The American Spectator

p> LET’S GET TOGETHER br> President Bush has not only had the troops in Iraq on the offensive, he’s been doing it at home. Literally. /p>

Over the past two weeks, the President has held a series of off the record get-togethers with reporters and columnists in the White House residence, in part, say White House insiders, to disarm the attendees.

Bush has been using the casual setting to press his position on Iraq and to discuss other issues, including his relations with Congress, the upcoming budget battles, North Korea, and Afghanistan. One area he avoided, according to one attendee — the coming primary battles for the person to replace him.

Bush apparently liked the meetings so much that he’s expressed an openness to doing more down the line if his media and communications advisers believe it will help the Administration on the messaging front.

p> PENGUIN POLITICS br> Former Vice President Al Gore has been spending the bulk of his time campaigning hard with voting members of the Academy for Motion Picture Arts, committing more than $500,000 of his own money to the PR campaign set up to win him an Oscar. /p>

When Gore and his aides were approached about providing similar dollar amounts in support of ending the slaughter in Darfur, he declined, say fundraisers for the Darfur initiative.

It isn’t surprising, then, that Gore is willing to overlook other inconvenient angles in his pursuit to end global warming. Despite advice from some of his environmental advisers, Gore is insisting that there be a musical performance of some kind from Antarctica during the July 7th “Inconvenient Truth” 24-hour concert to end global warming.