Al Gore an enviro-hypocrite in USA Today? The charges ARE FALSE!

[NYCGirl]

http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2006/8/17/133652/848

About a week ago, USA Today published a piece by Peter Schweitzer, who's a research fellow at the Hoover Institution. It accused Al Gore of hypocrisy, for asking viewers of An Inconvenient Truth to scale back their lifestyles and carbon emissions while ... well, there were a number of charges. According to Schweitzer, Gore owns three homes and stock in Occidental Petroleum, still receives royalties from a zinc mine on his property, does not participate in the green-power option his utility offers in Nashville, and lets Paramount pay for his carbon offsets.

As per standard practice, the conservative media machine spread the charges far and wide -- most recently they popped up on Glenn Beck's show on CNN and, bizarrely, in a recurring poll on AOL's homepage.

Gore's communications director, Kalee Kreider, sent a letter to the editor to respond to the piece, but we all know only a fraction of the folks who read the original piece will read the letter.

First things first: I talked to some of Gore's people today, including Kreider, about the specific charges. Suffice to say, they're false. Gore receives no royalties from the mine, which shut down in 2003. (USA Today actually printed a correction about this, way down on page 10A.) Gore owns no stock in Occidental, and never has (his father did; it was all sold over six years ago). Gore does in fact take advantage of the green power options his utility offers, and was in the process of adding photovoltaic solar cells to his house when the article came out. He pays for his own personal carbon offsets, in addition to the institutional offsets purchased by Paramount (movie distributor) and Rodale (book publisher), which make both the book and the movie completely carbon neutral.


Much more at link.

[LSK]

1. K&R

[Bucky]

2. I'm shocked. Shocked. Big Dog would be on the countattack by now

Learn your lessons, Al. No scurrilous charge is "beneath contempt". All lies must be countered hard, wide, and immediately.

[jpak]

3. A RW smear of Algore??? Ya don't say.

Who's paying for that???

and do the right thinking assholes at the Hoover Institute take advantage of the Green Power option offered by THEIR utility???

and do they purchase carbon offsets - themselves???

are they installing PV panels on their roof????

are they driving Priuses???

and how much Big Oil and Big Gas and Big Coal $$$$$$$ does the fucking Hoover Institute accept?????

Fuck USA Today and the Hoover Institute.

[NastyDiaper]

4. All war proponents not in Iraq are hypocrites.

It's the dumbest argument ever, and they keep using it.

Matt Dredge and Rush Lambaste go after environmentalists by attacking their personal consumption. Their argument is so empty on it's face, I guess it does not matter to discover the excess they claim is not even true.


http://thinkprogress.org/2006/05/22/drudge-falsely-smears-gore/

[Benhurst]

5. I can't believe the corporate media would lie about Al. Recommended. NT

[Maat]

6. Thanks for the info.

Nothing is perfect. My hubby and I are known as dedicated progressives, who work on the local Democrat's congressional campaign.

But ... we're working on things. We sold any objectionable stock years ago. I got out of the aerospace industry 15 years ago, and he got out of doing computer modeling for the oil and gas industry. We've been recycling for years. We don't fly, we have only 1 child (adopted), and we just bought a Prius. So, that's the earth-friendly stuff.

On the downside, we have a huge home; everyone does around here. It's appreciation (and previous properties' appreciation) has given financial independence, and we donate to progressive candidates and causes; but, it uses a bit of energy. On the other hand, we both work out of the home, and don't use office space. And, we're planning on generating enough power for our next house via solar energy (plans already completed - house reserved).

I know I should be a vegetarian, but the best I've been able to manage so far is to decrease my beef intake, and go to chicken from the local organic market. I'm working on improving my environmental-friendliness.

I will always be greatful to Al Gore and his Team for creating "An Inconvenient Truth."

[NYCGirl]

7. You're welcome. It's cool to know that Current TV will be carbon-neutral

by the end of the year.

[nam78_two]

13. You hit the nail on the head

The thing is however much one tries, people who just want to engage in sophistry and ignore the issue at hand, will always find something to nit-pick about.

I have felt that factory farming is a big problem and so I became vegetarian-but I still consume milk products...Its hard to walk this earth without having some impact on it. All one can do is try....

Those of us that try, however much we strip down our lifestyles will always be called hypocrites by people like Peter Schweitzer, who have no positive solutions to offer to any problem & just engage in character assassination....

I am so sick of this type of sophistry...

[Maat]

16. I hear you.

Someone can always find a way to denigrate people who ARE making a decent effort.

It was nice to pull up beside that Hummer today, smile at the driver, and think of that tank of gas I DIDN'T have to buy, however. At least, on an almost-immeasurable level, the CEO of ExxonMobil - well, his stock options are worth a bit less (although, I prefer to buy my gas at Citgo, however).

[bananas]

8. Grist interviewed Gore earlier this year

Talks about some of the proposed solutions...
http://www.grist.org/news/maindish/2006/05/09/roberts/

[gratuitous]

9. So when someone brings up this scurrilousness -- and they will

Say to the know-nothing, "Yeah, but Peter Schweitzer gets paid a lot of money by that fascist Richard Mellon Scaife to be a lying sack of shit. You seem to come by it naturally, and do it for free."

[mcscajun]

12. That's a great line to keep in our ammo lockers.

:)

POW!

[Synnical]

10. Very timely - the Schweitzer piece just showed up in my e-mail

this evening. Thanks! I have a quick response, thanks to your post.

:toast:

[NYCGirl]

11. Very pleased it came in handy!

:hi:

[Synnical]

20. My friend quickly replied to my response

Thanks! I sent this to my friend XXX who sent me the original...

Again, thanks. Your post was helpful.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

14. Hoover Institute...

funded by Arco, Exxon, GM, etc.

[Hav]

15. Pardon the language,

but these guys are fucking scumbags.
What did Gore do to piss them off so much?

[glitch]

18. He's smarter, funnier, sexier, better looking and has a beautiful wife and

kids. Of course they hate him.

[ComerPerro]

17. that's how they roll. print lies first in one big article

then the reatractions in the back pages, weeks later, one at a time.

[Cha]

19. Does this mean they're

:scared: :scared: of our Al? I saw a ltte in Entertainment Weekly that said Al's cover was the sexiest thing they ever had on there.

[druidity33]

21. i don't know...

he looks kind of sinister in that photo. Like wax, or clay. The lighting is really sterile and the red cross in the corner also has disturbing connotations...

[Cha]

22. It's Serious business saving

the Planet from the corporate polluters!

[NYCGirl]

23. I agree — that's a sexy picture. Reminds me of the lyrics to the song,

"I Believe in You" that starts, "You have the cool, clear eyes of a seeker of wisdom and truth."

[autorank]

24. I hold USA Today resonsible...that's a slander. They knew...

I also blame them for their complicity in pushing the right wing candidate as "elected" in the Mexican election a few days after the vote. They should have known this was false also.

We have a press that is either mostly or totally useless. This type of hit job, drive by journalism doesn't even surprise me anymore. Nobody reads USA Today anyway, except for sports during the playoffs. They are good at that. They do not make up scores and they report the results as they happen. Let's have the sports page run national reporting. Better writing, more facts, accuracy in description.

[sakabatou]

25. Peter Schweitzer: (insert insult here)

[drfresh]

26. I saw that article, it was putrid

I was going to email the author until I saw the other groups he was into, figured it would be a waste of time.

Glad to see a correction..

[NYCGirl]

27. Morning kick. NT

[progressoid]

28. Yep, I'll be hearing that one from my RW relatives soon.

Just like the "I invented the internet" myth.

[Mabus]

29. Bookmarking for future use.

Gore scares the bejeebus out of the GOP. They can't stop trying the tactics they used against him in 2000.

Thank you Al for bringing the internet and the truth to the masses! What a true :patriot:

[EOTE]

30. K&R - Hit 'em hard and fast.

These attacks are infuriating. I'm disgusted that the MSM gets away with this type of hit and run tactic.

[MethuenProgressive]

31. What "Liberal Media"?