While we are distracted by the excitement of Alberto Gonzales' imminent resignation, and the upcoming Constitutional Showdown™, we must never forget that AL GORE STILL LIVES!  And he is determined to sacrifice all human wealth and industry upon his mad green altar of trees and electric cars!  People, it is not too late – if we rise up now, we may yet be able to stop him before we are completely overrun by glaciers and polar bears and oxygen!

Okay, I admit it, I've been buying up land in Western Pennsylvania, and when it becomes beachfront property, I will be rich.  The question is, will Al Gore be better able to thwart my nefarious plan from inside the White House, or out on the lecture circuit?  Is it more important for him to be personally pushing for reform, or building popular demand for it?  Are they necessarily exclusive?

Some tidbits from today's hearings:

• TPM Election Central has a clip of Gore's testimony today – apparently we need more cowbell and less denial.
• John Dingell called Gore "Mr. President."
• Kit Bond actually suggested that global warming might be caused by… sunspots.  Even Denny Hastert knows better.
• James Inhofe is a massive, dishonest tool.
• Barbara Boxer does not suffer tools gladly (unless they possess Joe Lieberman's raw sexual magnetism):

Hitting a note that some of the vice president’s critics have sounded in recent weeks — the size and energy-consuming properties of his new home in Tennessee, Senator Inhofe sought to exact a pledge from Mr. Gore to cut electricity use so that his mansion outside Nashville used no more than the average American home within a year.

This set off a verbal jousting match with both Mr. Gore and Senator Barbara Boxer, the committee chairwoman.

The chairman turned to Mr. Inhofe and said, “I want to talk to you a minute.” She went on, “Will you agree to let the vice president answer your questions?” As the Oklahoma senator argued back, she made a tart reference to the change in power in the Senate, saying:, “You’re not making the rules. You used to when you did this” — here she waved her gavel — “but you don’t do this any more.”

She can wave her gavel at me any time. 

Feel free to use this thread to speculate about what Karl Rove responses to the USA purge list might have fallen into the gap.  I'm thinking it'd be stuff along the lines of, "This is great – Dusty and Brent will breathe much easier.  Hey, how about this great weather we're having?"

UPDATE: C-SPAN has video of the climate hearings on their website (RealMedia format).  Thanks to angie for indirectly prodding me to look.

UPDATE II: YouTube also has a video, in case the C-SPAN one goes away. (h/t RedShift)