But not very helpful.  I like the guy because he is capable of putting coherent sentences together into coherent thoughts unlike the Pretender to the Throne.  I like the guy because he is putting his considerable political and social reputation behind a cause that I believe in.  I also like the fact that he has been working on environmental issues for decades.

Mr. Gore is helping the cause in ways that few others can.  He is helping the cause in ways that few others would even if they had his wealth, popularity and political pull.

He is not living off grid in a straw bale home, nor does he wear hemp clothing (in public).  He may be full of himself.  He may seem stuffy and uptight to some.  He certainly has been a lightning rod for those who hate the Green movement and despise the fact that Global Warming is getting so much attention.  But he is an intelligent, professional politician who knows how to use the political system to his (and the Green movement's) advantage.

"In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act!" -- George Orwell (Eric Arthur Blair)

That "pledge" that Inbred -er I mean Inhofe spouted off about, just screamed "I'm mentally challenged and not hiding it very well!"

"In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act!" -- George Orwell (Eric Arthur Blair)

Just because he buys green energy and offsets it doesn't make spectacular consumption like his the right thing to do. His consumption was something like 20 times the national average. Surely it's better for 20 people to be buying green electricity than for one person to be buying it all. Also his gas bill was immense. That's got carbon emissions, even if you offset. The fact is that we will all have to reduce our energy consumption as well as emissions and we shouldn't be afraid of saying that!

That whole thing was a Drudged up scam.  The thing about gore using 20 times the power.  Swiftboating.  Wing nut lying.

http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog

That Mr. Gore should cut back his co2 emissions, if for no other reason than to take that discussion point off the table.  If he switches to solar and wind energy though, then energy consumption is also a moot point.  But until he switches, he will just not have the street cred, that he could have.

"In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act!" -- George Orwell (Eric Arthur Blair)

It was reported in the UK as 221,000kWh of electricity. The average household here consumes about 4,000kWh! Cutting back unnecessary consumption is surely the first priority for everyone.

Today in my community's daily newspaper there are two letters to the editor criticizing Gore's "hypocrisy."  Why so many letters so quickly after his testimony?  I smell an organized effort.

Meanwhile, a number of "progressive" blogs I read have had discussion of Gore's testimony eclipsed by the hypocrisy meme.

Clearly this is a successful swiftboating.  I don't understand why enviros and progressives fall for it so easily, but that seems to be the state of the nation.  And if the "left" can't put a lid on it, how on earth do you expect that this is playing in the heartland?

We need to get much more sophisticated with this stuff, but so far I'm not seeing the will to do so.

The Right wing-nuts suffer from a cult-like worship of "Free Markets".

The Left wing-nuts suffer from a cult-like worship of "Intellectualism".

It is this worship of "Intellectualism" that makes them saps for easy swift boating. They can't seem to see it when a classic rhetorical scam is being pulled on them yet once again.

The "hypocrisy" attack on Gore is a plane vanilla ad hominen attack. Go after "the person" so as to divert attention away from the issue. Works every time.

What Al Gore does as an individual is irrelevant. What Inhofe does as an individual is irrelevant. The topic was and still is Global Warming and how to avert the crisis on a grand scale.