Phil Agre, in Red Rock Eater Digest, takes another stab at describing the lunacy of the Presidential campaign and, in particular, Dubya’s one-trick pony approach: ‘The US presidential election campaign has descended into lunacy.

George W. Bush lacks the mental capacity to explain his own policies,

which is just as well, given that he is on the losing side of just

about every major issue. Instead, he, his staff, and most of the

media are engaged in a campaign of character assassination. That’s

the only word for it. They’ve decided that their strategy is “Al

Gore’s tendency to exaggerate”, and they are mass-producing factoids

that fit the pattern, accompanied by frequent, pointed suggestions

that Gore is mentally ill. The trouble is, the vast majority of

these factoids are false, exaggerated, or trivial. They are bunk.’

Appended to the essay is a forwarded message from Vinton Cerf who, if anyone, can comment definitively on what credit, if any, Vice President Gore should take for the development of the Internet.

I am taking the liberty of sending to you both a brief summary of

Al Gore’s Internet involvement, prepared by Bob Kahn and me. As you

know, there have been a seemingly unending series of jokes chiding

the vice president for his assertion that he “took the initiative in

creating the Internet”.

Bob and I believe that the vice president deserves significant credit

for his early recognition of the importance of what has become the

Internet.

And while we’re at it, you might want to look at First Monday, a peer-reviewed monthly journal on internet issues. The current issue, to which this link points, has another article on the Al-Gore-and-the-internet issue by Richard Wiggins, as well as a number of other interesting examinations of the sociology of the cyberspace world.