Gore's Advice: Save the Earth - Cut Back on Your Jet Fuel

I was bumbling around cyberspace today and saw an old interview between Al Gore and CBS Early Show co-host Harry Smith. It's on the MRC website. The interview was taped on April 1 (rightly so), a few months before the Swedes crowned Gore as King of the enviro-boobs.

Check this out:

Co-host Harry Smith: "Last week, former Vice President and Oscar winner Al Gore took Capitol Hill by storm, dazzling senators with his expertise, and today he joins us. Mr. Vice President, what do you say to those who still doubt that climate change is the Earth-destroying crisis that you and every environmentalist group says it is?"

Al Gore: "Harry, if your baby has a fever, you go to the doctor. If the crib’s on fire, you don’t speculate that the baby is flame retardant. You take action."

Smith, chuckling: "I know a lot of moms out there are nodding their heads. Speaking of action, any tips for viewers who want to reduce their own carbon footprint?"

Gore: "Well, I try to use my personal jet only for important trips. We gas up our fleet of SUVs only after sunset, and the thermostat in my 10,000 foot mansion is set at 68 degrees when Tipper and I aren’t there."

Smith: "Boy, I wish I could cut back like that."

You can't make this stuff up.

I love this interview. Every time I look at it, I find new fascinating things to laugh at. The conceit is so palpable that you have to read it twice and say aloud, "Did they really say that on television?"

"If your baby has a fever...If the crib's on fire..." Well, thank you for clearing up all the scientific mumbo-jumbo with examples I can understand. Gore's right. The last time I saw a crib on fire, I didn't speculate on how fire resistant the baby was. I phoned the Sierra Club and asked them to lend me a jug of water, but they hung up after calling me a heathen for wasting our most precious resource.

"I know a lot of moms out there are nodding their heads..." Say what? What a lame brained segue. How many moms out there are nodding their heads and saying, "Yup. When I saw junior on fire, I knew it was as bad as climate change."

"My personal jet...fleet of SUVs...10 000 foot mansion..."

The bald arrogance of that statement is obscene. It would be amazing that he said it with a straight face, until you remember that this fat cat has known no other life except one of inherited privilege. Still, I know what Gore was up to. He was trying to head off the counter-arguments at the pass. People had ripped on him before for flying around all over the place and living the high life, while at the same time hearing him tell people not to use air conditioning. So this statement was meant as a sop to his own people as well as a defence against his opponents.

News to Gore: good job. It worked. Six months later, they handed this bozo a Nobel Peace Prize.

Photo: Reuters/Kimberly White