Gore on 9/11, 2008 and Hillary Clinton

Bush bears "a measure of blame for not doing his job at a time when we really needed him to do his job."

Published November 29, 2006 5:58PM (EST)

After acknowledging that it's "almost too easy to say, 'I would have heeded the warnings,'" former Vice President Al Gore tells GQ that he would have heeded the warning about an al-Qaida attack that George W. Bush ignored.

"It is inconceivable to me that Bush would read a warning as stark and as clear as the one he received on August 6th of 2001, and, according to some of the new histories, he turned to the briefer and said, 'Well, youve covered your ass.' And never called a follow up meeting. Never made an inquiry. Never asked a single question. To this day, I don't understand it. And, I think it's fair to say that he personally does in fact bear a measure of blame for not doing his job at a time when we really needed him to do his job."

Would Gore like to do that job come 2008? He issues his usual not-exactly-denial denials in the GQ interview. Does he like Hillary Clinton? "Sure," he says. " We worked together for eight years, and uh, I think she's, uh  very capable."


By Tim Grieve

Tim Grieve is a senior writer and the author of Salon's War Room blog.

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2008 Elections 9/11 Al Gore Hillary Rodham Clinton War Room