Redford sniffs at Gore:
Robert Redford Bashes Al Gore as Greedy Opportunist
By Noel Sheppard | November 22, 2007 - 17:48 ET
As irrefutable evidence mounts that Nobel Laureate Al Gore's climate alarmism is about nothing other than lining his supposedly green pockets with green currency, manmade global warming skeptics around the world wonder when the former vice president's house of cards will collapse.
Without question, if Gore were to lose the support of almost universally adoring Hollywoodans, the scam would implode quicker than a Democrat demanding a recount after losing a close election.
As such, the following comments by actor and environmentalist Robert Redford, reported by the New Statesman last week, should bring hope to folks not buying the snake oil Gore is selling (emphasis added, h/t NB reader Lee):
Redford was an early convert to the environmental movement, and talks proudly of having campaigned on it since 1969. "It was not a happy easy time, because those were the days that the oil and gas companies pretty much controlled the show on propaganda. Anyone speaking about solar energy would be smashed down as being a radical, a tree-hugger and granola-cruncher or what have you."
He is notably cynical, however, about Al Gore's recent award of a Nobel Peace Prize. "He's making a lot of money, he's having a belle époque, a heroic moment," he says. "It must have been really hard for Gore to suffer all that [losing the presidential election], so he found another thing to come back with: the environment. He had a lot of money behind him, because in Clinton's administration there was a lot of money. With that he was able to build himself a new campaign and pick an issue. And he picked an issue that just happened to arrive at its moment in time." The less-than-subtle subtext is that Gore is an arriviste, while Redford has been out there, a grizzled loner, bearing the jibes and right-wing clobbering before the environmental cause was fashionable. Asked why he thinks Gore is not going back into politics, he says: "What's most important - to be a hero to your country and go save it . . . or do you want to be happy and rich and be a hero and not get into the political scene?"
NewsBusters readers know the answer to that question.
For those unfamiliar with some of the more obscure references in this piece, belle époque is French for beautiful era, and refers to a golden period in European history from roughly the beginning of the 19th century until World War I when the continent experienced an unprecedented string of peaceful years combined with improving technologies and standards of living.
An arriviste is defined as "a person who has suddenly risen to a higher economic status but has not gained social acceptance of others in that class." A more modern term for such a person is nouveau riche.
This is NOT a compliment.
With that in mind, is Gore's belle époque about to come to an end?
Those that adore democracy and capitalism should certainly hope so.
—Noel Sheppard is an economist, business owner, and Associate Editor of NewsBusters.
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