Al Gore In London: Global Chill From A Case Of The Big Head

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- Britain's Daily Mail is reporting that Al Gore seemed insufferably boring and big headed during a recent charity appearance in London. It was the kind of review that dogged him during his days as a public official. In London, Gore was described as delivering a lousy speech that left supporters cold; he picked up a fat fee and wouldn't mingle with the crowd that paid to see him talk about global warming. If so, it might be a reversion or resumption of the kind of moody moments that Nobel winner Gore was known for during his U.S. political career as vice president and senator.

Over the years, as a newspaper reporter who covered Gore every now and then, I witnessed such episodes. Once, on the military airfield tarmac at Fort Campbell -- as troops returned from Operation Desert Storm in the early 1990s -- Gore turned aloof and wouldn't speak. It was a joyous welcoming ceremony and heart-lifting moment to see soldiers come home from war and reunite with loved ones. Gore, however, was absolutely stony. He was Tennessee's U.S. Senator at the time, and he seemed like a grouch. It was a puzzling performance. Another time he came to inspect flooding along the Ohio River in 1997. He was vice president, did a quick photo op and mostly stayed away from people in their damaged homes. The Secret Service reportedly was concerned about his safety -- that debris in the Ohio River was hazardous. Cops, fire crews, relief personnel, even clowns from Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey, were comforting those in shelters or battling the flood waters. But Gore beat it out of town, and it was a moment that raised eyebrows.

Then, a few years later as he campaigned for the presidency, he stopped at a Montessori school near downtown Cincinnati. It was a stultifying appearance, only adding to his reputation at the time as a wooden man or robot. Now the report from London, which sounded too familiar:

"Paul Hetherington, media manager for Water Aid, said: "Pictures couldn't be taken and people were being moved out of the main hall so they wouldn't experience the event. It was very disruptive. We had to apologise to people who were invited. We wanted to say thank you for all the support that many people had given us, but some of them were asked to leave. Many guests were invited by the hosts, so why should the speaker have any control over these guests and removing the media? It defeated the object of trying to raise awareness of the cause."

A Gore spokesman apologized for the limited availability at the London event.

Hotter Nights And Global Warming: Ohio's Climatologist Offers Inconvenient Proof

COLUMBUS (TDB) -- A scientist at Ohio State University released a research study this week supportive of global warming. It agrees with Al Gore and the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, who won a Nobel Peace Prize today for spreading awareness of man-made global warming. It says summer nights in the Buckeye State have grown 3 degrees hotter since the 1960s. The increase is seen as a signal that the climate has been altered in the Midwest, probably as a result of human actions. The school's report is here and got some attention but deserves much more . Ohio's state climatologist, Jeffrey Rogers, is the lead author of the study.

"A lot of Americans might expect that global climate change would cause extremely high daytime temperatures in the summer. But in Ohio at least, the high temperatures haven't been changing -- it's the overnight low temperatures that have been creeping up. That means the average temperature over the 24-hour period is creeping up as well.

"In Ohio, we don't have a clear signal of global change, like you have in the Arctic, where sea ice is melting. But these nighttime lows are the next closest thing."

National Green Party to Michael Moore: Dems Won't Nominate Kucinich

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- The national Green Party says the Democrats and Republicans are "awash" in corporate cash and aren't seriously interested in enacting health care reform. "There are some exceptions among Dems, like Reps. John Conyers (Mich.) and Dennis Kucinich (Oh.), but Rep. Conyers single-payer bill has as little chance of passage as Rep. Kucinich has of getting nominated."

The Green Party sent an open letter to film-maker/activist Michael Moore that congratulates Moore on the successful opening of "Sicko," his latest movie and smack down of America's health care industry. It urged Moore to back Green candidates for Congress, state and local offices:

"Here's the problem: we're not going to get a national plan as long as the political landscape remains limited to two parties addicted to corporate contributions. Republican and Democratic politicians alike refuse to consider any plan that doesn't leave private HMOs and insurance corporations in charge."

The Green's accused the Dems of abandoning President Harry Truman's dream of national health coverage. "Once upon a time, the Democratic Party supported national health coverage and even endorsed in in the Democratic national platform in 1948. But they deleted it from the platform in the 1990s to make room for President Clinton's 'managed care' phony reform scheme, which would have enlarged the power of major insurance firms."

The Greens added that Al Gore has "seen the light" and now supports national health coverage.

Apparently, they have not sent Gore a letter yet urging him to run on the Green Party slate. And he probably wouldn't be interested, because Ralph Nader, the Green party candidate in 2000, cost Gore votes that year. And if Gore had won the White House . . .

Cincy Dems To Blast Green Party: Gets Blame For W's Election

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- The Green Party has recruited Cincinnati NAACP president Chris Smitherman as a City Council candidate, and some Democrats already see it as a partnership that is going nowhere. They say the Greens --- who ran Ralph Nader for president in 2000 -- helped put President Bush and Dick Cheney in office by siphoning votes away from Al Gore in Florida.

They think they can pin some responsibility for the Bush years, a presidency that is held in low esteem, on the Greens. It could be a tactic that has some impact. The Bush-Cheney legacy is beginning to look toxic, particularly in urban areas, and the Dems can blame the Greens for the misery caused by an abuse of executive privilege.

UPDATE: This just arrived from a Dem source who notes it is the kind of evidence available to make the case Nader and the Green Party cost Gore the White House.

Local Green Party spokesman Josh Krekeler was indirectly quoted in today's Cincinnati Enquirer saying that Smitherman is the party's most viable local candidate ever. Smitherman served a two-year City Council term, but was defeated for reelection in November 2005. He was a member of the Charter Party then. The Charter Party is a Cincinnati-based political organization that has been active in city politics since the 1920s. It is not aligned with Republicans or Democrats, and declares itself to be an independent group.

The 2000 presidential election still rankles. Gore won the popular vote, but a 5-4 Supreme Court ruling, with a conservative bloc of justices backing Bush, settled a dispute over Florida's electoral votes and handed the Republican the presidency. The conventional wisdom about Florida holds that Nader
's Green Party candidacy took votes from Gore, thus giving America Bush, the Iraq War, and a host of other policies that have harmed the middle and lower classes.

While the conventional wisdom is open to debate, there is no question the Greens and Nader remain close to this day. He's scheduled to address a Green Party conclave in Pennsylvania later this month, and will talk about ballot access -- the difficult legal barriers candidates outside the two main political parties have to surmount to secure spots on the ballot.

The national Green Party's political reform agenda speaks about the the "power of civic action" as an antidote to corporate control over the nation's law-making and regulatory agencies. The agenda is worth reading. Interestingly, the Greens want to abolish the Electoral College, and favor direct election of the president. That means they want to scrap the system that put Bush in power.

More Ann Coulter Humor: Al Gore Is 'Total Fag'

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- Ann Coulter works so hard as a public speaker and conservative newspaper columnist that she has apparently strip-mined to bare earth her patch of mental real estate. Turns out she is recycling anti-gay pejoratives. Last year, she called Al Gore a "total fag," and two days ago she used the word "faggot" to describe former Sen. John Edwards.

In other words, Coulter apparently has lost the ability to come up with anything new. Does that mean more sales, more stardom, more power for the fagged out columnist? Or does it mean she lacks creativity -- a development that leaves her only with the hardest-working mouth in show business?

The newspapers that buy her column from the Universal Press Syndicate seem to have an unquenchable thirst for a soiled piece of conservatism. But they probably should start wondering: What is her inspiring moral quality?

Below is a transcript of an MSNBC interview last year, and it shows she called Gore a fag while speaking to Chris Matthews, who sat there and did not upbraid her for using such an offensive word .

MATTHEWS: Let me ask you about your private life. How do you know that Bill Clinton's gay?

COULTER: He may not be gay, but Al Gore, total fag. No, I'm just kidding. As someone, no --

MATTHEWS: That's based on your private life?

COULTER: No, that's a joke.

MATTHEWS: OK.

COULTER: That's what we call in the writing business, a joke. No, I mean, I state a manifestly obvious fact. Someone pointed out on Free Republic, I think a little disgruntled yesterday, Ann's amazing capacity is to state the obvious and make it news. I mean, everyone has always known, widely promiscuous heterosexual men have, as I say, a whiff of the bathhouse about them.

'MATTHEWS: But, you know, you were on -- I was watching you on Deutsch [CNBC's The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch] last night. I watched it because it was all over the blog sites, you can't miss it.

COULTER: Yes!

'MATTHEWS: You were immortal in that interview by the way. And you said it because you were sort of pushed to say it. I just wonder if you believe it.

COULTER This is standard --

MATTHEWS: It's a joke. It's a joke.

COULTER I -- I --

MATTHEWS: It's not a joke.

COULTER It's not only not a joke, it's not even surprising. If feminists were not so in love with Bill Clinton, this is like standard --

H/T Media Matters for the Gore is fag material.

Cincy Enquirer Columnist: Says Gore's Movie Makes Him Puke

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- The Cincinnati Enquirer's right-wing columnist Peter Bronson writes today that many Hollywood movies are culturally coarse and those that deal with "nauseating" topics such as gays, racism or the environment win Oscars. Then, the column devotes most of its chunk of editorial OP ED page space to a coarse subject -- barfing.

Apparently, if someone named Al Gore wins an Academy Award it is a stomach-churning event. But if a columnist chews over ejecting the contents of one's guts in a family newspaper, well, that's just journalism. Talk about bad taste.

"Anything involving Al Gore or Michael Moore is guaranteed to make you want to 'return' your popcorn," Bronson wrote.

The entire column is HERE. It could have harnessed some brainpower to criticize the performances, the direction, the Academy, the construction of the screenplays, the lighting, the sets, the costume designs. The politics of Hollywood is fair game, too, and is often the subject of intellectually stimulating and thought-provoking commentary. A sharp-witted conservative could easily make a point without invoking puke. Yet today's Enquirer resorted to hurling verbal vomit. Indeed, the attack on Alan Arkin calls for mops and disinfectant. "And this year there's a category for Most Nauseating Oscar Winner. I'll give this one to Alan Arkin, who won Best Supporting Actor for his role as 'an offbeat grandfather' in Little Miss Sunshine."

The conservative columnist didn't like the character, considering him a gross, drug-addled grandpa who loved to watch porn.

But notice this detail: the column attacked Arkin personally as the "most nauseating Oscar Winner."

It seems to have confused the performer with the performance. Journalism like that should surely boost sales of Tums for the Tummy.

Pollster Rasmussen: Believes Al Gore Not Running

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- The Rasmussen polling organization now takes Al Gore at his word he's not interested in becoming an '08 presidential candidate and is banishing Gore from weekly tracking surveys of the Democratic field.

Before the move, Rasmussen Reports found that Gore was polling nearly as well as former Sen. John Edwards among likely Democratic primary voters nationwide. In head-to-head matchups with Republicans, Gore solidly led Newt Gingrich and ran fairly strong against Rudy Giuliani and Sen. John McCain.

Rasmussen's final numbers this week on the Dems with Gore included: Clinton, 28%; Obama, 24%; Edwards, 11%; Gore, 10%.

Last week: Clinton, 28%; Obama, 23%; Edwards, 13%; Gore, 8%.

The newest data indicates the contest could be turning into a Clinton/Obama showdown. Edwards has lost ground among Democratic voters, a decline that shows up in other polls as well. Did the blogger flap hurt him? Still, Rasumussen said Edwards had the highest favorable rating among likely voters at this time, 53%, while Clinton, Gore and Obama trailed at 50%.

Some think Edwards took a veiled shot at Clinton during an AFSCME-sponsored presidential forum Wednesday in Carson City, Nev., when he apologized for voting in favor of the Iraq War as a senator and implied others should do the same. "This is not a time for political calculation. It is a time for political courage," Edwards said. Sen. Clinton refused to call her initial support of the resolution allowing the use of military force in Iraq a mistake, and said at the forum, "My vote was a sincere vote based on the facts and assurances I had at the time."

Meanwhile, Rasumussen said it made the decision to drop Gore from new polls because the former vice president has repeatedly signaled he won't run. "While Al Gore attracts more support than many who are actively seeking the nomination, the Democrats' Election 2000 nominee indicated again last week that he has no intention of running for office at this time. Therefore, unless something changes, Rasmussen Reports will no longer include the former Vice President in our ongoing tracking of this race."

Check Out The Picture: That Can't Be Al Gore, Can It?

TOLEDO (TDB) -- The University of Toledo says the rather hefty GENTLEMAN who appears in the photo shaking hands with a doctoral student is Al Gore. Hmmmm.....

It's not a flattering picture of the Nobel Peace Prize nominee, is it?

Prezzie '08: Edwards Blog Carries Gore's Out Chatter

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- A whisper has been planted on Democrat John Edward's campaign blog that Al Gore is out of the '08 race. Or is it that Gore can't "perceive" of any situation that will make him a candidate.

This all supposedly goes to a comment Gore made in London. But a scan of political news in the The Plain Dealer back to Feb. 3 finds nothing indicating that Gore said any such thing this week.

Apparently, the Gore comment was supposed to be on AFP, the global wire service from France. However, I couldn't find the story -- if it exists. The chatter on the Edwards site is HERE. Apparently, people are worked up over THIS item that appeared on a Web site called RawStory.com earlier today.

Cincy Mayor Lauds SW Ohio Climate Change 'Ambassador'

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- Cincinnati's Democratic Mayor Mark Mallory says "global warming is a very serious problem" and nominated a city resident to be trained by Al Gore as a climate-change lecturer to raise concern about the planet's growing environmental crisis. Mallory took action earlier this month, a move that preceded this week's release of a report by the Intergovernmental Report on Climate Change in Paris.

The report, due out on Friday, is expected to present clear scientific findings the Earth has warmed, temperatures will continue to rise, and human activity is overwhelmingly the cause. Mallory wrote a letter of support last October that helped Cincinnatian Mary Clare Rietz be selected for training sessions with Gore earlier this month in Nashville. She will present lectures about the information in Gore's film An Inconvenient Truth across the region.

"Global warming is a very serious problem that affects us all and is going to require a united national response,'' said Mallory, who serves on the U.S. Conference of Mayors council on climate protection. ''The first step is educating people about this crisis and how it can be turned around. It is an honor for her to be selected for this important task. She is a true ambassador, not only for our city, but for the world."

The training was done in conjunction with The Climate Project, a non-profit group that gave 1,000 volunteers from around the nation information to present lectures about global warming. Each of the 1,000 messengers is committed to making at least 10 climate change presentations this year.

Gore's plan to use volunteers has been seen as a savvy initiative to build grassroots support aimed at countering those who say global warming is not a problem, or that it is not connected to human activities.