Warming up north
Apr 4, 2007 Politics and Poker
Al Gore feels some heat himself:
The former U.S. vice-president’s speech was effectively his Academy Award-winning documentary An Inconvenient Truth with updated statistics, and presented by an angrier, fist-shaking Gore.
His presentation was halted at least twice as opponents to his agenda began to shout out.
They called him a liar and a villain, and screamed, “What about your swimming pools?” in regards to recent allegations that the monthly electricity bill of Gore’s estate rivalled a year’s bill for the average American home.
This led Gore to joke, “I don’t even know if you guys are left- or right-wing”.
That’s a joke? The sad, not funny, part is that this confirms a fundamental truth: To Gore, whether or not their point about his hypocrisy is correct is a function of which side of the political divide they’re on.
As opposed to whether or not they’re right.
April 5th, 2007 at 7:09 am
Stylistics aside, all I know is that Gore has been proven right on pretty much everything he’s said over the last 10 years or so. And his opponents (do they have any credibility left?) have been proven wrong. So I’m going with Gore.
April 5th, 2007 at 9:22 am
5 Responses to “What is to be done?”
1. Ara Says:
March 25th, 2007 at 6:14 am e
Briefly:
Stylistics aside, history shows that when it counted — on the issues that counted — Gore was right and Bush & Co. were wrong.
Every. Single. Time.
2. Ron Coleman Says:
March 25th, 2007 at 8:25 am e
Or. Maybe. Not.
April 5th, 2007 at 10:14 am
You know, I read that article then I went back and re-read Gore’s speech. I have a completely different take on it than Mirengoff.
Looking back on the speech, here’s what Gore was saying:Stay Focused on al-Qaeda
Patiently build a coalition to deal with saddam
Don’t use the AUMF as a political tool
Unilateral action against iraq will damage our standing
His reference to “leaving prematurely” in 91 chiefly refers to our flaccid response to Kurdish persecution.
It also leads him to remind the listener that what we need in 2002 is a commitment to nation-building — i.e., Marshall Planning — that Bush was totally resistent to and disdainful of. We knew that then — and in hindsight, we know it now.
His comparisons of 2002 to 1991 are particularly apt:Then: coalition strong — today: weak.
Then: un resolution in place before congressional debate. Today: not.
Then: costs of war covered by partners. Today: not.
Then: Bush 41 waited til after elections. Today: not.
Bottom line: we’re rushing to judgement.
On the “doctrine of preemption” Gore is positively prescient:
“[Acceptance of this doctrine] means …that if the Congress approves the Iraq resolution just proposed by the Administration, it is simultaneously creating the precedent for preemptive action anywhere, anytime this or any future president so decides.”
This, as we know, is the linchpin of Bush’s unprecedented encroachment on Constitutional powers such as warrantless wiretapping, the elimination of habeas corpus, etc.
If you’ve read down this far it’s clear — Gore was right. Bush was wrong. The End.
April 5th, 2007 at 10:17 am
Al Gore is wrong plenty.
A lot.
Frequently.
And quite often on purpose.
April 5th, 2007 at 12:27 pm
Oh come on, Ron. You can do better than that:
First link: 2006
Second link: 2003
Third link: 2002
Fourth link: 2000
To the Wayback Machine, Sherman!
Seriously, all of these sources have been discredited in the fullness of time.
April 5th, 2007 at 10:40 pm
It is certainly easy to “discredit” them merely by waving your hand and saying “They have been discredited.”
But really, Ara, we are debating here fundamental political positions. So let us return to your original premise: “Stylistics aside” –
Uh uh. These are not stylistics. Hypocrisy is, in fact, precisely what distinguishes the argument from principle and the argument from style. For Al Gore, environmentalism is the style that he has adopted. As for a way of life, well, that is something he believes Ron and Ara should adopt. For him, it is no more than a manner, a mode… a style.
April 6th, 2007 at 7:01 am
I think it’s a pointless distraction to believe that a political debate can be effectively ended by revealing the hypocrisy of any of the participants.
Why?
Because there’s more than enough hypocrisy to go around on all sides. Hypocrisy is so common now it has become like hyperinflation. And as a result, the coinage of the realm is nearly worthless now.
But I digress…
The traditional media continues to present this topic as though it were still controversial (“Al Gore owns a swimming pool!”) long after the vast majority of reputable climatologists have concluded that something serious must be done about climate change.
Use your common sense: we’ve dug up millions of years of fossil fuels out of the ground and flung it into the air. Do you actually believe this has had no effect on our climate over the last 100 years?
April 7th, 2007 at 10:39 pm
Well, speaking for myself (even though I wasn’t asked), yes, I’m actually quite certain that it has had, well, virtually no effect on our climate over the last 100 years. And the reason for this is quite simple. The changes in our climate today are a natural progression of changes that have been taking place for a few hundred years now. And of cycles that have been taking place for a few dozen millenia. And though it would be nice to blame human generated greenhouse gasses for the last few global warming cycles as well as ice ages that caused cataclysmic changes on this planet, the fact is that for most of this history the human race wasn’t even around. Some people just need to get over the fact that humans are neither the Source Of All Evil (with apologies to Rosemary) nor in ultimate and complete control of Everything That Happens. And also need to realize that needlessly ruining the economy of the Western world, not to mention that of many developing countries, in the pursuit of a feel-good anti-establishment pipe dream is an extremely irresponsible approach to a very real and inevitable problem. IMO.
April 7th, 2007 at 10:43 pm
Yeah, like Lynn said.
April 8th, 2007 at 6:05 am
Lynn:
Correct if I’m wrong, but we both seem to agree the climate is changing. You differ from me in your opinion of the source.
Is that right?
August 21st, 2007 at 8:22 am
[...] by Ron Coleman on August 21st, 2007 Al Gore’s as usual, from Tim [...]