Will we let them? Just take a look at this anatomy of a smear. Absolutely shocking. A non-existent group puts out a sham press release. Drudge trumpets this “news” atop his Wurlitzer site. Instacracker at. al. slavishly lap it up, and – voila! – you have a perfect smear. Full of sound and fury, signifying far less than nothing. A pure, unashamed hatchet job. And everyone goes after the “nutroots” and the “kos kids” as irresponsible and far out. They have never, and I repeat, never smeared anyone on the right like this, not even close. Gore was getting good press last night, so he had to be destroyed, out of the blue with whatever “evidence” was on hand. Disgusting. Intolerable. Vile and shameful.
February 27, 2007
The Discussion: 20 Comments
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1
By Karel W
Why would we care about Mr. Gore’s reputation. He has no history in environmentalism. He does not stress the responsibility of governments all over the world for the severity of the problems we are facing today. He does not give credit to all scientist and activist who have been predicting climate change for 30 years or more. Furthermore :”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.”
All this reveils that All Gore is merely looking for attention and that even if he is sincere He is Not the person to be looked at if you need a rolemodel on responsibility, political ethics, filanthropy,…. not even a role model in general. All he is is some guy with a lot of money and good friends.
So why bother when his image is smeared. Other people whit serious intentions need your support . They have been dedicating their lives to the things Mr.Gore is mentioning(thats all he does).
Nevertheless youre right on the right-wing-smear thing.
February 27, 2007 @ 3:06 pm | Comment
2
By OtherLisa
Karel, that is such utter bullshit that I hardly think it’s worth my time to respond to you, and adding a disclaimer at the end about the smear doesn’t mitigate your distortions. Al Gore’s environmental record goes back decades. Use “the Google.”
February 27, 2007 @ 3:39 pm | Comment
3
By richard
Lisa, check out Karel’s comment in the “Thank You CHina” thread below. He is about as robotic and intransigent fen qing as you’re likely to find. Do not expect to argue with him; he is hard-wired.
February 27, 2007 @ 3:48 pm | Comment
4
By OtherLisa
Richard, I sort of had that feeling. That’s why I didn’t even try to argue. He’s full of shit.
And I really need to finish packing, in any case!
February 27, 2007 @ 5:14 pm | Comment
5
By henhao
@Karel W
. . switch the spell checker on.
February 27, 2007 @ 7:14 pm | Comment
6
By Shanghai Slim
It’s hard for me to imagine how small-minded a person would have to be to criticize someone like Al Gore, a private individual spending his own time and income to make the world a better place for *everyone*.
Yet along comes Karel W, to show me just exactly what such a small-minded person would sound like.
Pathetic.
February 28, 2007 @ 12:53 am | Comment
7
By ferins
it never ceases to amaze me how the republican party basks in its own collective stupidity as if it’s something glorious.
some imbecile craps out a steaming pile of propaganda, and the next minute you have at least 50 million conservative “intellectuals” covered in it.
no citations? no studies? no diploma? no problem!
February 28, 2007 @ 3:42 am | Comment
8
By ferrous
“They have never, and I repeat, never smeared anyone on the right like this, not even close.”
You must be joking. I suppose all the constant hatred at the current President of the United States of various members of his cabinet doesn’t qualify as smearing in your warped little reality. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
It must be great to live permanently in liberal la la land. Give my regards to Al Gore, Jimmy Carter, and Michael Moore who all own massive palace complexes there.
February 28, 2007 @ 4:46 am | Comment
9
By richard
Show me a single example, just one, of a phony company sending out a pres release and then accelerating its echo via the noise machine – even one. The whole thing is a sham. I am not saying the left doesn’t say negative things about those on the right. What I am talking about is process, the entirely false accusation being slickly packaged in a press release by a company no one’s heard of and then magnified a million times by the likes of Drudge. Seriously, I will place a bet for any amount of money you can’t find anything similar. Again, I’m not saying both sides don’t attack one another. I am saying this bullshit of fabricating a meme out of midair and amplifying it literally in seconds with a bogus press release which for some reason is taken seriously – no, there is no comparison.
I like Al Gore. I don’t like Michael Moore so much. I am no flaming liberal and don’t live in la-la land. Ball’s in your court – show me what you see as an equivalent coordinated multimedia smear from the left. I am waiting.
February 28, 2007 @ 8:46 am | Comment
10
By richard
Oh, and by the way, the commenter Ferrous works for a firm called Preston Gates Ellis. Here’s the first line of its write-up in Wikipedia: “From 1994 to 2001, Preston Gates Ellis & Rouvelas Meeds LLP employed Jack Abramoff, a Republican lobbyist later convicted for his illegal activities. ”
So now we know. Congratulations Ferrous – you’re in fine company.
February 28, 2007 @ 8:58 am | Comment
11
By Jay
I don’t get how you can say that it was “Intolerable. Vile and shameful.” Regardless of the source of the information, Al Gore responded to this but did not dispute the facts as they were reported.
Exposing hypocrisy is only good when it is directed at a conservative hypocrite?
February 28, 2007 @ 1:27 pm | Comment
12
By richard
I repeat for my more dense readers: A phony company was set up to put out a “press release” that promptly got blasted everywhere by the GOP Wurlitzer. Never mind that no one interviewed Gore to get his side of the story for this release. Never mind that this followed the exact pattern of the Swift Boat veterans – a one-sided story wrapped in respectability and shouted from the highest rooftops by media whore Drudge & Co. There was no hypocrisy on Gore’s part. How do you know why Gore’s electricity bill was high? The man had just received a high honor, and instantly some bullshit story is blasted everywhere making him look bad, when in truth he did nothing bad or wrong. Just your typical Drudge horseshit. like last week when he mocked a panel on global warming that had to be canceled because of an ice storm. Get it? There was an ice storm, so global warming must be a hoax. Welcome to the world of right-wing non-thinking, of the unending quest to substitute ridicule and BS for critical thought and facts. And you say Gore is a hypocrite. No, Gore is a pure victim of a blatantly groundless and coordinated smear that give you and your pals big woodies. Be proud of yourselves.
February 28, 2007 @ 1:56 pm | Comment
13
By Bukko in Australia
Looking at the dreck the right came up with to tarnish Gore’s Oscar news, all I could think was “Is this the best they can come up with?”
It boils down to “Oh my! He has a big house. He flies on jets. He acts JUST LIKE US STINKING RETHUGLICANS!” The same smear was recently used re: John Edwards’ house on the Outer Banks of North Carolina.
Sean Hannity apparently brags about how he flies in executive jets and drives an SUV. Yet he criticises leftists for doing the same thing. The right can’t contest the facts that Gore and other environmentalists bring up, so they say they’re hypocrites because Gore et. al. don’t live in caves eating berries found on the forest floor. And if they did, the rightists would say “Why should anyone listen to them? They’re nutters who live in caves eating berries…”
I don’t try to reason with right-wingers any more. Anyone still with that programme has decided to be close-minded, and they’ve had to lock it down tight to keep out the overwhelming flood of evidence. You can’t talk sense to any cultist, whether it’s a Moonie, Falun Gong or Republican. I just tell them to STFU and focus on people who are in touch with reality.
February 28, 2007 @ 4:00 pm | Comment
14
By Shanghai Slim
I believe Gore already explained that he purchases carbon offsets for *all* the energy used by his home and business. Whatever amount of electricity he uses, his home has a net carbon footprint of zero.
How many others can boast that, no matter how small their electricity consumption?
In other words, Al Gore *voluntarily paid extra* out his personal pocket for his electricity, specifically to nullify it’s impact on the environment.
That this is not enough for some Republicans tells you volumes about their real motivations.
February 28, 2007 @ 6:54 pm | Comment
15
By Morgan
So, which part of the “smear” is untrue? Apparently none of it since neither Gore nor his spokesmen have denied any of the allegations.
There is not a single factual refutation anywhere in the post above of the comments thereto. Only shrieks of outrage and a wholly gratuitious ad hominum attack (indeed, ad hominum by association) on ferrous.
In other words, exactly the logic free argument one would expect from this site.
February 28, 2007 @ 8:48 pm | Comment
16
By richard
I repeat for yet the 4th time, Morgan, for the idiot faction that refuses to read: A dummy company sent out a BS press release which had shockingly questionable motives and zero credibility behind it, whose sole point was, “Look this man has a high electric bill,” choreographed to smear Gore at the precise moment when he had received a high honor, and this bogus “story” was picked up by Drudge as major news and trumpeted by Glenn Reynolds and the like without question. Get it, asshat? Anyone can put out a press release. I can put out a press release saying Bush killed thousands of US soldiers for nothing. True? Sure it’s true, but it’s not really a fair statement and just because it’s technically “true” doesn’t make it news. This is a perversion of what the media are about. I can put out a press release saying someone I don’t like is fat, and they may really be fat, but it is a despicable thing to do. Gore’s electricity bill was high. Where the fuck is the news? More importantly, what is the motivation behind the people putting out this BS and who are they working for? It’s true that you, Morgan, are a cretin, but I won’t put out a press release saying so because it isn’t news (everyone knows already) and there may be a reason, maybe early brain damage or something. So while it’s technically true that you’re a moron, the fact that you are a moron isn’t breaking news. Putting out a press release about it would be appalling.
Sorry if I sound a bit rude, but I have an increasingly smaller tolerance level for idiocy and density and commenters who don’t read the earlier comments.
February 28, 2007 @ 9:43 pm | Comment
17
By Bukko in Australia
Richard, you should do the “spit the dummy” (Aussie slang for “angry tirade” or “showing your ass”) thing more often! No sarcasm, mate. Like you, I am angrier and angrier these days as things all fall apart, and more drawn to people with the same furious frustration.
March 1, 2007 @ 1:12 pm | Comment
18
By Morgan
March 1, 2007 @ 1:14 pm | Comment
19
By Jay
Hey Richard, Morgan just made you look pretty dumb. Are you going to refute his points or just call him a ‘dense reader’ and rant and rave on totally tangential points?
March 1, 2007 @ 1:30 pm | Comment
20
By richard
What’s Morgan’s point? I am still waiting for someone to refute my claim that this was a noxious, politically motivated calculated smear in the spirit of the Swift Boat Veterans. I stand corrected – it wasn’t a dummy company, it was a dummy public interest group. Oh yes, Morgan made me look really dumb. I guess you guys also thought the Nancy Pelosi jet “scandalette” (totally baked by the same wingnut machine) was a big story.
Did you idiots look and see WHY Gore’s bill was so high? Are you really that pathetically stupid that you don’t get that having a high energy bill might not mean you are a big waste of electricity, but actually a champion of alternative sources? Here, for the asshats who can’t read, let me repeat Slim;s comment that you failed to read (yet again):
So there. Yes, you’re so right, Jay – Morgan’s “research” makes me feel really stoopid – right.
And I’m not shooting the messenger, you cretin – there was no message to messenger, there was nothing, there was SHIT. So I am shooting the shit smearers like Reynolds who took shit and threw it everywhere with no evidence and no critical thought. I can deal with Chinese leftists and rightists. I can deal with CCT and mingtian and the usual cadre of fanatics who like to hang around here (and I actually even like some of them). Fucking dim-witted right-wingers who can justify any attempt to smear a democrat – that’s where I draw a line. I really do hope you go away.
March 1, 2007 @ 1:43 pm | Comment