This is one of my favorite exchanges in the movies – from When Harry Met Sally, Jess is about to go on a blind date set up by his friend Harry.

Jess: I don’t know about this.

Harry: It’s just a dinner.

Jess: You know I’ve finally gone to a new place in my life where I’m comfortable with the fact that it’s just me and my work. If she’s so great why aren’t you taking her out?

Harry: How many times do I have to tell you, we’re just friends.

Jess: So you’re saying she’s not that attractive.

Harry: No, I told you she *is* attractive.

Jess: Yeah but you also said she has a good personality.

Harry: She *has* a good personality.

(Jess stops walking, turns to Harry, raises his arms in the air)

Harry: What?

Jess: When someone is not that attractive, they’re always described as having a good personality.

Harry: Look, if you would ask me, “What does she look like?” and I said, “She has a good personality.” That means she’s not attractive. But just because I happened to mention that she has a good personality, she could be either. She could be attractive with a good personality, or not attractive with a good personality.

Jess: So which one is she?

Harry: Attractive.

Jess: But not beautiful, right?

(Harry walks away.)

This is the way the media is treating the whole “Will Al Gore run in 2008?” thing.

You know what? The last I heard he said he wasn’t going to run. If he throws his hat in now or at any point during the election season, I doubt he will garner as much interest as so many believe. The fact is that he doesn’t poll well. And as much as I would love to call the man President of the United States, I firmly believe he’s a much better person in the private sector and can do more good there at this stage. It’s also probably true that his Democrat brethren will crucify him for making a decision that would be construed by many as a “flip-flop”.

But yet the media, still trying to find the connection between a good personality and beautiful, will grill him time and again over whether or not he has come to terms with his own words.