10 Aug 2006 Al Gore’s Do As I Say, Not As I Do Philosophy
Author, Hoover Research Fellow and National Center board member Peter Schweizer has an op-ed in USA Today this morning that is probably giving headaches to former Vice President Al Gore.
It seems that for all Gore’s green talk, the former VP isn’t exactly acting as though he believes the dire warnings in his movies, slide shows and public appearances.
Says Peter, in part:
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.’
Graciously, Gore tells consumers how to change their lives to curb their carbon-gobbling ways: Switch to compact fluorescent light bulbs, use a clothesline…
Pause for a minute. Has anyone ever seen a picture of Al Gore putting clothes on a clothesline? Even one (staged pics don’t count)? Does he even have clotheslines at his residences for his servants to use? Resuming excerpt of Peter’s op-ed:
…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….’
… 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…
Pause again. Give me a break. Gore can’t fly commercial, even to help save the planet? Resuming excerpt…
…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…
…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…
…Maybe our very existence isn’t threatened…
There’s more.
By coincidence, the Chicago Defender published today (with a disclaimer noting Peter’s connection to our group) a review of Peter’s last book by National Center Research Associate Nick Cheolas. Nick’s review begins:
Most liberals enjoy portraying themselves as the champions of minority interests and “social justice,” defending the allegedly defenseless against oppression from the rich and powerful.
But does the liberal elite live by its own rhetorical standards? Not according to author Peter Schweizer. In his new book, Do As I Say (Not As I Do): Profiles in Liberal Hypocrisy, Schweizer points out the blatant hypocrisy practiced by many of the liberal community’s leading figures…
In a commentary that apparently applies well to Al Gore, Nick concludes: “Liberal rhetoric may be appealing and popular, but it is often hard to live by. Sacrificing for the common good is a noble goal, but it is unfortunate that those on the left who espouse it don’t seem to have enough faith to live by their own ideals.”