THE STORIES THEY LIKE

In today's New York Times, Elisabeth Bumiller and Jim Rutenberg tell us the stories they like about Al Gore, regardless of their relationship to reality:

Although he shares the award with the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, it was in many ways a personal victory for Mr. Gore, one achieved beyond the shadow of the disputed 2000 election and outside the orbit of the couple to which he has been linked for so long as a partner and a rival, Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Like Mr. Gore, Mr. Clinton has dedicated his post-White House career to global good works and has been mentioned as a possible Nobel winner some day; this was one prize Mr. Gore got first.

Oh, meow. Look, he beat Bill Clinton at something after he failed to succeed him as Prom Queen!

Er, how about another interpretation, one that doesn't assume Gore is a Heather or Heather wannabe? How about considering the possibility that Gore is actually a grown-up, and that he's simply decided to get on with his life since the 2000 election and the end of his VP term? How about considering the possibility that since then he's been thinking about what he can do that's of value, and that he hasn't been thinking about the Clintons at all?

And speaking of the Clintons, there's that other little question, and first Bumiller and Rutenberg present evidence that fairly definitely closes the door:

"I've called Al Gore and urged him to run for president so many times," [Jimmy Carter] said Friday on "Today" on NBC-TV. "He finally told me the last time, 'President Carter, please do not call me.'"

So that's that, right? Not to Bumiller and Rutenberg:

Laurie David, a producer of the Gore documentary on climate change, said that she regularly asked him whether he would run for president and that he responded as coyly to her as he does publicly. "I've brought it up a million times, and he always pretends like his cellphone's not working," she said.

"Coyly"? What coy about that? I think he's making the point that he's not running, dammit, and he doesn't want to talk about it.

But the press doesn't want to hear that. The press doesn't want to tell you that, even if it's the truth. Reporters would rather tell you stories they like.

(Cross-posted at If I Ran the Zoo.)