Al Gore

Al Gore
45th Vice-President of the United States
Term of office January 20, 1993 - January 20, 2001
Political party	Democratic
President	Bill Clinton
Preceded by	Dan Quayle
Succeeded by	Dick Cheney
Born	March 31, 1948 Washington, D.C.
Spouse	Tipper Gore
Religion	Baptist

Albert "Al" A. Gore, Jr., was the 45th Vice President of the United States (1993-2001), succeeding Dan Quayle and succeeded by Dick Cheney, following service in the House of Representatives and the Senate, spanning 1977-85 and 1985-93, respectively.

Gore was the Democratic Party's candidate for President in the 2000 election, running on a ticket with Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut.

In his early life, Gore attended Harvard University and (briefly) Vanderbilt University. He also served in the United States Army and worked as a war correspondent during the Vietnam War. He is married to activist Tipper Gore.

Political career

In the 1992 presidential election, Democratic nominee Bill Clinton selected Gore as his running mate. They won the election, and Gore was sworn in as Vice President on January 20, 1993. Clinton and Gore were elected to a second term in 1996.

As is traditional for Vice Presidents, Gore was nominated as the Democratic candidate in the 2000 presidential election. He lost to George W. Bush in the Electoral College after a close vote, in which Gore received more popular votes than Bush, but fewer electoral votes. Gore contested the results in Florida. On December 13, 2000, after an extensive court battle (Bush v. Gore), Gore accepted Bush's election to the presidency..

Supporters

From left to right: Fred Phelps, Al Gore, and former Kansas Gov. Joan Finney.

In 1988 Gore courted the support of liberal activist Fred Phelps of the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas. In appreciation for Phelps' help and support of Gore, Phelps was provided tickets to the inauguration of President Clinton in 1992 and 1996. Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church have been the subject of much controversy for several years, having acquired a reputation for hosting the infamous anti-homosexual "God Hates Fags" website. The website has been accused of hate speech for its explicit failure to properly distinguish between Biblical condemnation of homosexuality, and God's love for sinners. Phelps has since changed his opinion about Gore when he joined Bill Clinton on the 1992 presidential ticket. Phelps turned on him and claimed Gore was a conservative icon of the Democratic Party that sold out on some critical social issues. Phelps also demonstrated against Clinton and Gore during the 1997 inaugural.

Current activities

Gore has started an investment firm to invest in environmentally sustainable technology and industries and a cable channel (Current TV), and is an adviser to Google. He is also mentioned as a possible 2008 presidential candidate.

Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for his work on climate change.

Gore is the author of The Assault on Reason. He also starred in the 2006 documentary about global warming entitled, An Inconvenient Truth, which won an Academy Award. In 2007, the British High Court directed teachers to inform students to whom they show the film that it "is a political work and promotes only one side of the argument" and to draw attention to eleven specific inaccuracies. Furthermore, the court advised, "If teachers present the Film without making this plain they may be in breach of ... the Education Act 1996 and guilty of political indoctrination." Despite the errors, the judge also concluded "four main scientific hypotheses, each of which is very well supported by research published in respected, peer-reviewed journals and accords with the latest conclusions of the IPCC.”

Quotes

Speaking of his Senate career, Gore said, "I took the initiative in creating the Internet." A claim supported by Vinton G. Cerf, the "Father of the Internet" and Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the House and frequent Gore critic.

• CNN: As seen by both Gore's supporters and those outside his circle, including historians, Gore doesn't necessarily lie intentionally. Rather, they say, he embellishes, and does so mysteriously in areas where the truth is already on his side. And then his language, they say, gets blown out of proportion in journalists' efforts to simplify and build up a story.

In the spring of 2000 Gore told the International Press Institute in Boston,

"For all of my career, I have believed that America has a responsibility to lead in the world. ...we must also recognize that there is ...a set of threats that affect us all and that transcend political borders....we need a foreign policy that addresses the classic security threats -- and understands the new ones as well....We need to pursue a policy of "forward engagement" -- addressing problems early in their development before they become crises; addressing them as close to the source of the problem as possible"

"I used to be the next president of United States of America."

Criticism

Cartoon by Greg Sheffield

Ann Coulter claims Gore exaggerated his military service record: "Al Gore endlessly bragged to the media about his service in Vietnam. 'I took my turn regularly on the perimeter in these little firebases out in the boonies. Something would move, we'd fire first and ask questions later,' he told Vanity Fair. And then we found out Gore had a personal bodyguard in Vietnam, the most dangerous weapon he carried was a typewriter, and he left after three months."

Al Gore has recently received criticism for his environmental issues. When it was discovered that Gore's electric utility bill is 20 times higher than the average American's many of his detractors accused him of not living up to his own standards. Gore's defenders claim that the majority of that power came from "green", or environmentally friendly, power sources such as solar and wind power. These power sources are much more expensive than traditional power sources such as coal and nuclear power.^{[Citation Needed]}

From The Tennessean:

"Gore purchased 108 blocks of "green power" for each of the past three months, according to a summary of the bills.

That's a total of $432 a month Gore paid extra for solar or other renewable energy sources.

The green power Gore purchased in those three months is equivalent to recycling 2.48 million aluminum cans or 286,092 pounds of newspaper, according to comparison figures on NES' Web site."

Also, some conservatives have pointed to Gore's use of a private jet while spreading the message about the dangers of global warming.

Attention has also been called to Gore's profits from mining royalties, specifically the mining of zinc adjacent to his property that he leased in Tennessee, which has released millions of pounds of potentially toxic substances into the environment. The mine has been closed since 2003. New owner Strategic Resource Acquisition is planning to re-open the mine. From The Tennessean (3/12/07):

"Last week, Gore sent a letter asking the company to work with Earthworks, a national environmental group, to make sure the operation doesn’t damage the environment.

'We would like for you to engage with us in a process to ensure that the mine becomes a global example of environmental best practices,' Gore wrote."

However, this was after he had already made $500,000 from the mining operations.

Fabrications and blunders

• On February 20, 2000, Gore claimed he has “always, always, always” supported Roe v. Wade. However, in 1977, he voted for the Hyde Amendment, which says that abortion “takes the life of an unborn child who is a living human being,” and that there is no constitutional right to abortion. He cast many other votes favorable to the pro-life cause and earned an 84 percent rating from the National Right to Life Committee.^{[Citation Needed]}

• On February 4, 2000, Gore claimed, “We had a huge event with 3,000 people at Ohio State University.” In reality, “Officials at that rally said the room where it had taken place did not hold more than 1,200 people, and, given the area needed for the staging erected for the occasion, they estimated the crowd at 500,” according to known liberal media source the New York Times.^{[Citation Needed]}

• On February 2, 2000, on Good Morning America Al Gore claimed, “We won in every single demographic category” in the New Hampshire primary. In reality Bill Bradley carried male voters and voters aged 18-29, according to exit polls.^{[Citation Needed]}

Gore's comment that he "took the initiave in creating the Internet" was criticized in the St. Petersburg Times (Florida):

This was not the first time Gore has overreached. A year ago Gore told reporters that he and his wife, Tipper, at the time when they were college sweethearts, were the inspiration for the novel "Love Story." That came as news to the befuddled author, Erich Segal. [1]

See also

• Al Gore on Breaking News

External links

• Official website
• Al Gore, Ignoble Laureate, Investor's Business Daily, October 5, 2007
• Al Gore News and Commentary from the New York Times