The Goreacle Visits the White House

The press is panting about today's meeting in the Oval Office between Al Gore and President Bush:

Forget the Mideast peace talks. A meeting that may require even greater diplomacy will take place Monday in the Oval Office, when President Bush receives America's Nobel Prize winners — including his one-time rival, Al Gore.

A lot has happened to both men in the seven years since the 2000 election.

The president has faced terrorist attacks, natural disasters, and war; the former vice president left politics to campaign against global warming.

But while Bush saw his popularity plummet, Gore's star has been rising of late — with his Oscar-winning movie "An Inconvenient Truth," and the Nobel Peace Prize for his work on climate change.

So, when they meet in the Oval Office on Monday, will they finally bury the hatchet? Don't bet on it.

"This is going to be a very uncomfortable moment for both of them," says Gore's former campaign manager Donna Brazile. "I think after the president looks at Al Gore and says 'congratulations,' Al Gore will probably depart the room."

The two men were dismissive of each other from the start, in a campaign that was fought as much over personality differences as policy.

But their rivalry was sealed by the election's historic outcome — a split between the popular and electoral vote, and a bitter fight over vote counting that went all the way to the Supreme Court.

There was a brief truce after 9/11, when Gore publicly called Bush his commander in chief, and pledged his support.

Bush will be gracious. Gore will be pompous. Nothing new to see here. Move along.

UPDATE: Scrappleface suggests Bush had a low-carbon welcome for Gore:

(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.

Read the whole thing.