And he invented the internet, too . . .

This is from a Seattle PI editorial about Al Gore, entitled "Serious man with a strong message":

I saw former Vice President Al Gore the other night at the Washington premier of his new film, "An Inconvenient Truth," at the National Geographic Theater. He's tanned. He's rested. He may even be ready, although he says he isn't going to run for office . . .

Ask any officeholder what it's like to lose. If they're honest, they will say it's a gut-wrenching blow to soul and body, akin to dying. Tough men lie in bed and cry. It's hard to give up the recognition, the aides whispering in your ear anxious to do your bidding, the limos cool in summer and warm in winter waiting at the curb.

Gore's loss may have been the hardest ever. Not only did he win the popular vote, but had a recount been properly conducted of all the Florida votes and not stopped by the U.S. Supreme Court, he might have won.

Although it does not seem that he would have.

While no one was watching, Gore picked himself up and returned to his passionate belief that we have to heal the world or else we'll destroy it. Of course, he risks ridicule. The tree-huggers in Birkenstocks have always been easy to mock. Former President George H. W. Bush warned in the '92 campaign that if Ozone Man were ever in charge, we'd be "up to our necks in owls and outta work."

Yet much of what Gore said in his 1993 book, "Earth in the Balance," has proven prophetic . . . .

More in the same vein if you want it.

Tags: Gore, Global Warning, Bush, recounts