Sunday, April 29, 2007

The CPoC loves itself some Al Gore. Or maybe not.


It was only back in February (all subsequent emphasis added):

During question period in the House of Commons last week, [Canada's minister of the environment, John] Baird read a statement by [Al] Gore that appeared to praise the Conservative policies regarding global warming.

"Canada [is] once again providing leadership in the world, fighting above its weight class and showing moral authority to the rest of the world. That's what Canada's known for," Baird read.

"Do we know who said that yesterday? Al Gore."

Yessir, the conservatives love that Al Gore. Whoops, hang on ...

Environment Minister John Baird learned an inconvenient truth Monday — that former U.S. vice-president Al Gore has not endorsed the Tories' performance on climate change.

So what's the problem:

Gore issued a statement Monday from his Tennessee office saying his comments were taken out of context and that they were made last summer, not last week.

But, by God, if there's anyone who knows what Al Gore really meant, apparently, it's not Al Gore:

Environment Minister John Baird wouldn't back down Wednesday from the way he used comments by Al Gore to discuss Canada's performance on climate change.

Baird denied he took Gore's comments out of context, and suggested that others may have been behind a statement from the former U.S. vice-president saying the minister misrepresented his comments by suggesting he was praising the Conservatives' actions on global warming. "It was entirely in context and entirely a fair representation of it," Baird said after announcing federal funding to promote environmentally friendly vehicles.

"I think what happened was, as I suspect, some Liberals got to Mr. Gore and said, 'You're not helping us out here."'

"But if you read the quote, if you read the context I gave it in, it was incredibly fair."

Exactly. Because if there's anyone who should be considered an authority on what Al Gore actually means, it's John Baird, who suddenly doesn't love Al Gore anymore:

Former U.S. vice-president Al Gore, now one of the world's most famous climate-change activists, has called the federal government's new green plan "a fraud."...

Conservative Environment Minister John Baird promptly shot back, saying Gore didn't do nearly as much to fight climate change during eight years in office.

And with their new marching orders, the Blogging Tory attack poodles are off and yapping. Oh, geez, I think something just peed on my leg ...

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