If you patronize Huffinton Post, you probably have already seen the rebuttal by David Roberts. But if you haven't seen his "talking points" yet, here they are -- and do not be afraid to pass them along.
* It's nice to see the conservative media taking the message of conservation and energy efficiency seriously. Hopefully they will hold their own leaders and readers to the same high standards.Can you believe that Rush Limbaugh, of all people, has tried to label Al Gore an energy hog? Do you think for one second that Rush has ever recycled a single can?
* The Tennessee Tax Dept. does not consider the "Tennessee Center for Policy Research," which roughly no one had heard of before this, a legitimate group. It's run by a long-time right-wing attack hack, and its only registered address is a P.O. box. Why is everyone in the media taking what it says about Gore's electricity use at face value?
* Gore's electricity company has no record of being contacted about his bills.
* The "average" home electricity use quoted by TCPR is a national average that includes apartments and mobile homes. In Gore's climatic zone, the East South Central (Dept. of Energy PDF), the average is much higher, thanks to hot, humid summers and cold winters. Within that zone, Gore's usage is three (not 20) times average, and his per-square-foot usage is squarely average. (More here.)
* The Gores are not an average family. He's an ex-VP with special security arrangements, and has live-in security staff. He and his wife both work on their many business and charitable undertakings out of their house, so they have space for offices and office staff. All that would be tough to cram in an average size house.
* Gore buys the maximum allowable green electricity from the program offered by his utility.
* Most of the electricity in TN comes from hydro and nuclear, and so doesn't generate all that much CO2 anyway.
The Tennessee Center for Policy Research bears an uncanny resemblance to the el-fake-o "American Center for Voting Rights" which tried to scramble the efforts of the movement to expose vote fraud.
Incidentally, this Tennessee group also trots out all the tired old arguments against raising the minimum wage. It's the same "the-sky-will-fall-and-the-bolshies-will-invade" crap we've heard every single time the wage has been raised during the past forty years. This organization claims to be a tax exempt non-partisan 501-c(3) organization, but they are obviously partisan, and their claimed status deserves official scrutiny.
Get the word out! A viral email can "infect" the country with the truth. See that little envelope down there, right next to the red word "comments"? Hit it!
3 comments:
The Tennessee Center for Policy Research is a member of the State Policy Network, along with many other free market think-tanks and legal foundations.
I first became aware of the State Policy Network because Kerri Houston -- a board member of GOPUSA who was frequently used as a source by Jeff Gannon -- was formerly its executive director. Since then, it's become increasingly apparent to me that many of the smears and skewed statistics that circulate on the right do so through this network.
Not surprisingly, is prominently featuring the Gore story today.
There's some information on the network at PFAW and SourceWatch, but the most complete list of member organizations I've found is at the site of one of them, the Nevada Policy Research Institute.
SPN includes such old stalwarts of the extreme right as the Heritage Foundation and the Cato Institute along with many libertarian and Norquist-type anti-tax groups. One name that may be familiar to some here is the Southeastern Legal Foundation -- associated with "Buckhead" of CBS memos fame.
Because these groups are nominally non-partisan and not associated with the GOP, they can often fly under the radar. I expect they're going to become a lot more significant as the 2008 campaign goes on -- so we would all do well to be aware of them.
Of course this is a hit piece. One of the few advantages of this cesspool we call a two party system is the relentless efforts of both parties to discredit each other.
At the same time, If I were Al Gore I would be humiliated that my meter was not running backward and that I had only signed up for green utility power last year. I hope he uses this opportunity to turn his house into a model home for green power generation and freely publishes his experiences for others to learn from.
Gore's spokesperson does not dispute the electricity usage.
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