A free exchange of ideas. No. Really.

Was Ari a member of the wise village elders?

I think he's now testing whether enough time and bitterness have passed since the parties, and the country, were so deeply split during the 2004 campaign," said Ari Fleischer, the former White House press secretary, who attended many of the early bipartisan meetings. "My believe is he wants to make such meetings worthwhile again."

If not, where did he come from? Further, it's a vague memory, but I seem to recall the country was split fairly deeply in 2000 as well. Five years probably would have been enough time for the "bitterness" to have passed had George W. Bush actually, ya know, governed rather than dictated. Finally, how does a five minute meeting be "worthwhile?"

All that said, ya gotta miss Ari. Unlike Scottie, he always seemed to be in on the joke.