Too Much Coaching For Al?

Is Al Gore over-coached?

After announcing his candidacy for the presidency last week, he gave interviews to all the television networks. One of the things CBS News Chief Washington Correspondent Bob Schieffer asked him was whether he was uncomfortable defending President Clinton during the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

Here's what Gore said to Schieffer on CBS:

"If you've ever been disappointed in a friend and surprised by something they did and then gone through the task of putting it back together and rebuilding a working relationship and moving past it, then you know exactly what I went through."

But here's what he said to Claire Shipman on NBC:

"Well, if you've ever had a good friend who disappointed you, and you went about rebuilding the relationship, you know pretty much what it was like for me."

And here's what he said to Diane Sawyer of ABC:

"If you've ever had a friend who disappointed you, and you worked with that person, and you rebuilt the relationship and moved forward from the disappointment, that's exactly what that was like for me."

Schieffer said on CBS News Face the Nation that "I don't in the least doubt the vice president's sincerity. But when you see those three things together, it's almost comma for comma, sentence for sentence, the same thing. It's almost as if someone sat down and wrote out a statement and memorized it."

Jack Quinn, a guest on Face the Nation who served as Gore's chief of staff during the early part of his vice presidency, said such a thing comes as no surprise to him.

"The only thing that surprises me," he added, "is people have made something of his recent statement indicating that he disapproved of the president's conduct. He said that a long time agoÂ… Was he disappointed? Did he disapprove of the president's behavior? Absolutely, but he's also capable of forgiveness."

Ceci Connolly, national political reporter for The Washington Post, also appeared on Face the Nation.

"I don't know if it's a matter of over-coaching," she said. "I think it's important to make clear here that the American people aren't electing a performer-in-chief, despite what we think of Bill Clinton's skillsÂ… Of course, politicians are going to think about the answers that they're going to give. But when they're verbatim, exactly the same interview after interview, he does look over-prepared or coached or rehearsed or not so genuine."