Al Gore defended his sale of Current TV to Al Jazeera in an appearance this morning on Today, saying he was forced to sell because of tough competition from conglomerates. He also denied any hypocrisy in the $500 million sale to Qatar-based Al Jazeera, which is funded in large part with oil money. Gore, a staunch advocate for addressing climate change, told Matt Lauer he understood the criticism, but said Al Jazeera’s climate coverage was far superior to that of networks in the U.S. Gore, who made a reported $100M on the deal, was appearing on the NBC morning show to tout his new book The Future but got some hardball questions from Lauer along the way. Check out the video below:
Al Gore Denies Hypocrisy In Current TV Sale To Al Jazeera: Video
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Al Gore is a hypocrite for selling to Qatar. But, Al Jazeera English’s reporting has been great. Much better than ABCC, CBS, NBC or Fox News. And when the left is presented on MSNBC, it never attacks Democrats and Republicans equally.
Al Jazeera has reported on the National Defense Authorization Act. They have reported on the contracts of the oil companies going in Iraq involving Shell, Chevron and others. Would you see that on the US nightly news? Nope. Why? The oil companies are advertisers of the big 3 US networks.
Come on, SNL…now’s your chance to be fair and balanced. Skewer this guy.
Hmmm, $100 million profit for Gore on a deal for a flop, money-burning, “news” network.
He must be smarter than I thought…
Such integrity. How’s that moral superiority working out for you, Al? What a putz.
Gore can deny all he wants, but he had lost all credibility with a staunch group of former supporters. He took the money and he ran far, far away from the ideals that he apparently thinks everyone else must live but but he is exempt from. He lost his legacy to gain a fortune. Ah, where have we had that story before??? Who now cares what Gore thinks except for the conservatives who always knew he was a big piece of phony baloney. In this case, those nuts was correct!
This dude would be skewered on every single media outlet if he were a Republican. Not trying to defend Republicans, but this double-standard has become so obvious and obnoxious it’s nauseating.
As someone who used to like and respect Al Gore (long ago), I honestly can’t think of anything more hypocritical than this. I mean, this takes the Grand Prize. Shame on you, Al.
The headline should read “Al Gore Defines Hypocrisy” he personifies hypocrisy he can deny it all he wants but he defines it with his actions and his greed especially because he hustled to close the deal before Dec. 31st so he could avoid the tax increase on such a large amount of money. Typical limousine liberal always trying to avoid the taxes that they themselves advocate and implement for the little people. But not for them. Oh no they know how to avoid the high taxes they make people lower on the ladder than they are pay.
I used to like Gore as well but this transaction has bullcrap written all over it. The US is still a free country and I guess he is entitled to make money like any other “3-card-monte Times Square huckster”. What disturbs me is that American tax dollars support Al Jazeera nightly broadcasts on PBS. No one seems to be bothered by that little tid bit!
Ole Jethro here can deny it all he wants but let’s face it, he’s smiling all the way to the bank and after realizing he was a fish out of water when it came to running a TV network, he gave up the fight and sold out to the highest bidder, in this case AJE, so he should stop his bitching and complaining and be happy AJE overpaid on this poor excuse of a TV network.
Why do people care so much about this? He did what the supposed American thing is and created a company and ended up making a huge profit on it. Why do people LOVE to point at the hypocrisy of others so much? I find it odd and a little unsettling. People actually seem to like someone better who has no morals or doesn’t try to stand for something because it makes them feel better about themselves.
Hmmm, I wonder how many of these folks harpooning Gore would pass on $500 mil because it isn’t ethical in some circles…now whose the hypocrite?
Boo-hoo. Like we haven’t had to live with right-wing hypocrisy for too many years. Carlyle Group, anyone? Halliburton? Blackwater? Conservative insiders making a zillion dollars on fake WMD wars. Flag-waving all the way to big profits for a select few. $18 BILLION missing in Iraq, still unaccounted for. Where were you whiners then?
According to Time magazine (latest issue out now), Gore is richer than Mitt Romney and he didn’t hoodwink right-wing rubes to do it! He got swindled out of the presidency, now he’s laughing all the way to the bank. I call it justice. Welcome to America, Al-Jazeera! Eat it haters.
I feel the same way about Al Gore as I do Lance Armstrong: I wish they both would just go away forever. Let’s stop indulging them, stop reporting on them, etc. They are both uninteresting hypocrites, whose motto seems to be, ‘Do what I say, not what I do.’
Hello all.
It is interesting to me how easy it is to point out hypocrisy of Mr. Gore on one side of the political spectrum and conservative “nuts” on the other side. Without knowing that Current TV was Al’s baby, I came across it while channel surfing and saw some very interesting subjects. Arming the drug cartels in Juarez, and the plight of those Mexicans trying to cross into the US. The journalists reporting showed in person the heart breaking events and brutal murdering as a result of the drug wars. I concluded that the reporting was not biased in any way. It seemed to be just informative. I believed the journalists risked their safety to bring the reality of what is happening to sour attention. I urge anyone to contact your senators and congress representatives and voice your sentiments.
As for the network I am sorry to see it replaced. I will check out the new one out of curiosity.
I wish we as citizens of this great United Sates were not Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians, Right Wing, Left Wing, Conservatives, Liberals or any other label. That would make for us to have discussion of the real issues at hand and come up with credible solutions without partisan agendas. As for me, I support the United States Constitution as intended by our Founding Fathers and as worded in the Declaration of Independence. The Bill of rights are all key to guiding me who and what to support and vote for. No label is required for honest freedom loving patriots!
We have strayed to far from these ideal as a nation. Read, learn, talk, and vote!