Very interesting...Also, an Elephant in the Room

It was interesting and somewhat amusing to hear that former 2004 Presidential candidate and senator John Kerry came out yesterday, January 10, 2008, to lend his support to Senator Barack Obama. Since Kerry's been flying under the radar for the past year or so, it remains to be seen how much his backing will help (or hurt!) Sen. Obama.

What was amusing and caused tongues to wag was the fact that Kerry's endorsement was somewhat of a slap in the face to his erstwhile running mate, John Edwards. It was no surprise to anyone that Kerry didn't endorse Sen. Hillary Clinton. There was no love lost there. As with Al Gore's 2000 campaign, the Clinton's paid not much more than lip service to Kerry's effort to become President. There was even talk that the last thing Sen. Clinton wanted was for Kerry to win in 2004, thus possibly postponing her own candidacy until 2012.




One elephant in the room (strange figure of speech when discussing Democrats) is Al Gore, Nobel Peace Prize winner, Oscar winner, Savior of the World. He has declined to endorse anyone so far. He could be enormously influential if and when he decides to support either Hillary or Barack Obama. (I see Edwards down for the count.) I'm certain he is weighing his options. I would imagine he has a better chance of a juicy plum job with a President Obama, than with a President Clinton. You just know she will have a great position in mind for her husband. Can you say Supreme Court justice?

He Went to the Mountaintop

photo credit: AP


The best thing Al Gore has ever done was gracefully bowing out of contention for the US presidency after the 2000 election, not that he had any choice. But he did so in order to spare the country more weeks of judicial, political, and emotional turmoil and deserves credit for that. After his concession, he tried academia, and became even more pedantic in nature and speech than before. He went to the mountaintop and had a revelation. He left the world of political officeholders and turned to his pet topic - the environment. It took the top spot on the agenda of Al Gore for his incubating second life in the public eye.

Early Days
In his youth, he lived a pampered life in a posh hotel in Washington, DC, attending exclusive private schools and returning to his home state of Tennessee on vacations. He claims to have worked on the family farm while living there.

He graduated from Harvard in 1969 and enlisted in the Army soon afterward serving as a military journalist. He spent a few months in Vietnam after which he returned to the States to attend Vanderbilt for a part of a year as a divinity student. Not finding theology his true calling, he put his journalism skills to work for five years at The Tennessean, a newspaper in Nashville.

He then attended law school for a year, before realizing that his next calling was to the government. He followed his father into government service, entering politics and winning election to Congress for four terms as a Representative from Tennessee before winning a seat in the Senate. Having the same name as his father, a long-time Tennessee member of Congress and Senate, could only have helped.













photo credit: Mark Peterson/Corbis.




The Clinton-Gore-Clinton Administration
Tapped by Bill Clinton in 1992, Gore became Vice President for eight years. Mostly untouched by the Clinton scandals, he had more than enough trouble of his own, most of it due to his own miscalculations, hypocrisies, overstatements, and unethical, if not illegal, political dealings. A few are recounted here:

1. Tobacco Hypocrisy -(Al Gore, 1988) -

"Throughout most of my life, I raised tobacco. I want you to know that with my own hands, all of my life, I put in in the plant beds and transferred it. [ed. I assume he meant transplanted it.] I've hoed it. I've chopped it. I've shredded it, spiked it, put it in the barn and stripped it and sold it."

He sold more than tobacco. He sold himself, too. He defended tobacco farmers and received contributions from tobacco companies into the '90's, all the while milking his sister's 1984 death from lung cancer during the 1996 convention. He then claimed to be firmly on the anti-smoking bandwagon. He explained that his "emotional numbness" after his sister's death allowed him to continue to defend and profit from the tobacco business. That "emotional numbness" excuse didn't ring true and while Democrats looked the other way, Republicans made careful note of it.

2. Fundraising Shenanigans -
Unsavory characters (Jose Cabrera and others) donated big bucks to the Gore coffers. The DNC was forced to return some of the illegal gains. Gore himself was caught participating in fundraising at a Buddhist Temple when individual monks, living a life of poverty, were unlawfully reimbursed by the Temple after donating money to Al Gore and the Democrat party. An example of Gore's poor political judgment is that he made some ridiculous claims after the incident came to light, such as not knowing he was attending a fundraiser.

He also made his well known claim that "There is no controlling legal authority" to state that the many fund-raising phone calls he made from his VP office in the White House were illegal. He and Clinton were such weasels. I wonder what Gore's definition of the word "is" is?

3. Exaggerations and Downright Lies -
When the New York Times bemoans the fact that their candidate of choice tends to over-exaggerate, you know it's too evident to ignore.

(NYT, Oct.5, 2000)

"For years, his political opponents have groused that Vice President Al Gore has trouble with facts. They pounced on statements he made about his service in Vietnam, about his record in Congress and even about the price he has to pay for his dog's arthritis medicine."

"...Mr. Gore's shading of the truth has become so frequent that some politicians are no longer dismissing it as sloppy oratory from a candidate under the glare of television cameras.This predilection of Mr. Gore's is all the more surprising because it often involves trivial matters — ones that could easily be checked — such as how Mr. Gore recalled a childhood lullaby that did not exist."

Two examples: (1) Remember how he claimed that he and his wife Tipper were the inspiration for the book and movie "Love Story"? Not true. (2)Remember his boastful stretch of the truth stating that he "took the initiative in creating the internet"? No way. As a Congressman he was in a position to help prevent governmental roadblocks to internet development, but the internet was already in existence without any help from Gore.

A comprehensive list of Al's prevarications, or "exaggerations", can be found here.

The 2000 Presidential Election

The media intelligentsia was certain that Gore would demolish Bush in the debates. That didn't happen. The American people watch the debates and get more information about a candidate by watching how he answers the questions, not just hearing what he says.

I remember the three debates and the three different Al Gores that participated in them. During the first debate he smirked, sighed while George W. Bush was talking, and generally acted like a pompous jerk. For the second debate he was cosmetically made up to look like Ronald Reagan, with makeup sculpting shadows on his face to mimic Reagan's facial planes. His hair was even styled with that little ridge at the top like Reagan's. If a man has to resort to makeup to glom onto the reputation of a popular ex-president, it's a clear indication that he is not comfortable in his own skin. His behavior during the second debate was more controlled, even a bit docile. In the third debate Gore deemed himself "just right" - not too aggressive, not too passive. Others had a different opinion. The three different Al Gores diluted the results for the Democrats; there was only one George Bush and he attended all three.



The revelation that Gore paid Naomi Wolf bongo bucks ($15,000 per month)to become his personal "personality" consultant made people wonder just exactly what she did. Was she his wardrobe maven, urging him to switch from navy suits to brown? Is she the one who advised him to growl like the Alpha-male, sneering while being pompously condescending?

"When a man has to pony up a fortune to a woman to teach him how to be a man, that definitely takes the edge off his topdogginess," wrote NYT columnist Maureen Dowd.

The Gore campaign and Ms Wolf denied her micromanagement of his earthtone hues and alpha-male coaching but the damage was done. The insinuation that Gore was not sure of himself and needed coaching was enough to turn some people away. Combine that with his constant exaggerations of his accomplishments and his unabashed use of his family's personal tragedies for his personal electoral advantage cost him a multitude of supporters and votes.


His stiff demeanor, pedantic mode of expression, and arrogant "know-it-allness", comprised the main ingredients in a recipe for defeat. Add to that "The Kiss", the rather inappropriately prolonged liplock with Tipper Gore during the Democrat convention. It may have been the time, but it certainly wasn't the place.



Of course it didn't help Al being closely associated with scandal-ridden Bill Clinton. It was widely assumed that there was bad blood between the Gores and the Clintons. Bill's deference to Hillary instead of to Gore, i.e., assigning her the plum job of restructuring the health care system, had to have grated on Gore's nerves for quite some time.

There was also a brouhaha over office assignments. Hillary wanted the office wing traditionally assigned to the Vice President and it was only when Al Gore threatened to resign that he was allowed to occupy the office. This was widely known in the political arena soon after the inauguration. The New York Times Magazine stated that "Al Gore hasn't yet realized there is going to be a co-presidency but he's not going to be part of the co," and that, according to the Clintons' close friend and adviser Susan Thomases, Gore "would have to adjust to a smaller role."

As a consequence of all his experiences with the Clintons, before and during the 2000 presidential campaign, Al didn't know whether to praise Clinton or damn him. Resentment over the allocation of a large portion of DNC resources to Hillary's NY Senate bid, and Bill's numerous personal appearances for her added to Gore's chagrin. An article in the Nov. 2007 issue of Vanity Fair states:

"At the same time, Hillary's ascendancy had a significant impact on the presidential prospects of Al Gore, diverting attention and resources from his candidacy and adding to the growing tensions between the Gores and the Clintons over Bill's involvement with Lewinsky."

He tried to differentiate himself from Clinton by stating his and his wife's committment to fidelity and "family values" without distancing himself too much from a popular president. It was a fine line he was walking.

With all the baggage accumulated, his own and some from the Clintons, it was little wonder that Gore had trouble in the election. He didn't even win his own state, and what was assumed to be a runaway for Gore turned into the closest election in US history.

I don't even want to rehash the post election squabbles and travesties. Suffice it to say, when all the dust had settled, Gore won a half million more popular votes than George W. Bush, but lost in the electoral college by 5, 271 to 266. With no more hope of claiming a victory, Gore did concede gracefully.

Rebirth
In his desire to reinvent himself, after the election, much as he claimed to have "reinvented the government", he took himself to academia, grew a beard and professed to "profess" for a seminar at Columbia Graduate School of Journalism. His qualifications for the gig were his brief stint in Vietnam as a military journalist, his time with The Tennessean in Nashville, and his eight years on the other side of the fence facing reporters as Vice President. He placed a weird gag order on his students, insisting that his class lectures were "off the record." Equally bizarre was Columbia University journalism school administrator's statement that off-the-record lectures promoted free and open discussion.

“We expect that you will comply with the decision to offer the seminar on an off-the-record basis; your attendancewill be taken as evidence that, in accordance with the School’s honor system, you accept this stipulation.”

Catching some grief for that, Gore wisely lifted the gag order.

Revelation and Reward

Soon after his brief career as a University professor, he shed his beard and threw himself wholeheartedly into his new career as Earth Savior. Long an environmentalist (author of Earth in the Balance, published in 1992) he went to the mountaintop, and came down with a new mission for his life. He delved further into his environmental research (and Powerpoint classes) to produce his second book, supporting the documentary of the same name, An Inconvenient Truth. For his efforts, Gore brought home an Oscar, soon to be followed by the formerly prestigious Nobel Peace Prize.

Kyoto Protocol
In spite of being heavily sponsored by Clinton and especially Gore, the Kyoto Protocol, the treaty had absolutely no chance of passing the Senate. Instead, the Byrd-Hagel Resolution (S. Res 98) against the US signing the protocol was passed 95-0 and the Clinton Administration never even submitted it to the Senate for ratification. Gore continues to pass condemnation on his own country for not ratifying the treaty, even though it has been shown to be ineffective in the countries who did sign on. Mark Steyn in the OC Register recently revealed the following:

"At the recent climate jamboree in Bali, the Rev. Al Gore told the assembled faithful: 'My own country, the United States, is principally responsible for obstructing progress here.' Really? the American Thinker's Web site ran the numbers. In the seven years between the signing of Kyoto in 1997 and 2004, here's what happened:

•Emissions worldwide increased 18.0 percent;
•Emissions from countries that signed the treaty increased 21.1 percent;
•Emissions from nonsigners increased 10.0 percent; and
•Emissions from the United States increased 6.6 percent.

Gore's statements to the contrary, there is no universal consensus on man-made global warming, global climate change, or whatever you want to call it. The mainstream media keeps most skeptics' reports on back pages, but they do keep popping up. Gore's refusal to debate the issue with "global warming deniers" (lumped in with Holocaust deniers) or even take questions from the press at some events makes one wonder why.

Legacy
The larger question is what is Al Gore's desired legacy? He has been a successful Congressman and Senator, and a two-term vice president. Failing to succeed Clinton as President, and maybe having to endure 8 years of a presidential Hillary Clinton, Gore may have set his sights on something far grander than the presidency of the United States. He may be angling for a position that would grant him the respect and gratitude of the world. Whether or not he truly believes what he preaches is open to discussion. He certainly talks the talk even as he neglects to walk the walk. Globe-trotting, complete with retinue, and living in a huge, energy-gobbling home, carbon credits notwithstanding, seem to indicate a less than full committment to practicing what he preaches.

To add to the muddle of his involvement in fighting global warming is his founding and chairmanship of Generation Investment Management (GIM), an international investment firm with extensive holdings (as of March, 2007) in some companies participating in industries directly in line with alternative energy, the "greening" of the world, and organic foods. Other companies are more mundane, insurance, pet healthcare, food service and financial services. Whatever their business attachments, Gore stands to profit from others following his advice to purchase carbon credits from his company to atone for their energy using ways.

As more and more people begin to learn of his direct interest in personal profits from his dire threats of global disaster, we can only hope that a truly open discussion of the consequences of global warming and man's ability to affect climate change will shed light on the issue. As long as Al Gore remains the figurehead of supposed "looming calamity", we must remember his reputation for exaggeration and wonder if his true legacy will be as a world-class snake oil salesman.

Another Inconvenient Truth for Gore

Well, maybe the sun has a little something to do with it after all. NASA now says :

"Long-term climate records are a key to understanding how Earth's climate changed in the past and how it may change in the future. Direct measurements of light energy emitted by the sun, taken by satellites and other modern scientific techniques, suggest variations in the sun's activity influence Earth's long-term climate. However, there were no measured climate records of this type until the relatively recent scientific past. "

This presents a somewhat "inconvenient truth" to some of our esteemed Global Warming Alarmists (GWA), committed to the proposition that the carbon footprint of mankind is the main if not sole contributing factor to the predicted gloom of climate change.

Maybe winning the Oscar has turned his head. After living as a world-wide celebrity for the past few months - movie star, Oscar winner, Nobel Peace Prize nominee, and Man-about-Town, it must be hard to remind one's self to be a regular guy and play by the rules. After demanding special treatment from the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works investigating global warming, Al Gore now feels that the special privileges granted to him need not apply after all.

First he demanded and received permission to present an unprecedented 30 minute opening statement. Then, the usual 48-hour presubmission rules, designed to grant Senate committee members time to go over upcoming testimony, and prepare questions, was waived in favor or Gore's requested 24-hour presubmission time. Now it seems the 24-hours have lapsed with no testimony submitted. Wonder why? Could it be that our super-intelligent former VP was not prepared? Nah. This is the guy that invented the internet, after all. He surely has his opening comment speech prepared, polished and perfected. Could it be that he didn't want to tip his hand and let committee members have time to ask him some difficult questions, especially in light of the above mentioned NASA statement? Looks like it.

Al might be well versed in talking the global warming talk, (although he doesn't like walking the global warming walk) but he's not a scientist, after all, much less an expert in the fields of climatology, astronomy, solar whatever-ology, and any other -ologies pertaining to the study of global warming. He might not fare well going toe-to-toe with an expert from NASA.

It certainly doesn't bode well for Gore having the public find out that in additon to his energy-gulping mansion Gore now holds himself well above regulations required of others testifying before Senate committees.

Photo courtesy- NASA/JPL-Caltech

Gore's Other Inconvenient Truth

He payed attention. He served under the Clinton's and he payed attention. He realized that he too could make some real money after leaving office. He had already written a book, Earth in the Balance, and after his stint as a professor, beard and all, he tried his oratorial skills. Remember his rant regarding George Bush's supposed pre- 9/11 Iraq invasion plans? "He betrayed this country! He played on our fears!" Then he tried the movie business with An Inconvenient Truth which may turn out to be very inconvenient to us. He's yet to find out whether or not he'll be bringing home the Nobel Peace Prize so he's decided to become a snake-oil salesman (the Nobel Peace Prize for what? for not duking it out with GWB for the presidency?).

Yes, ladies and gentlemen. Our former VP is selling the environmental equivalent of snake-oil. If we are to believe his dire warnings, we are on the brink of destroying the planet and life as we know it. The global temperature is warming, ice caps are melting, the sea level is rising, polar bears are drowning, and we all know that it is due to human activities. Well, not the activies of all humans, just those of us in western, developed countries with high employment and high productivity and a high standard of living. Let's face it. In some countries, people just don't live long enough to do much damage to the world. But we Americans, living in our nice homes, keeping warm in winter and cool in summer, eating red meat, washing with fresh, safe water daily, and flushing our toilets instead of dumping the slops out the window, have the nerve to live well into our 70's and 80's while driving our gas-guzzling SUV's thousands of miles a year. We are responsible for all the ills facing the planet. Period. No one dares to dispute this man's scientific conclusions. See this prior post.

So, what are we to do? According to Mr. Gore and others, we should do all that we can to conserve natural resources; cut back on our energy consumption; look for alternative more earth-friendly sources of energy; and once we've calculated our reduced "carbon footprint" we then should pay our penance with "carbon offsets". According to Wikipedia, the not always reliable information source, but the handiest for me at present, a "carbon offset" is:

"A service that tries to reduce the net carbon emissions of individuals or organizations indirectly, through proxies who reduce their emissions and/or increase their absorption of greenhouse gases.[1] A wide variety of offset actions are available; tree planting is the most common. Renewable energy and energy conservation offsets are also popular, including emissions trading credits.

The intended goal of carbon offsets is to combat global warming.[2] The appeal of becoming "carbon neutral" has contributed to the growth of voluntary offsets, which often are a more cost-effective alternative to reducing one's own fossil-fuel consumption. However, carbon offsets are not without controversy, with some environmentalists and economists questioning the overall benefits of the practice."

Did you get that last sentence - "with some environmentalists and economists questioning the overall benefits of the practice"? So, without clear proof that it would make much difference, we are urged to purchase these offsets, which would at least make us feel as if we were doing something to help stave off the coming crisis. For some democrats, that warm and fuzzy "feeling" is enough.

Where do you buy carbon offsets? I live in a greater metropolitan area of at least a half million people. I haven't seen the Offsets-R-US anywhere. Is it something you order online? Maybe Amazon sells them; they sell everything else these days. Let's see what Al Gore does.

For your review: Al and The Tipster have, oh, I don't know, maybe two homes. I know about the one in an exclusive fashionable Nashville suburb. You've probably seen the recent articles here and there about the size of it, a 20 room McMansion that uses 20 times the energy of a typical American home. This is according to reliable sources, in this case, the Nashville daily newspaper, The Tennessean, which obtained records from the Nashville Electric Service. There is a correspondingly large usage of natural gas, as would be expected.

When questioned about this seeming inconsistency with Al Gore's teachings about the necessity for energy conservation, Gore's spokesperson (WARNING!! from now on I'm using the word "spokesman") assured us that the Gores have switched to fluorescent bulbs, and are having solar panels installed, and have participated in a "Green Power Switch" program. I'll give him credit for putting some of his money where his mouth is . (The Tennessee Valley Authority has information here about this potential energy-saving program). In addition to that, they drive a Lexus Hybrid SUV for gasoline savings, probably somewhat offset by his trips around the world promoting himself, I mean, his movie. Sometimes, he even flies commercial airlines instead of private jets. But, just to make up for any extra carbon footprints that he and his family may be leaving around the planet, he buys carbon offsets. Lucky for him that he can afford them.

Gore's spokesman says that "Gore has had a consistent position of purchasing carbon offsets to offset the famiily's carbon footprint - a concept the right-wing fails to understand." He's right in a way, but I do understand the concept, I just don't understand how purchasing the offsets "offsets", compensates or atones for one's prior energy usage. The way I see it, Gore wants to continue with his conspicuous energy consumption and just buy his way out of his guilty conscience. He still is using enough energy to drive up the price for the rest of us so that we can't buy "offsets" even if we know where to find them.

So where in the world does Gore go to salve his conscience? It turns out that he buys his offsets through a company called Generation Investment Management. (GIM) Coincidentally, he is one of the founders and serves as chairman. This information is readily available at the company's website, above. GIM invests some of its money in sources of alternative energy and other projects that aim to lower energy use worldwide.

In other words, GIM is an international investment firm, not an alternative energy producer, supplier, or even a tree-planting company as one might assume. So, Gore invests in his own company, urges others to do the same, and probably will benefit financially as the practice becomes more widespread among his fellow guilt-ridden liberals.

By the way, you can check the financial holdings (as of DEc. 31, 2006)of GIM at this SEC site. I spent an hour or so looking up each company listed in the report. Some of the holdings are what you might expect:

Johnson Controls - Batteries for hybrid vehicles
Metabolix, Inc.- "Greener" plastics and chemicals
Waters Corp. - Safer water, food, healthcare products
Whole Foods - Natural, organic food retailer

Others are interesting:

Laboratory Corp. - genomic testing, diagnostic technology
Aquantive - Digital marketing
Techne Corp. - Medical research
VCA Antech - Pet healthcare systems
Sysco - Food Service
Staples - Office supply superstores
General Electric - Variety of industries
Becton Dickinson - Medical technology
Autodesk - 2D and 3D design software
Aflac - Insurance

And still others are very interesting:

Greenhill and Co.- Investment banking
Blackbaud - Fundraising software and management
Northern Trust - Financial, investment services
Nuveen - Investment management
UBS - Global financial services

Of the nineteen companies listed in the SEC report, four seem to be directly involved in some sort of energy saving/resource providing activities. Ten are in a variety of industries, and five are in the financial/investment business. GIM's stated goal is to "buy high quality businesses and management teams whose securities are attractively priced to deliver excess returns over the long-term."

Especially if the four "green" companies are successful, Gore and the other GIM investors stand to make a lot of money. That is all well and good, but he should be chastised for pretending to be "greener" than he really is. After all, he is taking money from one pocket and putting it in another, and that's just another example of the limousine liberals recurring con-games.

In fact, Gore is the one who is truly playing on our fears.