In our cover story last week on Al Gore, Tucker Carlson reported on the October 1987 Hollywood lunch where Al and Tipper Gore recanted their opposition to obscene rock lyrics and groveled for forgiveness before a group of show-biz execs. The anecdote was drawn from a contemporaneous account in Daily Variety, which had managed to obtain a tape recording of the Gores’ self-humiliation.
We don’t want to compromise our reporter’s “sources and methods,” as the intelligence jargon has it. But it’s fair to say that sometimes in reporting on major political figures who will probably be running in the next presidential election, good material about their past is made available by opponents, who keep files familiarly known as “oppo,” short for “opposition research.”
In this case, though, the transmission belt is running in the other direction. In the week since Carlson’s story on Gore appeared, there has been a groundswell of interest in obtaining copies of the original Daily Variety account. One Hill staffer let us know that there is a waiting list at the Library of Congress for Daily Variety back issues. Prominent on the list: the offices of Democrat Dick Gephardt of Missouri and Republican John Kasich of Ohio. Hmmm . . . a sudden interest in the history of pop culture? Or does this count as a hat in the ring, guys?
