It's not been the best of weeks for our beloved Veep. He started off in Kyoto on Sunday, giving a speech that confused the heck out of the assembled nations of the world. Worse, the treaty his cheerleading helped create may neither save the planet nor pass the Senate. On Monday, TIME Magazine asked "Has Gore Got What it Takes?". According to TIME Daily's weekly poll, the answer is a resounding "no." Sixty-eight percent of those polled counted themselves firmly in the anti-Gore camp - more because "he crossed the line" than for his being "totally uninspiring." Even among the pro-Gore party, a large majority - 21 of 32 percent - describe the Veep as a "rule bender."
In Other Downfalls
The vice president wasn't the only precious figure pulled off his plinth. The week's events clearly deflated Richard Branson's balloon, not to mention Larry Ellison's. Former untouchables like Steven Spielberg and Carlos the Jackal were tied up in court battles; Boris Yeltsin caught a "cold"; the Dallas Cowboys looked to be on their last legs; and the disturbance of Larry Lawrence's Arlington casket proved there's no respite even beyond the grave. But topping them all in the I-can't-believe-they-did-that-to-me stakes was Bill Gates, who got trustbusted and unbundled by a Washington district judge late Thursday. Microsoft, Oracle and Yahoo! molested - what's the cyberworld coming to?