No matter what happens, even surrounding his personal life or his pet cause global warming, former Vice President Al Gore just isn't going away.
During an Aug. 10 conference call, Gore launched into a critique of the media's recent coverage of ClimateGate, specifically blogs, talk radio and "biased right-wing media."
"Well I believe Mark Twain often gets the credit for the saying ... that a lie runs around the world before the truth gets its boots on," Gore said. "Now I'm not sure that's the real reason for it, but there is a sad but undeniable truth that those who wanted to try sowing confusion used an echo chamber from blogs and talk show hosts and biased right-wing media to promulgate the distortions of the paid skeptics and professional deniers who tried to undermine the evidence."
Gore, who earlier during the call said he all but given up on cap-and-trade legislation being passed this Congress (audio here), alluded to a handful of "formal inquiries" that he argued cleared the science of any doubt that may have been caused by the leaked e-mails from ClimateGate, despite the questionable circumstances surrounding these inquiries.
"There have been of course multiple, formal inquiries, all of which have dispelled the falsehoods that go under the title of ‘ClimateGate,'" Gore continued. "The three separate inquiries conducted not only cleared the scientists and the organizations involved, but strongly reaffirmed the basic assertions that they have been making."
But this time the former vice president named names. He went after The Wall Street Journal for its coverage of ClimateGate, even though the daily newspaper was one of the few outlets covering the scandal with much vigor.
"I'll give you one example - The Wall Street Journal wrote upwards of 30 editorials and news stories during the time about the story of the University of East Anglia broke and not a single one of them presented the side of the science. There are many other examples as you know."
In recent months, Gore has had his own public relations problem with media coverage surrounding his personal life, including a divorce and allegations sexual misconduct, which he was later cleared of by Portland, Ore. authorities. But to combat the media, which he alleges has been working against him on global warming, he urged his supporters to send letters to the editor, demand equal time and write op-eds.
"It is our responsibility to demand that reporters, editors and all journalists report the truth," he said. "It is only through consistent and constant pressure from us demanding equal time in local and national media that we will get the truth out. And that is why it's so critical to write letters to the editor, to post comments online, to draft and write op-eds that share your point of view and use the facts and spread them far and wide. Only when the media hear from enough of us will they change their habits and print the truth about these scientific facts."
A 2008 Business & Media Institute study disputes the idea that Gore's cause of climate change alarmism has faced an uphill battle as far public relations goes. Over the years, it showed the alarmists have outnumbered the skeptics in airtime, a trend that has been occurring over the years.
