Al Gore: 'Crazed sex poodle,' or smear victim?

The details of a masseuse's accusations make for disturbing reading. Is this a scandal in the making, or a money-grubbing smear job?

When Al Gore was vice president, it was his boss, Bill Clinton, who made tabloid headlines. But now, fresh off Gore's surprise divorce announcement, the National Enquirer has dug up a 2006 police report in which a massage therapist accused Gore of "unwanted sexual contact" in a Portland hotel room. In her lengthy account, the woman said, horrified and scared, she repeatedly rebuffed Gore, telling him he was acting like a "crazed sex poodle." (Watch a local report about Al Gore's sex allegations.) Police, lacking evidence supporting the claim, never filed charges, and Gore's lawyers, writing to the Portland Tribune in 2007 and 2008, called the allegations "completely false." Who's the victim here?

Even Gore-haters must admit this is fishy: "As much as I dislike Al Gore politically, this looks like a smear job," says Ed Morrissey in Hot Air. Her refusal to press charges at the time is puzzling enough. But the really suspicious thing is that the story only got out when, after four years, she decided to try selling her story to the National Enquirer for $1 million.

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