Any reactions to the news that Al and Tipper Gore are splitting after 40 years?

My reaction is: That sucks. That is all.

Probably better for both of them, seeing as they’ve been together so long. Usually when a couple sticks it out for so many years they know when it’s time to call it quits.

Not really, it happens.

This is news to me. It saddens me also. They did seem like a good couple. It really amazes me that people divorce after being married for that many years. I would think if I had put up been married to someone for 40 years, I could put up be married to them for the other years I had left. I have nothing to base this on however, I was only married for 5 years.

Inconvenient ?

I was surprised. I hadn’t heard that they were having any sort of marital troubles before now.

@rebbel Good one… always with the one liners! Or brief phrases, even.

I don’t follow celebrity stories at all, so I am interpreting from the far outside. I would have to say that if they’ve chosen to part at this stage of their lives, there’s been a deepening distance for a very long time, deep enough that they can’t even agree that they may as well stick it out now and take care of each other in their old age. They want freedom from each other even more than they want companionship, comfort, and security in their senior years. If that’s the case, the feelings must be very strong, and they’re better off apart.

I’d go further and guess that they waited longer than they would have if he hadn’t been a runner for the White House. I’d say they waited until it was certain that that was never going to happen.

One of my favorite “News of the Weird” stories from many years ago was that of the 93-year-old woman who divorced her husband after sixty-some years of marriage, saying in disgust that she had given up hope he was ever going to change.

C’est la vie.

Wonder if he’s going for a newer, more energy-efficient model?

shocked!

Not really surprised and wondering why this is so newsworthy, as a matter of fact.

It made me very sad.

@Bluefreedom It is newsworthy because neither was having an affair! ;D

I heard Tipper was dating a guy named Chad who had been hanging around…

@Sueanne_Tremendous Too funny!!! GA!

@Cruiser. Okay, I concede that might make it a little newsworthy but marriages end all the time where both parties haven’t had an affair, I’m sure.

This Chad guy that @Sueanne_Tremendous mentioned sounds mighty suspicious though! =)

That is sad. I always secretly cheer for those people who seem to make a real go of a marriage.

I’m recalling now what I thought when Gore was cheated out of the election. I thought in personal terms: what must it be like for him in the privacy of his own mind, what must it be like for his wife? I remember thinking that he’s probably never going to get over this. Every time Bush does anything, Gore is going to be thinking about what he would have done. Every dinnertime at the Gore house is probably going to be overshadowed by his bitterness, whether he says anything or not. Every time he says anything about politics, his family will wish he would shut up, and if he doesn’t, they’ll know it’s on his mind anyway.

Or maybe he has been realistic and accepting of the vagaries of politics, and she has never let it go.

I am just imagining this, mind you: I have no idea what either of them has been like to live with. But I think if I’d been in his wife’s place, it would have worn me down by now.

Neutral – people don’t have to be together forever, I’m glad they figured this out and will prob be happier for it.

What took her so long?;)

One of complete apathy.Their business surely.

Really? They seemed so much in love. But one never knows what really happens in others’ relationships. Kinda sad.

Never liked or appreciated the man. Always thought she was a little strange trying to censor records and the like. Too bad I guess, but I don’t care.

I actually respect them for it. Many people that have been married for so long tend to stay in marriages that they aren’t 100% happy with simply because they have been together for so long that they don’t know how to be single. 40 years is a long time in a marriage and so no one can accuse them of not trying!

How sad.