Gore more conservative than he shows

Lately I've discovered that some Republicans are unhappy with their party's Presidential candidate, George W. Bush. Although I am a Nader supporter, I sympathize with their frustration and would like to offer a solution: Vote for Al Gore.\nThese Republicans object to Gore: He lies, they say. This bothers them. Sure, Gore lies, but so did Ronald Reagan, which never bothered conservative Republicans as far as I could tell.\nGore's claim to have invented the Internet pales beside Reagan's claim to have been present at the liberation of the Nazi concentration camps, but then, Reagan was the master in these things. Rather than focus on Gore's campaign promises -- and does anyone really take those seriously? -- look at his record.\nMany conservative Republicans consider abortion a proper litmus test. Gore's voting record during his years in Congress was strongly anti-choice: He strongly supported the Helms Amendment to ban federal funding for abortions for poor women and voted for the Silander Amendment, which defined a fetus as a person from the moment of conception.\nHe now says a woman should have the right to choose, but so do many self-identified pro-lifers -- Nancy Reagan, for one. Even Robert Bork pretended to have had doubts about overturning Roe v. Wade when he had hopes of a Supreme Court robe. Many liberals and progressives are worried about what will happen to the Supreme Court if Bush is elected. I'm as worried about Gore.\nGore's liberal talk about gay rights makes conservatives nervous: ending the ban on gays in the military and endorsing civil unions for same-sex couples. But is this more than talk? Clinton also promised to end the military ban, then gave us "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" instead, expelling more gay men and lesbians than Reagan-Bush. Gore and Lieberman both supported the Defense of Marriage Act and still do.\nGore's record on the environment is more consistent. During his Congressional years, his voting record on environmental issues was as low as 30 percent by the standards of the pro-Democratic League of Conservation Voters. As vice president, he and Clinton broke major campaign promises on Ohio's hazardous waste incinerator and logging in the Pacific northwest. No, Gore has been no friend to the environment.\nIn the "values" sphere, Gore voted with Jesse Helms to condemn the National Endowment for the Arts, actively supported his wife's campaign against rock music and continues to attack indecency and violence in mass entertainment. Last year, he endorsed the teaching of creationism as a local option. He supported the abolition of welfare -- except corporate welfare, of course. He has supported the war on drugs with its assault on civil liberties, and increased military spending and unilateral intervention overseas without deferring either to Congress or the United Nations.\nConsider another Republican litmus test. Gore's consistent service to business and corporate interests, from the oil industry to tobacco to NAFTA, GATT and the WTO -- which includes setting aside those instruments when American business required it, as when the Clinton administration blocked Mexican tomato imports to protect Florida tomato growers -- while offensive to us socialist goofballs, should satisfy any conservative. His "Reinventing Government" program gutted the National Labor Relations Board, leaving a shell to mollify the AFL-CIO while rendering it useless for enforcement of working people's rights.\nSure, Gore isn't perfect from a Republican viewpoint but neither is Bush. Gore and Clinton and Lieberman, pillars of the Democratic Leadership Council, are thoroughgoing, even devout, Reagan Democrats. Gore and Clinton offered to campaign for any member of Congress, Democrat or Republican, who voted for NAFTA. \nAl Gore is willing to lay partisanship aside; Republicans should consider doing the same.