From the WSJ Opinion Archives
Down to Sighs
Gore's heavy breathing at the debate was no more spontaneous than his makeout session with Tipper.
"The sigh kept Gore from winning the debate," observed Margaret Carlson of CNN and Time magazine. Partisans of both George W. Bush and Al Gore expressed concern this week at their candidates' unfortunate gestures and noises during Tuesday's debate. But the vice president was by far the worse offender. Even his closest allies in Congress are exasperated and puzzled by their man's debate manners this week.
Mr. Gore sighed with deep impatience throughout the debate in an attempt either to distract George W. Bush in his answers to debate questions or influence the audience. Yesterday Mr. Gore blamed his behavior on the TV cameras. "Under the debate rules, we were told there was going to be no coverage of our reactions when the other guy was talking."
This is preposterous. Mr. Gore's sighs were highly theatrical in nature, and he accompanied them with a series of squints, grimaces and eye-rolling that couldn't have been accidental. The proof is Mr. Gore's behavior during the Democratic primaries. Anita Dunn, who was Bill Bradley's media adviser, notes that during a "Meet the Press" debate the Bradley campaign issued "an official deep-sign count of seven" for Mr. Gore. Jacob Weisberg of Slate noted at the time that "Gore's sneering gestures all seemed rehearsed and theatrical. . . . Bradley made Gore look like a complete ass."
What's most telling is that Mr. Gore's reaction to the criticism then was to attack, not apologize. Chris Lehane, the vice president's spokesman, said his candidate would continue his audible sighs at future debates "if Senator Bradley continues to offer predicates for them." Mr. Lehane even got sarcastic: "Yeah, we have a sigh czar. We actually have a high-paid consultant who gives us advice on the sigh."
Ms. Dunn, the Bradley adviser, half-believed Mr. Lehane at the time. She noted that the Bradley campaign's research found that Mr. Gore has been sighing through debates at least since 1992. "This isn't a new tactic for Al Gore," she said.
What is new is that unlike earlier this year Mr. Gore's campaign is now pretending that the sigh was an accident and that the vice president didn't intend to be disrespectful to either Mr. Bush or the television audience. Chalk that one up as just the latest of Al Gore's factual whoppers.
