Latest RW talking point on Al Gore: He has a big house

[NewJeffCT]

Oh my! But, this is at least the 3rd letter to the editor I've seen in the past few weeks on Gore echoing basically the same thing: Gore is a hypocrite on global warming because he lives in a big house.

Gore Sets Poor Example

Laura Wray and Constance Flanagan urge our leaders and youths to follow the example of Al Gore in exploring sustainable solutions to conservation and global warming . It is an inconvenient truth that if we did, the world would be much the worse off.

According to a recent op-ed article in USA Today, while Gore flies around the country in a private jet lecturing others, he and his wife, Tipper, live in two properties: a 10,000-square-foot, 20-room, eight-bathroom home in Nashville and a 4,000-square-foot home in Arlington, Va. (He also has a third home in Carthage, Tenn.)

He may drive a "green" car, but his impact on the planet is much greater than the vast majority of Americans who might drive an SUV. This is just another example of someone preaching, but unwilling to practice.

Calvin Hulstein

http://www.courant.com/news/opinion/letters/hc-lets0913.artsep13,0,5338623.story?coll=hc-headlines-letters

[marmar]

1. But I bet the houses have solar panels....

:). Seriously, this is the best the Reich wingers can come up with?

[NewJeffCT]

3. It must have been on Rush or Hannity

or maybe both.

[BattyDem]

6. LOL ... I asked the same question

Wow. If "he has a big house" is the only dirt they can find to throw at him, then Al Gore must truly be a man of integrity!

[marmar]

8. Great minds....

:think:

[BattyDem]

2. Is this the best attack they can come up with?

:rofl:

[NYCGirl]

4. You might want to counter with these facts:

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.

[NewJeffCT]

7. Great comeback

Another RW lie about Gore. What a shocker!

[Shakespeare]

5. He and all of his family also have a carbon-neutral footprint

For lurking freepers too stupid to understand what that means, they recycle, use renewable energy and take other steps to compensate for the energy they use. That's more than almost anyone else can say, so STFU.

[Triana]

9. irrelevant...

...whether Gore has solar panels on his 'big house' or not doesn't negate the SCIENTIFIC PROOF that global warming/climate change exists because of human activity, fossil fuels, and carbon emissions. Personally attacking Gore's lifestyle DOESN'T CHANGE THE FACTS. It's an attempt to divert attention from the message (the FACTS) to the messenger, instead.

Republicans: "ATTACK THE MESSENGER!","ATTACK THE MESSENGER!"

It's their M.O. Notice the postings here on DU about their spending $$$$$$$ on personally attacking Democrats before the 2006 mid-term elections. WHY?

BECAUSE THEY CANNOT WIN ON THE ISSUES. If they just stuck to the FACTS - they can't win! They KNOW THAT.

WHERE is the scientific PROOF that all the data about global warming/climate change is FALSE? THERE ISN'T ANY!

Republicans need to show us the DATA. Where IS it? They need to PUT up or SHUT up.

Attacking Al Gore's lifestyle doesn't change the DATA or the facts. It only diverts attention from them.

[savemefromdumbya]

10. the white house is his true house

[lonestarnot]

14. Yes it is and they stole that too! Fuckers!

[kansasblue]

11. I get the same logic from my RW friends about....

...taxes.

Rich Senators or Reps can't argue for higher taxes unless they give there money away.

[Phredicles]

12. So if he doesn't live in a yurt he can't be pro-environment?

I believe this is where on the Stephanie Miller show they'd say, "And thank you for playing, 'Grasping For Straws!'"

Certainly it's less objectionable than being a "pro-lifer" who causes and/or allows thousands and thousands of unnecessary deaths...

[KoKo]

13. Gore flies Commercial and carries his own bags. And, the house in

Arlington was sold. The Gore's did buy a Condo in CA to be near the "Current" studios, though. The Gore farm was his parents who left it to them.

[jwirr]

16. Is Current the 366 channel on Direct TV? I have been trying to find it

but know there are other programs/channels with similar names.

[borlis]

15. I'll never forget what the media did to him during the 2000 debates

I was watching the post-debate coverage and they were more concerned that Al's neck looked too thick in the suit he had on than the blubbering idiot who couldn't answer a question.

[Subdivisions]

17. Hah-Hahh!! Booyah! Run, Al, run!