Al Gore's PR Nightmare

I have no idea what did or didn't happen between Al Gore and a masseuse in an Oregon hotel room in 2006. I wasn't there, I haven't seen all the evidence, and my first inclination is to give the former VP the same benefit of the doubt I'd expect to receive were the proverbial shoe on my foot.

That having been said, someone in the Gore Camp royally screwed this one up...because for someone of Al Gore's wealth, stature, and future earnings potential to be left vulnerable to these sorts of accusations means that the guard was let down precisely when it should not have been.

Al Gore has way too much to lose from something like this, and so do his agents, his PR people, his schedulers, and other associated straphangers and toadies. I'm not going to enter the moral judgement zone here as to what he should or shoudn't do during his free time on the road, but I do think it's a colossal screw-up somewhere along the line if the Big Fella was left alone in a hotel room with any woman besides his wife, regardless of her age, appearance, occupation, or marital status. For someone that powerful, wealthy, and instantly recognizable, I would hope the self-preservation instinct would kick in before he could even leave himself vulnerable to something like this. Ditto for all the people whose livelihoods depend on Mr. Gore's economic success.

When I was a student teacher, one of the first things we learned was to always keep the door open should we ever find ourselves between or after classes with just one student in the room (and to avoid those types of scenarios whenever possible to begin with). As it was explained then, this wasn't necessarily to protect them, but to protect us from someone making a wild claim which, regardless of its accuracy, could tank any of our careers in a heartbeat.

So regardless of whether Al Gore committed any impropriety, he will certainly sustain a hit to his lucrative multimedia "brand," as have Michael Phelps and Tiger Woods.

And from this little corner of the world, it all just seems pretty unnecessary.