Al Gore Pressed On Rick Perry Connection On 'The Colbert Report' (VIDEO)

Former vice president Al Gore appeared on "The Colbert Report" on Tuesday night and addressed a past connection he shares with Texas Governor and GOP presidential candidate Rick Perry.

Rival GOP contender Ron Paul recently thrust Perry's past ties to Gore into the spotlight. The Texas congressman used a campaign ad to highlight Perry's support for Gore during the Democrat's 1988 presidential run. The spot painted Paul as a long-time Ronald Reagan supporter with the Lone Star State governor, then a Democrat, depicted as a Gore loyalist.

"Al Gore found a cheerleader in Texas named Rick Perry," says a narrator in the ad. "Rick Perry helped lead Al Gore's campaign to undo the Reagan revolution, fighting to elect Al Gore president of the United States."

Taegan Goddard relays what Gore had to say about his history with Perry on Tuesday night. Colbert asked the former vice president, "Rick Perry endorsed you in 1988. Will you return the favor right now and endorse Rick Perry?"

GORE: "Well, it would hurt him a lot, in a Republican primary."

COLBERT: "So, is that an endorsement?"

GORE: "No, it's not."

Gore explained that Perry "was a Democrat back then" and added, "I don't know what happened to him."

Delving further into Perry's past as a Democrat, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported earlier this summer:

Another political move Perry made back then: He was a top Texas supporter and organizer in 1988 for then-Sen. Al Gore, who ran for president as a Southern conservative rather than the populist reformer he eventually became as the 2000 Democratic presidential nominee.

"I came to my senses," Perry likes to say when asked about his Gore days.

Since the 1980s, Perry and Gore took dramatically different political paths. Time explains:

It is unlikely that today's Al Gore would consider voting for the 1988 Al Gore, and certainly Perry has seen fit to distance himself from Gore 2.0. "I've heard Al Gore talk about man-made global warming so much that I'm starting to think that his mouth is the leading source of all that supposedly deadly carbon dioxide," Perry said in 2007, according to the Austin American-Statesman.

Comments

[dlt1313]

10:10 PM on 09/27/2011

Gore does more damage to the planet in one week then most people do in a life time.flying in his jet.keeping 5 homes going.what a fake.

[Dunnemarogra]

08:05 PM on 09/15/2011

This man must have 4 aces like Romney said he was a Democrat joins the Republicans then endorsed Gore over Bush i dont know how even he became Governor of Texas dont even know how he did that the Bushs dont like him and now only 4 years since the Bush Presidency Perry can take the mantle of the GOP and now even seems more Right-Wing then Bush what a Player.

[Dave Price]

05:18 PM on 09/15/2011

I watched the full version and it is definitely one of the funniest Colbert Reports i have watched!

[Michael73501]

03:58 PM on 09/15/2011

The other half of the American "hemorrhoid" - Al Gore. (The other half is Jimmy Carter.

WIll Gore ever go away? We can only hope. Wait !! "Hope is what some people voted for in 2008.

Nevermind...

[BBrianCC]

10:29 AM on 09/15/2011

Maybe the election will be stolen from Perry like it was from PRESIDENT GORE.

I'll never forget.

[Michael73501]

03:56 PM on 09/15/2011

Wah !! (Not that it was stolen, but...) Get over it.

[Edward Standley]

06:38 AM on 09/15/2011

Gore says he "doesn't know what happened to Perry". He just followed the money, Al.

[Joan E. Dowlin]

12:37 AM on 09/15/2011

It's hilarious that Gore referred to Colbert's character. Oops. You mean he is not really conservative but just playing one on TV?

[mcartri]

11:16 PM on 09/14/2011

Al won the popular vote and the Electoral College vote in 2000. But in December 2000, 5-black robed fascists flushed the American Constitution down the historical toilet. How's that worked out folks?

[Michael73501]

03:56 PM on 09/15/2011

Wah !! Blame it Chad.

[mcartri]

09:50 PM on 09/15/2011

Chad deserved the hanging he got...

[dr6n5lyr]

11:52 AM on 09/17/2011

Are you just ignorant? Read the constitution, you don't the electoral college doesn't have to vote as the popular vote. People need to start reading and stop raging. GET OVER IT.

[mcartri]

04:51 PM on 09/17/2011

65, MD, speaking of reading, you might want to revisit sentence #1: "Al won the popular vote and ELECTORAL COLLEGE vote in 2000." The newspapers, USA Today, WSJ and Miami Herald paid a good sum of money for a complete recount after Bush "won" the presidency on a 5-4 SCOTUS vote over stopping the Florida re-count vote. Using three-different standards to count ALL of Florida's counties, the independent task force concluded: "Gore won the Florida popular vote using all three-standards." I'll "get over" Bush's fascist appointment to the presidency when all the families who lost loved ones on 9/11 and two-insane wars get over their losses...NEVER.

[zero1319]

10:32 PM on 09/14/2011

This bit was funny, but the best part of the interview comes at the end, when Gore refers to Colbert's on-air persona as a character. Stephen's response was hilarious.

[CommonSenseForChange]

10:00 PM on 09/14/2011

Funny how the dem-loved comedians videos don't play and are ill-programmed, but the fox and company videos play here at HP without ever having to press the "play" button.

[zero1319]

10:30 PM on 09/14/2011

Comedy Central's got a long history of bad streaming, actually.

[CommonSenseForChange]

05:36 PM on 09/15/2011

True, but at least they gave you the "option" of pressing play rather than intruding. Blame it on the I-I-I-i-i-i-interns, maybe!

One thing for sure, republicans are "focused" on learning how to be media runners, media limelights and intrusions into our lives.

[Jacci Phil Butler]

10:38 PM on 09/14/2011

Oh my gosh! It must be a grand conspiracy...

[CommonSenseForChange]

05:37 PM on 09/15/2011

Run with that thought. It's big over at birthers.com.

[EricBlair84]

09:35 PM on 09/14/2011

It's too bad the Perry-Gore bromance ended.

The charlatans were made for each other.

[EricBlair84]

09:34 PM on 09/14/2011

Perry and Gore were made for each other.

Perry is a Big Pharma snake (Merck)
Gore is a Big Oil snake (Occidental Petroleum)

The only difference is that Gore is better at making people think he hates the corporations he is tied to.

[tackcalb]

04:49 AM on 09/16/2011

EricBlair84 - Love your username, George :-)

[MUDPUPPY]

08:46 PM on 09/14/2011

A man was selling his puppies.
$5.00 for Democrat puppies
Two weeks later his sign said,
$20.00 for Republican puppies.
Wen asked why the change, the man replied., "now their eyes are open."

[pfz]

10:06 PM on 09/14/2011

eyes wide open but they still can't see beyond their noses.

[MissouriBlaine auQuebec]

10:14 PM on 09/14/2011

to which Wen responded, "but they have no legs!"

[A Dub]

06:43 AM on 09/15/2011

Reminds me of what Franklin D. Roosevelt said:

A conservative is a man with two perfectly good legs who, however, has never learned to walk forward.

[rabiddog6708]

08:31 PM on 09/14/2011

Colbert always makes me laugh. The guy is a genius.

[edva]

08:23 PM on 09/14/2011

The 2000 "election" was a sad turning point for America. We have been, and will be paying dearly for that tragic mistake for a long, long time. 2008 showed there is always hope, but the bitter past three years, and the reality of an extremist candidate like Perry, show how far we have fallen.

[dr6n5lyr]

11:54 AM on 09/17/2011

Again, stop listening to left-wing media, and use your brain. If the past three years have been horrible, (which I agree with), how can you say 2008 showed there was hope?