"An Inconvenient Truth."  (getty images)

Unlike the swift denials that followed recent allegations that Al Gore was having an affair with Larry David's ex-wife, the Gore Machine has been weirdly standoffish about the Portland masseuse. Not that it means anything -- if you spend all your time denying salacious allegations, how can you ever get other stuff done?

That said, the blog has had more than one conversation lately in the White House driveway in which some variation of the phrase "Bill Clinton is laughing so hard right now" played a key role.

But here comes Tipper Gore -- or a friend close to Tipper Gore -- to set the record straight in People Magazine:

"Tipper has known about these allegations since Al found out about them himself. She has known that massage has been very much a part of his health regimen for many, many, many years. She doesn't believe any of the allegations that this woman [Hagerty] is making and they played no role whatsoever in their decision to separate."

Meh. Once the novelty of the allegations wore off (Al Gore? Really?) we kind of got bored with the whole thing. It's so tawdry -- but not in a gleeful way. We do think Tipper was smart to move to California.