But first;
Al Gore: Biggest Mistake
"He is extremely reluctant to admit a mistake, even a small one," New Yorker editor David Remnick once remarked of Al Gore.
"Midway through our talks in Nashville, I asked him what was the biggest mistake he had ever made in politics.
He paused, made false starts, paused again, and recalled that in the campaign four years ago he had a prepared response for just such a question. But he couldn't remember what it was."
Gore's ultimate reply?
"Maybe it was my sugar-subsidies vote?"
From Anecdotage
From the Austin American-Statesman:
Foes keep up attacks on ex-vice president.
Armed with a doozy of a PowerPoint presentation and a folksy sense of humor, Al Gore appeared at the Erwin Center Monday night to drive home what he called the "planetary emergency of climate change."
Reprising the message of his movie, "An Inconvenient Truth," he flipped through slides of melting glaciers alongside tables showing escalating levels of carbon dioxide and temperatures; he spoke in simple but urgent tones about how he thinks that human civilization faces its greatest crisis and has an opportunity to address the problem....MORE
And from the American-Statesman's Salsa Verde column:
(great name, huh?)
The Al Gore Circus rolls through Austin
Some wrap-up notes to last night’s Al Gore appearance at the Erwin Center:
First off, as this sharp Daily Texan editorial points out, for all of Gore’s efforts to get the news media to devote more attention to climate change, he (and his promotional agency) denied press passes for our reporters and photographers.
(The kind folks at the Erwin Center ended up giving us a few tickets — not such a big sacrifice, as it turned out, since many of the high-dollar seats went empty. The Erwin Center said about 3,000 tickets were sold.)
Outside was a circus. The Young Conservatives of Texas welcomed passers-by to worship at the Church of Global Warming. Josh Perry, a 19 year-old undergrad dressed in a polar bear suit, held a sign that said “Gore Lied, Baby Seals Died.” (The joke, it was explained to me, is that Gore’s exaggerations about climate change lead to the survival of more polar bears, which, in turn, leads to the death of baby seals.)
Another held up a sign that said senationalism doesn’t equal science. A third said “Stop Global Warming: Al, Hold Your Breath.” (Some hecklers, incidentally, shouted at Gore to stop cherry-picking facts at the end of his presentation. Somebody also randomly accused him of being a fascist. Gore was completely unfazed.)
An old man with a beard and overalls was handing out pamphlets explaining the relationship between Noah’s Flood and climate change problems. A Ron Paul volunteer was distributing literature about the presidential candidate....MORE
