Gore: New TV channel won’t be partisan

Angry manIf you believe this, I’ve got oceanfront in Tennessee to sell you.

Former Vice President Al Gore, co-founder of a new television channel launching next month, said he’s shunning politics – and so is his media venture.

“I consider myself a recovering politician. I’m on step nine,” Gore told a meeting Monday of the Television Critics Association.

The 2004 Democratic candidate for president was asked if he was concerned the 24-hour news and information channel, called Current, would be perceived as having a political slant. It’s scheduled to launch Aug. 1.

“I think the reality of the network will speak for itself. It’s not intended to be partisan in any way,” said Gore, Current’s co-founder (with businessman Joel Hyatt) and chairman of the board.

Aimed at an 18-34-year-old audience, Current has loftier goals in mind than party politics: Gore said it will engage young people in the “dialogue of democracy” by providing stories that interest them, and will involve them in the channel’s content.

Also: Little Green Footballs seems amused by this declaration, too.