Over the past few months, a number of intersting myths have arisen about things that Al Gore has said are done that are misquotes, remarks taken out of context and just plain false.

1. The Internet Story.

Everyone in America knows that Gore claimed to have invented the internet. Only he never did make that claim. "Invention" suggests a solo effort in a laboratory. What Gore said was different: "During my service in the United States Congress I took the initiative in creating the internet". Gore was indeed in the forefront of legislative initiatives to create the internet. Columbia University's James Traub, who chaired the computer science and telecommunications board, says: "Al Gore was perhaps the first political leader to grasp the importance of networking the country . . . At the time he was a senator from a fairly small south-eastern state and I was amazed at his national vision." Gore followed through in eight years as vice-president; back then, the mockery was for talking about some nonsense called "an information superhighway". Those who reported Gore as claiming invention might argue they were paraphrasing. But the media echo chamber guarantees further distortion. "Vice-President Gore tells a reporter the internet was his idea. Nice try, Al." (Wired magazine)

2. The "Love Story" Story.

The Boston Globe's Walter Robinson and Ann Scales attacked Gore's veracity: "He has also said that he and his wife, Tipper, were the models for the movie Love Story, only to be contradicted by the author, Erich Segal." Their source was Time magazine. Trouble is, Gore never made that claim and Segal never contradicted him. Chatting on the press plane about movies for a couple of hours, Gore had simply remarked to two Time magazine writers on a newspaper interview in which Segal had described Al and Tipper as his models for the movie. True. The Tennessean did so report, but it misquoted Segal, who had told the reporter he based only the male in the movie on Gore. So Segal's "contradiction" was a correction for a newspaper, not Gore. Segal noted: "Al attributed it to a newspaper. Time thought it was more piquant to leave that out." End of story? Not a bit. Heavyweight commentators seized on Love Story to lash Gore for "inflating his past", "bragging" and "prevaricating".

3. The Farm Boy.

"My father taught me how to clear land with a doubleheaded axe . . . how to plough a steep hillside with a team of mules." Nicholson faxed the celebrity press corps that Gore was lying because he was really brought up in the posh Fairfax Hotel in Washington. In fact, as even critical biographers confirm, Gore's Dad did make him spend long tough summers doing backbreaking chores on the family farm.

4. The Love Canal Story.

Visiting Concord High School in New Hampshire, Gore urged the students not to be cynical about politics. He said he had been stimulated to hold hearings on toxic waste at Toone, Tennessee, and the Love Canal, New York, by a letter from a high school student. "It all happened because one high school student got involved." The Washington Post and the the Washington Times turned that into Gore saying: "I was the one that started it all." It continues to be recycled as a "typical" Al Gore lie.