Bush welcomes Gore to Oval Office

WASHINGTON - Talk about an inconvenient truth. l Gore finally won his place in the Oval Office on Monday — right next to George W. Bush. Forever linked by the closest and craziest presidential race in history, the two men were reunited by, of all things, White House tradition.

Gore was among the 2007 Nobel Prize winners who were invited in for a photo and some chatter with the president; Gore got the recognition for his work on global warming.

The two men stood next to other, sharing uncomfortable grins for photographers and reporters, who were quickly ushered in and out.

"Familiar faces," the former vice president said of the media. Bush, still smiling, added nothing.

The two also had a 40-minute meeting in the Oval Office, part of Bush's effort to show some outreach to his longtime rival.

Gore, trailed by the press as he left the White House very publicly on foot, allowed that he and Bush spent the whole time talking about global warming.

"He was very gracious in setting up the meeting and it was a very good and substantive conversation," Gore said. "And that's all I want to say about it."

Gore's presence added unlikely buzz to a photo op that normally would have been buried by Bush's Mideast peace forays. It is not like these two cross paths much. They have not met privately since then-President-elect Bush paid a visit — short, and not that sweet — to Gore's residence in December 2000.

That was back when the acrimony was fresh, in a country still in disbelief over an election that seemed never-ending. Ultimately, the U.S. Supreme Court certified Bush's 537-vote victory margin over Gore in Florida to settle the outcome.

Since then, Gore has not shied away from criticizing Bush; his latest book, "The Assault on Reason," is a relentless attack against the administration. And the White House's response when Gore won the Nobel Prize was less than giddy.

"I know that this president does not harbor any resentments," White House press secretary Dana Perino said. "Never has."

Indeed, the White House tried to make clear that Bush was hosting Gore not out of obligation, but genuine interest.

Bush personally invited Gore. The White House changed its original date to accommodate Gore. And then there was the private Bush-Gore meeting, too.

Gore said he didn't want to comment. But with the media waiting for him, Gore and his wife, Tipper, walked out along Pennsylvania Avenue and up 17th Street, toward his nearby office — even though the White House is adept at helping people slip away unnoticed if they want.

The media horde followed the Gores for several minutes. When a veteran reporter asked Gore if he missed all the attention, he adeptly turned the question around. "When you leave this beat," he said, "I'm gonna ask you."

NEWSWEEK: AL GORE NOW WORTH MORE THAN $100 MILLION

[Since 2000, according to published reports, the former veep has transformed himself from a public servant with around $1 million in the bank to a sparkling private consultant with a net worth estimated to be north of $100 million. He’s a senior adviser to Google, a board member at Apple and now a newly minted general partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, the Silicon Valley venture-capital firm that made billions investing early in Netscape, Amazon and Google.]

http://www.newsweek.com/id/71011

Bush Welcomes Gore with Low-Carbon Ceremony
by Scott Ott for ScrappleFace ·
(2007-11-26) — President George Bush today demonstrated that he can be gracious to his defeated opponents by welcoming former presidential rival Al Gore to the White House with a low-carbon ceremony to celebrate Mr. Gore’s Nobel Peace Prize for publicizing man-made global warming.

The day’s events began when the White House sent an ox cart to pick up Mr. Gore at his hotel, where he had arrived by S.U.V. motorcade last night following a charter jet flight to Washington D.C.

All lights had been extinguished at the White House, and the thermostats set to zero, in preparation for the former vice president’s arrival. The fireplaces were cool and devoid of logs. A Bush aide gave Mr. Gore a pair of official White House ear muffs, and guided him to the Oval Office, through the darkened hallways, with the help of a hand-cranked flashlight.

The president invited Mr. Gore to sit in his own chair, where Mr. Bush said, “You would have sat as you signed the Kyoto protocols.”

The two men sipped cold tea and nibbled organically-grown raw carrots before the official ceremony recognizing Mr. Gore’s accomplishment.

Since cameras, lights and recording equipment use electricity, the production of which is rapidly destroying the planet, TV and radio reporters were forced to abandon their gear before entering the White House.

Here is brief excerpt of Mr. Bush’s remarks, recorded by a stenographer, as he recognized the celebrated author and documentary producer, Al Gore.

THE PRESIDENT: It’s a great privilege to welcome Al and Tipper Gore to the Oval Office. Their visit here today was made possible in part by a grant from the Make-A-Wish foundation, and I’m honored to help this dream come true, if only for a few moments.

I always knew that Al would make something of himself, and he has done just that. On the world stage, he has taken gossamer threads of science and twisted them into a bewitching yarn that rivals anything that Walt Disney ever imagined. In the process, he has garnered an Oscar and a Nobel prize — the highest honors bestowed by the entertainment industry. Yes, Al Gore has really made something of himself. I would tell you what that something is, but the dignity of the office constrains me.

Finally, let me say that Al Gore’s work has inspired me so much, that while we were visiting here this morning, I had some people disassemble and recycle his motorcade and the jet he used to get here. The scrap metal will be stamped into commemorative Nobel prize coins bearing Al’s silhouette, which we’ll use to purchase carbon offsets from Al’s own company. -— http://www.scrappleface.com/?p=2793

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