The Goracle's Lament

Presidents Obama and Clinton aren't the only big-name Democrats on the campaign trail for Hillary Clinton here in the final stretch, Bill Clinton's former VP Al Gore was in Miami campaigning with Hillary to make the case to younger voters that yeah, every vote in the Sunshine State matters.

Former Vice President Al Gore introduced himself to Florida millennials on Tuesday, telling them that his near miss in the 2000 presidential election is “exhibit A” for why it’s so important to vote.

Campaigning with Hillary Clinton in Miami, Gore highlighted two messages he wanted to share with the former secretary of state’s supporters.

“No. 1, when it comes to the most urgent issue facing our country and the world, the choice in this election is extremely clear. Hillary Clinton will make solving the climate crisis a top national priority,” Gore said. “Very important.”

Donald Trump, whom Gore referred to as “her opponent,” would take America “toward a climate catastrophe,” he said.

“Here’s my second message: Your vote really, really, really counts — a lot. You can consider me as an exhibit A of that group. Now, for those of you who are younger than 25, you might not remember the election of 2000 and what happened here in Florida and across the country,” Gore said, prompting boos from the crowd.

“For those of you older than 25, I heard you murmuring just now. But take it from me, it was a very close election,” Gore said, as supporters began to chant “You won! You won!” 

“Here’s my point: I don’t want you to be in a position years from now where you welcome Hillary Clinton and say: ‘Actually, you did win. It just wasn’t close enough to make sure that all the votes were counted or whatever," Gore added.

Amen to that, Albert.

One of the reasons I started this blog eight years ago was that having voted in 2000 in Minnesota only to see the White House gifted to Shrub and the Nameless One by the now deceased Antonin Scalia, I realized that if I could get even a few hundred people to read my words and choose to vote across the US, I was doing my civic duty to protect this country from another eight years of Republican presidency.

I remember going to bed on Election Day sixteen years ago confident that Gore had won.  I woke up to an eight-year nightmare that we're still cleaning up after, all over a handful of votes.

Never again.

Please, please, please vote in your local, state, and federal elections.  Please register if you still need to in your state. You still have time in a lot of states.

Let's not turn this into another nightmare, this time with Trump in charge.

Rated G For Gore

It's one thing for the sitting vice president to throw out a trial balloon and consider running for the Oval Office.  But for the guy that lost (and won, and then lost for winning) 15 years ago, the notion that Al Gore has any shot is just ridiculous.

Supporters of Al Gore have begun a round of conversations among themselves and with the former vice president about his running for president in 2016, the latest sign that top Democrats have serious doubts that Hillary Clinton is a sure thing.

Gore, 67, won the popular vote in the 2000 election and has been mentioned as a possible candidate in every contested Democratic primary since then. He instead spent much of the 2000s focused on environmental campaigning and business ventures. He has largely slipped out of public view in more recent years.

But in recent days, “they’re getting the old gang together,” a senior Democrat told BuzzFeed News.

“They’re figuring out if there’s a path financially and politically,” the Democrat said. “It feels more real than it has in the past months.”

The senior Democrat and other sources cautioned not to overstate Gore’s interest. He has not made any formal or informal moves toward running, or even met with his political advisers about a potential run.

A member of Gore’s inner circle asked to be quoted “pouring lukewarm water” — not, note, cold water — on the chatter.

Ugh.

No, no, no, no, no.  If you wanted to portray the Democrats as a bunch of bed-wetting losers with no confidence in Hillary, Bernie or even Joe Biden, then "Al Gore 2016?" stories are the perfect vehicle.  Even if this is 100% fabricated, it still makes the Democrats look like they're in full panic mode, without a viable candidate at all except for the guy that lost in 2000 to the Supreme Court. If it's a media play to bait Gore, he needs to be smart enough not to fall for it.

Granted, there would be some measure of revenge versus Jeb, but it's hard to portray yourself as the party that cares about America's future when you're literally fighting the same battles of 15 years ago.

This is a horrible idea, and while I respect Al Gore as a statesman and climate change activist, he had his chance at the Oval Office and blew it.  Gore would alienate the Hillary voters, the Bernie voters, and the Draft Biden folks to boot.  Yes, Democrats needs a wide-ranging discussion on issues and the future of the party.  No, Al Gore is not the future of the party.

Yeesh.

More Splitting The Difference

The stories designed to sour the Obama Coalition on the President seem to be continuing at a breakneck pace.  Now apparently Al Gore is going after Barack Obama on climate change.

Add Al Gore to the chorus of environmentalists who say it’s time for President Barack Obama to get serious about climate change.

The former vice president used a Google+ plus video chat Tuesday to tell supporters that Obama needs to go beyond his “great words” on the topic, and to lament that the president has yet to assemble a team to spearhead his second-term climate agenda.

Gore echoed the complaints of other green activists who say Obama isn’t moving fast enough — and who are pleading with him not to approve the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada.

“I hope that he’ll get moving on to follow up on the wonderful pledges he made in his inaugural speech earlier this year and then soon after in his State of the Union,” Gore said. “Great words. We need great actions now.”

Sigh.  The strictest EPA regulations on coal isn't enough, but a moot point compared to the energy industry's lobbying of Congress and states over fracking.  Yes, the President has a long way to go on climate change, but look who he's trying to deal with:  Republicans who refuse to even admit it exists.  The problem isn't President Obama's will here, it's GOP politicians in the pocket of Big Energy.


Surely Al remembers that, right?

Last Call

Meet the new employee/boss relationship involving Keith Olbermann, same as the old employee/boss relationship involving Keith Olbermann.

Keith Olbermann, who came to Current TV this year to remake the channel and compete against his old home, MSNBC, is sitting out the biggest political nights of the season.

Despite being the biggest star on the fledging channel, Mr. Olbermann is not scheduled to anchor Current’s coverage of the Iowa caucus or the New Hampshire primary in January. Instead, Current’s other prime time anchors, Cenk Uygur and Jennifer Granholm, will be joined by the channel’s chairman, the former vice president Al Gore, according to the channel’s TV schedule.

Mr. Olbermann also was noticeably absent from two special reports that Current produced after Republican debates in mid-December. Those, too, were anchored by Mr. Uygur.

These absences suggest that there may be new tension between Mr. Olbermann and the managers at Current, who are trying to create a progressive-oriented cable news channel. 

I don't get Current TV on my cable provider...and I'm not too particularly broken up over it either.  But if Cenk is Al Gore's new golden boy, I can't wait for the fireworks to begin...especially when Cenk's extracurricular activities at HuffPo involves telling people not to vote for President Obama on Tuesday in Iowa in order to "teach him a lesson".

I follow politics for a living; I'm not unaware of how hideous the Republican choices are. But that doesn't mean that we should pretend that President Obama has been brilliant because we're scared of the big, bad Republicans. That would be fundamentally dishonest.

And to be honest, I'm really disappointed that he does not have a primary opponent. This country is dying for someone who is going to take on the establishment. Who is that going to be on our side -- Barack Obama? On that, I know whether to laugh or cry. Every time I think about the idea that President Obama might be against the establishment, I laugh and laugh and laugh. There is never been a guy who was this enamored with the establishment. If he had wrestling nickname it would be The Establishment.

Hey Current?  Your new host is openly advocating weakening the President, ostensibly because walking out on "establishment" Dems and handing the House to the Tea Party in 2010 worked out so very well for progressive legislation in 2011.  It'll be good for Cenk's ratings so he can continue to rail at the horrible Dems while the GOP wrecks the country, or so he thinks.

Then again, HuffPo has no problem espousing the greatness of Ron Paul and saying Dems need to insist on dumping Biden for Hillary as soon as possible, so nobody should be surprised at Cenk's antics.  Works for HuffPo, doesn't it?

Perhaps Olbermann has noticed the ratings swirling down the drain. Things are certainly...interesting over there.   On the other hand, maybe there's a reason why people are dumping Current with analysis like this:

The agenda of the president sucks and is deeply Republican.

Boy, that sure makes me want to switch over from "fake progressive" MSNBC and watch "true progressive" Current, huh.

Last Call

Doug J wraps up the winger position on global climate change:

You know the drill: global warming isn’t happening, if it is happening then it’s not caused by human behavior, if it is caused by human behavior then we can’t do anything about it, if it is caused by human behavior and we can do something about it, then that something is too expensive, if it is caused by human behavior and we can do something about it that is not too expensive, then that something is not what Democrats are proposing. And Al Gore is fat, he flies too much, look at his electricity bill, and sometimes when he goes somewhere it snows there, which is very ironic.

Meanwhile 2010 was a record high temp year tied with 2005 and we need to take another century to study it because the science isn't settled.

Hot Off The Presses, Or Six Hundredths Of A Degree Of Separation

The Daily Mail's David Rose notes that the British Meteorological Office has lowered its 2010 yearly temperature forecast slightly from this time last year.  This means that global warming is over, the cult of climatological change has been completely debunked, and Al Gore is fat.

Never mind that Britain, just as it was last winter and the winter before, was deep in the grip of a cold snap, which has seen some temperatures plummet to minus 20C, and that here 2010 has been the coolest year since 1996.

Globally, it insisted, 2010 was still on course to be the warmest or second warmest year since current records began.

But buried amid the details of those two Met Office statements 12 months apart lies a remarkable climbdown that has huge implications - not just for the Met Office, but for debate over climate change as a whole.

Read carefully with other official data, they conceal a truth that for some, to paraphrase former US Vice President Al Gore, is really inconvenient: for the past 15 years, global warming has stopped.

OK there, Dave.  So, what's the conclusions you're drawing from the forecast then from heat being reflected harmlessly back into space by Al Gore's mass?

But though it was still successfully trying to influence media headlines during Cancun last week by saying that 2010 might yet end up as the warmest year, the small print reveals the Met Office climbdown. Last year it predicted that the 2010 average would be 14.58C. Last week, this had been reduced to 14.52C.

That may not sound like much. But when one considers that by the Met Office's own account, the total rise in world temperatures since the 1850s has been less than 0.8 degrees, it is quite a big deal. Above all, it means the trend stays flat.

Right.  0.06 degrees compared to 0.8 degrees is huge!  Warming is over!  Al Gore is absorbing CO2!  I mean that has to prove global temps are going down, right if it's 14.52 Celsius, yes?

The current record record is 14.52C (58.14F), which was set in 1998.

So...the forecast is lowered so that we simply tie the record for hottest year rather than beat it handily and that proves global warming is done for.  That's science!

Zandar's Thought Of The Day

Record high for this day in Cincy?  92, set in 1970.

Today's official high temp?  95.

But Al Gore is fat, so drive your SUV some more.

Intellectual Dishonesty 101

The lovely folks over at National Review Class A Minor League Affiliate: Internets Division American Thinker have put Laurie Regan up to bat to say Al Gore's intellectually dishonest (and by proxy, every single Democrat)  because one of Laurie's friends landed a global warming zinger at him at a restaurant.

No really, that's her entire argument.

As the Gore party started walking out of the room, my colleague called out, "Hey, Al, how's all that global warming working out for you?" Gore turned around and stared at us with a completely dumbfounded look on his face. He was speechless. With a smile, my colleague repeated the question, again to a hapless look of dismay.

Finally, Gore mumbled under his breath, "Wow, you sound awfully angry." I responded with a thank you, explaining to him that we were actually extremely amused. The encounter concluded with Gore's friend mouthing a very animated "f--- you" at us, and they skulked away. My only regret is that no one at the table asked Gore, "What's the matter? The polar bear's got your tongue?"

What struck me the most about this meeting was Gore's complete inability to utter a sentence addressing his life's work. The former Vice President, Nobel Prize laureate, and Academy Award-winning producer standing before us was a moron, unable to articulate a simple comeback to address all that he has stood for since leaving office. He could have simply ignored us and kept walking, as he does with reporters, but by stopping and standing there dumbstruck, he looked like a fool. 

To recap, ambushing a former vice-president at a restaurant  in a sophomoric and juvenile manner is proof Al Gore is stupid because he didn't say "Yeah, well I was globally warming your mom last night, asshole."

Such thinkers these Americans be.  But then Laurie quintuples down on the stupid:

(More after the jump...)

Last Call

So, if I'm reading this right, Al Gore says the polar ice caps could be gone by 2017.  Five to seven years, is what he's saying.

"2008 had a smaller minimum, probably, than 2007," Gore said, alluding to work led by California-based researcher Wieslaw Maslowski.

"Some of the models suggest to Dr. Maslowski that there is a 75 percent chance that the entire polar ice cap during some summer months could be completely ice free within five to seven years," Gore said.

Gore's immediately being attacked over this.

However, the climatologist whose work Mr Gore was relying upon dropped the former Vice-President in the water with an icy blast.

“It’s unclear to me how this figure was arrived at,” Dr Maslowski said. “I would never try to estimate likelihood at anything as exact as this.”

Mr Gore’s office later admitted that the 75 per cent figure was one used by Dr Maslowksi as a “ballpark figure” several years ago in a conversation with Mr Gore.

Here's my question.  Shouldn't a 75% chance of ice-free summer months in the Arctic in seven years, even as a ballpark figure, still scare the bejesus out of people?  Even 15 years or 20 would still be horrific news.

They Were Just Asking To Get Hard Labor, You See

Via DougJ at Balloon Juice, John Podhoretz is just a really terrible human being, deciding to place the blame for those two captured journalists freed by Bill Clinton's efforts in North Korea on...the two journalists (and Al Gore).

That said, and now that they are out of jeopardy, Ling and Lee deserve to be held accountable, at least in the realm of public opinion, for the unthinkably bad judgment they displayed in their preposterous, vainglorious, and astoundingly naive venture. Possessing some fantasy about presenting an inside look at North Korea on an justifiably unwatched (because unwatchable) cable channel called Current TV, they thought they could sneak undetected into a Gulag state, film some footage with a DV camera, and then sneak back out to the hosannas of the Peabody Award committee. This is something they chose to do and were given license to attempt by their employers, and for which they paid a horrific, far too horrific, a price. That must be the case as well for Al Gore and Joel Hyatt, the co-owners of Current TV, who have doubtless existed in a state of terrible “what have I done” anxiety about this since the arrests.

"One would think," said Zandar as he rubbed the bridge of his nose in consternation, "that attempting to expose the evils of the oppressive North Korean regime and being captured because of it would in fact be applauded by the kind of people whose response to something like this happening to, say, Joe The Plumber, War Correspondent Emeritus, would be calls to turn Pyongyang into a warm crater of radioactive glass."

Seriously. But no, instead it's the Goracle's fault for putting those two young ladies in harm's way. I get to drag out my favorite acronym again: ITEISATDF*. This is pretty mean-spirited, even for the JPod. How dare those two journalists force us to use diplomacy with the Norks!

(*In The End, It's Somehow Always The Democrats' Fault.)