 02:48:59 PM EST

Your fainting couch must need reupholstering every two weeks.
Keeps the economy going, no doubt.

: don't go off topic please (none / 0) (#67)
by Jeralyn on Fri Jun 25, 2010 at 09:49:41 PM EST

this is about the Al Gore/masseuse allegations.

A Million Bucks (none / 0) (#1)
by squeaky on Thu Jun 24, 2010 at 11:29:13 PM EST

Puts a lot of bread on the table, so to speak... lol

Women like me and others out there in this world with their precious jobs working and just doing their best, trying to make a living, keep a roof over their heads and put bread on their tables.

Seems to be the give away line, imo. Nothing about the children though, but I guess that would have been too obvious.

The chiiiiiiiiiiiiiiildren! (none / 0) (#20)
by Radiowalla on Fri Jun 25, 2010 at 10:25:21 AM EST

What should we tell the chiiiiiiiiiildren?!


Tell them (none / 0) (#22)
by jbindc on Fri Jun 25, 2010 at 10:33:57 AM EST

If you are a famous person, with lots of enemies (or if you have a lot to lose - like money and reputation), don't put yourself in a position where someone can take advantage of you or accuse you of a crime.

If you are a person in a clearly inferior position, don't put yourself in a position where someone can take advantage of you or hurt you and believe that they won't be caught or punished.

That's what I'd tell the children.


So basically... (5.00 / 2) (#25)
by ks on Fri Jun 25, 2010 at 11:35:38 AM EST

You'd give the children a vague slogan. "Put yourself in a position..."

In this case that would mean, don't get a massage in your hotel room or don't give a massage in a hotel room. Neither one of those things are unusual in the least.


Uh, (none / 0) (#26)
by jbindc on Fri Jun 25, 2010 at 11:36:56 AM EST

I'd tell the children to be aware of the situations they put themselves in, especially if there's a chance someone could do them harm.

Actually, I think that's good advice for adults too.


: Maybe Al should've (5.00 / 1) (#32)
by jondee on Fri Jun 25, 2010 at 12:16:46 PM EST

reread Machievelli: for a reminder that when you're an influential, somewhat controversial figure in politics, having a target afixed to one's back at all times is a given.
Or he could've just consulted the Clinton-Spitzer-Hart archives.

I fail to see the relevance of Al Gore's (none / 0) (#13)
by Compound F on Fri Jun 25, 2010 at 06:45:53 AM EST

tallywhacker to...anything.

Grimace.

Shrug.

Speaking only for me.

Circle of Earnings (none / 0) (#14)
by Untold Story on Fri Jun 25, 2010 at 09:27:31 AM EST

Inquirer, Gloria, victim and lawyers - and, of course the media! What a way to earn a living!

Perhaps if just a tiny bit of this publicity was geared toward the 'War', all of America might realize young innocent men and women are losing their lives every day.

Wish CNN would dedicate a half hour toward the reality of war instead of another lame political chatter program already being given by Fox 24/7.

Just wondering how many men who are not named (none / 0) (#16)
by ruffian on Fri Jun 25, 2010 at 09:43:20 AM EST

Al Gore get reported to the police for similar behavior with masseuses. I don't believe this is uncommon.

Sounds like you have (none / 0) (#18)
by Radiowalla on Fri Jun 25, 2010 at 10:17:46 AM EST

already concluded that the masseuse's story is true.


: Nope, I really haven't (none / 0) (#23)
by ruffian on Fri Jun 25, 2010 at 10:56:08 AM EST

But if Gore ends up getting prosecuted, they better prosecute all the others too.

: The accuser says (none / 0) (#24)
by ruffian on Fri Jun 25, 2010 at 11:00:09 AM EST

He should not get a free pass merely because of his position. People in power are not to be given a license to behave in ways that the rest of us are not, to be above the law and to abuse women through criminal acts.
I agree with her, but also think people not in power should be just as likely to have her go public with accusations and police reports. Or is she just interested in the publicity of accusing a powerful man?

The bottomilne: (none / 0) (#34)
by jondee on Fri Jun 25, 2010 at 12:32:29 PM EST

train wrecks and eight car pile ups sell. And waving "gates" in peoples faces is like using wet tee shirts to sell Bud Lite.

Getting the marks to scarf it up like hotcakes is all that matters.

An entire two days has gone by (none / 0) (#35)
by sarcastic unnamed one on Fri Jun 25, 2010 at 12:39:41 PM EST

An entire two days has gone by since the world learned of a masseuse's allegations of "unwanted sexual contact" by Al Gore in 2006.
So what does Al Gore have to say about it?
As with the Laurie David rumors, he's only speaking through friends, and not surprisingly, he has decided not to corroborate the masseuse's otherwise unprovable version of events.
The Washington Post's Howard Kurtz reports:
According to a source friendly with the Gores, Al Gore confirmed that he received a therapeutic massage in his hotel room that night, and likely from the therapist making the accusation.
But, the source said, Gore remembers getting a massage without incident and the therapist leaving on good terms.

diogenes theorem (none / 0) (#37)
by diogenes on Fri Jun 25, 2010 at 01:11:36 PM EST

"...According to a source friendly with the Gores, Al Gore confirmed that he received a therapeutic massage in his hotel room that night, and likely from the therapist making the accusation."

What in heaven's name is he doing getting "therapeutic massages" in hotel rooms from women? I doubt that that is the one and only time that he has done such a thing, although Mr. Gore has yet to comment on the frequency of such events. Perhaps he can call on an army of past massage therapists who he has seen and whom he presumably treated in a completely gentlemanly manner.


Heck, I'm not even ... (5.00 / 0) (#49)
by sj on Fri Jun 25, 2010 at 04:20:09 PM EST

... a person of wealth and celebrity and I've had a two-hour massage by a member of the opposite gender. If I could have afforded 3 hours at the end of that week I probably would have done that.

And I didn't specify man/woman when booking the massage -- only the length of time. When I made the arrangements I expected that the masseuse/masseur would be on the up and up. I surely didn't expect to get a little extra for my money.

For cryin' out loud, a true-blue massage is the norm and the little extra is the exception. It is so not a scandalous thing that he booked a massage.


: Yes (none / 0) (#50)
by squeaky on Fri Jun 25, 2010 at 04:26:19 PM EST

Me too, I did once have a 3 hour massage, it was great, and no extras. But that doesn't mean that there is a fine line in that service industry. From what I have heard, the percentage of masseuses who provide extras is much higher than you prefer to believe.
For the masseuse to know what the code for sex regarding chakra point appears to bolster the point that extras are quite common.

Hard-working people of (none / 0) (#44)
by gyrfalcon on Fri Jun 25, 2010 at 03:20:11 PM EST

enormous lifelong wealth and celebrity live different lives with vastly different expectations than you and I. If I had to travel a lot and keep up a public face most of my life, etc., and I had vast amounts of money, I could get very attached to having serious massages in my time off.

But I sure as heck wouldn't ever put myself in the position of being half-naked in a private room for three hours with someone I didn't know unless it was in a doctor's office.


And (none / 0) (#48)
by jbindc on Fri Jun 25, 2010 at 03:43:35 PM EST

if you were in a doctor's office, especially with an opposite-gender doctor, chances are there would be a female assistant/nurse in there with you.


Here (none / 0) (#53)
by MKS on Fri Jun 25, 2010 at 04:44:12 PM EST

is a page from the website of the Four Seasons in Las Vegas.

The top end of hotels gets you a massage for $155. You also have a couples massage for $320. There is a maternity massage.

Any hotel will have an in-house spa or a referral service for massages...

And there are gazillions of day spas.....

I was surprised that so many people think this is odd or only for the super rich.


And who is the clientele (none / 0) (#71)
by gyrfalcon on Fri Jun 25, 2010 at 11:15:14 PM EST

for the Four Seasons hotels, please? Ordinary folks don't stay in them to begin with unless they're on their honeymoon or one heck of a good business expense account.

I think massages are a great thing and if I could afford them, I'd get them regularly too. But the vast majority of us don't check into expensive hotels and book massages as a routine matter. That's all I'm saying. It's a different world.


: I used to get massages regularly (none / 0) (#74)
by oculus on Fri Jun 25, 2010 at 11:25:50 PM EST

from a female masseuse. I went to a place she shared with a physical therapy practice. She told me she stopped doing massages in hotel rooms of upscale hotels. Why? Men frequently expected and demanded more than a massage and she was not willing to cater to their demands/requests.

: That's the high end (none / 0) (#78)
by MKS on Sat Jun 26, 2010 at 01:22:23 PM EST

There less expensive massages.....
Any Marriott Hotel will be able to book a massage....
Maybe it is a West Coast v. East Coast issue.....The East Coast steeped in the lore of massage parlors run by the local Mafia.
Very common on the West Coast.......

Massages are a common (none / 0) (#51)
by MKS on Fri Jun 25, 2010 at 04:33:35 PM EST

service at nicer hotels.

We are decades past the tee-hee reaction to massages....There are many, many people who earn a living as massage therapists....The days of massage parlors as houses of prostitution are long over.....

And, it is not uncommon to have an opposite sex masseuse.....


Apparently not so common at his hotel... (none / 0) (#52)
by sarcastic unnamed one on Fri Jun 25, 2010 at 04:43:33 PM EST

He found her on craigslist.


: Mr. Google uses Craig's List (none / 0) (#54)
by MKS on Fri Jun 25, 2010 at 04:48:48 PM EST

The fact that he had a massage seems fine. Nothing unuusal about that....
That he would go to Craig's List doesn't seem unusual either....A lot of people use Craig's List for legitimate purposes...

: Cite? (none / 0) (#56)
by Shawn on Fri Jun 25, 2010 at 06:09:49 PM EST

: Sez who? (none / 0) (#69)
by gyrfalcon on Fri Jun 25, 2010 at 11:11:01 PM EST

The police report says he booked the massage through the hotel.
What are you talking about?

: I retract this comment, Gore did get her (none / 0) (#70)
by sarcastic unnamed one on Fri Jun 25, 2010 at 11:11:33 PM EST

through the hotel.

According to her statement she only spent (none / 0) (#58)
by esmense on Fri Jun 25, 2010 at 06:49:53 PM EST

a little over two hours with Gore, including time setting up and breaking down equipment, fending off unwanted attentions, being forced to listen to Pink, etc. So, it seems a little unclear as to whether he actually did arrange for a 3 hour massage. Also, the massage therapist was chosen, contacted by and paid by the hotel -- no one has reported whether Gore specified gender.

According to the Portland Tribune, which spent months researching the story back in 2007, Gore, wisely or not, makes a practice of getting hotel room massages (the Tribune even ran Craigslist ads in cities Gore was known to have visited in an effort to get other massage therapists to come forward with complaints, but none did).

I tend to agree that given the vicious political and media climate of the times, fairly or not, political figures probably should cross hotel room massages off their list of acceptable indulgences.


: Can you link to the Portland Triibune's (5.00 / 1) (#64)
by sarcastic unnamed one on Fri Jun 25, 2010 at 08:30:48 PM EST

research that showed that Gore makes a practice of hotel room massages? I could not google it.

And, it turns out the massage therapist is 54 y/o. (none / 0) (#36)
by sarcastic unnamed one on Fri Jun 25, 2010 at 12:46:40 PM EST

Which, to me, could very well change the entire dynamic. Call me ageist.

With a blond wig (none / 0) (#38)
by jondee on Fri Jun 25, 2010 at 01:58:57 PM EST

and a penchant for "wholesome" rock lyrics?


It happens (none / 0) (#39)
by jbindc on Fri Jun 25, 2010 at 02:06:59 PM EST

I have a relative, late 30's, whose husband was well known where they lived (a public figure) - his picture was always in the paper. My relative was attractive, built nicely, educated, and had a good, professional job. Her husband cheated on her with a woman who was about 15 years older than she was, long grey hair, way too many days in the sun, and about 300 pounds. Of course, since he was well known, not only was my relative privately humiliated by his infidelity, the affair became public and questions were raised because the woman also had business dealings with the husband's work place. Public humiliation all the way.

Unfortunately, it does happen.


That's a love affair, though (none / 0) (#46)
by gyrfalcon on Fri Jun 25, 2010 at 03:21:28 PM EST

not a quickie pass


Not so much (none / 0) (#47)
by jbindc on Fri Jun 25, 2010 at 03:42:15 PM EST

It was a business relationship first and a sexual one a couple of times (so he said).

Saw her picture and still don't get it.


: Love is inexplicable (none / 0) (#72)
by gyrfalcon on Fri Jun 25, 2010 at 11:17:22 PM EST

And business relationships can be incredibly emotionally and intellectually intimate. (Been there, done that.) Not the same impulse as making a pass at a masseuse you've just met, is all I'm saying.

Old news (none / 0) (#57)
by Shawn on Fri Jun 25, 2010 at 06:19:01 PM EST

Maybe a bad choice of words there, but that's been known since the beginning.


: By some, perhaps, not by me. (none / 0) (#63)
by sarcastic unnamed one on Fri Jun 25, 2010 at 08:29:15 PM EST

OK, sarcastic unnamed one (none / 0) (#43)
by Upstart Crow on Fri Jun 25, 2010 at 02:53:19 PM EST

I'll call you ageist. Believe it or not, even women older than this get unwanted advances from attractive men. I do.

Honestly, folks, I don't see why you find this all so hard to understand.

Why is she coming forward now? How about something simple: She's broke. She wasn't broke a few years ago, but she's broke now. She thumbed her nose at money a few years back -- now she has had a little time to regret that.

As for not filing charges ... if what AG is alleged to have done is called assault, I've been "assaulted" dozens of times. If you're a woman, this stuff is commonplace.

Why didn't she blow the whistle then? The fear of ridicule. (Like the ridicule she's getting here, for example, or the more subtle WaPo article that referred to her as a "red-haired masseuse".) The thought that maybe you somehow brought this upon yourself. The unwillingness to make a fuss. You have a boyfriend, husband, lover, son, daughter who would disapprove, drop you, or discourage you.

Or the simple knowledge that it's your word against the word of someone who holds power.

I'm not claiming to have a theory about what happened, or to understand all the motives. I like Gore, and hope it's not true.

But I'm familiar with the kind of scenario she describes. It's really not all that hard to understand.

: Wait, are you saying Gore's attractive?! (none / 0) (#45)
by sarcastic unnamed one on Fri Jun 25, 2010 at 03:20:11 PM EST

even women older than this get unwanted advances from attractive men
The big "lummox?!" ;-)
At the time of the incident he's 58 and she's 50 - iow, she's not a young woman.
Again, imo, that could well change the entire dynamic. Note the word "could."
I still think he called a female massage therapist to his private hotel room at 11 o'clock at night because he wanted a little rub 'n release before he hit the sack.
And I also question why a 50 y/o massage therapist who you have just told us was well-enough off at the time to "thumb her nose at the money" would even consider going to some dude's private hotel room at 11 o'clock at night. One would have to assume she is not a total moran and knows what her occupation can have a reputation for.
All that said, he did call her and she did come. Exactly what happened after she arrived is unknown.

something rings true here (none / 0) (#66)
by diogenes on Fri Jun 25, 2010 at 09:38:11 PM EST

She told her story in 1/09 but did not create a media circus or try to sell it. Perhaps a little solidarity with poor Tipper Gore. Once Al and Tipper split up, the woman felt free to try to sell the story since it would no longer be a betrayal of Tipper.
The key--why is she revealing this now to the national press and not years ago?

maybe because (5.00 / 1) (#68)
by Jeralyn on Fri Jun 25, 2010 at 09:51:30 PM EST

her plans for a civil suit for money went nowhere, Gore wouldn't pay? So rather than file a civil suit, she went to the media hoping to get money from them?


Maybe (none / 0) (#75)
by Upstart Crow on Sat Jun 26, 2010 at 12:21:11 AM EST

Maybe it's miserable being a 54-year-old masseuse with no job security. I doubt she was getting paid anywhere near $540 for 3 hours, after everyone took a chunk.

Maybe the hotel dumped her after the police report, and it had been her best gig.

Maybe she has no 401K like middle-class people with salaried jobs have. (I read recently that it takes about a million to comfortably retire nowadays.)

Maybe she is tired of living in miserable little apartments, and wanted to buy a house for herself and her children. (Where I live, $1M is about what you'd have to pay.)

Maybe she's wondering how she will support her her aging parents, who depend on her.

Maybe her son is sick. Maybe her daughter is sick. Maybe her mother is sick. Maybe she has just been diagnosed with cancer and has no medical insurance for treatment.

Maybe she'd like to see all her kids get a college education and gets no financial help from anyone, least of all the father(s).

Maybe she's getting osteoarthritis in her shoulder and it's getting harder and harder to do massages.

Maybe she's getting old and scared.

Maybe she's tired of giving massages at 11 p.m. to ageing men who want blow jobs.

Honestly, people, if you start thinking of her as a human being like yourselves, and not a species from another planet, it's not hard to come up with a list of reasons why she might ask for $1m.


and none of them are (5.00 / 1) (#76)
by Jeralyn on Sat Jun 26, 2010 at 12:44:36 AM EST

justifiable.


: what if it really happened??? (none / 0) (#79)
by diogenes on Sat Jun 26, 2010 at 11:29:47 PM EST

Would it be justifiable to sell the story for a million if it were TRUE?

No one said they were... (none / 0) (#77)
by Upstart Crow on Sat Jun 26, 2010 at 10:30:55 AM EST

...but they are understandable.