Al Gore a Star 'Reborn' to CNN's Schneider

Good Morning America and Today weren’t alone in expressing their enthusiasm over the return of Al Gore to the public eye. At 4:30PM EDT on CNN’s The Situation Room, political analyst Bill Schneider not only promoted Gore’s new global warming documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, but a potential Gore candidacy for president, as well. Schneider gushed:

Wolf, the new Al Gore movie opens today. Is it a star is born or could it be a political star is reborn? Could this be Al Gore’s moment?

Schneider applauded the timing of the documentary’s release and claimed Truth is "not overtly partisan," before using clips from the film to slam President Bush over one of his "greatest failures." Pointing to Richard Nixon’s comeback win for the White House in 1968, Schneider seemed to express glee that history could repeat itself in Gore’s favor:

The film is coming out at the perfect moment. Millions of Americans are angry at President Bush and worried about energy. The film is not overtly partisan, but who can miss the visual cue here of one of Bush’s greatest failures? Hurricane Katrina. Would Americans really elect a president who served eight years as vice president, then ran for president and failed, then was out of power for eight years? Well, you know, it worked for Richard Nixon because the moment was right.

The full transcript of Schneider’s report is behind the cut:

One will notice the complete absence of any form of criticism of the former vice president in Schneider's report:

Wolf Blitzer: "The former Vice President, Al Gore, is launching a new campaign today. Not for president, but for his documentary on global warming. But is Al Gore sending signals he’d be open to another run for the White House after all? Let’s go to our senior political analyst, Bill Schneider. Bill?"

Bill Schneider: "Wolf, the new Al Gore movie opens today. Is it a star is born or could it be a political star is reborn? Could this be Al Gore’s moment? Since 2000, the former vice president has been traveling the world, delivering more than a thousand lectures on the threat of global warming. Hollywood producers saw Gore’s talk and said, this has got to be a movie."

Lawrence Bender, producer: "We filmed him all around the world, in China, all over the country, and, giving this, this presentation, and it’s truly phenomenal. It’s going to, it’s going to blow your mind."

Schneider: "A lecture by Al Gore?"

Former Vice President Al Gore: "They have made it entertaining and enjoyable and funny and really watchable."

Schneider: "How did they do that? By doing what Hollywood does best: telling an intimate personal story, including his sister’s death from lung cancer."

[Gore voice-over from An Inconvenient Truth]: "It was so painful on so many levels. My father, he had grown tobacco all his life. He stopped."

Schneider: "The filmmakers see the pictures’ message as unifying."

Davis Guggenheim, producer: "He frames it now not as a political issue, but as a moral issue, something that we all have to really think about, and, and no matter who we are."

Schneider: "Okay, does President Bush plan to see it?"

President George W. Bush: "Doubt it."

Schneider: "These days some Hollywood liberals have doubts about Hillary Clinton. Is she selling out? Can she be elected? Al Gore is emerging as their dark horse."

Bender: "He’s great on all the issues. He’s, he’s, and he’s passionate. He’s funny, and he’s grounded."

Schneider: "Funny?"

[Gore, from his Saturday Night Live appearance]: "Gas is down to 19 cents a gallon and the oil companies are hurting. I know that I am partly to blame by insisting that cars run on trash."

Schneider: "Gore calls himself a recovering politician, but adds, there’s a danger of a relapse."

Gore [from interview on the Today show]: "I’ve said that I’m not at the stage of my life where I’m going to say, ‘ never in the rest of my life will I ever think about such a thing.’"

Schneider: "The film is coming out at the perfect moment. Millions of Americans are angry at President Bush and worried about energy. The film is not overtly partisan, but who can miss the visual cue here of one of Bush’s greatest failures? Hurricane Katrina. Would Americans really elect a president who served eight years as vice president, then ran for president and failed, then was out of power for eight years? Well, you know, it worked for Richard Nixon because the moment was right. Wolf?"