Thursday
Jan312013
by 
Bishop Hill
Bishop Hill Gored awful
Jan 31, 2013 Al Gore appeared on Channel Four News tonight. Fair to say that it was one of the most feeble interviews I've ever seen Krishnan Guru Murthy give. Which is saying something. "In Britain you will see political leaders rolling back the green agenda...would you say they are making a terrible mistake?" Give me a break.
Reader Comments (41)
There should be a health warning on watching the video.
(And from Unthreaded):
It reminded me of Al Gore on geothermal energy:
Read more: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2009/11/18/al-gore-earths-interior-extremely-hot-several-million-degrees#ixzz2JalOeEiH
'Gored Awful' just about sums up this silliness! Where does the UK find such elegant but ill-educated fools as the so-called 'interviewer', who allowed Big Al to lie as blatantly as any carnival huckster?
Gore's resemblance to a gigantic Potoo becomes ever more uncanny.
Ah yes... the man who created the Internet and Gorebal warming.
Sometimes (well quite a of of the time nowadays) it seems - C4 news is irredeemably abysmal
Jan 31, 2013 at 10:46 PM | tomo
C4 news is definitely 'irredeemably abysmal'
Gore reminds me of those guys I used to see in the markets - perhaps they are still there - trying to flog cheap stuff for 3 or 4 times what it is actually worth. He nauseatingly showed up on the John Stewart show...spouting the same nonsense while trying to finesse the fact that he sold his TV company to a bunch of oil sheiks from Qatar.
If you keep saying the same lies, they become the consensus "truth".
Extreme weather (unprecedented), causation by CO2, rapidly rising temperatures. All demonstrably not demonstrated. But the big voice speaks, and after a while, that is what is.
Gore is an apt figurehead for the CAGW movement.
The Disco Remix of the Climate Reality Project takes all the awards for naffness though
I am ashamed that my country could produce such a charlatan. He is an embarrassment. When interviewed In America he doesn't get into the details of his bullshit theories much any more because people are sick of it and increasingly dubious.
He's a crook.
**
Vice President Al Gore's visit to a Buddhist temple near Los Angeles in 1996 is the very symbol of campaign-finance chicanery, particularly illegal contributions from Asia. Gore tried to distance himself from the event by claiming at first that it was "community outreach." Eventually he conceded that it was "finance related," but he's always said he didn't know it was a fundraiser.
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2000/02/07/272816/index.htm
Strange to put this video up as a discussion piece because all you want to do is grab the fat b.st..d by the neck and ring it until he stops spouting total bullshit. There is no discussion possible.
er um I am talking about Gore here, the other guy is beneath contempt.
What about the chakra release thing? Why isn't anyone asking tough questions about that?
BTW, did you see how David Suzuki wants 'female ladies' (aka students 17 years of age) to act as his escorts? And his admission that his testosterone levels have gone 'down'?
Gore's answer to the first question is a "Yes, yes, hehe heh he". Even he was surprised by the depth of the boot-licking.
Why is Gore starting to look like Hermann Goering? Too much sycophantic bootlicking?
Gore really looks like he needs to start minimizing his carbon footprint for the sake of his own health. I hardly recognized him....
Pretty appropriate that the fat guy is wearing a striped suit - looks like he is behind bars
@ woodentop: "the interior of the earth is extremely hot, several million degrees..."
Well, he did say "The Earth has a fever and just like when your child has a fever, maybe that's a warning of something seriously wrong".
:o)
I'm sorry, I couldn't watch the lies till the end. Peter Snow's iron grip won't let any scepticism show on Channel 4 News from any of the other presenters. Together with science correspondent Tom Clarke, he just propagates AGW lies. He also loves to go over to the States and be a cheerleader for Obama.
Political interviewers love to be experts on many things, with a target of showing they know more than the person they're interviewing - on the economy, education, health service, the intricacies of pension reform. Just think of Jeremy Paxman and John Humphries. Their measure of a successful interview is when they get the interviewee squirming - regardless of whether we learn anything from it. But for some reason, when it comes to science, they're happy to be numpties.
As a comparison, here's Krishnan Guru Murthy as an 'expert' on film making. He interviews Tarrentino, completely winding him up by keep asking him about the link between film violence and real violence. Interesting bit starts at about 4:30 mins. This time its the interviewer who squirms.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrsJDy8VjZk
Just look at his face, how chubby he has become off the back of this! Does he look like a man worried we're approaching the end of the world? Does he stuff!
I think he is a rather risible figure. As usual not a specious box left unticked - for instance - his gleefully listing of every weather phenomenon around the world as if he thinks that clearly adds up as evidence.
He's like environmentalisms Portrait of Dorian Gray now, I bet many enviros wish he’s just hide away the attic and not remind them of their basic specious, narcissistic essence.
I think people miss the fact that when interviewers give people an easy time, whether consciously or not, it is a clear sign they are not taking them seriously.
Regarding chubbiness. Of course you can say its a cheap shot, but I have the same impression every time I see Michael Mann - as one who eats more than his fair share of the pies.
But I think there's a valid philosophical point. If you genuinely believe the world is going to end because we are selfishly consuming more than our fair share of resources, then you should at least try to be an example in your own daily and personal life. Every extra kilo of food consumed uses more water, more energy, more land, etc.
And as we well know with Gore, its not just food, but the size of his house, the energy he uses, his love for air travel, his weakness in making millions from an economy founded almost entirely on fossil fuels (Qatar).
Guru Murthy seems somehow completely ignorant of this and the associated hypocrisy. Journalists are at least meant to do some background homework.
I dont think its C4's complete responsibility for that shambles...after all, just like the clowns from "The Team" Gore makes sure that no tough questions are asked in the agreements that are signed before he turns up.
I seem to remember a story from a few years ago when a BBC presenter had the temerity to ask him a question not on the approved list and once the cameras were off Gore and his handlers were standing over the presenter berating him/her for asking a non-approved question.
Mailman
@Feb 1, 2013 at 8:29 AM | mailman
Yeah that was Roger Harrabin
Also while on the subject I can't resist adding:
Ken Caldeira
Looks like Gore always has plenty of assistants around to help make sure he is happy. ;)
Most astonishing, is the eerie thought, that, this guy Al Gore was once
robbednigh on installed into the White House as President of the United States of America!As James Delingpole, wryly observed on a related but slighty different topic maybe but with relevant echoes nevertheless...........
Couldn't watch it. Too nauseated by the intro. I just kept thinking, "Why the hell are they asking him?"
It is unfortunate. I have always been a fan of Channel 4 news and its format. More time to deal properly with news items, rather than a few lines of introduction and a 10 second sound bite from a talking head.
I recall once being interviewed for Channel 4 News and having to switch modes; after giving a brief repsonse to a question the journalist suggested we do it again stating "you can expand more fully, this is Channel 4 News".
But the unfortunate bit is that the Channel 4 "News" team seem to have morphed into an "OpEd" team. Instead of providing more detail and impartial analysis, they seem to want to package it all up into a conclusion and an opinion for viewers. And that has been the source corruption and death of their brand.
Oakwood:
Actually, the chubbiness is an excellent example of carbon capture and storing! Perhaps we should all do it.
Rich, that is exactly the point. It is the BBC's way in eliciting criticism of its own conservative government and 'business' from a leader of the environmental ummah. Only Guru Murthy doesn't have the chops and makes it too obvious.
Feb 1, 2013 at 8:21 AM | The Leopard In The Basement
While I don't disagree with the generality you have articulated, after watching this video, I'm not entirely (or even partially!) sure that I agree in this instance.
The view from here, so to speak, is that Krishnan Guru Murthy - whose oh-so "authoritatively informed" hand-waving signals are to laugh at - is probably no less (and no more) guilty of ignorant obeisance to that which emanates from the lips of the mighty-Gore than a multitude of MSM (brainwashed?!) commentators on both sides of the pond.
Too bad for all of them (interviewers, interviewees and other self-appointed gurus) that they failed to have noticed UNEP honcho (and former IPCC-nik and "consensus" cookbook coordinator par excellence), Joseph Alcamo's observation at the IPCC's October 2009 Bali confab:
Feb 1, 2013 at 9:57 AM | Geckko
I was about to disagree that the extra time given was used to deal properly with news items. You answered yourself though and pointed out that it is actually padded out with lots of opinion. When they have 2 'opposing' sides on for 2 minutes of studio chat it is nearly always clear which side the news presenters are on before hearing their brief points of view. I actually see it exceptionally rarely though so not sure if it has changed over the years.
Why not just give him a podium and ten uninterrupted minutes?
And they wonder why people are turning away from the MSM in droves.
Given how Gore steadfastly refuses to enter open debate or take un-approved questions from any audience, we can safely assume he had all questions screened and agreed beforehand.
Given how he was presented with such a patsy of a question it's a given.
@Feb 1, 2013 at 11:14 AM | Hilary Ostrov
It's subjective I know but to me this is a joke interview and shows a lack of seriousness. I often see Krishnan Guru Murthy giving much more scrutiny to interviewees in much less serious subjects than this - Tarantino comes to mind! :)
I just think people can see Gore is getting a strange treatment here that doesn't fall into any category people would recognise - He is not a self evident expert at anything, if he was he would still be scrutinised; he is not treated as a politician - he *certainly* would be scrutinised if so; - he is not treated as a religious leader - I think I have seen the Dalai Lama more closely scrutinised on CH4 than this!
So really what is this suppose to be?
I only counted three (to be generous) questions asked by Murthy:
The only other category this fits I think is the kind of fawning corporate interview you see in product promotions and I think most people can recognise those as a joke ;)
To be fair, he can apparently be very good. This from Real Climate:
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Susan Anderson says:
31 Jan 2013 at 7:15 PM
Al Gore is very good here, on PBS Newshour tonight:
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2013/01/al-gores-examines-six-drivers-of-global-change-in-new-book.html
Jon Stewart had a better question to ask Gore:
'Where does the UK find such elegant but ill-educated fools as the so-called 'interviewer', who allowed Big Al to lie as blatantly as any carnival huckster?
Alexander K '
They don't have to find them - Common Purpose trains them up for exactly this sort of servile bullshit-enabling role, whether in the BBC or C4.
Out of Manbearpig, the pig seems to be getting the upper hand these days.
I note Alex Cull has made a transcript of this and other parts of this interview, seems there was more to it than I thought and Murthy asked some more searching questions:
https://sites.google.com/site/mytranscriptbox/home/20130131_c4
Feb 2, 2013 at 9:40 AM | The Leopard In The Basement
As you say, that wasn't a bad interview at all to someone trying to promote their book.