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Somewhere in the darkest recesses of the RNC (or from Norquist's or Rove's office, your pick) the fax machine was working over time making sure that Tom Brokaw had the latest GOP talking points to discredit Al Gore for his appearance on Meet the Press. You know Al, that over-achiever that managed to win an Oscar, an Emmy, a Nobel Peace Prize and legitimately the office of the Presidency before the Supreme Court overreached and gave it to George W. Bush, the lifetime underachiever. That kind of superiority niggles at a party that believes that government can't do anything well, so they'll find anything--and I do mean anything--to detract from Al Gore's message.

This one is especially laughable though, and truly beneath Brokaw in its clear partisan bent. When the "Draft Al Gore" movement was in full gear, Gore demurred from running again, saying that he wasn't interested in the political gamesmanship necessary to mount a campaign. Tom Brokaw confronts Gore, worried that he's sending the wrong message to the children:

BROKAW: Let me ask you about your attitude towards politics these days. I was a little surprised. You're a man who was in politics at the highest level in this country: in the House of Representatives; in the Senate; Vice President for eight years and yet you said recently, "What politics has become requires a level of tolerance for triviality and artifice and nonsense that I have found in short supply." Is that the right kind of signal to send to the young people of this country who more than any time in recent memory are deeply involved in the political decisions that we're making this year? And young people who want to get into the political arena look to Al Gore and he said ‘it's all about trivia and nonsense.'

Oh good lord. That's so head-poundingly stupid that I'm surprised that Al Gore took the time to respectfully respond. My first inclination would have been to laugh in Brokaw's face and point out that those kinds of questions are exactly the kind of triviality and nonsense I have little tolerance for. But it gets worse. Gore's response merits the concern troll follow up of "but I can hear Rush Limbaugh saying this about you..."

BROKAW: With all due respect, Mr. Vice President, I can already hear your critics and I don't do Rush Limbaugh, so I will not attempt to. But I can hear him saying on radio, "Well there's Prince Albert. There he was, 25 years hanging out with lobbyists, raising big money, then he lost and now he's above the process, calling it trivial and nonsense."

Tom Brokaw = Concern Troll. Gore goes on to encourage Americans to be on the forefront of alternative energy development and to raise awareness of the ramifications to our environment if we don't and Tom Brokaw--elder statesman of NBC News--wants him to be worried about Rush Limbaugh poking fun at him.

Transcripts below the fold

BROKAW: Let me ask you about your attitude towards politics these days. I was a little surprised. You're a man who was in politics at the highest level in this country: in the House of Representatives; in the Senate; Vice President for eight years and yet you said recently, "What politics has become requires a level of tolerance for triviality and artifice and nonsense that I have found in short supply." Is that the right kind of signal to send to the young people of this country who more than any time in recent memory are deeply involved in the political decisions that we're making this year. And young people who want to get into the political arena look to Al Gore and he said ‘it's all about trivia and nonsense.'

GORE: Well, no....I...that quote you used was about my own personal tolerance for...bear in mind, I was in the political process for almost 30 years. And I...no, I encourage people to get involved in politics. Public service is an honorable calling and I'm very excited by the way, about the fact that millions of young people that haven't been involved in the past are now getting involved, many of them for Senator Obama, of course. And I think that's exciting. I do think, Tom, that we have a very serious set of problems affecting our democracy. The role of big money, the role of lobbyists, the role of special interests, it's a very serious problem for our democracy. I think the new internet-based forms of organizing and mobilizing people and that's what has gotten a lot of these young people involved offer a real ray of hope. I'm optimistic, but I think my best role is to try to help that...bring...come to pass and to focus on enlarging the political space so that we can start focusing on real solutions and not these gimmicks.

BROKAW: With all due respect, Mr. Vice President, I can already hear your critics and I don't do Rush Limbaugh, so I will not attempt to. But I can hear him saying on radio, "Well there's Prince Albert. There he was, 25 years hanging out with lobbyists, raising big money, then he lost and now he's above the process, calling it trivial and nonsense."

GORE: I'm not saying that I'm above the process. I was in it for a long time. When I first was elected 32 years ago, I called for full public financing of every federal election. I introduced legislation and proposed that every year...

BROKAW: And your guy Obama has turned it down...He said he was for public financing and now he's decided to stay in the private sector.

GORE: There's a new reality now with the internet-based small donor playing the dominant role. And I think that's another example of how the internet has helped to bring about some positive changes that can give us a way to break the back of the special interests dominance that we have in government today.