Posted 9:24 AM by Robert

Mr. Popularity

In a hilarious riff, Rand Simberg begins:

Former Vice President Al Gore's new book, "Joined At The Heart," has been out for over a week and a half, but it's selling poorly, despite an expensive campaign by Al and Tipper, and much free publicity from the media. Yesterday, it was #11,231 on Amazon.com's list of top-selling books.

Of course, Rand is exaggerating - or perhaps sales have improved. Both books now seem to be substantially discounted on Amazon. Today's actual Amazon.com Sales Rank for Joined at the Heart is 1,607, and today's Amazon.com Sales Rank for the coffeetable companion book Spirit of Family is 1,137.

Think the publishing executives who brought out these books are happy with those sales numbers?

Well, just imagine the looks on the faces of the NBC executives who had the nifty idea of inviting Mr. Gore to host Saturday Night Live (with Phish!) this coming December 14 when they get a look at the Neilsen ratings for THAT episode. Talk about a career enhancing decision!

Can those execs sing "Home for the Holidays?"