Gore: “I Put My Money Where My Mouth Is”; Cons Resent His Green Investments
Conservatives who claim they love capitalism somehow resent that Al Gore invests in what he believes, and that it’s paying off. The headline in the UK’s Telegraph, “Al Gore could be come world’s first carbon billionaire,” really annoys the global warming deniers.
Last year Mr Gore’s venture capital firm loaned a small California firm $75m to develop energy-saving technology. The company, Silver Spring Networks, produces hardware and software to make the electricity grid more efficient.
The deal appeared to pay off in a big way last week, when the Energy Department announced $3.4 billion in smart grid grants, the New York Times reports. Of the total, more than $560 million went to utilities with which Silver Spring has contracts.
The move means that venture capital company Kleiner Perkins and its partners, including Mr Gore, could recoup their investment many times over in coming years.
Right-wing websites are blaring the UK headline, with bitter commentary about Gore’s investments. But, for his part, Gore says, “Of course I invest according to my beliefs and values. I put my money where my mouth is. If I didn’t they’d criticize me for being a hypocrite.” Viva la capitalism!
Considering that former Vice President Al Gore selected as his 2000 running mate the Judas-like Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman … his failure to win the presidency might have been a blessing.
November 3rd, 2009 at 1:51 pm
Sadly, 4000 of our finest men and women would not be dead today, but living their lives with their families if Mr. Gore had been our president. Heck of a job Dubya. And in case you’ve forgotten, Mr. Gore got 300,000 more votes than Shrub and Shrub won by 500 votes in a state where, surprise, his brother was guv.
November 3rd, 2009 at 2:32 pm
Daddy Gore made some big bucks leasing oil rights to oil companies and mineral rights to mining companies, now algore makes big bucks demonizing those industries. Kinda ironic.
The point is that I didn’t have access to this kind of insider investment info. Did you, Alan? If Death Star Cheney had used his VP pull to arrange hundreds of millions of tax payer dollars to flow his way, all you Lefties would be screaming FOUL!
But all will bow down before the alter of the Church of Glow Bvll Warming and force other people’s money into the collection plate and give its High Priest PRAISE!
.
TDro319 Reply:
November 3rd, 2009 at 3:32 pm
You’re joking, right Johnny?
Southern Girl Lib Reply:
November 3rd, 2009 at 4:18 pm
Err..Johnny, ever heard of Haliburton? I’m with Tdro, you’re joking, right?
November 3rd, 2009 at 2:54 pm
Heh heh heh – conservatives pissed off at capitalism.
Funny stuff…..
Lib Patriot Reply:
November 3rd, 2009 at 8:30 pm
:-)
burqa Reply:
November 3rd, 2009 at 8:51 pm
Same ones probably saw that Ken Lay was advising Bush on economic policy so they went out and bought lotsa Enron stock, figuring it was about to take off….
November 3rd, 2009 at 7:48 pm
good for him, and good investment, Smart grids are a logical step in conserving energy.
I wonder how much pull he had in getting that government contract? And if OldLefty will decry that Al Gore is evil.
I also wonder if he’s done anything to shrink his own carbon footprint.
burqa Reply:
November 3rd, 2009 at 9:59 pm
Gore did a lot to reduce his carbon footprint with work done on that bigass house of his in Tennessee. It was the first house in the state to receive some sort of energy rating tht indicates the impact of the green measures he took….
GuidoVanHorn Reply:
November 3rd, 2009 at 10:02 pm
but the fact he lives in a ginormous house is a waste of “carbon”
he has no need for anything other than a comfortable house of which I wish him no ill, I wish him no ill for what he has or done either.
But I’d still wager his carbon footprint is larger than all ours combined.
burqa Reply:
November 3rd, 2009 at 10:04 pm
Wealthy people live in big houses.
No, really.
It’s been going on for some time now….
burqa Reply:
November 3rd, 2009 at 10:08 pm
Gore also pays extra each month to get power from green sources of energy.
Gore advocates people take steps to reduce their carbon footprint and that is just what he has done.
GuidoVanHorn Reply:
November 3rd, 2009 at 10:12 pm
ok…they live in big houses…but if you’re going to chastise people on their carbon footprint, yet still live in a ginormous house that takes up a huge amount of carbon, we have a word for that starts with an H.
as for paying for green energy…it’s an accounting trick, where he lives most likely his energy is coming from coal, it makes him feel better about himself to pay more for the coal energy that he actually gets.
I’d explain to you how the grid works, but wind and solar power isn’t magically going directly to his house.
OldLefty Reply:
November 3rd, 2009 at 10:03 pm
Actually, I just checked in before going to bed….
He if used his influence to get the company that his company made loans to, the contracts over more deserving companies, or it was no bid, then it is just as wrong as when Cheney and Halliburton do it.
Good Night, everyone.
November 3rd, 2009 at 9:39 pm
Sorry, Guido, it is not hypocritical to practice what you preach, but I am sure there is a rather negative expression for someone who intentionally distorts some facts and ignores others and then sets up a straw man in order to make a point….
November 3rd, 2009 at 10:19 pm
Algore flies all over the world in his private jet, lives in a house the uses more energy in one day than the average joe uses in an entire year, and drives and owns several SUV’s–and he is telling me and everyone else to conserve energy, ride bicycles, use wind energy and drive little peddal cars!!!!!!!????
The man can preach the message but he doesn’t live what he preaches. I will continue to drive my SUV, and burn my trash outdoors, and mow my grass with a riding mower, and use my charcoal grill. I do recycle my aluminum and tin because I get a little in return. My plastic I burn with the rest of the trash.
OldLefty Reply:
November 4th, 2009 at 8:57 am
Actually he has completely converted his house to energy efficiency at great expense.
If Al Gore IS wasteful, then he should be confronted like anyone else, while still seeing the value.
Usually when you see these most egregious stories, and google the author, you find they are part of the opposition.
One should not have to live like the unibomber, to advocate moving in the right direction, as any cheating/family values, drafting dodging/pro war Republican will tell you.
I quit smoking, in spite of a few healthcare people I knew who were still smoking.
Daddio Reply:
November 4th, 2009 at 9:02 am
Why can’t he fly commercial? Doesn’t want to sit with average people? Is he an elitist? Why does he spend more than $120 thousand a year on energy for his mansion? Why does he lie about the global warming myth? Sea levels will rise 20 feet??!!! Perpospeterous!!! Has not anyone told him that the earth has actually been cooling the past decade? Does he really care about the truth?
And why doe he spell his name Algore?
That last one was a joke Lefty.
OldLefty Reply:
November 4th, 2009 at 9:12 am
Saftey probably has something to do with flights….. would you want Cheney flying commercial, (just for the saftey of him and the passengers)?
Why don’t the hawks fight in the military?
Most of his energy ARE because he converted to energy savings.
Why do conservatives and Exxon Mobile lie about global warming?
TDro319 Reply:
November 4th, 2009 at 2:50 pm
“…would you want Cheney flying commercial…”
I would – on Middle-East Air, Gulf Air, Kuwait Airlines, Royal Jordanian Airlines, etc. Maybe some of the locals will kidnap him and dish out a little “enhanced interrogation”.
burqa Reply:
November 4th, 2009 at 3:22 pm
Gore lives in a house that uses more energy than other people because his house is bigger than other people’s.
Wealthy people live in big houses and fly private planes.
No, really, check it out sometime. Go to a major airport and see how many waitresses, cab drivers and 7-11 clerks are flying those executive jets you see.
What you guys are doing is the old trick of making up an argument and then arguing with yourself and pretending you are addressing someone else – in this case, Al Gore.
Gore pays over $400 extra each month so that his energy comes from green sources.
He also spent a ton of money to install green features on that bigass house of his and reduced his energy consumption.
He is practicing what he preaches.
Not only that, but his advocacy is one reason others are reducing their energy usage and looking to be more green. So the effect of what Gore has done privately combined with what he has done publicly has had a very positive effect overall.
Wouldn’t it be nice if you could point to a conservative political leader and say he is doing more than Gore?
Too bad you cant, huh?
November 4th, 2009 at 8:44 am
News Flash..It’s his damn Money, and he can invest it in joke rubber dog poop factories if he wants to. Isn’t that what the Cons keep saying? Keep the “gub-mint out of private investment”?
November 4th, 2009 at 2:59 pm