Gore to press: Stay Out!

Credit: Robert Vamosi / CNET Networks

First you have to wonder what global warming has to do with a computer security conference (RSA) in the first place, but then the real surprise comes when you find that Al Gore did not allow any members of the press to attend.

One blogger, Tim Wilson, with press credentials writes:

Gore, who reportedly receives $100,000 for personal appearances, apparently has a standard contract that bans the fourth estate from all of his speeches. No one seems to know why, and we can’t ask — on account of we’re out here, and he’s in there.

This lack of free press access peeved more than a few reporters:

CNET: http://www.news.com/8301-10789_3-9917347-57.html

Wired: http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/03/al-gore-says-no.html

Information Week:

http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2008/04/al_gores_top_se.html

Silicon Alley Insider:

http://www.alleyinsider.com/2008/4/why_does_al_gore_hate_the_press_

Computerworld:

http://blogs.computerworld.com/why_is_al_gore_dis_inviting_press_and_analysts_at_rsa

and many more

But I suppose when the “debate is over” why do you need the press around? Gore’s standard speaking contract was published by The Smoking Gun, and it is apparently not just this RSA conference, but ALL such contracted appearances Gore bans the press from.

Gore’s Contract:

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2007/0717071gore1.html

Reporters and those pesky questions they ask, how inconvenient.

 

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April 13, 2008 12:57 pm

He must be talking about how much money there is to be made in the Global Warming “businesses”.
Why else wouldn’t he want the press there?
It’s doubtful that any reporters would be allowed to ask hard questions, like “Why is it so cold?”

Kristen Byrnes
April 13, 2008 1:16 pm

He can’t let the press in because everything he says gets debunked.

Larry Sheldon
April 13, 2008 1:59 pm

Did you ever wonder why the Founding Fathers thought a free press was important?
Have you ever wondered what the pamphleteers would use if they were alive today?

Rod Smith
April 13, 2008 2:09 pm

Well, I don’t suppose there is any “controlling legal authority.”

April 13, 2008 2:23 pm

“First you have to wonder what global warming has to do with a computer security conference (RSA) in the first place”
Maybe it is similar to the CISCO Systems crap last month
http://computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyName=hardware&articleId=9069758&taxonomyId=12&intsrc=kc_top

crosspatch
April 13, 2008 4:03 pm

I think the reason he bans the press is that he probably gives exactly the same speech verbatim in every location. If the press were there, quotes would be published, people would read it, and he would be forced to produce new material for each engagement. As it is now, he can give the same “talk” over and over and over again. He just doesn’t want any of the content getting out is what I think.

Robert Wood
April 13, 2008 4:28 pm

Yes but RSA is all about secret codes – possibly for talking with aliens when not wearing the tin foil hat???
At an Al Gore speech, everyone must join the tin-foil hat free-masrony. Of course, no uninitiated allowed.

April 13, 2008 5:36 pm

Larry Sheldon said: “Have you ever wondered what the pamphleteers would use if they were alive today?”
The Internet?
Thank God we have it or we would all be buying carbon credits from Goofy Gore by this time!
Jack Koenig, Editor
The Mysterious Climate project
http://www.climateclinic.com

April 13, 2008 5:33 pm

Bill Adams said: “It’s doubtful that any reporters would be allowed to ask hard questions, like “Why is it so cold?”
I doubt if the Lamestream Media has the intelligence to ask such a thought provoking questions (snicker snicker)
Jack Koenig, Editor
The Mysterious Climate project
http://www.climateclinic.com

Tony Edwards
April 13, 2008 5:37 pm

Near the beginning of his recent video, he mentions having given the full speech 2000 times in two years. Apart from that being about three per day, that also suggests that the IRS should look at his tax return. 2000 times $100,000 is, by my reckoning, two hundred million. Almost enough for his ad campaign

April 13, 2008 5:39 pm

Bill Adams said: “It’s doubtful that any reporters would be allowed to ask hard questions, like “Why is it so cold?”
Hey Bill, aren’t you giving the reporters too much credit? I mean, there is an intelligence gap in that genre, isn’t there?
Jack Koenig, Editor
The Mysterious Climate project
http://www.climateclinic.com

Aviator
April 13, 2008 5:40 pm

Here’s the answer to why the press isn’t allowed in:
When they are around, embarrassing stories get out.

Aviator
April 13, 2008 5:41 pm
KuhnKat
April 13, 2008 9:24 pm

Al “an inconvenient Moron” Gore was a BIG proponent of the Clipper Chip during the early Clinton Administration. Maybe he is promoting a similar boondoggle??

Jeff B.
April 13, 2008 10:46 pm

McGrats, no don’t thank God for the Internet. Thank Al.

Pierre Gosselin (aka AGWscoffer)
April 14, 2008 1:47 am

Only speculating…
Could Gore be preparing some sort on internet action/intervention?
You can be sure he’ll have some sort of prominent position in a future Obama Admin.
Gore believes that the earth is in a state of emergency…which would justify the application of different set of laws.
Scary is that Gore’s so-called emergency would be open-ended, with no time limit.

April 14, 2008 6:20 am

The answer is simple. He doesn’t want to answer questions about people starving to death.
http://noblesseoblige.org/wordpress/?p=2168

April 14, 2008 6:22 am

When you refuse to debate, it can’t be anything but over, I guess. This is what passes for “Courage.”

Stan Needham
April 14, 2008 6:22 am

Aviator,
I don’t think most people have a problem with investments in alternative/renewable energy — I don’t. In fact, one of the gurus at MarketWatch recently wrote an extensive piece about how alternative energy will be the next big “bubble” market, peaking around 2013 or 2014. So today is probably not a bad time to get in. Of course, it’s a crap shoot as to which companies will make a go of it and which ones will die on the vine, but there is probably a lot of money to be made in the next few years if you have a decent crystal ball. Where I have a BIG problem with Gore and his ilk is in the selling/trading in carbon indulgences (credits). That, IMHO, is one of the biggest scams in recent memory.

April 14, 2008 6:24 am

[…] What’s Al Gore got to say about this? Not much. […]

Mark
April 14, 2008 6:28 am

Aviator, like this one?
I just watched Mr. Gore’ latest bit of propaganda (warning to fellow skeptics, don’t watch this if you have a weak stomach!):
http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/243
It’s hard to know where to start in terms of the range of drivel put forth by Mr. Gore but there is one absolutely indisputable item that caught my attention that shows Al is either exceptionally stupid or a bald faced liar:
In the early part of his show, Al drones on about the record low area of the Northern “icecap” last year (funny he never mentioned the record high level of the Antarctic icecap!). Anyway at about the 7 minute mark he goes on to say “Already, along the Arctic Circle” and proceeds to show 2 pictures of buildings collapsing and falling off of cliffs. The first was from Alaska but, get this, the second was from Daniel’s Harbour Newfoundland! Now if you check your geography, you’ll find that the latitude for Daniel’s Harbour is lower than that for London, England! Now I’ve heard London described in many ways but never as being along the Arctic Circle! If you do the math you will find that Daniel’s Harbour is some 1800 kilometres from the Arctic Circle. It appears that Al Gore’s geoextrapolation skills are even more advanced than James Hansen’s!
Now as to the real cause of houses falling off cliffs in Daniel’s Harbour:
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/newfoundland-labrador/story/2007/04/16/second-landslide.html

April 14, 2008 7:01 am

Gore is addressing a room full of computer security pros. He will be videoed, sound taped, and otherwise recorded out the gazoo–and he will not even know it!
How stupid to keep the media out when the real masters of covert recording will be sitting down right in front of him.

Pericles
April 14, 2008 8:28 am

Could Al Gore be sued for creating a “climate of fear” once the treehuggers realise how they were duped. Imagine him loosing every penny paid to him for his speeches. What a cheering thought to see him castigated for all time as one of the most pig ignorant jessies to have be whelped.
To see his fat sanctimonious face stricken with fear, as the bodyguards move aside to allow the mob to rend him limb from limb. OOOOOOH! It’s better than nookie! As for keynote speech, he’s just Johnny one flat note. There ought to be a law against him.

SteveSadlov
April 14, 2008 11:44 am

He’s at RSA because a majority of high tech execs are either hippies, loons, or, outright revolutionaries. Now as for the question as to why IT security is entrusted to such execs, that is for another discussion on another day. Scary, huh?

james griffin
April 14, 2008 3:13 pm

Al Gore is concerned someone with a little bit of real knowledge on the climate will ask a difficult question or point out “an inconvenient truth”.
It does not take too much research to find out that the science is far from settled and it is only a matter of time before Gore is found out.
For my own part I have contacted the likes of the BBC, The Independent and ITN News and pointed out the 10 year temp decline, climate model problems due to info gathered from the Aqua satellite and all sorts of other a anomolies that dispute the AGW theory.
Their answer?…nothing!
Outside of their comfort zone of attacking people being in the pay of oil companies they simply cannot deal with simple observations that compromise their views and theories.
Gore is the same.

April 14, 2008 4:43 pm

How long before we get these gore creeps handing out pamphletes in the streets, advertising Spencer Weart’s booking, offering an initial carbon footprint reading for free, and gore’s living on a boat with little boys?

April 14, 2008 6:53 pm

Whine, whine, whine.
Is it your claim that this contract is unusual in some fashion? I’d like to know how. There are any number of people who speak on policy who have similar contract requirements — though, you must admit (if you’re honest), very few demand a sedan and suggest (not demand) a hybrid. Even being cranky, Gore’s looking out for the planet.
Have you done a survey of speaking contracts to see who allows press in, and who doesn’t? It’s been my experience in the last 30 years that the groups who pay $100,000 for a speech don’t want to share with the general public, and in my experience, it’s the paying groups who usually demand that clause. Putting it into a contract in advance is a pretty good sales device, it seems to me — but then, free marketry isn’t something you relish when consumers choose something other than your brand, is it.
Is it your claim that Gore doesn’t give interviews? He’s ahead of Bush and Cheney put together — and they belong to the taxpayers, or should.
What IS your complaint, anyway? Do you think he’s saying something he hasn’t said in public somewhere else? (His new power point is up on his website, if you really wanted to see it – for free.)
From a flacking view, the opponents, even the whiney ones, are in the driver’s seat on this. There’s nothing that stops any fool Al Gore hater from putting out a press release against him, or blogging that he’s being secretive.
Case in point.

April 14, 2008 6:57 pm

When you refuse to debate, it can’t be anything but over, I guess. This is what passes for “Courage.”

You got better stuff contradicting Gore? Put in on slides and take it on the road. Risk ridicule for a couple of years before people start paying attention. Make it into a movie that doesn’t bore people to death, even though it features a surplus of charts and graphs. Win an Oscar.
Courage? Not enough to try to make the case against Gore the way Gore did.

Evan Jones
Editor
April 14, 2008 9:21 pm

Even being cranky, Gore’s looking out for the planet.
If his policies did not come at such terrible cost in human life I would regard him less harshly. However, his advocacy is not harmless and its baleful effects are indirectly felt already by the poorest and most helpless.

Jeff Alberts
April 14, 2008 9:24 pm

Is it your claim that this contract is unusual in some fashion? I’d like to know how. There are any number of people who speak on policy who have similar contract requirements — though, you must admit (if you’re honest), very few demand a sedan and suggest (not demand) a hybrid. Even being cranky, Gore’s looking out for the planet.

If he’s looking out for the planet, why is it a secret meeting? And why is he charging so much more than just travel expenses? He’s looking out for himself, nothing more.

Have you done a survey of speaking contracts to see who allows press in, and who doesn’t? It’s been my experience in the last 30 years that the groups who pay $100,000 for a speech don’t want to share with the general public, and in my experience, it’s the paying groups who usually demand that clause. Putting it into a contract in advance is a pretty good sales device, it seems to me — but then, free marketry isn’t something you relish when consumers choose something other than your brand, is it.

Apples and oranges. Gore is supposedly trying to save US from OURSELVES. Why then can’t we hear what he expects us to do while he DOESN’T do it? Can’t he just send them a video tape? THAT would be looking out for the planet.

Is it your claim that Gore doesn’t give interviews? He’s ahead of Bush and Cheney put together — and they belong to the taxpayers, or should.

Yeah, he gives them to people who ask softball questions. People who will portray him in a favorable light.

What IS your complaint, anyway? Do you think he’s saying something he hasn’t said in public somewhere else? (His new power point is up on his website, if you really wanted to see it – for free.)

We don’t know what he’s saying, that’s the whole point! Sheesh!

From a flacking view, the opponents, even the whiney ones, are in the driver’s seat on this. There’s nothing that stops any fool Al Gore hater from putting out a press release against him, or blogging that he’s being secretive.

We do, but we don’t have oil money like he does to throw around. Not to mention all the lefties who don’t really care if he’s right, as long as he’s blaming conservatives, or anyone who doesn’t agree with them.

Mike Bryant
April 15, 2008 2:36 am

Your citation from CNN had a few very very interesting comments from some who were there. Here’s a sample:
“I was there too”…: reader comment from Electro_Fox
Posted on: April 12, 2008, 7:12 AM PDT
Story: Press barred from Gore’s RSA speech
“And could NOT believe some of his statements… I admit, when he stated that, as a matter of scientific fact, that the polar ice would be gone in 5 years, I was one of the MANY who gasped… He also stated that San Francisco, Seattle, the French Riviera, all coastal cities, etc would be under 10-20 feet of water after the ice melts! ?@%*#!”
There were other commenters who confirmed this. In fact one brave girl was apparently hauled off by Gore’s goons and turned over to the police. I would like to hear her story.

April 15, 2008 11:37 am

Global Warming Gravitas (UPDATED)…
I’m amazed that the very people who’ve bought into the scam that is global warming are now quick to display these kinds of cartoons and wag them in our faces: More chutzpah-ish is the notion that these same people would…

SteveSadlov
April 15, 2008 5:08 pm

Hey Ed Darrell, are you one of those loony tunes high tech CEOs, or a crony thereof?
(Some companies now even have Chief EnvironMENTAL Officers)

April 17, 2008 2:18 am

We don’t know what he’s saying, that’s the whole point! Sheesh!

Yeah, that’s evident.
Here, get caught up — this is an old one, from 2006:
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/1

April 20, 2008 5:44 am

[…] στα υπερθερμασμένα για κέρδη παραληρήματά του: http://wattsupwiththat.wordpress.com/2008/04/13/gore-to-press-stay-out Οι αρχομανείς ωρύονται “κάνε ό,τι σου λέω, όχι ό,τι […]

June 25, 2008 4:24 am

[…] What’s Al Gore got to say about this? Not much. […]