One has to wonder why former Vice President Al Gore is spending $300 million to spread his views on global warming, when he’s declared there is no more debate and that those who disagree are few.
“I think that those people are in such a tiny, tiny minority now with their point of view,” Gore said. “They’re almost like the ones who still believe that the moon landing was staged in a movie lot in Arizona, and those who believe the Earth is flat. That demeans them a little bit, but it's not that far off.”
Gore has been somewhat absent from the media spotlight since he won the Nobel Peace Prize in December 2007. Gore had made a round of media appearances leading up to his July 2007 “Live Earth” concert series and had said in an interview with NBC’s Meredith Vieira that if he did his job correctly, all the candidates would be talking about the climate change issue. But as CBS’s Lesley Stahl pointed out – it hasn’t gotten much attention on the campaign trail.
“I can't think of a time I've heard the candidates talk about it,” Stahl said.
Gore replied to Stahl by saying he wasn’t done yet.
Stahl also asked Gore on the March 30 “60 Minutes” about life since his failed run for the U.S. presidency in 2000. Gore deflected questions about the race between Sens. Barack Obama (Ill.) and Hillary Clinton (N.Y.) for the Democratic presidential nomination, but he took a jab at those who disagree with his view on global warming.
According to the report, Gore’s advertising campaign will include a TV commercial with Rev. Al Sharpton and Rev. Pat Robertson and another co-starring former Republican Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and current Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. Also, Gore has hired the agency that made the popular caveman and talking lizard ads for Geico.
Stahl accompanied Gore from San Jose, Calif., to New Delhi, India on a trip promoting his global warming agenda for the “60 Minutes” segment. According to the travel calculator linked on Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth” Web site, an individual would be responsible for off-setting 6.179 tons of carbon dioxide emissions for that trip.
Stahl’s interview was comprised mostly of softball questions. Gore told Stahl he had no political ambitions, a line similar to the one he told NBC “Today” anchor Meredith Vieira in July 2007.
“I doubt very seriously that I’ll ever be a candidate again,” Gore said.
Gore admitted he had an emotional response to losing the presidential race in 2000 when asked by Stahl if he had gone “through the seven stages of anger and grief” – “Anger? Fury? Rage?”
“Again, I’m not sure words are adequate for anybody who tries to describe an experience like that,” Gore said. “But, you know, I probably went through all that, yeah.”
There was no objective analysis of Gore’s interview during the “60 Minutes” segment. Gore said profits from "An Inconvenient Truth" and part of his Nobel Prize winnings, plus additional money from him and wife Tipper, were funding the campaign.
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