Al Gore's Favorite Bible Verse, John 16:3
According to this forwarded email, presidential candidate Al Gore declared that his favorite Bible verse is John 16:3.
Description: Email hoax
Circulating since: 1999
Status: False
Email example contributed by Angela H., July 16, 1999:
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Subject: Anything for Votes Anything for Votes Al Gore gave a big speech this week about how his faith is so "important" to him. In this attempt to convince the American people why we should consider him for president, he announced that his favorite Bible verse is John 16:3. Of course, the speech writer meant John 3:16, but nobody in the Gore camp was familiar enough with Scripture to catch the error. Do you know what John 16:3 says? "And they will do this because they have not known the Father or me." Coincidence? |
Analysis: Al Gore said nothing of the kind. I've found no instances in the public record of Senator Gore mentioning his "favorite Bible verse," let alone saying his favorite is John 16:3.
The laugh isn't on Gore or his supporters, therefore, but rather on the legions of credulous partisans — including radio commentator Paul Harvey — who bought the story.
Someone did actually make this verbal gaffe, it turns out — President George H.W. Bush, who mixed up his numbers during a speech he gave in 1990. Newspaper columnist Cal Thomas witnessed the event.
"Bush said it in my presence at a religious broadcasters convention about 1990, and I wrote about it in my book, Blinded by Might: Can the Religious Right Save America," Thomas told John McCaslin of the Washington Times in 2000. "But somehow it got twisted around and stuck on the Internet and put in Al Gore's mouth. He's got a lot of stuff that he has to defend, but that's not one of them."
Updates:
G.W. Bush's Favorite Bible Verse, John 16:3
Netlore Archive, July 2004
John Kerry's Favorite Bible Verse, John 16:3
Netlore Archive, August 2004
Email This Article
Sources and further reading:
Inside the Beltway: Gallows Humor
By John McCaslin, Washington Times, 25 February 2000Does Gore Stand by All the Misstatements He Never Made?
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 3 September 2000
Last updated: 07/29/04
