There he goes again, putting on airs. This time it's Al Gore's expansive insights on the complex nature of stock car racing. The vice president brags to Jake Tapper: "You know, in stock car races, it's usually the second car in the gun lap that wins."

Nothing could be further from the truth. The reality is that, in stock car racing, the guy who wins the race is almost always the one who dominates the race. Last-lap, come-from-behind victories are quite rare. They happen, but definitely not "usually." That's true for every form of racing, from local dirt tracks to the big-dollar NASCAR circuit.

Perhaps the vice president is suffering from yet another delusion of rural Tennessee life: After a hard week of stripping and putting up tobacco, young Al would amble on down to the local dirt track and soak up the last-lap victories.

Or maybe not. But one thing's for sure: Al Gore ain't no Dale Earnhardt.

-- Bill Greene
Arlington, Va.

Gore did not boast to anyone, off the record or not, about being a model for Oliver in "Love Story." A Tennessee newspaper first noted the "Love Story" connection, which the New York Times proceeded to bollix up.

And speaking of myths: Since when is the entire nation suffering from "Clinton fatigue"? Not the persons I've dealt with. What they have suffered from is an anger at the 24-7 media, which, since corporate and political strictures prevent it from dealing with substantive issues, turn to trash to make money. I suggest that the real issue is this: Big Media is pissed as hell at the idea that it no longer has quite the opinion-molding power that it thought it did. In their frustrated fury, the media sharks are now trying to smear Al Gore, and they don't care how many lies they print in order to do it.

-- Tamara Baker

The real problem: We want Al Gore to be the statesman we like to think his father was. And we get good talk, big ideas; but Al Jr.'s actions seldom measure up to the talk. Gore needs to convince us that he has a better attention span than Clinton, and that he will seriously address issues such as poverty that have been largely ignored during the past seven years. We want Gore to be the fulfillment of what we thought was the Clinton promise now squandered. But he is not. And so we make fun of him.

-- Dale Madren

Are we supposed to be impressed by Al Gore's use of Dr. Shettles' "How to Choose the Sex of Your Baby"? I find it rather disturbing that he wastes his time with such pseudoscientific literature. Perhaps Gore would have done better to have read a book on overpopulation instead, rather than irresponsibly increasing the size of his family so that he could have a son.

-- Travis Hime

Chaos in Kosovo
BY LAURA ROZEN
(08/04/99)

Obviously it's time for another "humanitarian intervention" in Kosovo -- this time against the Kosovar Albanians. Then when we've put the Serbs back in power, we can bomb them again. Then maybe it'll be time to be humane to the Macedonians ...

-- Jim Crutchfield
Newport News, Va.

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