Not surprisingly, Al Gore was widely criticised for hiring famed feminist author Naomi Wolf as a political consultant in 1999. Time political correspondent Matt Cooper summed things up at that year's "Funniest Celebrity in Washington" contest:

"Clinton gets a sex scandal; Gore gets a sex-education scandal," he playfully declared. "Clinton gets a blow job; Gore gets advice from a woman who writes about blow jobs. Is that parity?'"

[Cooper's nickname for the annual 'Funniest Celebrity in Washington' contest? 'C-SPAN's Def Comedy Jam'. 1998's winner? Matt Cooper.]