And despite his political pull, he received no special treatment, opting instead to go to Vietnam where he was ''shot at.'' After his Army service, he spent seven years as a journalist, and his reporting at the Tennessean in Nashville put corrupt officials in prison. He even authored the US nuclear negotiating position. And at a time when President Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev faced off on the superpower stage, Gore had his own meeting with Gorbachev. And, of course, he created the Internet. At various times in his political career, Gore, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, has said all those things about himself and his family.
None are quite true.
Some are exaggerations grown up around kernels of biographical fact. Others are simply false. A few, like the boastful claim about the Internet, have become comic fodder, even for Gore. The mystery, even for Gore's friends, is why he has persistently embroidered a political resume and pedigree that shorn of embellishments are impressive by any measure. Gore did press for early funding of the network that grew into the Internet.