Rex Murphy comments on the recent TV media mogul marriage of Al Gore and Keith Olbermann, a match made in sitcom.
By Rex Murphy in the National Post
Shakespeare never fails. When I read that Gaia’s First Messenger Here on Earth, the very face and clammy palms of global warming itself, Al Gore, had invited the Edward R. Morrow of the Twitterverse, latterly of the compulsively progressive MSNBC, Keith Olbermann, to join his Current TV cable network, the familiar “Let us not to the marriage of true minds admit impediments” unfailingly suggested itself.
Gore-Olbermann: never so fruitful a partnership since Gilligan and the Skipper.
Here was a true mating, a yoking of heart-breaking genius. Gore, an imperious, lugubrious, dour and insistent one-cause Doomsday machine, a kind of oversized Spock without Spock’s lavish sense of humour, needed something of Olbermann’s manic, untethered zest. Olbermann , whose most charged flights during his days at MSNBC’s Countdown went into hitherto unpiloted altitudes of non-sequitur and denunciation, desperately needed an alignment with someone who occasionally glided within a few feet of the actual (albeit destined to imminent, carbonaceous ruin) earth.
At first it was difficult to see which way the energy was running? Who was the “little guy” and who was the Skipper?
The entire essay is a hoot, read it at the link below
Note: I’ve updated the main image, my original image, sans TV is here
Addendum: lest some people think my satirical image is unfair to Gore and Olbermann, I’ll point out this cartoon from the CRU climategate files.
Here’s NCDC Tom Peterson’s (GHCN lead investigator) cartoon diddle:
Let’s give Tom Peterson credit for coming up with the original concept of tying climate personalities to Gilligan’s Island. IMHO his satire skills are just as robust as the GHCN.
This website used to make me smile. It was nice to know that I was not alone in my belief that AGW was not the doom and gloom it was made up to be.
But now, it just makes me laugh out loud :). Kudos, WUWT!
Rex Murphy is one of Canada’s national treasures!
Pretty funny , except that the Superbowl “arena” was in Dallas , not Houston . Of course , I’d almost forgotten about the AGW caused lack of snow at the Olympics in Calgary last year . ( Sarc , btw ).
Don’t want to brag about being ahead of Rex, or anything, but…
Al Gored says:
February 8, 2011 at 12:10 pm
Time to change the network name to Blowhard TV. Gore and Olbermann are a perfect match. One can only dream of a ‘news’ show with both of them pontificating, or even better a sitcom… maybe a remake of Gilligan’s Island, with the island threatened by rising sea levels of course, and perhaps Joe Romm guest starring as the Gilligan.
Or maybe a new version of ‘Cheers’ set in Hansen’s lab or at the Climate Rapid Response Team HQ.
The possibilities are endless.”
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/02/07/gore-and-olbermann-a-match-made-in/#comment-594284
REPLY: I’m told many columnists from the National Post read WUWT, be honored. – Anthony
This also reminds me of the scene from Young Frankenstein, Putting on the Ritz.
He’s even better on TV . . he still has some residual Newfie accent and with his Professor persona and his voice . . . well it is always a treat to hear someone exercise the English language.
my bad . . . forgot the link
http://www.cbc.ca/thenational/indepthanalysis/rexmurphy/story/2009/12/03/thenational-rexmurphy-091203.html
Didn’t know if the Rex Murphy piece on Gore Golbermann would make it to WUWT since you’ve run two posts on it alteady. Glad you did. A little less noisy than Rex’s prose is the recent announcement by the Premier of Ontario pulling the plug on some of the more inane wind power projects at least.
Can another Rex Murphy editorial be far behind?
Forgot the link!
http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2011/02/12/kelly-mcparland-ontario-quietly-reverses-field-on-wind-solar-energy/
REPLY: I’m told many columnists from the National Post read WUWT, be honored. – Anthony
If that is the case Anthony, I am. Rex is the only person at the CBC – his other job -who does not drink the AGW KoolAid (they give David Suzuki an unchallenged soapbox for his drivel). When he did his famous post-Climategate rant there I thought the rest of the clones there were going to have a heart attack!
The picture is perfect and the comparison sooooooo true!!! The “Gilligan’s Island” reference is one that seems to have more than one application today. After a trip to Canada, via the link above, you might also find this link adds to your knowledge about The Famous Castaways and the outlook for the weather ahead –
http://symonsez.wordpress.com/2011/02/12/ginger-or-mary-ann/
Of course polemics of any flavor are undesirable. I’d no more watch Golbermann than I would O’Reillybaugh.
Where’s my dictionary?
The full article says: “As Gore’s star pales and recedes“.
That is not likely. Given his bulk and the trajectory of “CAGW”, the more likely outcome is that of Betelgeuse. Hopefully, sooner.
Twenty-three thousand viewers in a country of 300 million people — these are not CSI numbers. Heck, they’re not even fireplace-channel numbers
Nice!! 🙂
There were stories that as part of the termination of Olbermann’s contract with NBC, that NBC would require that Olbermann not to “compete with NBC” while NBC was paying off the remainder of the contract. Well, putting Olbermann on Current TV definitely does that.
……perhaps fading Al sees something of a mirror image in the fall of Keith. And perhaps both of them sense that each of them has had his moment, that this moment is past, so maybe the only fun left is to join hands and mutually console for what little of the gig remains to either of them…..
…..and to just become caricatures of themselves.
Get Soros to join them and it’s a trifecta!
Too late to stop this:
Global Panic as Green Sector Collapses and Investors Face Ruin
http://johnosullivan.livejournal.com/30603.html
Would this make George Soros their equivalent of Thurston Howell, III ?
Perhaps Michael Mann is Professor?
The only question remaining is who plays the part of the women? I think Ginger especially might be too hard to cast.
As for the inane windpower….
A lot of commentary and a compendium of the stories can be found a WCO — Wind Concerns Ontario…
http://windconcernsontario.wordpress.com/
We are all hoping for further commentary from Rex on the matter.
You will also find that some of the National Post writers are regular commenters there — Parker Gallant amongst them…
Links to WUWT are also “regular features” as many of the concerns are mutual.
Oh boy! We’ll get to see Keith interview Joe Romm again…
Please excuse me while I fight the urge to claw the eyeballs out of my skull. Actually, Olbie is just the type of spittle-flecked, hate-mongering lunatic you would expect to see leading the charge to combat CAGW. Lets hope Algore gives him the proper training.
This calls for another piece by Josh – maybe something like Al Gore welcoming the Hockey Team to Golbermann’s Island, where all their (climate) fantasies can come true ? 😉
Does murphys law apply for both gentlemen ?
REX loves to use every work ever penned in the english language. He takes the Newfie gift of gab and cuts through all the BS at the same time. Makes you feel appreciated at the same time he is cutting you to shreds LOL! The only thing I wonder is how he manages to keep his job at the CBC.
OOPS! work should be word in my previous comment.
On a related note the Ontario Government has halted all approvals for offshore wind generation because of “Environmental concerns”. Funny how they don’t seem concerned about the health affects on people though!!!
Rex Murphy is a blistering beacon of common sense up here in Canada. I hope he lives a thousand years (FOR OUR SAKE AS MUCH AS HIS!!!!). We need more like him.
Maybe Al just can’t get over the hanging chads, and needs to hang out with people whose names sound like Lieberman. Or may be it will be Gore/Olbermann in 2012.
The increasing incidence of these kinds of humorous demolitions of the various patron saints of CAGW are a very hopeful sign. Arguing the finely honed talking points of CAGW on the basis of “climate science”, which at this time is incapable of supporting any assertion as either provable or falsifiable, has always seemed to be a fruitless task. The only really effective stake through the heart that will dispatch this bloodsucking movement is the raucous horse laugh. As the various waxings and wanings of the careers of any number of celebutards in entertainment, sports, and politics have shown in recent times, redemption from virtually any difficulty is possible, except when one has become the instant punch line for a straight line that doesn’t even have to be stated.
Fortunately, in their increasing desperation, the acolytes of CAGW have been producing a cascade of PR science that is almost self-satirizing in its nearly moronic ineptitude. The Golbermann combo has the potential to really seal the deal in terms of making climate hysteria the universal butt of the joke it has always been destined to be. The only thing that will hold it back from fulfilling its function is that it’s unlikely to be seen by nearly enough people to accomplish the task.
I suggest that when Olbie gets up and running, every blog in the skeptosphere provide a prominent sidebar link to his efforts. Given his penchant for self-inflicted wounds, providing ridiculing commentary should hardly be necessary. If Current TV can be kept afloat for 6 months to a year with Olbie as their public mouthpiece, we should easily reach the point where trying to raise the notion of the demon CO2 in public or private conversation will be met by everyone in attendance snickering behind their hand. We will then have moved closer to a return to sanity than any conceivable development in the “science” could ever bring us.
Loved this bit. What a line!
Gore, an imperious, lugubrious, dour and insistent one-cause Doomsday machine, a kind of oversized Spock without Spock’s lavish sense of humour, …”
Dave Wendt says:
Rex….is that you 😉
Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid as Lovey and Thurston Howell III?
Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings department:
“Grandad – is Al Gore part of Al Qaeda?”
I think AlGore is missing a bet by not recruiting “Moonbeam” McKibben to compliment this all star line up of scientific il’literacy. “”Moonbeam” McKibby baby could be the whiner-in-chief!
Amino Acids in Meteorites says: “…And perhaps both…sense that each…has had his moment, that this moment is past, so maybe the only fun left is to join hands and mutually console for what little of the gig remains to either of them.”
“♪…Someone’s cryin’, Lord, kumbaya…♫”
Just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale,
A tale of the fateful Gore
Who started with his climate alarm
And aboard came Olbermann.
Now Gore was a mighty buisines man,
Carbon trading a sure fired bet.
With the Team, UN, and AR4,
Carbon trading was ensured.
Colder winters started getting rough,
The models were getting tossed,
If not for the courage of journalists
Global warming would be lost, global warming would be lost.
The temperatures started dropping fast, the scam was now a wreck.
With Al Gore,
Along with Olbermann.
And billions now on hold,
Despite the movie scare
And professor Mann,
They’re here on Gilligans Isle.
AOL buys Huffington Post for $315 million and Current TV adds Keith Olbermann: I don’t know who was the biggest loser. Likely AOL. It took 40% of their money to do it. They must have thought Huffington Post is going to stay popular. Either that or they just don’t know what they’re doing.
……40% of the $802 million in cash that AOL had on hand at the end of last year.
http://money.cnn.com/2011/02/07/technology/aol_huffington_post/index.htm
I wonder what WUWT is worth?
Jeroen B. says:
February 12, 2011 at 12:57 pm
This calls for another piece by Josh
He comes up with some good ones. Maybe he’s got a good one for this!
Oops, that last line should have said “They’re here on Golbermann’s Isle”
Al Gored @ February 12, 2011 at 12:19 pm says:
“When he did his famous post-Climategate rant there I thought the rest of the clones there were going to have a heart attack!{“
Saidly, it was Rex that had a heart attack last June. Glad to see he has recovered!
How much is WUWT worth? Why, $20.11 when Anthony wins the 2011 Science Blog of the Year Award!!!! And of course whatever you see fit to fling right here…
http://www.surfacestations.org/donate.htm
I almost peed my self laughing Hank. Thanks
For those who don’t know him Rex Murphy is one of heads Canada’s El primo talking and a no nonsense national treasures. He Can tackle any subject with the ease of a genius. Ive seen him pull 6 inch nails out or hard wood with his teeth (figuratively speaking). He can take down the most arrogant Warmist or politician with facts and science, without breaking a sweat or reading any notes.
His command of the English language his nothing short of brilliant and like a great sword’s man he uses it to cut, parry, thrust and disarm in the most jaw dropping fashion fashion. (Like the Fantastic sword fights in the movie Princess bride)
Yes I admit I’m a big fan of his and he is a great alley against the global warming hucksters.
Keep on kicking Rex we need you!
Excellent Rex Murphy piece
Rex Murphy is the man, Suzuki Who? HAHAHA!
Shock? More shock: Pinocchio McGuinty Breaks Wind.
Ontario Liberal Red-Green McGuinty shivs his Red-Green buddies.
Da crowning achievement?
>>> “The enduring setback, environmentalists say, is to their own movement. Rather than calming the anti-wind movement, McGuinty’s climb-down could well energize it.”
Da proof?
>>> “I’m surprised that I would have to find about it from you,” Smith fumed. “We’re one of the key stakeholders.”
>>> “Rick Smith, who heads the lobby group Environmental Defence, still hadn’t heard the news when I called, though the urgent messages started coming in from government liaison people as we spoke. Like most environmentalists, he hadn’t expected the premier to trim his sails at the first sight of stormy seas.
“I’m surprised that I would have to find about it from you,” Smith fumed. “We’re one of the key stakeholders.”
But voters, not stakeholders, are what count with an election less than eight months away.”
…-
“Cohn: Ontario reverses its spin on offshore wind”
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/937914–cohn-ontario-reverses-its-spin-on-offshore-wind?bn=1
http://www.bluelikeyou.com/2011/02/12/but-sun-tv-is-the-dangerous-one/#comment-61065
Rex Murphy
“When Jon Stewart, the bantam rooster of conventional wisdom, makes jokes about it, you know Climategate has reached critical mass. …”
OMG. This is such Josh-fodder.
The Skipper and Little Buddy??
…or the myriad of other shows to parody…Not the least of which is the U.K.’s very own Dr. Who (and Dr. What), where our heroes travel back in time to reset the temperatures…..
Oh, the ideas are flooding my brain…Algore as Andy and Keith as Barney, Rajendra as Floyd…and introducing Richard Alley as Opie
Joisey Shore Hot in Here… Al as The Situation..
Al as Archie in All in the Family, Keith as Meathead
WKRP……aw…that’s too easy!
I can’t wait to start watching Current TV, and Ben Santer’s cartoons.
Love ya, Rex. A man with the courage to face the CBC without flinching. It has to be awkward when he enters his office at the CBC. Want to be a fly on the wall for that!!! This is the kind of Murphy’s Law we need. Go get ’em, Rex.
WUWT is worth about $64K.
realclimate.org is worth about $8K. I think most of that value is from what’s in the Bore Hole.
http://www.mywebsiteworth.com/site/wattsupwiththat.com
http://www.mywebsiteworth.com/site/realclimate.org
Rex Murphy is a Canadian national treasure indeed, and so is the National Post. That is the real match made in heaven! Now, if only Mark Steyn would come back ….
Ole Saddle Sore:
I think AlGore is missing a bet by not recruiting “Moonbeam” McKibben to compliment this all star line up of scientific il’literacy.
Can’t do that, OSS. Our guv trademarked “Moonbeam” many years ago after the late Mike Royko bestowed the title. Rex carries on a great journalistic tradition…
clipe, if you seen that report in real time like I did, you would notice the smirk from Peter Mansbridge’s face, It was a smirk of discust at Rex Murphy. You could see a bit of it here but they cut most of it out, they didn’t like what he had to say and especially Mansbridge with his belittleing smirk. Not very professional of Mansbridge ism’t it!
Re- Jeremy’s comment as to who would play Ginger. Here in Canada we have ginger haired Elizabeth May and also Dr. David Suzuki available.
Ref – Jeremy says:
February 12, 2011 at 12:49 pm
“Would this make George Soros their equivalent of Thurston Howell, III ? Perhaps Michael Mann is Professor? The only question remaining is who plays the part of the women? I think Ginger especially might be too hard to cast.”
Think Kabuki (no girls allowed) – Harry Reed as Mary Ann and Jones as Ginger?
Poor Arlington, Texas, after ‘footing the bill’ for Jones’ (Cowboy owner) new stadium still gets no name recognition!
Official site:
http://stadium.dallascowboys.com/
“Cowboys Stadium is a domed stadium with a retractable roof in Arlington, Texas. It serves as the home of the National Football League’s Dallas Cowboys. ”
– http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cowboys_Stadium
.
H.R.
That line about Spock was the only part I took offense. How dare Rex elevate Gore to the intellectual level of Spock?!?!?
Cheers
Mike
@ Canmore Mike.
“without Spock’s lavish sense of humour”. Now if that isn’t sarcasm…
Dave W., as evidenced by the desperate back-pedalling by the windmill-subsidizers of the world, economics may be even more potent than ridicule.
Stein’s Law: “If something cannot go on forever, it will stop. “
Great column, but 3 errors: Dallas Super bowl (already noted); Edward R. Murrow (not Morrow); impresario (one s). Minor, perhaps; but I prefer reading and not being jarred by errors.
“Current TV is available in 60 million homes and get 22,800 viewers or 0.038% which is ironically coincident with the percentage of CO2 in air. Both are insignificant, but spun incredibly.” http://adrianvance.blogspot.com/
LOL
Almost word perfect.
However, I think “non-sequitur and denunciation” ought to have been “non-sequitur and ad hominem”, which rings better as a latin couplet pairing the standard logical fallacies so generously exhibited in Olbermann’s semi-coherent rants. “Denunciation” is oh-so-Spanish-inquisition. To do it properly, you need some kind of authority. Olbermann is a clown with no authority outside his own fantasy world — his attempts to denounce his betters rises no higher than garden-variety ad hominem, albeit amplified by placement on network television. On GoreTV he belongs, with no doubt.