Who does Vice President Al Gore believe -- his best bud Bill Clinton or Juanita Broaddrick, the woman who accuses the president of raping her in 1978? This question arises not from malice on the part of THE SCRAPBOOK but thanks to a press release from the Office of the Vice President, marking an event last Friday in the Roosevelt Room of the White House: "VICE PRESIDENT GORE ANNOUNCES $ 223 MILLION IN GRANTS TO HELP DETECT AND STOP VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN."
No doubt this press conference was scheduled well in advance of last week's news cycle. Still, these sorts of events can always be unscheduled if a vice president so desires. So it was an interesting choice by Gore to go full steam ahead with this worthy initiative. Maybe he thought it would be more embarrassing to cancel it.
And maybe, too, if you're Al Gore, you really don't want to pass up an occasion to tell Americans that the Clinton-Gore administration "fought for and the President signed the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), as part of the 1994 Crime Act." This is the sort of thing about which it probably doesn't hurt to remind people now and again.
And besides, it is important, as the vice president emphasized, to "hold abusers accountable." Still, the event raised many questions -- and not just about Gore's judgment. There was also the question raised by the wording of the press-release headline: Does it really require a grant from Washington to detect violence against women?
Usually there are fairly obvious indicators that such violence has been perpetrated. Here's one: A man's parting remark after an encounter with a woman is that she might want to apply some ice to her lip.
As it turns out, Al Gore's permanent poker face is an unbelievable political asset.