Althouse: Did Al Gore violate his own pompous values...

July 2, 2007

Did Al Gore violate his own pompous values...

... when he got his Hollywood pal to get him an advance copy of the final episode of "The Sopranos"?

29 comments:

J. Cricket said...: What a lame effort, A-House!

You can muster nothing more than a rhetorical question that draws our attention to your unintelligible phrase "pompous values." I suspect you are an expert in pomposity--you are apparently an expert in pretty much everything else--so please enlighten us, professor: which of Gore's values are "pompous" and what makes them so?

Are your values "pompous" too?

Obviously they are not. Banish the thought! So please explain the difference.; 7/2/07, 12:24 PM
Ann Althouse said...: Did you go to the link? I'm not expressing my own opinion. I'm asking a question.; 7/2/07, 12:30 PM
Roost on the Moon said...: I think it does.

He presents himself as a humble public servant with an eye on the greater good. But how humble could he be when he expects special treatment from his friends. This is the same old Washington insider stuff that this everyone in this country on both sides of the aisle are so fed up with. It's not that this might become a quid pro quo relationship, though that shouldn't be discounted. It just speaks of his disdain for common people. Doesn't he think other Sopranos fans had flights at that time? Too bad for them, I guess. That's what they get for not being rich and powerful. You would think that "The Goracle" could've predicted the ending anyway.; 7/2/07, 12:33 PM
Roost on the Moon said...: Ha! "What if you had to argue..." is a great game.

This is ludicrous, in my earnest opinion.; 7/2/07, 12:35 PM
George M. Spencer said...: Next to that Times Biz section item we find a story about the toy/cartoon-based movie "Transformers."

Star Shia LaBoeuf says it's so violent and bloody it was almost rated "R."

Clearly, the perfect movie for every 8-year-old.

Shia, 21, is this month's Vanity Fair's cover lad, according to USA Today. It quotes him as saying that his parents were drug addicts and that when he parties he does so at home. And responsibly.

Ah, values.; 7/2/07, 12:36 PM
steve simels said...: Scooter Libby's going to jail!

Finally, some good news!!!!; 7/2/07, 12:51 PM
Anonymous said...: AJD -- Way to look cool and rational, and to understand what's going on before you post.; 7/2/07, 12:51 PM
I'm Full of Soup said...: No- one who holds pompous values can not knowingly violate his own pompous values.

That would require an IQ higher than those who hold pompous values.; 7/2/07, 12:53 PM
I'm Full of Soup said...: No he did not violate his own values. One who holds pompous values can not knowingly violate those pompous values.

That would require an IQ higher than those who hold pompous values.

AND AL GORE IS A DOPE IMHO.; 7/2/07, 12:58 PM
Sloanasaurus said...: Normally, I wouldn't think that obtaining such a favor qualifies as a privilege. But, because Al Gore is a greatest walking hypocrite of all time, we should assume that everything he does is is hypocritical.; 7/2/07, 12:59 PM
I'm Full of Soup said...: Dave :

Is that a Pottsville Maroon? Or just a regular old maroon?

Is your real name Al Gore cause YOU ARE A DOPE TOO!; 7/2/07, 1:00 PM
Roost on the Moon said...: Sloanasaurus said...

Normally, I wouldn't think that obtaining such a favor qualifies as a privilege. But, because Al Gore is a greatest walking hypocrite of all time, we should assume that everything he does is is hypocritical.

Awesome.

I thought about taking a similar angle in my little put-on, but I thought it would be over-the-top.; 7/2/07, 1:07 PM
TJ said...: AA: "Did you go to the link? I'm not expressing my own opinion."

Nowhere on that page is the word "pompous" used. It's clearly your opinion that Gore's values are pompous. Why wouldn't you own up to that in your response to ajd's comment?

Or did you mean to say "populist"? That word does get used in the post you link to. Did you not read the post very carefully?

An aside to all who use the phrase "begging the question": Althouse's post title? THAT is begging the question. Wikipedia's entry on logical fallacies should link to this post.; 7/2/07, 1:11 PM
Fox said...: If Fred Thomspson and Al Gore do indeed run against each other for POTUS then it will really be a Hollywood Election!

Lohan campaigning for Gore ... Bruce Willis for Fred Thompson. It would at least make the 2008 conventions more appealing.; 7/2/07, 1:15 PM
steve simels said...: BTW -- I don't think the phrase "violate his values" is grammatically correct.

I think it should be "betray his values".

Sloppy, Ann, sloppy.; 7/2/07, 1:24 PM
The Drill SGT said...: Fox said...
If Fred Thompson and Al Gore do indeed run against each other for POTUS then it will really be a Hollywood Election!

Rather than a Tennessee election?

I think it likely that Thompson would stomp Gore in his him state, since Gore lost to Bush there in 2000.

Hollywood? No doubt Gore country, since I think that Thompson lives in DC and works in NYC much more than Hollywood.; 7/2/07, 2:50 PM
Unknown said...: Ann, I just want to say you have my advance support if you ever decide to kick dave(c)(tm)(r)(*) to the curb.

As for AJD, I like having him around if for no other reason that the fact that "AJD" is a form of pig herpes. I'm assuming those are his initial so I like pointing this fact out repeatedly.

As for your question. No, I believe that this episode fits squarely within his values. I've come to the conclusion that his problem really isn't hypocrisy---in part because I listened to and heeded Gore's defendears when we enjoyed a good laugh at his electric bill.

But I do still believe that his lifestyle is an impediment to the delivery of his message, which neccessarily has populist components. The economic impact of aggressive carbon control is going to hit everyone's pocketbook, but the affluent feel it less, because their basic necessities are buried somewhere in their investment interest, not their paychecks.; 7/2/07, 2:51 PM
blake said...: Let me say that if I were a friend of Brad Grey's (and I cared about "The Sopranos") I might've done the same thing. I get my friends to do me "solids" all the time. And vice-versa.

While environmentalism is inherently pompous ("We're, like, saving the world, man!") this is a silly reach. The jet flight was hypocritical, obviously. Watching a video isn't.

(Or am I wrong? Has Al Gore claimed that you shouldn't milk your Hollywood friends for whatever you can?); 7/2/07, 3:13 PM
KCFleming said...: Re: I think it should be "betray his values".

Of course you do, but you prefer the cliche, so no surprise.

Neither is it surprising that a guy with a progressive socialist agenda considers himself part of the nomenklatura, not held to such petty rules.

Rules are for little people.; 7/2/07, 3:16 PM
Ann Althouse said...: "Nowhere on that page is the word "pompous" used." I read this quote from Gore -- "[W]hat politics has become requires a level of tolerance for triviality and artifice and nonsense that I find I have in short supply" -- and the blogger's comment -- " do I really want lessons in rising above triviality and artifice" -- and intended to sum up the gist of the blog post.

As for "violating values" being a grammatical error. Even it there's some reasons why values can't be violated, it's still not a grammatical error. Apparently, you mean a usage error. You know, using the wrong word. Which you did, trying to tell me I did... when I didn't. Loser!; 7/2/07, 3:34 PM
Anonymous said...: Gore has values? Who knew...

>>>

The answer is 14. It's always 14. I don't know why.; 7/2/07, 3:49 PM
Roost on the Moon said...: You know, using the wrong word. Which you did, trying to tell me I did... when I didn't. Loser!

Word.; 7/2/07, 3:51 PM
LoafingOaf said...: So I guess Tipper Gore approves of The Sopranos and wanted to see if it ended with a bloodbath and watch that bloodbath with her husband on their private jet, drunk on their power and ability to get special treatment from Hollywood execs drunk with being close to powerful people.

I'm always interested in what pop culture Tipper approves of, since this is the woman who had police officers raid the home of a band member of The Dead Kennedys and put them on trial because their album came with a poster she didn't like by acclaimed artist H.R. Giger.

I know we're supposed to forget about that. I can't because my favorite band is The Ramones, and Joey Ramone sang about Tipper's assault on freedom in a song called "Censorsh*t" 15 years ago:

Ah, Tipper come on, ain't you been getting it on?
Ask Ozzie, Zappa or me
We'll show you what it's like to be free

Including this line:

Hey, hey all you senators wives
Better take a good look at your
own lives
Before you go preaching to me!

What with their utility bills and private jets, 15 years later it looks like Tipper and Al still need to take a good look at their own lives before they go preaching to me.

I haven't read Al's book, but apparently he gets self-righteous about television. This guy is so addicted to TV he can't just wait for the frequent reruns on HBO.

Last night on Matt Drudge's radio show Drudge was playing clips of Gore saying we now have less than 10 years before we're all screwed by global warming (Drudge wondered if it's really 7 years now, because he recalled Gore saying we had 10 years 3 years ago too).

Gore says we have less than 10 years to save the world and we must all change our lifestyles. But there he goes, still zipping around in his jets, and when he needs to feel like a cool cat and be the first person on earth to see a hyped up TV show he has his servants make special trips to the airport to bring it to the King. Ah well, I'll ride my bike tomorrow and offset it.; 7/2/07, 3:57 PM
Cedarford said...: It's the little things of raw privilege that Ruling Elites demand that gall the most. 400 dollar haircuts. You getting to call your Congressman a fuckhead and threatened with arrest when he cuts in the Moter Vehicle Dept license®istration line for a little VIP treatment those unwashed proles waiting in line for an hour don't get.

The Sopranos preview tape was a gold standard of clout in Hollywood. It was denied to HBO execs, critics. Only the very upper, uppercrust of the connected got to see it early.

Like planet-savers...; 7/2/07, 5:47 PM
Methadras said...: If you look in the dictionary next to the word Huckster, you'll see the picture of Al Gore next to it.; 7/2/07, 6:10 PM
ddh said...: So, Al Gore is sitting in first class, watching the last episode, and as Tony looks up to see his daughter enter the diner, . . .

"That SOB stiffed me!"; 7/2/07, 6:18 PM
Kirk Parker said...: The title is great, really, but shouldn't the post also have the highly-coveted lameness tag?

:-); 7/2/07, 8:45 PM
Eli Blake said...: Al Gore isn't running for anything, so he doesn't have to worry about your or my opinion.; 7/3/07, 3:32 PM