The Hypocrisy Of Al Gore

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It seems Al Gore doesn’t walk the walk….anyone really surprised?

Last night, Al Gore’s global-warming documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, collected an Oscar for best documentary feature, but the Tennessee Center for Policy Research has found that Gore deserves a gold statue for hypocrisy.

Gore’s mansion, [20-room, eight-bathroom] located in the posh Belle Meade area of Nashville, consumes more electricity every month than the average American household uses in an entire year, according to the Nashville Electric Service (NES).

In his documentary, the former Vice President calls on Americans to conserve energy by reducing electricity consumption at home.

The average household in America consumes 10,656 kilowatt-hours (kWh) per year, according to the Department of Energy. In 2006, Gore devoured nearly 221,000 kWh—more than 20 times the national average.

Last August alone, Gore burned through 22,619 kWh—guzzling more than twice the electricity in one month than an average American family uses in an entire year. As a result of his energy consumption, Gore’s average monthly electric bill topped $1,359.

Kim at Wizbang wants us to compare and contrast Al Gore’s home to our President’s private home:

The 4,000-square-foot house is a model of environmental rectitude

Geothermal heat pumps located in a central closet circulate water through pipes buried 300 feet deep in the ground where the temperature is a constant 67 degrees; the water heats the house in the winter and cools it in the summer. Systems such as the one in this "eco-friendly" dwelling use about 25% of the electricity that traditional heating and cooling systems utilize.

A 25,000-gallon underground cistern collects rainwater gathered from roof runs; wastewater from sinks, toilets and showers goes into underground purifying tanks and is also funneled into the cistern. The water from the cistern is used to irrigate the landscaping surrounding the four-bedroom home. Plants and flowers native to the high prairie area blend the structure into the surrounding ecosystem.

No, this is not the home of some eccentrically wealthy eco-freak trying to shame his fellow citizens into following the pristineness of his self-righteous example. And no, it is not the wilderness retreat of the Sierra Club or the Natural Resources Defense Council, a haven where tree-huggers plot political strategy.

This is President George W. Bush’s "Texas White House" outside the small town of Crawford.

But the hollywood nimrods love him because he has done so much to further the Global Warming religion. 

Al spews all the right words to get the idiots to open their checkbooks but when it comes down to it he uses much more energy then a dozen of us combined. 

Funny how liberals are always willing to have others sacrifice but it damn well better not inconvenience them.

UPDATE

Al Gore responds to the criticism with some very ridiculous advice:

What Mr. Gore has asked is that every family calculate their carbon footprint and try to reduce it as much as possible. Once they have done so, he then advocates that they purchase offsets, as the Gore’s do, to bring their footprint down to zero.

So let me get this straight.  He is asking for the rest of us, meaning those who cannot afford million dollar mansions, to sacrifice our energy use for the good of the planet but if you CAN afford it there is really no need to sacrifice.  Just burn up as much of the stuff as you want and then pay someone to plant a tree.

The arrogance and gall of this man knows no bounds.

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You’re on a roll Curt. The first cartoon was good, but then the polar bears banner… Priceless!

And excellent contrast with the way President Bush lives on the ranch.

Let’s not forget Al Bore has THREE homes, not to mention owning stock in Occidental Petroleum and has collected royalties in a zinc mine on his property.

He’s raping the planet for profit while pretending to be a prohpet.

What a phony!

Phony is right….but the hollywood nimrods just wuv him so!

Saw that picture up on FR and just had to have it.

Curt and Mike,

This has been sitting in my files for some time, and I just never thought to get around and post on it. It’s written by the author of “Do As I Say (Not As I Do): Profiles in Liberal Hypocrisy”:

Gore isn’t quite as green as he’s led the world to believe
Updated 8/10/2006 10:44 AM ET

By Peter Schweizer
Al Gore has spoken: The world must embrace a “carbon-neutral lifestyle.” To do otherwise, he says, will result in a cataclysmic catastrophe. “Humanity is sitting on a ticking time bomb,” warns the website for his film, An Inconvenient Truth. “We have just 10 years to avert a major catastrophe that could send our entire planet into a tailspin.”

ON DEADLINE: Your thoughts?

Graciously, Gore tells consumers how to change their lives to curb their carbon-gobbling ways: Switch to compact fluorescent light bulbs, use a clothesline, drive a hybrid, use renewable energy, dramatically cut back on consumption. Better still, responsible global citizens can follow Gore’s example, because, as he readily points out in his speeches, he lives a “carbon-neutral lifestyle.” But if Al Gore is the world’s role model for ecology, the planet is doomed.

For someone who says the sky is falling, he does very little. He says he recycles and drives a hybrid. And he claims he uses renewable energy credits to offset the pollution he produces when using a private jet to promote his film. (In reality, Paramount Classics, the film’s distributor, pays this.)

Public records reveal that as Gore lectures Americans on excessive consumption, 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.) For someone rallying the planet to pursue a path of extreme personal sacrifice, Gore requires little from himself.

Then there is the troubling matter of his energy use. In the Washington, D.C., area, utility companies offer wind energy as an alternative to traditional energy. In Nashville, similar programs exist. Utility customers must simply pay a few extra pennies per kilowatt hour, and they can continue living their carbon-neutral lifestyles knowing that they are supporting wind energy. Plenty of businesses and institutions have signed up. Even the Bush administration is using green energy for some federal office buildings, as are thousands of area residents.

But according to public records, there is no evidence that Gore has signed up to use green energy in either of his large residences. When contacted Wednesday, Gore’s office confirmed as much but said the Gores were looking into making the switch at both homes. Talk about inconvenient truths.

Gore is not alone. Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean has said, “Global warming is happening, and it threatens our very existence.” The DNC website applauds the fact that Gore has “tried to move people to act.” Yet, astoundingly, Gore’s persuasive powers have failed to convince his own party: The DNC has not signed up to pay an additional two pennies a kilowatt hour to go green. For that matter, neither has the Republican National Committee.

Maybe our very existence isn’t threatened.

Gore has held these apocalyptic views about the environment for some time. So why, then, didn’t Gore dump his family’s large stock holdings in Occidental (Oxy) Petroleum? As executor of his family’s trust, over the years Gore has controlled hundreds of thousands of dollars in Oxy stock. Oxy has been mired in controversy over oil drilling in ecologically sensitive areas.

Living carbon-neutral apparently doesn’t mean living oil-stock free. Nor does it necessarily mean giving up a mining royalty either.

Humanity might be “sitting on a ticking time bomb,” but Gore’s home in Carthage is sitting on a zinc mine. Gore receives $20,000 a year in royalties from Pasminco Zinc, which operates a zinc concession on his property. Tennessee has cited the company for adding large quantities of barium, iron and zinc to the nearby Caney Fork River.

The issue here is not simply Gore’s hypocrisy; it’s a question of credibility. If he genuinely believes the apocalyptic vision he has put forth and calls for radical changes in the way other people live, why hasn’t he made any radical change in his life? Giving up the zinc mine or one of his homes is not asking much, given that he wants the rest of us to radically change our lives.

Peter Schweizer is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution and author of Do As I Say (Not As I Do): Profiles in Liberal Hypocrisy.

Schweizer also did an interview with Front Page Magazine:

http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=23110

Of course he’s been denounced with the same tar the left uses for anyone who dares to raise a question about the idiocy of these people.

Curt, this is dishonest. You display the bad from Gore’s home and the good from Bush’s. Where are the numbers on how much power Bush’s home uses, or the measures Gore has taken to make his home environmentally friendly? Let me provide the remainder of Gore response that you left out:

Gore’s family has taken numerous steps to reduce the carbon footprint of their private residence, including signing up for 100 percent green power through Green Power Switch, installing solar panels, and using compact fluorescent bulbs and other energy saving technology.

Then, he’s bought carbon offsets, which you and many other conservatives fail to understand. That’s cool, though. It’d make it much harder to beat up on Gore if you actually approached this subject with any honesty.

The funniest part about this to me is the article you referenced for the info on Bush’s home. It’s a hit piece on Bush for being a hyprocrit on the environment, but in the exact opposite way that you’ve accused Al Gore of. Bush just loves being eco-friendly at his home, but when it comes to national policy, his record is horrendous.

reasic,

President Bush hasn’t set himself up as the eco-savior of the planet. Al Gore has. President Bush hasn’t hyped himself as the savior of the poor. Which America does John Edwards belong in again? When Edwards speaks of conservation and on global warming, it reflects poorly on these do-as-I-say liberals to then turn around and clear a forest in order to make room for his 28,000 square foot home.

I can’t believe that you would defend the hypocrisy. Please tell me again how global warming is all about the science, for you, and not an issue of political partisanship. It entertains me.

Ok, so now defend this, because you seemed to have overlooked the Schweizer article I quoted:

So why, then, didn’t Gore dump his family’s large stock holdings in Occidental (Oxy) Petroleum? As executor of his family’s trust, over the years Gore has controlled hundreds of thousands of dollars in Oxy stock. Oxy has been mired in controversy over oil drilling in ecologically sensitive areas.

Living carbon-neutral apparently doesn’t mean living oil-stock free. Nor does it necessarily mean giving up a mining royalty either.

Humanity might be “sitting on a ticking time bomb,” but Gore’s home in Carthage is sitting on a zinc mine. Gore receives $20,000 a year in royalties from Pasminco Zinc, which operates a zinc concession on his property. Tennessee has cited the company for adding large quantities of barium, iron and zinc to the nearby Caney Fork River.

As Grand Savior of the Planet Earth, I think it behooves Dr. Al Gore that if global warming is as big a threat to humanity as he claims it is, he would earn more credibility by leading by example. Instead, he chooses to live in excess (nothing wrong with that- just the hypocrisy) while telling the rest of us to conserve energy and make changes in our lifestyles to reduce emissions.