This Love Story has ended: Al and Tipper Gore have announced their separation, less than two weeks after their 40th wedding anniversary. The rather graceless Gore, you might recall, claimed that his relationship with his high-school sweetheart inspired the tearjerking novel (and later film) Love Story. (Author Erich Segal said Gore only provided the strict father; actor Tommy Lee Jones really inspired the “sensitive stud.”)

Yet the media seem to have forgotten Gore’s mea culpa, portraying the earth-toned former vice president and his wife as Washington’s most charming couple. The Politico piece that broke the story started this way:

Al and Tipper Gore, whose playful romance enlivened Washington and the campaign trail for a quarter century, have decided to separate after 40 years of marriage, the couple told friends Tuesday.

The Washington Post‘s Reliable Source similarly—here’s that word “enliven” again—claimed:

The news stunned many political watchers — the duo’s mutually affectionate manner on the campaign trail did much to enliven Al Gore’s stuffy image — but also good friends.

This might be the first time Al Gore has ever been accused of enlivening anything.