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Revision as of 18:44, 9 March 2007 editDoug Bell (talk | contribs)Extended confirmed users11,585 edits Use of energy in home: wiklink; format; remove BBC quote of unidentified Gore supporter speculating on motivations for report--not particularly relevant and sourcing is weak← Previous edit Latest revision as of 07:24, 1 October 2024 edit undoEmausBot (talk | contribs)Bots, Template editors2,855,933 editsm Bot: Fixing double redirect to Al GoreTags: Redirect target changed Manual revert 
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''']''', former ] (1993-2001) and ] ] ], has been the subject of some ].


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==Fund raising==
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===Campaign finance===
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{{main|1996 United States campaign finance controversy}}
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], ] (left), ] (right), and ] (2nd from right in background)]]
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Gore was criticized for attending an event at the ] ] in ] in 1996. He said he was unaware it was a fundrasing event, however in an interview in 1997 he said it was wrong for him to attend.
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{{cquote|I did not know that it was a fund-raiser. I knew it was a political event, and I knew there were finance people that were going to be present, and so that alone should have told me, 'This is inappropriate and this is a mistake; don't do this.' And I take responsibility for that. It was a mistake — Gore on ]'s '']'' show, ], ].<ref name=goremistake>, ''CNN.com'', ], ]</ref>}}

The temple was later implicated in a campaign donation ] scheme. In that scheme, donations nominally from Buddhist ] in lawful amounts had actually been donated by wealthy ] and devotees.

], then head of a Justice Department task force appointed by ] ] to investigate the fund-raising controversies, called on Reno in Spring 2000 to appoint an ] to look into the fund-raising practices of Vice President Gore. Reno eventually rejected the request.<ref name=lehrer1>, NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, transcript, ''PBS'', ], ], Retrieved: ], ]</ref>

===Fundraising phone calls===

After the ], ] and ] of the '']'' magazine alleged that Gore had improperly used his ] office telephone to make fund-raising calls even though Gore paid for the calls using a private ]. Under the ], any use of government property for campaign purposes is forbidden.

In a press conference on ] 2003, Gore said: "If there had been a shred of doubt in my mind that anything I did was a violation of law, I assure you I would not have done that. And my counsel advises me, let me repeat, that there is no controlling legal authority that says that any of these activities violated any law."<ref>{{cite news | url = http://cnn.tv/ALLPOLITICS/1997/03/03/gore.reaction/transcript.html | title = Transcript | work = Election 2000|publisher = ] | accessdate = 2006-11-17}}</ref> ], in an ] piece for ''The Washington Post'', wrote that Gore did not claim that what he did was legal, (Section 607 of Title 18 of the U.S. Criminal Code states there is to be no solicitation of campaign funds in federal government offices), but rather that Gore stated "There is no controlling legal authority that says this was in violation of law."<ref></ref>



==Misconceptions in the media==
===Influence on the Internet===
] Executive Summit ], ]]]
{{main|Al Gore#Internet_and_technology}}

Both as a Senator and Vice-President, Al Gore has been involved in the mainstreaming of the Internet since the ] (see Campbell-Kelly and Aspray, '']'', 1996:298). This involvement led to legislation during the late ] known informally as the 'Gore Bill'.<ref>
http://www.computerhistory.org/exhibits/internet_history/internet_history_90s.shtml</ref> It was passed, however, as the '']'' <ref>http://www.mit.edu/afs/net.mit.edu/dev/mit/jis/OldFiles/nrenbill.txt</ref> on ] 1991 and led to the NII or '']'' <ref>http://www.ibiblio.org/nii/goremarks.html</ref> which Gore referred to as the '']''.

As a result of the publication of three articles in '']''<ref>http://sethf.com/gore/</ref>, Gore's ] interview on CNN's '']'' became the subject of heavy satire. <ref>http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,70773-0.html</ref> During this interview, Gore stated:
:During my service in the United States Congress I took the initiative in creating the internet. I took the initiative in moving forward a whole range of initiatives that have proven to be important to our country's economic growth and environmental protection, improvements in our educational system. <ref>http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/stories/1999/03/09/president.2000/transcript.gore</ref>

Media reports surrounding this statement sometimes re-wrote it, stating that Gore claimed he "invented the internet".<ref>http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue5_10/wiggins/</ref> However, Gore received support from members of the computer industry, notably ] pioneers ] and ]. Cerf and Kahn issued the following statement on ] in response to the controversy:

:s the two people who designed the basic architecture and the core protocols that make the Internet work, we would like to acknowledge VP Gore's contributions as a Congressman, Senator and as Vice President. No other elected official, to our knowledge, has made a greater contribution over a longer period of time.
:Last year the Vice President made a straightforward statement on his role. He said: "During my service in the United States Congress I took the initiative in creating the Internet." We don't think, as some people have argued, that Gore intended to claim he "invented" the Internet. Moreover, there is no question in our minds that while serving as Senator, Gore's initiatives had a significant and beneficial effect on the still-evolving Internet. The fact of the matter is that Gore was talking about and promoting the Internet long before most people were listening. We feel it is timely to offer our perspective.<ref>http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/200009/msg00052.html</ref>

Gore, himself, poked fun at the controversy. In September 2000, as a guest on the '']'', he read a list of the "Top Ten Rejected Gore - ] Campaign Slogans." Number nine on the list was: "Remember, America, I gave you the Internet, and I can take it away!" <ref>http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2000/09/14/politics/main233560.shtml</ref>

=== Love Canal ===
On ] ] Gore described to a ] ] his reaction in the late 1970s to a letter from a student in ], complaining about her family's poisoned well: "I called for a congressional investigation and a hearing. I looked around the country for other sites like that. I found a little place in upstate ] called ]. Had the first hearing on that issue, and Toone, Tennessee&nbsp;— that was the one that you didn't hear of. But that was the one that started it all."<ref name="Rolling Stone">
http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/5920188/the_press_vs_al_gore/</ref> While the ] story that covered the speech printed the final quotation correctly, both the '']'' and '']'' claimed that Gore had actually said: "I was the one that started it all". <ref>http://www.dailyhowler.com/h120899_2.shtml</ref>

The ''Post'' ran a correction a few days later, but the ''Times'' never did, and continued to run editorials denouncing Gore's "boasting" of having been "the whistle blower for discovering Love Canal." <ref name= goremarch>http://www.bushwatch.com/goremarch.htm</ref> The ] and several conservative commentators at the time furthered the claim that Gore was attempting to take credit for discovering the toxic waste problem at Love Canal. However, Gore's supporters have argued that the context of the speech should make it clear that what had initially sparked his interest in toxic waste issues was the Toone, Tennessee situation. <ref name=goremarch /> <ref name="Rolling Stone" /> The quotation has been repeated with ", and Toone, Tennessee&nbsp;— that was the one that you didn't hear of. But" replaced by an ellipsis (…), which subtly alters its meaning. In October 1978, Gore did hold congressional hearings on Love Canal&nbsp;— however it was two months ''after'' President Jimmy Carter declared it a disaster area and the federal government offered to buy the homes. After the hearings, Gore said, "We passed a major national law to clean up hazardous dump sites. And we had new efforts to stop the practices that ended up poisoning water around the country. We've still got work to do. But we made a huge difference. And it all happened because one high school student got involved."<ref name=goremarch />
]

===Love Story===
Gore was quoted in the '']'' ] ] edition as saying " Segal]] had told some reporters in Tennessee that '']'' was based on him and Tipper." The ''Tennessean'' newspaper article indeed quoted Segal as saying that ''Love Story'' was based on both the Gores. Gore's quotation is therefore accurate since Gore was referring to what the ''Tennessean'' had erroneously reported. Although Segal said that the newspaper had misquoted him, and that his novel was not based on Gore's relationship with Tipper, Segal himself noted that the male lead in ''Love Story'', Oliver Barrett IV, ''was'' in fact based on Al Gore, as well as his college roommate, actor ]. <ref>http://www.dailyhowler.com/h052500_1.shtml</ref>



==Use of energy in home==
In ], Gore came under criticism from the conservative ] ''Tennessee Center for Policy Research''. <ref name="Tennessee Center for Policy Research">{{cite web | title=Tennessee Center for Policy Research| date= | accessdate=2007-02-27 |url=http://www.tennesseepolicy.org|publisher=tennesseepolicy.org|publisher=tennesseepolicy.org}}</ref><ref name="Dept. of Revenue says conservative think tank ‘not a legitimate group’">{{cite web | title=Dept. of Revenue says conservative think tank ‘not a legitimate group’| date=2007-02-16 | accessdate=2007-02-27 |url=http://www.nashvillecitypaper.com/index.cfm?section_id=9&screen=news&news_id=54656|publisher=]}}</ref> The organization issued a report which said that during ] ] Gore burned through 22,619 ]s at his house — more than twice the electricity in one month than an average American family uses in an entire year.<ref name="Al Gore’s Personal Energy Use Is His Own “Inconvenient Truth”">{{cite web | title=Al Gore’s Personal Energy Use Is His Own “Inconvenient Truth"| date=2007-02-26 | accessdate=2007-02-27 |
url=http://www.tennesseepolicy.org/main/article.php?article_id=367 | publisher=Tennessee Center for Policy Research}}</ref>

Drew Johnson, the president of the ''Tennessee Center for Policy Research'', said in releasing the figures:

{{cquote|For someone in his position not to take steps to reduce his own energy consumption is disingenuous. As the spokesman of choice for the global warming movement, Al Gore has to be willing to walk (the) walk, not just talk the talk, when it comes to home energy use"<ref name="Critics question how green Gore really is">{{cite web | title=Critics question how green Gore really is | date=2007-02-27 | accessdate=2007-02-27 |
url=http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070227/NEWS07/70227039| publisher=]}}</ref>}}

===Response===
There have been a number of responses to this claim. '']'' stated that the ''Tennessee Center for Policy Research'' claimed to have gotten "its figures from ]. But company spokeswoman Laurie Parker said the utility never got a request from the policy center and never gave it any information." <ref name="Al Gore Draws Flak On Utility Bill">{{cite web | title=Al Gore Draws Flak On Utility Bill| date=2007-02-28 | accessdate=2007-02-27|url=http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1594368,00.html| publisher=]}}</ref> ''TIME'' further quoted Kalee Kreider, a spokesperson for Gore, as saying that the source of the energy is ].<ref name="Al Gore Draws Flak On Utility Bill">{{cite web | title=Al Gore Draws Flak On Utility Bill| date=2007-02-28 | accessdate=2007-02-27|url=http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1594368,00.html| publisher=]}}</ref> ] reported that the Gore family obtains their power from the ]'s "renewable energy initiative", ''The Green Power Switch program'' <ref name="Green Power Switch®">{{cite web | title=Green Power Switch®| date= | accessdate=2007-02-27|url=http://www.nespower.com/green_power_switch.aspx| publisher=]}}</ref> which depends upon "wind, solar, and methane gas." <ref name="Controversy Surrounds Al Gore's Energy Use">{{cite web | title=Controversy Surrounds Al Gore's Energy Use | date=2007-02-27 | accessdate=2007-02-27 |
url=http://wkrn.com/nashville/news/controversy-surrounds-al-gores-energy-use/80305.htm| publisher=]}}</ref> ''The ]'' further noted that "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 is equivalent to recycling 2.48 million aluminum cans or 286,092 pounds of newspaper, according to comparison figures on NES’s Web site." <ref name="Critics question how green Gore really is">{{cite web | title=Critics question how green Gore really is | date=2007-02-27 | accessdate=2007-02-27 |
url=http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070227/NEWS07/70227039| publisher=]}}</ref> The figure of 108 blocks of green power per month corresponds<ref name="Green Power Switch®">{{cite web | title=Green Power Switch®| date= | accessdate=2007-03-03|url=http://www.nespower.com/green_power_switch.aspx| publisher=]}}</ref> to 16,200 kilowatt-hours of electricity per month, significantly lower than the figure of 22,619 kilowatt-hours cited by the ''Tennessee Center for Policy Research''.

Keith Olbermann at ] reported that the Gore home includes offices for both Gore and his wife and 'special security measures' making it unrepresentative of what the average US home consumes. Additionally, the green power purchased by the Gores increased the cost of their electricity by "$5,893, more than 50 percent, in order to minimize carbon pollution."<ref name="Media Matters Summary">{{cite web | title=Media Matter Summary| date=2007-03-01 | accessdate=2007-03-01 |url=http://mediamatters.org/items/200703010008|publisher=]}}</ref>

Kreider also suggested in ''TIME'' that the attacks on Gore's energy use were political in nature and stated: "Sometimes when people don't like the message, in this case that global warming is real, it's convenient to attack the messenger." <ref name="Al Gore Draws Flak On Utility Bill">{{cite web | title=Al Gore Draws Flak On Utility Bill| date=2007-02-28 | accessdate=2007-02-27|url=http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1594368,00.html| publisher=]}}</ref>

==References==
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==External links==
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