David Roberts flagged this exceptionally bad NYT article which attacks Vice President Gore for... putting his money where is mouth is. He summarizes:
Professional Gore haters, who make their living peddling lies, cast an absurd charge against Gore. The charge goes in the headline. It goes in the first paragraphs of the story. Then in paragraph 32 it’s revealed that the charge is baseless. And John Broder wasn’t embarrassed to have this appear under his byline.
Oh, and to state the obvious: even if it were true, nobody but a professional Gore hater could possibly find anything wrong with someone investing in the very solutions they say are necessary to save the world. The non-Gore-demented might even find that a perfectly predictable way for a capitalist to respond.
I wonder how John Broder covered the release of the Pickens Plan, which advocates federal policies designed to drastically increase the amount of natural gas used as transportation fuel. Boone Pickens, of course, is the founder of the Orwellian Clean Energy Fuels Corporation, which is the largest provider of natural gas for transportation in the country. Did Mr. Broder point out this apparent conflict of interest? Here is what he wrote:
Mr. Pickens, 80, the founder and chairman of BP Capital Management, is the major supporter of a national energy plan announced last month to wean the United States of its dependence on foreign oil by turning to domestically produced natural gas. He has pledged $58 million for a marketing campaign that he hopes will force the presidential candidates into a discussion of his ideas.
No mention whatsoever of the fact that Mr. Pickens is one of the biggest investors in natural gas in the United States, and stands to profit substantially if his plan is enacted. Why the discrepancy, Mr. Broder?
Cameron Scott at The Thin Green Line points out that this story was pushed by Marc Morano, one of the least credible individuals I've ever had the pleasure of running circles around. Why is the New York Times running stories being pushed by Marc Morano? Are they trying to destroy their own credibility?
Cameron also asks another good question:
Republican lawmakers—including Kyl, Cornyn, Coburn and Hatch—as well as a few Democrats are heavily invested in oil and gas and coal companies. For the GOP, the oil and gas is the sixth largest recipient of investments; automotive is the eighth and other energy companies are 24th and 25th. (See the Democrats' profile here: oil and gas ranks seventh and automotive 25th.)
James Inhofe, long the lead cheerleader of climate denialism and Morano's longtime boss, had at least 10 percent of his assets in fossil fuel in 2007.
Where are the articles on that?
Unfortunately, the Times wasn't alone in leveling this baseless attack.
The London Telegraph ran a shorter version of the same story, as did other outlets.
And once newspapers are talking about the story, it must be news. Right, Mika? Diane Sawyer seems to think so as well.
Gore's response to this criticism has been spot on. He told Morning Joe's Mika Brzezinski, "Of course I invest according to my beliefs and values." And he told Good Morning America's Diane Sawyer, "I am proud to [have] put my money where my mouth is for the past 30 years."
I'm eagerly looking forward to the day when Brzezinski, Sawyer or Broder challenges Senator Inhofe or T. Boone Pickens, or Exxon-Mobile for that matter, about their obvious conflicts of interests.
Update: Brad Johnson points out that Diane Sawyer repeatedly invoked Glenn Beck in her attack of Gore. He also takes note of the fact out that Beck mentioned the Diane Sawyer segment three times, and clearly enjoyed the recognition from Sawyer.
Originally published at EnviroKnow.