Al Gore, Lehman's Roosevelt to Form New Global Warming Alliance

[Pirate Smile]

Al Gore, Lehman's Roosevelt to Form New Global Warming Alliance
May 10 (Bloomberg) -- Former Vice President Al Gore and Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. Managing Director Theodore Roosevelt IV have formed an alliance to boost public awareness about global warming, people familiar with the plans said.

The alliance, which will be unveiled today, is a diverse group that includes bankers like Roosevelt, Viacom Inc.'s Paramount Pictures, former Georgia-Pacific Corp. President Lee Thomas, and former Environmental Protection Agency chief Carol Browner, said the people, who asked not to be identified.

Paramount, which plans to release a documentary later this month about climate change featuring Gore, will contribute $500,000 to the new nonprofit group, called the Alliance for Climate Protection. Gore, 58, will donate the $250,000 advance from his yet-to-be published book ``An Inconvenient Truth,'' which is the same name as the movie, the people said.

The money will be used to begin an educational campaign about the threat of global warming across all media. The idea to corral Wall Street, business executives and former public officials into one alliance stems from the belief that environmental groups alone aren't doing enough to alert the public to the dangers of global warming, the people said.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=aWW.lJcpZ3Zg

Gore and Roosevelt will hold a news conference today.

[Mass]

1. Great news - We need people who speak out on this issue.

[Cooley Hurd]

2. TR IV is a big conservationist...

...the rest of his cousins (from the TR/Oyster bay Roosevelts) are repug a-holes.

Edited to add a big ol' K&R for Gore and Theodore!

[Uncle Joe]

3. I was just thinking the names Gore & Roosevelt

on the same page, has a most powerful ring to it. I hope these gentlemen are most successful in their endeavor to save humanity from it self.

[Pirate Smile]

4. Arianna has a post on FDR, Alter's book and Gore.

FDR and Eleanor: Profiles in Leadership -- and Transformation

READ MORE: Al Gore, Global Warming, George W. Bush

I've been doing a lot of traveling -- and a lot of reading on planes -- recently. Among the best reads was The Defining Moment, Jonathan Alter's new book on FDR. Ostensibly a recounting of the tumultuous first 100 days of FDR's presidency when, according to Alter, "he saved democracy," the book is actually more psychological exploration than political treatise.

As prologue, Alter offers a fascinating look at how FDR's struggles with polio, and his work with other polio victims at the clinic he built in Georgia, helped transform him from patrician "lightweight" to towering leader able to lift the spirits of a nation suffering through both an economic and a psychological Great Depression.

It's a portrait of authentic leadership grounded in experience and conviction rather than focus group-approved positions and soundbytes. Elements sorely missing from today's political landscape.

Being thrust back into the dark days of 1933, and seeing how Roosevelt, by sheer force of will and personality -- and the rhetorical gift that gave us his "nothing to fear but fear itself" inaugural speech and his fireside chats -- revived America, reminded me of a series of conversations I had back in 1999 for a column I wrote about what makes for a great president. Across the board -- and across the political spectrum -- came the same reply: someone who can stir our spirit and, in the words of historian David McCullough, "cause those who follow them to do more than they thought they were capable of."

-snip-
Although somewhat in the background, the book also offers some telling insights into the equally amazing transformation of Eleanor Roosevelt from awkward and self-doubting political wife to one of the most beloved public figures in the history of the nation.

When I first started working on my book on fearlessness, I always knew I would include Eleanor Roosevelt. After all, she embodied so many of the qualities I wanted to highlight: courage, passion, self-possession, and a willingness to speak out even when it wasn't popular. But as Jonathan Alter makes clear in his book, she hadn't always been the confident figure we'd all learned about in history class. "Even on the eve of the Inauguration," he writes, "Eleanor, at forty-eight, was still deeply apprehensive about what lay ahead... 'I'm not the sort of person who would be any good at that job,' she told . 'I dare say I shall be criticized whatever I do.'"

Indeed, growing up, Eleanor was shy and awkward -- not a very likely leader in the making. But an unhappy and unloved childhood created tremendous reserves of sympathy and concern for others -- particularly the unempowered. It was her passion for confronting the problems of hunger, poverty, unemployment, and racism, and her sense of justice that pushed her to confront, and overcome, her fears and inhibitions -- and make her such a role model for women today.

None of us start out being who we are. Ginger Rogers didn't dance like Ginger Rogers when she first started. And Eleanor Roosevelt had to work to become the leader she became: holding the first press conferences ever conducted by a First Lady, writing a daily column, My Day, that was syndicated in newspapers across the country, and giving lectures and radio broadcasts. All this was anathema to her personality but she didn't let her personal fear of appearing in public stop her from speaking out about what mattered to her. And, in the process, she inspired millions of people and helped change her world.

Blogging on HuffPost last week, Alter held out hope that a similar transformation could be in store for some of those politicians circling the Democratic nomination. There are certainly signs that such a transformation has already happened. With Al Gore. I just watched Gore's global warming documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, which will be coming out at the end of the month. And there is a world of difference between the robotic candidate of 2000 and the born again leader of today on display in the movie.

Who knows, if he keeps this up, some future Jonathan Alter may one day write a book about his "Defining Moment."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/fdr-and-eleanor-profiles_b_20685.html

[Uncle Joe]

6. Thanks Pirate Smile, this is a good blog on Al, however

I always cringe when I read something to the effect of Al was robotic or stiff prior to 2000. I firmly believe all the B.S. about him running a poor campaign is just a fig leaf for the MSM to cover their own complicity in distorting the image of the man through either slander, obfuscation or ignoring his message and at the same time camouflaging Bush's lies, mistakes and obvious incompetence. The MSM brainwashed a sizable percentage of the American People as to what was important to have in a President all to suit their own agenda, not what was important for the people. Sorry to have went off on a rant, overall this is a good column.

[Admiral Loinpresser]

9. Uncle, you are right on the money.

Arianna is trying to cover her tracks for 2000, when she and the other Naderite chuckleheads were claiming there's no difference between the parties, etc.

Even now, very few of them who blundered in their thinking will admit they were hoodwinked by the relentless spin and bad coverage Gore received at the hands of the MSM.

I have been ranting for 6 years about that, just like you. Now that we are succeeding (or maybe a better way to put it is the party and the American people are catching up with Gore), I am better able not to rant about 2000 Although I still do sometimes because it was such a big injustice at so many levels. But as more and more people come to love Gore, I can more easily focus on the present and the future. I try now as best I can not to alienate people. As our chances of getting Gore elected increase month by month, it is easier for me to get perspective and realize I haven't always done the right thing (i.e. avoiding the selfish aspect of my outrage). Just some incoherent rambling to add to the thread, FWIW.

UJ, you're one of my favorites!

[Uncle Joe]

11. Thanks Admiral, you are one of my favorites too!

I also totally agree with your perspective on it becoming easier to focus on the present and the future as the rest of America catches up to Al. When I began posting here at D.U. last summer, I could not for the life of me type the letters MSM without the word corpwhorate as an adjective, and the word presstitute was as natural as drinking water.

With Al's movie coming out and the American People becoming more aware as to the hoax that has been played out on them by the MSM regarding Al's character and Bush's lack thereof, I am feeling hopeful. With a little effort, I can now type the letters MSM by them selves.

Have a good night, Admiral.

:hi:

[wordpix2]

20. I totally agree Gore is the best choice. I'm in

[jwirr]

15. I think that it is very possible that the press fostered the

"stiff" image of Al Gore by selecting only photos that reflect badly on his openness. The other day one of the net news sources had a poll asking if we preferred Al over another candidate. The photo of him was awful. If all we saw were press selected photo images that is all many of us knew.

The man we know now is nothing like the man in 2000 that the MSM sold us.

[janx]

5. WHEN today?

?

[Pirate Smile]

8. I don't know but here is another Gore article to make up for my lack

of info. :)



Gore urges us to accept An Inconvenient Truth

By Matt Zakosek
May 9, 2006 in Voices

-snip-
Incredibly, that’s where Gore’s amenities began and ended. I found Gore to be very open and friendly, despite media representations of him to the contrary. (I’ll save you my theory on “Republican character assassination,” as a friend of mine informed me how ridiculous it sounds. I still think there’s something to it, however.)

-snip-
The conversation veered in a radically different direction when my fellow journalist asked Gore about the state of democracy. In a world where a second-term president coins such malapropisms as “nucular,” Gore’s articulate nature is welcome (though I should note here that Gore rarely mentions the current administration, disparagingly or otherwise). We learned that Gore’s senior thesis was on the impact of television on the Constitution (who knew?), and it looked as if we had touched upon another favorite talking point. “ conversation of democracy isn’t operating the way it should,” Gore insisted, before adding importantly that “Thomas Paine, in the television age, cannot break into the democracy.”

How our conversation got around to the author of Common Sense, I’ll never know—but having just finished a senior thesis of my own, I could appreciate Gore’s willingness to revisit the topic. Unfortunately, before I could ask him to elaborate, his assistant informed us that our designated 20-minute interview time was almost up. I shook the great man’s hand and wished him luck in Toronto, which is where the film was headed the following morning.

Damn, I didn’t get to ask him about The Day After Tomorrow.

Fortunately, if we get a hankering for more Gore, there are several ways to satisfy our craving. An Inconvenient Truth opens in theaters on June 2, and the day before, Gore’s new network, Current TV, debuts on Comcast’s channel 107. Current’s slogan is “the TV network created by the people who watch it”—apparently for the aspiring Thomas Paines out there (including a few at the U of C).

I’ve interviewed heroes of mine before, like sex columnist Dan Savage, and I must say that Gore was one of my warmest subjects. Occasionally, I couldn’t believe what was coming out of his mouth: the television rant, quoting Melissa Etheridge during the question-and-answer session, comparing his interviews in the film to a particularly painful bout in therapy. But in the end, his sincerity seemed revolutionary—thrilling, somehow. It was the perfect correlative to An Inconvenient Truth, which, after all, Gore considers “the ultimate action movie.” He just might be right.

http://maroon.uchicago.edu/voices/articles/2006/05/09/gore_urges_us_to_acc.php

[ramapo]

12. Good for Al...finally

I was very disappointed at the environmental record of the Clinton/Gore admin. They could've done more, even with all the political problems they had. Of course, they were far, far better then Bush but...

It is quite impressive to see Gore making a real contribution. Can't wait to see what VP Cheney's contribution will be to our society once his time in office is up.

[janx]

7. There is actually such a person as Teddy Roosevelt IV?

Amazing!

[Admiral Loinpresser]

10. Another environmentalist, to boot! n/t

[Pierre Trudeau]

13. very cool! TR was my favourite prez

I'm serial! Teddy Roosevelt was the very model of a great American, republican or no. He was the first conservation president (OK, I guess the only conservation president), so it shows the stars are aligning that his descendent and namesake is teaming up with The Al for this venture.

[Vidar]

14. Theodore Roosevelt--there's a name to conjure with.

[AlGore-08.com]

16. K & R for President Gore & TR 4!

:kick: :patriot: :kick:

[Bruden]

17. Al does fight the good fight

[noel adamson]

18. Teddy Roosevelt was not only the last Republican conservative...

...but the last non fascist Republican and his famous statement "Walk softly and carry a big stick" was directed at the Robber Barons and their huge predatory corporations who have never conserved anything but their corrupt hold on the wealth of this country and any other country they can exploit with the misuse of our military.

I hope Mr. Gore does run again and a campaign slogan for him might be "Burn me once, shame on you, burn me twice, shame on me" or, simple enough for <i>former</i> Bush dupes, "Once burned, twice a fool".

[Pierzin]

19. I just saw a preview at the movies Yesterday!

:wow: :wow: :wow: :scared: :scared: :scared: :scared:

For "An Inconvenient Truth"

OH MY GOD! Fellow Web Geeks and progressives! I was stunned. Just absolutley stunned. Our country Really Is Destroying The Planet. I am defintely going to this picture when this gets distributed to the theatres. I absolutely can't wait. I love Al for whatever his involvement with this environmental effort to reach the people.

Thank You Pirate Smile, for bringing this to our attention.

[xxqqqzme]

21. Keith Olberman did a good piece on

Gore on Countdown this evening. He even included the entire SNL monologue