Also, an analogy that is as close to the same thing as you can get is every time someone on this site posts something from some scientist throwing doubt on the current dogma of AGW, they are pilloried for ever having any tie, even the most remote, to oil companies or the like. They aren't even getting rich off of anything, they just may have at some point gotten a grant or something from one of the "despised" and that somehow is supposed to render them and their research as completely moot. But here Al Gore is getting personally rich off of the actions of the government that he lobbies and none of you have any issue with that. Apparently no matter how sleazy his actions look, he's going to remain St Al, the bringer of truth.
I'll just ignore your final sentence, on account of it being bitter ranting without much relevance to the real world. But as for the rest:
Just like Gore is not a VP (anymore) who is in a position to abuse his office for personal gain, he's also not a scientist who needs to take care to appear independent lest he casts doubt on the objectivity of his results. He's a high-profile lobbyist and figurehead for the anti-global warming movement, nobody expects him to be objective or to do his own scientific research. His message gains credibility not from him, but from the many scientists who agree with it, in particular the IPCC. If we were talking about IPCC scientists or other important researchers on the topic, it would be a different story. Gore is just like any other high-profile lobbyist, trying to convince politicians to pass laws that they claim are generally beneficial but that they also stand to benefit from themselves. That is of course not a good thing, even if Gore's pet cause has more obvious benefits for the population at large than most lobbyists' causes, but it's very different from biased scientists, and from government officials abusing their position. If you want to get back at the people who complained about Cheney, you're going to have to do better than that.
I will however say, in trzaska's defense, that his comment "Nothing wrong with making a buck, but it is time to realize that both sides come to the table with certain motivations" is certainly true, and that I don't actually think most of the people replying disagree with that. Unfortunately, his reputation precedes him, and people reply to argue against points that he actually never made in this post - he never said what Gore did was illegal or corrupt, nor even that it was that reprehensible.
Even for AGW supporters, it's all about the other "green".....
03/11/2009 04:09:37 PM
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Wait... Where is the problem? I'm lost as to what is wrong here.
03/11/2009 04:32:47 PM
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profits are fine when it it a private money
03/11/2009 06:33:01 PM
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Re: profits are fine when it it a private money
04/11/2009 10:33:28 PM
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It was his money he invested but the money he is making comes from the government
05/11/2009 07:22:54 PM
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It does? I thought he was out of public office... that's what the article says.
05/11/2009 09:55:33 PM
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sure he can don't but lets not pretend he is not acting in his own self interest
06/11/2009 04:44:33 PM
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Re: sure he can don't but lets not pretend he is not acting in his own self interest
06/11/2009 11:08:39 PM
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yeah... I'm with callandor. Are you saying that they're corrupt in some way?
03/11/2009 04:44:10 PM
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Re: yeah... I'm with callandor. Are you saying that they're corrupt in some way?
03/11/2009 04:47:07 PM
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Corrupt no, but biased and motivated to make sure the AGW "crisis" endures.....
03/11/2009 04:50:48 PM
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I don't really believe in Global Warming.
03/11/2009 04:59:26 PM
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agreement *NM*
03/11/2009 05:10:04 PM
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You both are idiots.
03/11/2009 05:35:57 PM
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Man invests in company that does business the way he wants them to.
03/11/2009 05:30:24 PM
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a pushes government to spend a lot of money and then pockets a huge amount of it. Details at 9 *NM*
03/11/2009 06:36:56 PM
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That's how lobbying works, yes... *NM*
04/11/2009 12:49:44 AM
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You endorse lobbying for personal gain?
04/11/2009 03:34:02 AM
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No. But I don't think he's lobbying for personal gain.
04/11/2009 03:43:08 AM
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If his motives are so pure, then he shouldn't be in charge of his investments.
04/11/2009 03:49:50 AM
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Isn't he the same guy who uses ten times as much energy as his neighbors
04/11/2009 06:16:14 PM
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<3 for your hypocricy. You hate the NYT but somehow use it as your link <3 <3 <3 *NM*
03/11/2009 05:34:36 PM
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Hate the NYT, but wanted to use it so you libs would believe it.....pretty simple. *NM*
03/11/2009 10:53:26 PM
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If you think I believe everything I read in the NYT you're even dumber than I thought. *NM*
04/11/2009 12:04:15 AM
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You believe more in the liberal NYT than in the fair and balanced Fox News.....do you not? *NM*
04/11/2009 12:19:30 AM
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No news source is fair and balanced. Not a single one. That you think Fox News is
04/11/2009 12:47:28 AM
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Change your words to "Cheney" and "Halliburton" if you want to see them all switch their replies.
04/11/2009 03:29:32 AM
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Cheney didn't endorse petrochemical ideals before he was part of Halliburton, to my knowledge.
04/11/2009 03:44:33 AM
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Never fear, Ghavrel. I agree with you.
04/11/2009 01:41:00 PM
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I'm just confused about why I'm being pigeonholed as a venerator of Al Gore the Blessed.
04/11/2009 08:02:52 PM
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to you knowledge did he oppose them?
04/11/2009 06:19:16 PM
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You're not wrong at all.
04/11/2009 07:56:25 PM
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Re: You're not wrong at all.
05/11/2009 07:33:08 PM
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If my assumption seems highly reasonable? Then no, that's about right.
06/11/2009 01:24:48 AM
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Cheney was Vice-President.
04/11/2009 02:44:55 PM
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Of course it isn't the exact same thing, but few analogies are.
04/11/2009 05:16:34 PM
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It's a very different thing, even.
04/11/2009 06:11:15 PM
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I don't believe anyone is saying he shouldn't be allowed to do it
05/11/2009 07:41:14 PM
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Capitalist invests in companies who work towards the same cause as he does? Shocking.
04/11/2009 03:12:52 PM
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