Rick and Derb, Gore’s citation of The Red and the Black is exactly what I’m talking about when I say it’s ridiculous to ask politicians about their favorite books. My guess is that Gore was just citing a book on which he wrote a paper for which he was awarded an A at Harvard. It’s fine to say a novel that made a big impression on you as a teenager is your favorite — Crime and Punishment blew me away, and the fact that I haven’t read it since doesn’t mean it is any less great — but the clear purpose of answering a question in the way Gore did is to make it appear he is something he almost certainly isn’t: A steady reader of great literature. The answer is revealing only because it reveals Gore’s pretensions, not anything substantive about him.