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RiverLover

(7,830 posts)
Wed Mar 18, 2015, 11:11 AM Mar 2015

Why Is Al Gore Warming Up?

Why Is Al Gore Warming Up?
3/18/2015


Al Gore, just like the planet, is getting hotter by the hour these days.

There he is at SXSW, rubbing elbows with tech elites, hipsters, and the commerce secretary. There he is, svelte and poised and proclaiming his new optimism to The New York Times. There he is in Vox, where Ezra Klein is trying to draft him into the 2016 presidential race. He's even popping up in conversations between Bill Kristol and Paul Begala. (If you feel compelled to check a calendar after that last one, I swear it really is 2015 and not 1995.)

It's not bad for a dude who peaked at 10 p.m. on November 7, 2000. Sure, he's had some good moments—notably the Nobel Peace Prize—but he's also had some not-so-good moments, and it's strange to see him getting so many headlines now. But what's behind this Gorenaissance? This reinvi-Gore-ation? This renew-Al? One way to think through the question is to think about what constituencies might benefit....

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/03/why-is-al-gore-warming-up/388069/


Wanted to add the NYT piece referenced above, in case anyone missed it~

The New Optimism of Al Gore
3/16/15


...Over the last year, however, the prophet of doom has become much more a prophet of possibility — even, perhaps, an optimist. Still an object of derision for the political right, Mr. Gore has seen support for his views rising within the business community: Investment in renewable energy sources like wind and solar is skyrocketing as their costs plummet. He has slides for that, too. Experts predicted in 2000 that wind generated power worldwide would reach 30 gigawatts; by 2010, it was 200 gigawatts, and by last year it reached nearly 370, or more than 12 times higher. Installations of solar power would add one new gigawatt per year by 2010, predictions in 2002 stated. It turned out to be 17 times that by 2010 and 48 times that amount last year.

“I think most people have been surprised, even shocked, by how quickly the cost has come down,” Mr. Gore says in his office in an environmentally friendly building in the prosperous Green Hills neighborhood of Nashville. He sports a style that might be called Southern business casual: a blazer and dress shirt, bluejeans and cowboy boots. At age 66, he is also trimmer than he was during his bearish, bearded period after the 2000 election, thanks in part to a vegan diet he has maintained for two years. In this city? Home of heavenly meat-and-three platters?

He smiles and says proudly, “There are 10 vegan restaurants in Nashville now.”...

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/17/science/the-new-optimism-of-al-gore.html?_r=0


I love Al!



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KMOD

(7,906 posts)
4. The article notes he has slimmed down.
Wed Mar 18, 2015, 12:42 PM
Mar 2015

The reason he appears larger in the first photo is because he's standing next to Pharrell, who is very slender.

 

NM_Birder

(1,591 posts)
7. standing next to someone slender gives you a turkey waddle ?
Wed Mar 18, 2015, 12:59 PM
Mar 2015

He doesn't have it in the second photo.

 

KMOD

(7,906 posts)
8. Maybe the second one was photoshopped
Wed Mar 18, 2015, 01:14 PM
Mar 2015


He is still a bit thinner than he was a couple years ago.
 

NM_Birder

(1,591 posts)
14. no biggie to me, we are all getting thicker
Wed Mar 18, 2015, 04:40 PM
Mar 2015

as time flies by. I just thought it was funny and I might save that little nugget, "I didn't gain a few pounds, the dude next to me is just too skinny", i like that.

eat healthy, exercise, count those calories................ still die.
I appreciate the mindset of someone who doesn't fret some indulgences, if you can't enjoy eating for enjoyment now and then what's the point ?

 

2banon

(7,321 posts)
20. I wonder if this is for real? Or just a teaser?
Wed Mar 18, 2015, 05:39 PM
Mar 2015

Gore's candidacy would certainly provide a much needed injection of excitement and interest for the 2016 race. He's well known, and has a lot popular support already. this could work as real game changer. And we won't have to be stuck with HRC as the anointed one. I would definitely get behind his run. Of course I love Warren and Sanders, but the reality of U.S. political system will not allow either to win.

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