Al Gore stands by the truth - By Paul Krugman

Posted on Fri, Jun. 02, 2006
COMMENTARY
Al Gore stands by the truth
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Columnist


snip...
Even as the usual suspects describe well-founded concerns about global warming as hysteria, they issue hysterical warnings about the economic consequences of environmentalism. “Al Gore’s global warming movie: Could it destroy the economy?” Fox News asked.

Well, no, it couldn’t. There’s some dispute among economists over how forcefully we should act to curb greenhouse gases, but there’s broad consensus that even a very strong program to reduce emissions would have only modest effects on economic growth. Though some industries would lose jobs, others would gain.

Actually, the right’s panicky response to Gore’s film is probably a good thing, because it reveals for all to see the dishonesty and fearmongering on which the opposition to doing something about climate change rests.

But “An Inconvenient Truth” isn’t just about global warming, of course. It’s also about Gore. And it is, implicitly, a cautionary tale about what’s been wrong with our politics.

Why, after all, was Gore’s popular-vote margin in the 2000 election narrow enough that he could be denied the White House? Any account that neglects the determination of some journalists to make him a figure of ridicule misses a key part of the story. Why were those journalists so determined to jeer Gore? Because of the very qualities that allowed him to realize the importance of global warming many years before any other major political figure: his earnestness, and his genuine interest in facts, numbers and serious analysis.

more...
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/business/14720256.htm?source=rss&channel=kansascity_business

getting picked up by newspapers outside the TimesSelect (yuck) subscription wall. Krugman is too important a voice to be so isolated.

that is good news.

:-)

the Liberal Media has a lot of 'splaining' to do with regard to their treatment of Gore in 2000.

A couple of extra tidbits... Plus a final question for us all...

A Test of Our Character

May 26, 2006, Friday
By Paul Krugman

...

They (also) issue hysterical warnings about the economic consequences of environmentalism. "Al Gore's global warming movie: could it destroy the economy?" Fox News asked. Well, no, it couldn't. There's ... broad consensus that even a very strong program to reduce emissions would have only modest effects on economic growth. At worst, G.D.P. growth might be, say, one-tenth or two-tenths of a percentage point lower over the next 20 years. ....
...

But can the sort of person who would act on global warming get elected? Are we — by which I mean both the public and the press — ready for political leaders who don't pander, who are willing to talk about complicated issues and call for responsible policies? That's a test of national character. I wonder whether we'll pass.

Somehow, methinks we're ready... but whether as a group we are able to pass (given the forces of darkness behind the M$M and the Ministry of Electronic Voting (Manipulation Department)), that's still in question...

Edit: added New York Times credit/logo

The MSM and the nation need more real journalists like him.

:kick:

An Incovenient Truth was excellent !! It has been exhausting being suffocated with the reams and reams of propaganda put out in the USA about global climate change so Gore's movie is very refreshing. Finally, someone telling the truth about the issue with very clear and exciting graphics that rebut all the rapture-right propaganda very effectively. Hope everyone goes to see the movie.

Gore's on the front of my Nation mag, too, with a good article by David Corn.




Snip~
"For all his doom and gloom in the film--it's enough to give the most ardent enviro stomach pains--Gore told me he believes public opinion is near a tipping point. "Six months from now," he said, "if we have this conversation, you and I will agree that the period between the spring and the beginning of winter was a period when the country changed dramatically on global warming." What's the reason for this green bullishness? His film? Gore ticked off the positive signs: Evangelical ministers have pronounced global warming a moral issue; corporate execs at General Electric, Du Pont and other companies have championed emissions-cutting measures as good for business; cities and towns have taken their own steps and called on the federal government to move; Mother Nature has kicked up more extreme weather (a true warning sign); and insurance companies around the world are beginning to worry. "Now, I have felt in times past that we were close to a tipping point, and I've been wrong," Gore added. "I don't think I am wrong this time."


More from Corn..
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060612/corn