Jack Ryan
Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2001

According to sources close to the Clinton and Gore camps, Gore turned up at the White House and the usual chummy rapport between the two melted as Gore used "blunt” language in blaming Clinton for his campaign loss.

"For more than an hour, in what sources close to both men described as uncommonly blunt language, Gore forcefully told Clinton that his sex scandal and low personal approval ratings were a major impediment to his presidential campaign."

Gore, a source close to Clinton said, "came in all knotted up" for the Oval Office showdown.

Clinton was said to be at first "surprised" and "taken aback," but soon "responded with equal force that it was Gore's failure to run on the administration's record that hobbled his ambitions."

The report also noted that Tipper Gore has had a long dislike for Bill Clinton.

Appearing on MSNBC’s "News with Brian Williams" last night, Robert Harris, the Post’s White House correspondent who authored the piece, said that Gore specifically cited to Clinton the Lewinsky scandal, the fund-raising scandal involving China and other scandal matters had clearly cost him and the Democratic Party the presidency.

Aides to Clinton told the Post that associates of both the Gore and Clinton camps have become bitterly divided.

Clinton aides rebutted Gore claims, and said a strong economy and world peace should have made Gore an easy winner.

"A senior White House official close to Clinton scoffed: 'I don't think the fact that they lost four out of four debates had anything to do with Bill Clinton.' By this reckoning, neither Gore nor his running mate, Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, D-Conn., made a compelling case in showdowns against President Bush and Vice President Cheney."

Though Gore came close to winning the presidency, the Clintons remain in the catbird seat. Their candidate, Terry McAuliffe, not Gore's, won the chairmanship of the Democratic National Committee, a key post that may help determine who gets the Democratic nomination in 2004.

Note to NewsMax.com readers:

Christopher Ruddy's satirical letters between Gore and Clinton, written last December, told the story first. Read: Al Gore's Last Letter to Bill Clinton and Bill Clinton Replies to Al Gore.

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