Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore: “Obviously I’m not a fan of his presidency, but I want to make a point, Things went so badly wrong they cannot all be laid at his doorstep. One quick example: When the Senate voted to go to war in Iraq, 77 percent of the American people believed that Saddam Hussein was responsible for the 9/11 attack. And yes, the administration put that impression out there, but where was the news media? Where were the responsible members of the Republican Party in the House and Senate and why weren’t more Democrats standing up to that upright falsehood? The underlying point I’m making is we have serious problems in our democracy and all of the blame put on George W. Bush — I’m not defending him in any way, believe me — but I think sometimes that misses the larger point that our democracy is indeed in trouble. And all of us have an obligation to try to fix it.”