Friday, July 07, 2006

Why I Love DC

I must admit, I'm a bit of a political geek. I'd rather see a politician than a movie star, but I got the best of both worlds when Al Gore was signing the companion book to An Inconvenient Truth at Olsson's Bookstore.

I was actually quite surprised at the lack of publicity surrounding Gore's visit. I have serendipity to thank for my attendance. I had been researching local bookstores online for the nonprofit I work for when I noticed that Olsson's was going to be featuring Al Gore.

Naturally I asked my supervisor if I could spend the day outreaching to D.C. bookstores to sell our guidebook, and it just so happened that my lunch hour corresponded with Gore's arrival at Olsson's.

Thus two fellow interns and myself were dutifully waiting in a very long line outside of Olsson's to meet Al Gore. It quickly became apparent, however, that the line probably extended much farther than our lunch hour. So we went inside the store to try to get a closer look.

We found sanctuary in the maps section, which we hoped would give us cover as confused tourists who just happened to be right next to the desk where the former Vice President would be sitting. This worked until Al Gore walked out and we were promptly ushered into another part of the store.

The other two interns were shuffled into the café, but I managed to slip right in front of the book-signing desk where I enthusiastically took responsibility for taking plenty of pictures for my friends and myself.

Al Gore was quite cordial, and seeing him with a loving fan base was refreshing. I still wish he had been president.

In the midst of all of this, I noticed that Ralph Nader had jumped in line as well. At this point I achieved nirvana. I quickly went over and snapped a few pics of myself with Ralph Nader, and then I hung around waiting for the meeting between the two presidential nominees.

I managed to catch a few pics of their interaction, one of which I've added below:



Below is the brief clip that I caught with my digital camera:



It was difficult to make out the exchange between them, but this Washington Post article claims the following exchange took place:


"Nice to see you! How you doing? . . . I'm really so grateful to you for coming by."

After more pleasantries, Gore scribbled a line in the book: "For my friend, Ralph Nader. With respect, Al Gore."

Nader was smitten. "He's liberated!" Nader said. "He's defining what progressive Democrats should be about."


This is why I love being in Washington, D.C.

Posted by Nathan

1 Comments:

Blogger ilovedcblog said...

Great post! I really enjoyed that - thank you. :->

2:04 PM  

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