December 6, 2011

Bob Woodward said "sitting next to Gore is taxing... In fact, it's unpleasant."

He was stuck sitting next to him at the Organization for International Investment’s annual dinner at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in D.C.

The article at the link is minimal, so I can't tell what's so taxing and unpleasant about sitting next to Gore at the Ritz-Carlton, but when I think about the taxing, unpleasantness of Gore, I always drift back to this:



Ha ha. That will never not make me laugh. "What about the Dingell-Norwood bill?" That makes a hilarious household catchphrase, whenever anything's amiss: "What about the Dingell-Norwood bill?" Try it!

36 comments:

Automatic_Wing said...

Was Al releasing his chakras, by any chance?

That could be awkward at a dinner party.

traditionalguy said...

That's what Tipper said. She had to listen to him for 40 years.

Gore is suffering a mental defect that believes his money alone makes him attractive to others.

Known Unknown said...

Wow. Such a contrast in styles.

It's amazing that election was so close.

Bush is affable, Gore insufferable.

Meade said...

It's true. Having a little tiff with your true love? Play the Dingell-Norwood card.

Works every time.

KCFleming said...

Sitting next to any Democrat is taxing.

DADvocate said...

That was the moment Al Gore lost my vote. As a Tennessean, I had voted for Gore in his run for Senate (and his father years earlier). But a Southern Gentleman would never do what Gore did in that situation.

vnjagvet said...

Ok. For the jackpot, can anyone summarize the Dingel-Norwood bill?

Known Unknown said...

Dingell has been in the house since 1955.

Nineteen. Fifty. Five.

ndspinelli said...

Pogo, I would say that is very witty..but then I would commit another mortal sin..sucking up to a commenter. The unholy trinity is BORING, CLUTTER, AND SUCKING UP TO COMMENTERS. And, as God is my witness, I will do my best not to be a sinner. I have been born again.

ndspinelli said...

I thought it was the Dingell-Berry bill.

Wally Kalbacken said...

With Gore, all he had to do in 1998 was go to Clinton in March (I think that was his nadir) and say "either you resign or I will". Clinton, supreme egotist that he was, probably would not have resigned. So Gore would have been private citizen Gore, running in the primaries in 2000 without the advantage of incumbency as sitting VP. But he would have had the advantage of saying he stood on principle and that he did not condone Clinton's perjury and despicable conduct. Given how close the election was - just that change would have been enough of an advantage. But he was not courageous and couldn't do that. He was not a leader. He is right where he should be, in Palookaville trying to convince everybody else at Kleiner Perkins that he really is a tech savant. Really.

Meade said...

vnjagvet said...
"Ok. For the jackpot, can anyone summarize the Dingel-Norwood bill?"

Norwood-Dingell would have made it possible for a patient to sue his doctor in the event that the doctor acts officious, overbearing and and off-putting or, in other words, if the doctor behaves like Al Gore.

KCFleming said...

Man, can you imagine how taxing it is to be Al Gore?

It makes me pity the man, nearly.

dhagood said...

spinelli wins the thread.

ricpic said...

How primitive of me, I thought Woodward was commenting on Gore's whale breath.

Known Unknown said...

Thread winning is so boring!

Wait, am I doing it right?

bagoh20 said...

Who's freaking idea was it for him to do that? Did he just come with it on his own? It's so damned stupid. Especially with Bush who, unlike Gore, was a real man who was athletic and even flew fighter jets. He's not gonna be intimidated by an approaching manbearpig. They eat those for breakfast in Texas...with a nice Chianti.

bagoh20 said...

Is Rick Perry's forgetting a department really as scary stupid as this? This guy won the popular vote.

Sue D'Nhym said...

Has a party ever nominated three morons worse than Gore, Kerry and Obama back-to-back-to-back?

Freeman Hunt said...

I had forgotten how funny that was.

This should mark a rule in rhetoric: Never attempt to say "Dingell" in an authoritative way. It cannot be done.

TheCrankyProfessor said...

Little Albert GREW UP in the Ritz Carlton in D.C. Back in those days it was an apartment building.

I'm a Tennessean, and we NEVER voted for Those Gores. Part of that was that WE knew Miss Pauline (Mrs. Gore, Sr). That woman was a threat!

Wince said...

My one brush with Gore greatness was at a U2 show. He was there with Larry Summers and their wives as guests of the band.

Gore made a point of being Mr. kinetic working up a sweat during the show, while the rest in his party acted like normal adults watching a show. Clearly, Gore wanted everybody to know how into the band he was and how knew every song. Picture droopey dog Summers standing next to this.

I don't even think Gore was that moved by the music. I think he was just determined to be seen as so into the show, as a suck-up to Bono, and the best way to do that was to work up a sweat in his collared shirt. "Al after dark, when he 'let's it all hand out'."

Not a rude guy from my limited exposure -- he seemed gracious enough when I pointed him to the shitter -- but kind of overbearing and phoney.

edutcher said...

The Living Redwood was never as eloquent as when he said, "Wavered, wobbled, and waffled".

PS Mortuary Bob should talk. This is the guy who talks to famous corpses.

Known Unknown said...

let's it all hand out'.

Did the night have a happy ending?

Wince said...

E.M. Davis said...
"let's it all hand out".

Did the night have a happy ending?


woops, "hang"

Freud, laughing.

Geoff Matthews said...

Gore was such an asshole. From all accounts, he hasn't changed.

jamboree said...

Courtney Love on Al Gore: "He goes 'I'm a really big fan.' And I was like 'Yeah, right. Name a song, Al.' The answer came limply back: 'I can't name a song, I'm just a really big fan.'"


No matter what else she does, I will always love Courtney for that.

Dan from Madison said...

jamboree - I always root for Courtney to get it together but she never seems to - just can't get off the dope.

As for Gore, as soon as he moves out of his sprawling manse and lives in an energy efficient house a la Ed Begley I will listen to what he has to say about the environment.

I assume he runs the rest of his life just like that.

Toad Trend said...

Have you ever been next to the exhaust port of a natural-gas burning furnace outside the house?

I think this is what Mr. Woodward was talking about.

Shanna said...

I loved Bush's little nod response to Gore in that clip. He makes that 'what the heck are you doing face' and then he nods. So perfect.

Jake said...

What about the Twinkie?

Toad Trend said...

Bill Cosby is tired - the following courtesy of Mr. Cosby;

"I'm 76. Except for brief period in the 50's when I was doing my National Service, I've worked hard since I was 17. Except for some serious health challenges, I put in 50-hour weeks, and didn't call in sick in nearly 40 years. I made a reasonable salary, but I didn't inherit my job or my income, and I worked to get where I am. Given the economy, it looks as though retirement was a bad idea, and I'm tired. Very tired.

I'm tired of being told that I have to "spread the wealth" to people who don't have my work ethic. I'm tired of being told the government will take the money I earned, by force if necessary, and give it to people too lazy to earn it.

I'm tired of being told that Islam is a "Religion of Peace," when every day I can read dozens of stories of Muslim men killing their sisters, wives and daughters for their family "honour"; of Muslims rioting over some slight offense; of Muslims murdering Christian and Jews because they aren't "believers"; of Muslims burning schools for girls; of Muslims stoning teenage rape victims to death for "adultery"; of Muslims mutilating the genitals of little girls; all in the name of Allah, because the Qur'an and Shari'a law tells them to.

I'm tired of being told that out of "tolerance for other cultures" we must let Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries use our oil money to fund mosques and mandrassa Islamic schools to preach hate in Australia, New Zealand, UK, America and Canada, while no one from these countries are allowed to fund a church, synagogue or religious school in Saudi Arabia or any other Arab country to teach love and tolerance..

I'm tired of being told I must lower my living standard to fight global warming, which no one is allowed to debate.

I'm tired of being told that drug addicts have a disease, and I must help support and treat them, and pay for the damage they do. Did a giant germ rush out of a dark alley, grab them, and stuff white powder up their noses or stick a needle in their arm while they tried to fight it off?

I'm tired of hearing wealthy athletes, entertainers and politicians of all parties talking about innocent mistakes, stupid mistakes or youthful mistakes, when we all know they think their only mistake was getting caught.

I'm tired of people with a sense of entitlement, rich or poor.

I'm really tired of people who don't take responsibility for their lives and actions. I'm tired of hearing them blame the government, or discrimination or big-whatever for their problems.

I'm also tired and fed up with seeing young men and women in their teens and early 20's bedeck themselves in tattoos and face studs, thereby making themselves un-employable and claiming money from the Government.

Yes, I'm damn tired. But I'm also glad to be 76. Because, mostly, I'm not going to have to see the world these people are making. I'm just sorry for my granddaughter and her children Thank God I'm on the way out and not on the way in."

Robert Cook said...

I'm not surprised the Woodward finds sitting next to Gore taxing or unpleasant; I'm surprised he (and reporters in general) don't find all politicians taxing and unpleasant to sit next to. If a politician seems easy and charming, the reporters should be wary that they're being played.

Reporters should have an innate and automatic adversarial stance toward all politicians--or should cultivate such a stance as a necessary professional tool--and should never socialize with them or see them as friends or peers.

Robert Cook said...

"...Bush...unlike Gore, was a real man who was athletic and even flew fighter jets."

That is, until he stopped flying them, (and he never flew them in, you know, combat).

And how does being athletic or flying fighter jets make one a "real man"? What is a "real man?"

Robert Cook said...

Don't Tread 2012:

That's not by Bill Cosby (and it doesn't sound like him):

http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/imtired.asp

bagoh20 said...

"What is a real man?"

O Christ, Cook!

A real man doesn't try to physically scare his opponent in a debate, where he knows the other guy can't just punch him.

A real man doesn't tell people to live in respect of the environment while he himself lives the exact opposite. Read a comparison of the Bush and Gore homes. Bush lives the way Gore preaches, but does it without the preaching and haranguing.

In short, a real man is not a little bitch. Do I need to define that term too?