Saturday, July 07, 2007

How Al Gore Screwed Sen. James Inhofe Over LiveEarth

Jackson Williams

In March, when Gore was organizing the worldwide Live Earth concerts being held today, he envisioned one of the many simultaneous concerts being in Washington, right in front of the Capitol building. James Inhofe, the senator from Oklahoma who denies that global warming even exists, said he'd block it because there'd never been an overt political event allowed at the Capitol before, and he wasn't going to allow it now. (A concert designed to draw attention to protecting the Earth is politically overt? To a clown like Inhofe, apparently.)

Inhofe also grilled Gore when the former vice president testified about global warming that month before House and Senate committees. He kept referring to Gore in his questioning as "Senator Gore" instead of "Vice President Gore." True, Gore had once been a senator, but protocol and propriety say you refer to someone by the most recent title they've held, and Inhofe certainly knows that, so he was behaving like a rude and unmannered little boy.

Gore took the concert denial in stride and quietly made arrangements with the Smithsonian, specifically their National Museum of the American Indian, to sponsor a Washington concert under their auspices, to take place on the Mall, just two blocks from the Capitol. The surprise announcement only came this week, just 24 hours before today's Live Earth concerts. Inhofe has no control over what takes place on the Mall, of course, but he could have - and no doubt would have - made a stink if he knew that the Smithsonian, a federal institution, was partnering with Gore to get around the roadblock he'd threatened. Hell, he may yet do so after the fact; he is small enough of a person to attempt to hold up a funding measure or something.

Oh, and just who are the headliners performing at this last minute added concert in D.C.? Why, none other than the superstar Couple of Country Music, Oklahoma native and favorite son Garth Brooks and his wife Tricia Yearwood. Heh Heh Heh....

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