So last night I stopped by a book party for Kristin Gore, who has written a second novel. The party was thrown by her parents. A lot of old Gore hands were there. I know, of course, that by attending a book party in Washington, and one thrown by a (former) politician to boot, I have reinforced all the stereotypes out there about how establishment journalists in DC get too cozy with the people they’re supposed to cover. The truth is — I went for the food. And to congratulate the author. But I happened to notice, as I was talking to him and Tipper, that the Academy Award-winning, recently-turned-internet-multi-millionaire, former vice president of the United States has lost a lot of weight in the past few months. He looked great, in fact. He eschewed talk of campaign politics, focusing instead on the global warming presentations he’s been giving around the world.
I know, I know. He’s not running. He and Tipper are content in their post-political lives and he’s committed to playing Paul Revere warning the world of the coming climate crisis. I know. But did I mention he’s lost a lot of weight? The way politicians sometimes do when they’re gearing up for a race?
I’m just saying….
UPDATE: Kryptik, Eric: You don’t think we at Time cover serious issues? I recommend our new cover story on pulling out of Iraq, which hits newsstands today. Half the Washington bureau worked on it, as did our Baghdad bureau. This blog is about politics, high and low. I happened to see Al Gore last night. I was struck by the fact that he’s lost a lot of weight – something even his closest advisers have said in the past would be an indicator of his intentions vis-a-vis 2008. I passed that on in a post that took me five minutes to produce. Hate to break it to you, but image matters in politics. Maybe you should switch to decaf?