Having written several books that span periods of years, Robert Parry is often surprised how patterns emerge that aren't apparent in day-to-day news coverage. In Neck Deep, his new book about George W. Bush's presidency, one of those surprises was how often former Vice President Al Gore turned up making tragically prescient comments.

Gore, whose admirers sometimes call him "the Goracle," comes across more as a Cassandra, warning the nation of looming disasters and finding himself either ignored or mocked by the dominant politicians and media pundits.

Time and again - from Campaign 2000 to the post-9/11 "war on terror" to the invasion of Iraq to Bush's expansion of presidential powers - Gore pointed to grave dangers when nearly all other national political leaders and media bigwigs were either running with the herd or keeping silent.

In the daily coverage of those political developments at Consortiumnews.com, stories ran citing Gore's speeches, but it wasn't until Parry pulled together the book that Gore's extraordinary role jumped out at him.

"Though there were a few other political leaders who made prophetic comments, such as Sen. Robert Byrd in his pre-Iraq War speeches on the Senate floor, none was as consistently on target as Al Gore," he says.

To read the whole story on the new book, go to the independent ConsortiumNews.Com.