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We're all Firebaggers now.
Al Gore, in a must-read piece in Rolling Stone, thinks Obama has fallen down on the job on the issue of global warming.
President Obama has thus far failed to use the bully pulpit to make the case for bold action on climate change. After successfully passing his green stimulus package, he did nothing to defend it when Congress decimated its funding. After the House passed cap and trade, he did little to make passage in the Senate a priority. Senate advocates — including one Republican — felt abandoned when the president made concessions to oil and coal companies without asking for anything in return. He has also called for a massive expansion of oil drilling in the United States, apparently in an effort to defuse criticism from those who argue speciously that “drill, baby, drill” is the answer to our growing dependence on foreign oil. [...]
The real power of any president, as Richard Neustadt wrote, is “the power to persuade.” Yet President Obama has never presented to the American people the magnitude of the climate crisis. He has simply not made the case for action. He has not defended the science against the ongoing, withering and dishonest attacks. Nor has he provided a presidential venue for the scientific community — including our own National Academy — to bring the reality of the science before the public.
It’s true that Obama’s silence has come with a price. Over the past five years, the number of Americans that are skeptical about global warming has actually increased, and a new Yale study shows that only 13% of the public knows that an overwhelming consensus of scientists (97%) have concluded that climate change is real. That’s a tremendous victory for the Kochs and ExxonMobils of the world.
The charge Gore is leveling here against Obama is exactly the same one I made Monday about his failure to offer a clear alternative to Reaganism. And while he’s been quiet, the polluters and deniers keep spreading misinformation and the Republican Party keeps telling us that taxes are high and government is the root of all our problems.
If a Democratic President doesn’t lead on these issues, who will?
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Wow, how old is that picture?
:-)
I hate the term ‘bully pulpit.’ Just sayin.’
Ok ~ I really don’t get why Gore is doing THIS and doing this NOW?
His timing is terrible. And I don’t see what this is going to accomplish. Or is this just standard practices for Gore? Perhaps.
.
That’s a familiar refrain, Obama not using the bully pulpit, preferring to be passive and ineffectual rather than take a real stand on anything.
Maybe Obama bargained away the bully pulpit in the tax cut “compromise”, and it hasn’t been picked up by the press yet.
Yes we do need a Democratic president, maybe we will get one in the next election.
It’s really simple. Who has the most money: scientists or the oil companies?
Obama is a whore politician and a protector of the status quo. That’s how he got to play president and seem important.
Yeah, it’s an inconvenient time for him to question this President’s complacency and complicity.
Why are you suggesting Gore is the defective Party in this criticism? Obama kicks when people are down, why shouldn’t Gore question the head of the Party? Is it because we aren’t doing enough to address the problem? When is a more convenient time?
I suspect Obama thinks taking the bully pulpit makes one a bully. He seems to prefer his defenders and cheerleaders pick up his slack.
AND THE KILLIN’ GOEZ ON AND ON AND…
Citizen Blue Texan:
“If a Democratic President won’t lead on these issues, who will?”
A real Democrat or “democrat”, ANY real Democrat would not only lead on these issues but would humiliate those who deny them in order to profit from the collapse of the enviornment and the economy. And it is clear that ObamaRahma is not a Democrat and that his expressed admiration for Ronald Reagan had more to do with their ideological affinity than respect for Reagan’s political acumen.
My experience in the last 8 weeks listenin’ to people and learnin’ from youngsters who are fearlessly fightin’ the dragons of monied power with the terrible swift sword of truth and the power of organizin’…this experience has led me to believe more than ever that it is possible to retake the Democratic Party and overthrow the oligarchy and the politics of celebrity and money. The orgaizin’ strategy employed by the progressive organizers in my senate district here in Wisconsin has not been implemented on any scale since the labor orgainizin’ wars of the 1920′s and 30′s and it is based on a fundamental belief in democracy and the power of common people. AND it is bein’ worked from within the hollowed out shell of the Democratic Party. And if it succeeds it will succeed because it is locally based and driven by sweat, patience, the live music of individual voices and sore feet.
What is happenin’ here is a great experiement in whether or not people can govern themselves in the 21st century and, trust me, it is not televised (yet) and it won’t show up on Twitter until the doors to the Bastile are torn open.
KEEP THE FAITH AND PASS THE AMMUNITION, THERE IS NO CRYIN IN POLITICS!
The timing is perfect. The Big Zero is doing bugger all and expects to be re-elected so now is the time to hold his feet to the fire (not literally mods). He has missed opportunity after opportunity on issue after issue to make use of the “bully pulpit”.
He has made secret deals with InsurPharma instead of standing up to them and calling them to account. He has given GOP negotiators all they asked, and more, instead of taking to the airwaves and telling the population the truth about the GOP agenda. He is a hypocrite and a whore bought and paid for by Big Money, he is a disgrace to the Democratic Party and to America.
He only has one issue he is focusing on and he is losing not gaining support. The media and rich (Democrats and Republicans) people support the corporate status quo. He only has this option of criticizing the administration and our leader for not using his “bully pulpit” to maybe quote some scientists about a situation which is more “dire” than the Bank (rich peoples portfolio) Crisis of 2007. Going into an election year this is a good move for Gore.
I know this is OT, but if Bill Clinton had not been a narcissistic butthole, Gore would have been the incumbent President going into the 2000 elections.
Nomolos is right about the timing of this. Maybe Gore watched Jane and Dan’s panel video. Now is the time to make him uncomfortable and have to do stuff.
You are not fit to lick Bill Clinton’s boots.
But he did win in 2000, that is until the SCOTUS stepped in and gave the election to The Chimp. Then again if the GOP had not financed Nadir…
That is not what he wanted licked.
It’s not about the convenience or maybe this is the “convenient” time for Gore perhaps.
The climate issue is all but dead as far as I can see. Where was Gore before? He’s been silent. That’s my point. The article is a bit of a mess. Lots of history, not about Obama. A blind eye to the detachment Obama has to the party ~ so what is complaining he’s not a good leader of the party going to do when Obama cares more about bipartisanship than leadership of Ds and building on whatever legislation was passed in the House by Pelosi et. al. He goes on about the Iraq war propaganda. Yeah, true, but what is the point?
He doesn’t even link climate problems up with jobs ~ which might be a helpful tactic at this point … if there was any hope of getting any jobs program out of this administration.
Gore talks about the scientists all agreeing about climate change.
But the predominant ideology in the country does not believe in science, so this argument just doesn’t matter!
Where has Gore been?
Why do we not see a sustained effort from him?
That’s my beef. Not that he’s inconvenient.
I do find this argument interesting … but I don’t see that it will dislodge Obama from his trajectory.
Citizen perrylogan:
No citizen of the United States is fit to lick Bill Clinton’s boots but ANY common American citizen is fit to kick his ass. Bill Clinton and all those who appolgize and make excuses for him (AND his sorry-assed wife) are not fit to carry the responsibility of citizenship.
Ok. It’s not resonating with me as something that will contribute to that ‘trend,’ though, unfortunately. I wish Gore were the answer. But he’s not. Maybe that’s why I am so crabby.
No indeed the only thing that will “dislodge Obama from his trajectory” is when (hah!) he does something his Big Money masters do not want him to do and then they will replace him.
I think Gore forgot to mention that he stands to make huge amounts of money from cap and trade. As does the usual suspects, GSachs, hank Paulson etc
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=22663
Citizen nomolos:
“BINGO”…the coarse of American politics and economy were bought off like that phony meglomaniac Ralph Nader and anyone who thinks otherwise can stay outta MY foxhole.
That’s Malibu Al Gore to you all. That’s how 0 works silence in golden that way you blame it on someone else later
So in that narrative, Gore is annoyed that cap and trade was on its way and has been stalled. And he blames Obama, perhaps. Hmmmm.
I don’t recall Obama ever taking a big stand on cap and trade.
Who is the “you” in this comment?
I found Bill Moyers comment on his book salon captured my frustration with Obama:
(emphasis mine)
Citizen mswinkle:
Because someone other than the existing oligarchy can profit from a policy like cap and trade and the change in the economic structure of the western world that would result is an argument for what…doin’ nothin or waitin for the green fairies to come and rescue us from our own stupidity??? JEEzus H. keeeRIST on a God damned crutch when will you poor folks grow taste buds to smell the coffee??!!
Still gets me all steamed up.
Discover has a link to recent Climate Change polling.
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/intersection/2011/06/08/really-depressing-polling-data-on-global-warming-beliefs/
It could be that Americans are significantly more worried about the economy and that is skewing their thinking on other topics. Also, where is our government on this? Obama surrenders nearly every debate and that’s not the right word because more often than not he seems to repeat/reinforce Republican worldview.
If the public is misinformed, then our government has a responsibility to address this instead of reinforce the ignorance.
So, Gore goes away for a bit and why shouldn’t he for a whole variety of legitimate reasons and you attack him? And I don’t accept that he went away. Sorry. Where’s the evidence. I don’t care for opinions that shit on Gore for no good reason.
Really? HUMAN EVENTS?! Why not just link to World Nut Daily for some real Gore bashing?
I take it from your reply that you are not only fit to do so, but willing as well.
How could Gore be the answer? Gore isn’t even the question. I appreciate that you may be crabby but makes no sense to put this kind of burden on this man. He’s not even an elected representative for %$#@ – couldn’t think of the proper word but wanted to express the outrageousness of that remark.
Species which fail to adapt quickly enough to changing conditions go extinct. Ever has it been thus. Whether it is simple inability (shelled sea creatures in an increasingly acid sea) or unwillingness (fossil fuel companies using profits to buy political protection) doesn’t matter.
I, like many other people, thought we had one more chance in 2008. It turned out we didn’t. Incrementalism won’t cut it. Supporting the status quo won’t cut it. Maybe we can still salvage some basic decency for the next few decades, but the climate is changing and will not support human civilization, and may not even support human life. With luck, maybe a viable breeding population of 50,000 people can eke out a savage existence for a few hundred millenia until we can get another ice age going. Right now, that looks like our best shot.
Al Gore is part of the existing oligarch. be great when he pushes this stuff that he comes out front and admits that he stands to make billions for this, and let people know. Then the people can judge what he says with all the facts.
There you go again with that bloody “Evolution” stuff. THat is sure to upset the anti-Gore crowd.
Yes, how condescending of Gore to speak up about THIS NOW./s Project much?
Citizen 4cdave:
If we are to survive it will be because we have understood our history and are willin’ to recognize that no one else, no technology, no biological mutation and no charismatic savior is gunna do the work required to save the planet…it is US Brother 4cdave and our opportunity to make a difference is rapidly shrinkin’.
Turning this topic to a debate on Gore seems like a significant malfunction, may even be just to confuse the issue?
I have DFH friends and indeed relatives that have invested rather heavily in Solar, Wind, Thermal and Tidal power, now, if and when, the world goes belly up in the Fossil Fuel stakes they will make, we can only hope, scads of money. Of course BIg Money is not investing in “alternative” energy so will, I can only hope, make bugger all.
If the “left” did not invest in “alternative” energy sources who the fuck would?
Obama’s responsible for the the public’s ignorance on a host of issues from the economy, jobs and wars, to civil liberties. That’s all we’ll ever get from a sock puppet shilling for the wealthy elite.
I don’t care if Gore makes money from his work on global warming. He’s been talking about the problem for years and trying to get people to listen. He has had little or no support and I hope that soon Americans will start to listen. Someone makes money by manufacturing and installing solar panels – is that wrong?
Never a good time to say things that will piss off people I suppose.
Citizen mswinkle:
You have overdosed on the KoolAide Citizen…you have been so duped by tools like Ralph Nader that you don’t even know who the enemy is anymore. Luckily though, most of the folks I’ve met out in the neighborhoods and in the street who have been clobbered by the fascist takeover of the country, don’t share your self-defeating dilusions…they know exactly who it is that threatens ‘em and it ain’t Al Gore for God’s sake!!
Gore doesn’t want to lose his membership in the club. I remember him criticizing the Iraq war, rather forcefully, and then backing away when the ruling clique attacked him. Carter did the same thing when he called Bush the worst president. They’re so socially and politically circumscribed, they think the VIP are it, everybody and everything. Wouldn’t occur to either of them or anyone like them that there’s another world and vastly more people just outside that tiny, tiny circle of useless idiots.
I’m outta here…I can only take so much whinnin’ and cryin’.
So when is Al going to put out and updated version of his last movie about climate change given everything that has happened since the last film well Al does a great job of explaining what we can expect.
May I suggest a title I was wrong about Climate Change….Climate Change is Worse than I thought!
A fair question to ask, but IMO we haven’t had real “Democratic” POTUS since Carter or maby not even since LBJ. Frackin NIXON, fer the dawg’s sake, was better on environmental issues than Clinton, and Obama’s a dead-LOSS. I gave UP a looooooong time ago on Barry Zero doing anything other than make a lotta CHA-CHING for himself.
Clearly Zero doesn’t give a sh*t about Sasha or Malia’s future, much less of the future of any of his potential grandkids. I guess Michelle doesn’t give a stuff, either.
It boogles my mind bc I truly don’t believe that our Galtian Overlords are so stupid as to think that somehow climate change is a “liberal hoax.” Maybe, though, they are so “stoned” on their own hubris that they believe they can *retreat* to some Galt’s Gulch or another and be “saved” from what’s coming. I surely don’t know or get it.
All I can say is that I’m glad I’m older bc, at this stage, while hating to sound negative, I think were EFFED. I will continue to do what I can, but I seriously feel that we’ve passed a milestone, and it’s gonna be a downhill race to the bottom from here.
Gore?? We can argue till the cows come home about whether Gore’s doing something solely in order to make money. Maybe. But *most* of what Gore’s said is irrefutable. Ignore at your own personal peril. Guess it feels *real good* to diss the Other Team, whilst life on the planet is ready to go ker-flooey.
BT have an Al Gore thread and watch the trolls come out in force. Just why are they so scarred of him.
Maybe Gore and Carter know something we can only suspect. I wonder what defense they would offer for their reactions.
Yeah, right? So Gore has the NERVE to be a *capitalist* and make money… like?? WTF??
Oh, it’s only “ok” to make money from projects that rape the environment and, then, only IF you’re a conservative??
I get truly *annoyed* with the nonsensical nature of some of these arguments, which basically say: IF your perceived as leftwing, then you better never ever make any money from anything. But IF you present yourself as rightwing, go ahead & rape, rob, pillage, plunder & steal to your heart’s content.
Because Gore, for all his human faults & failings, has stepped out to tell the TRUTH. and our Galtian Overlords don’t like that. clearly.
LOL – sadly
in other Obama communication news (reported in the Nation) we have Russia’s Federal Atomic Energy Agency (FAAE) information provided to them by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) (thank god for RT.com) that states that the Obama regime has ordered a “total and complete” news blackout relating to any information regarding the near catastrophic meltdown of the Fort Calhoun Nuclear Power Plant located in Nebraska – “catastrophic loss of cooling” to one of its idle spent fuel rod pools on 7 June (flooding of the Missouri River), a Level 4 problem.
Bet no one caught the communication from Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Chief, Gregory B. Jaczko, blasting the Obama regime just days before the near meltdown of the Fort Calhoun Nuclear Power Plant, declaring that “the policy of not enforcing most fire code violations at dozens of nuclear plants is “unacceptable” and has tied the hands of NRC inspectors.” – or the fire causing the Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) to issue a “no-fly ban” over the area.
But the Fort Calhoun Nuclear Plant going down 20 minutes outside downtown Omaha is not major media news with Obama in the White House, after all there was
“negligible release of nuclear gasses” related to this accident.
Citizen onitgoes:
“I am truly ‘annoyed’ at the nonsensical nature of some of these arguments…”
You and me both, Citizen OIG…now I’m really outta here before I put my fist through the monitor.
Wow, so much pretzel logic going on there I’m not sure where to start so i’ll just agree; what does it really matter?
You are talking crap. i don’t think Al Gore is the enemy all I said was he is part of the system that collectively is screwing us al
What would that be?
Gulp. Well: there it is.
And I expect more of the same.
There are 2 nuclear power plants in CA sitting right on fault lines next to the ocean and built pretty much the same way as Fukushima in Japan with similarly lacking cooling systems.
IMO, it’s a matter of time before there’s a big diaster with one or both.
Nothing will be done to make any “improvements” bc Team USA doesn’t “have enough money,” and US citizens are sound asleep and not making a peep about it.
Trot out Al Gore to tell some inconvenient truths, though, and the rightwingers get their knickers in a big old wad. Duly noted.
So they say. Are Obama and family moving to the area to show how safe it is?
Earlier I did a goggle search on Gore and climate change. Mostly got things about An Inconvenient Truth and rightwing criticism of anything Gore does. Today, of course, lots of mentions about the Rolling Stone piece.
I wonder what Gore has been doing all this time…whatever it is, he’s clearly been off the MCM’s radar.
Perhaps the MCM (Mainstream Corporate Media) has not been mentioning Gore since they were in Support Obama Mode. I did see that an op-ed Gore wrote about heavy snows in late winter 2010 was not on the first four search pages, but there were plenty of critiques of it from the right and deniers.
I sense that the MCM is awaiting its corporate bosses’ decision about how to treat Obama, whether he’d be better than whatever R seems to be leading the pack. Or not.
Last night on Charlie Rose, there was a panel of “NYTimes columnists – Cohen, Freidman, Leonhardt, and Brooks (Gee, why no Krugman?) of which I watched only a bit before getting sick of them. But, they were gently questioning Obama’s ability to be a leader, to be anything other than, as Bobo put it, act as a good senator bridging different groups. (Uh, Bobo, he usualy only connects only between center right and whackjob crazy right.) They asked why he so seldom was out front on issues, etc.
This suggests to me, along with the utterly breathless coverage of any possible, declared or not, with any followers or not, remotely possible R for president that the MCM –or its masters– is looking for an Obama replacement. The decision will be based on who is thought to be best for the interests of the corporations and the Uberwealthy.
DC Dems, party Dems, most Dem voters don’t realize, yet, that Obama should be primaried by a real Democrat.
That he is.
Actually that is not what i am saying. this is not a left right issue this is simply the fact that people pushing agendas whatever they may be usually stand to benefit vastly from it and the people tend to get screwed.
I am not saying he shouldn’t make money but he should be up front about it and admit that the solution he is pushing is one he stands to gain from, and that there are other solutions.
[weak levity attempt]
Two thousand one hundred zero zero party over – oooops out of clime
So I think I’m gonna party like it’s two thousand ninety nine
Look, the Gore piece assumes that Obama is a Democrat and Gore is castigating him for not doing his job. How might Gore write the same critique had McCain been elected? That’s how he should write it (with appropriate changes to actual party membership) now.
Let’s face it. Everyone with a name or in power in D.C is doing exactly the same steps: March to the Koch’s or critique so that they don’t get offended and pull their menial support from the Dems.
They’re right on the money about Obama. Presidents aren’t middle managers. They’re not in office to calculate and negotiate mid points. It’s analogous to the difference between effective and efficient.
Do you have any links? I tried to search for The Nation piece, but must have used the wrong search terms. Didn’t search for the RT piece.
T/u.
I’m with you, Twain. If Gore is perceived as being late in this case (which I’m not buying, by the way), then so be it. Better late than never. And as a larger point (and I intend to go all broken-record on this in the coming months), the sniping at people who are largely and substantively on the progressive page is counter-productive. We need all hands on deck, and I, for one, ain’t gonna sweat the small shit. Thinking small in that way can only be self-destructive in the end.
So kudos to Gore, not only for this piece, but for carrying the flag on this issue for years. (And for hiring KO, too.)
Not with this Democratic party. It’s the third way or the highway with this bunch. The entire leadership of the Democrat Party needs to be replaced (along with most of the other elected officials, and the fundraisers, and the media advisors, etc.)
His paid-for-by-wall-street-lobbyist-boots-that-were-made-in-mexico-by-low-wage-worker-thanks-to-his-pet-project-NAFTA boots?
How many times does he have to do so, to satisfy your “need”?
Al Gore Embarrasses Another Republican Fool
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5A6h6r7qaY
I didn’t know about this video. I had seen others but wanted to do your research for you THIS TIME.
I don’t think that Gore is much of an “insider” these days. After he “lost” the election, the Dems seem to ignore him.
absolutely
Who don’t elected Dem reps ignore?
That’s right, Republicans.
You should read the entire article. The excerpt posted here makes it seem as if it is something that it is not.
Agree. I’m not a Gore-bot, but sheesh! Gore has at least made a substantive and sustained (over many years) effort to really *educate* citizens about climate change, as well as offering serious criticism and offering solutions. To constantly see the nitpicking over this and that detail is a distraction from the serious intent of this very critical issue, which threatens our lives, frankly.
Go ahead: vetch to your heart’s content that Gore hasn’t done *something* to YOUR personal satisfaction… imo at this stage, go buy a fiddle and join Nero over there by the flames…
If a Democratic President doesn’t lead on these issues, who will?
Ralph Nader or someone of his ilk!
There is really, in a literal sense, nothing to lose by criticizing President Obama. The only campaign promise he has kept so far was the promise to kill Osama bin Laden.
The potential gain from attacking the President on environmental issues could be nothing more than a token gesture (e.g. another new national monument in Utah, a la Clinton). Don’t attack the administration and you get nothing at all.
Al Gore is just the latest to come out against Obama on environmental issues.
Obama deserves every bit of this opposition from his own base that he’s betrayed in so many ways.
Folks
Al Gore? Seriously? Have you learned nothing from the Madison Ave inspired hype of hope that was Obama? Do not listen to what ANY politician says but listen instead to their ACTIONS.
Vice president Al Gore was directly responsible for NAFTA, CAFTA,GATT, the IMF, the 1996 Telecommunications Act, massive give a ways of large tracts of OUR land in the northwest to the lumber industries, large tracts of land in the central plains to the mining interests etc etc etc etc. The list of betrayals of the Clinton/GORE Administration is well know.
Then we have the actions of president Al Gore. Remember the Michael Moore movie? Where Al Gore actually gavelled the Congressional Black Caucus and told them to “sit down and be quiet” when they were BEGGING ONE US Senator to challenge what happened in Florida 2000 with the 90,000 mainly blacks who were ILLEGALLY denied their right to vote or have it counted.
Then we Al Gore and his cute little movie. An Inconvenient Truth.. Whose central position was that we little people can end global warming. By joining together and buying environmental light bulbs (made perhaps by Nuclear power and war manufacturers General Electric) and other such little people together ideas.
Not a God damned mention of GE, Monsanto, ADM, Cargill, Occidental Oil, Shell Oil, BP or any other corporate responsibility for the disaster we all face.
Al Gore is simply a corporate shill. A “green-washed one” to be sure. That is why he was “allowed” to be VP.
Or did I miss the Battle Of Seattle in 2009 that was fighting the policies of the Clinton/GORE administration.
Tell me I am wrong someone. Please.
Now you understand why I have been banned from so many “progressive” blogs like Op Ed News, Common Dreams, Truthout, Daily KOS and refuse to cross the cyber picket line of Huff Post.
Because I have the facts and state them unafraid.
let me know when gore drops his support for cap and trade and starts supporting hansen’s carbon tax and 100% dividend proposal.
until then, sad to say (because i really liked what gore had to say from 2002-2006), i think gore is just being a poser.
ot: what is the status of the huffpo strike? i have no idea if it’s even still on (but would very much like to know if you could drop in a good link – thanks).
I am with you. People here who actually think Gore cares about us are delusional. Gore works for MIC and he has done much to destroy this country. Shipping jobs overseas to countries that have less environmental protection standards than here.
Maybe Gore can calculate how much that has added to global warming
I remember Al Gore exactly as you do.
When I saw this story this morning, the headline I was reading was:
Gore Slams Obama (or some such sensationalizing)
and I thought to myself, Huh? Gore’s been pretty quiet lately- why is he doing this now? The only idea I could come up with is that Gore is feeling pretty bolstered by the attention KO has brought his way and Gore’s do as I say, not as I live ego may be considering primarying Obama.
The Huff Post cyber picket line is on until Huff Post starts to pay it’s writers. Which is never going to happen. So until we hear otherwise, the cyber picket line remains.
It is called solidarity. In my home the idea of crossing any picket line was tandamount to treason.
Oh and thank you for getting it about Gore. Can you see why I have been banned from so many “progressive” blogs. I also recently was hung up on when I called the Big Eddie Schultz show on Air America. Right wingers got all the time to speak their piece.
Me, I got 5 seconds.
Remember the golden microphone rule. If you have the gold or speak on behalf of those with the gold, you get the golden microphone.
That includes Big Eddie Shultz, Rachel Maddow, Michael Moore, Al Gore etc etc etc.
What we have here on FDL is the basics for the brass microphone..
Remember, listen to those on the brass microphone and do NOT listen to those “allowed” to speak on the golden microphone..
Great comment re Gore.
But what does it say about Obama that Gore and former Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt have slammed Obama publicly re the environment and climate change?
Kimbers.
Yes and thank you for getting it..
Of course the Dems Establishment leaders must be getting pretty scared. They know something is up. problem for them is that they KNOW that all their “progressive” shills (Eddie Schultz, Maddows, Al Gore, Michael Moore, Van Jones etc etc) no longer have any credibility.
Because they have unashamedly shills.
If Gore were to step up to challenge Obama in a primary, I’d support him (Gore).
Then I’d probably just end up voting third party in the general election regardless of the outcome of the Democrats’ primaries…
yeah, but hard to do when word doesn’t get out… wish you (or someone who knows the straight scoop) would write a diary and keep at it so ignorant people like me know what’s up (can hardly blame people for not knowing when progressive media is either not reporting on it, or i’ve unaccountably been missing it here and elsewhere).
……
re gore. if hadn’t gone silent (for 5 years?), if he hadn’t told students they needed to get arrested without being willing to do take that action himself, if he hadn’t abandoned hansen’s efforts…. well, you get the drift….
i might have been willing to give him a second chance and considered the possibility he might have been serious about being a recovering politician. but his own actions have condemned him.
sadly looks like just another rat attempting to escape from the apparently sinking D/obama ship.
It’s not ignorance, as the issues have been hammered incessantly. Everyone has heard all of them over and over again.
The choice of acting on the information, or even needing to act, is what’s missing. That’s not the fault of anyone in that audience.
The problem has to do with connecting the consequences of climate change to individuals’ well being in a near enough term to encourage some alarm and action. That’s a very difficult agenda.
Then the need to cede responsibility and control to the political and regulatory regime in DC, and for individuals to accept such, is also a sure fire way to encourage cynicism among the public nowadays. For activists it’s perversely comforting to accuse the public of ignorance, but it will do nothing to foster change.
If Marshall McLuhan were alive today he might have some suggestions as to how to go about this problem. Without him we are left with a jejune generation spewing pejorative labels, feeling good at least about that effort, while things heat up just a bit more.
credibility deficit is one of the real deficit problems we actually have (as opposed to the fed govt budget deficit terrorists and deficit errorists).
But certainly we have to vet those who use the brass and on down to the tin microphones. By the time the tins are turned on what you hear is a mostly indecipherable din.
So, what are they really saying, and what are the qualifications, the knowledge base to speak that way, and why them and not Maddow and company?
for a start, see hansen’s testimony on carbon tax and 100% dividend. it was only 2.5 years ago….
http://www.columbia.edu/~jeh1/2009/WaysAndMeans_20090225.pdf
Agreed. that bunch are just there to promote the false paradigm and extend the pretend two parties system.
Ed make me want to puke. Maddow produces a similar result and i would love to wipe that “I am so clever smirk off her face” I try not to watch MSM, but every now and then I tune in to see what they are saying, but after a few minutes have to turn it off, as the non stop dumbed down propaganda does my head in.
As for HP. AH is a pretend progressive or whatever. She is just a money grabbing opportunist. her book 3rd world america was written by a ten year old. It was so dumbed down. her solutions even more dumb. I think one of them, and this when people jobless and about to lose their homes, because of the criminals on Wall Street and DC, was to VOLUNTEER. So maybe she sees her unpaid writers as volunteers and she is helping them out. I don’t read HP anymore and will certainly not do anything to support her fluff rag
Is the issue Gore? For you, obviously.
Anything Gore says is shit because we both know he screwed us plenty of times? I don’t see things that way.
So Gore is a lightning rod for people who know the election was stolen and they participated in it, and he’s a lightning rod for those who were following along his political career, his actions as you say. I suppose the world would be better if he had never noticed that things were changing rapidly with regard to the climate.
You may have noticed that someone doesn’t have to be a President to use the bully pulpit and if Gore still has an opportunity to stir things up, I’m glad for it.
I feel sometimes people you mentioned are shills but not always. I can certainly appreciate the rhetoric even if I disagree with the position.
And by the way, you’re not the only one kicked off so-called progressive blogs and your opinions marginalized by a so-called liberal wing of corporate media. Schultz still has a lot of righty in him, but he does a pretty good job keeping it in check.
So, yes, I will tell you that you are wrong since you asked, but wrong only in that those are different topics and being wrong on some issues does not automatically disqualify someone for being right on other things.
When someone’s criticisms get the attention that Gore’s do of this President, it would be irresponsible not to speak up.
There is no good time to piss off Obama or his apologists though.
Congratulations to all those who turned a criticism of Obama so drastically away from the criticism and back on Gore.
There will be something extra special for you in the White House holiday greetings cards this year.
Thanks! Well, of course, but it’s not the problem I was getting at.
For starters I think neither Gore nor Friedman is a good spokesperson. Each suffers from mixed messages, personna wise. The credibility suffers, and what’s left wipes off on the real stuff (such as your link).
From James Fallows at The Atlantic:
What gets me is the way that Al Gore and other DC power brokers wait until they are OUT of office to raise these issues. Does anyone really think he would have done something about climate change if he had taken office in 2001? No, he would have been whoring himself to big business like all the rest, including the current resident of the White House.
i’m perfectly capable of criticizing obama (and the feckless congress, etc) all on my own. for that i don’t need gore’s help, especially when it’s a case, as far as i can tell, of pot-kettle-black. it’s not like gore doesn’t have a bit of a bully pulpit himself.
and for what’s it’s worth, i really did like what gore had to say during 2002-2006, so it’s not like i’m reflexively anti-gore:
http://www.netrootsmass.net/2006/09/al-gore-speeches/
thanks for the clarification. good point.
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And for that you would be like any reasonable person following closely the distinctions between words and actions or lack of words altogether.
Gore is doing the same. Will it help, don’t know, but I guess I’m doubtful.
I’d slap R’s upside the head with Mittens if I thought that would help them acknowledge truth and not further entrench.
For me it’s the message not nearly so much the messenger. How is it that anyone allows himself or herself the self-indulgence to attack Gore when the topic is this damn important? I get it that once the off-topic is breached anything seems to go. I sincerely don’t get anyone attacking him for speaking out on the need to address catastrophic climate change. Now may even be a smart strategic timing as Campaign Obama returns.
I know rightwingers can’t stand Gore and Gore has given the rest of us a lot to be dismissive or angry with him but this is too damn important to turn the discussion into a sideshow.
Not directed at you, just more thinking aloud and trying to make some sense of things like everyone else.
if i thought that was so i would definitely have backed off (see my comment @78). hope i’m wrong.
understood. me too.