Al Gore: 'The United States Government as a Whole Has Failed Us' on Global Warming

You can’t always get what you want and that appears to be a bitter pill for former Vice President Al Gore to swallow.

Gore, the leader of the global warming alarmism movement, told supporters during an Aug. 10 conference call that despite his best efforts to inspire fear over this issue or else it is the end of civilization, the battle has been lost for the time being. He placed blame solely on the U.S. government, specifically the Senate, controlled by Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada.  

“I have a difficult task tonight,” Gore said. “I want to call you to action but I have to begin by telling you what you know, in all candor – the United States government in its entirety, largely because of the opposition in the United States Senate to taking action on clean energy and a solution to the climate crisis, has failed us.”

In July, Democratic leaders in the Senate called off any efforts to pass climate legislation because they said they considered the Gulf oil spill to be a larger more important crisis.

“In the last few months and weeks, the United States Senate has failed to meet the challenge of the climate crisis,” Gore said. “The Senate announced just last month that they would not take up comprehensive climate and clean energy legislation bringing to a temporary disappointing and frustrating halt a fight that we have been waging for the past year and a half and really longer – comprehensive legislation is now likely not to be debated when the Senate returns from the August recess.”

There has been some speculation the Senate might take up this debate after the midterm elections. President Barack Obama’s top energy adviser also raised it as a possibility that cap-and-trade legislation could be passed during the lame-duck session on NBC’s Aug. 8 broadcast of “Meet the Press,” but Gore wasn’t as optimistic for his cause.

“There are a few voices though there’s still a chance it will be taken up but we have to have realistic view,” he continued. “They have failed. They have failed badly. And the possibility for a robust debate later this year is greatly diminished. And the possibility of a debate after the midterm elections in a lame-duck congressional session is also a very slim possibility indeed.”

Gore reiterated his disappointment in the U.S. government and encouraged his supports to “re-double” their efforts in the upcoming year.

“So I have to tell you in all candor and honesty, this battle has not been successful and it’s pretty much over for this year,” Gore said. “I hope I’m wrong about that, but I want to be realistic because we need to re-double our efforts for the battle that lies ahead. It’s not over. It may be over in this session of Congress and who knows how these elections will turn out, but the battle is not over and we simply have no choice but to win this battle. Even while we are so painfully and so profoundly aware of the crisis in which we find ourselves, even as we recognize the common thread linking the climate crisis and the economic crisis and our national security challenges, the Senate has still failed us. The United States government as a whole has failed us. The House of Representatives did its job in large part because of your efforts.”