August 23, 2014

"Mr. Gore likes to say 'our democracy has been hacked by big money,' but he has done some hacking himself..."

"... in his many rent-seeking activities. His Current TV payday, partly at the expense of the Qataris, partly at the expense of U.S. cable subscribers and shareholders, must be especially piquant to Americans exhausted by Mr. Gore's incessant moralizing. What would be nice to know, and what a full airing of the legal record might show, and is at what point Current stopped being a sincere experiment in liberal news and entertainment. At what point did it morph into a scheme to shake down TV distributors and flip the carriage rights for what BusinessWeek estimates was $450 million in profit to Mr. Gore and partners."

From "Al Gore vs. Al Jazeera vs. the Truth/How the ex-veep came by his cable TV windfall remains heavily redacted," in the Wall Street Journal, where you might have to Google some of the quotes text to get a link that works for you.

ADDED: If I read the article correctly, the contract had Gore et al. receiving $500 million and only $65 million has yet to be paid. By litigating for the last 13% of what was due under the contract, Gore lights a fire under al Jazeera to show that the terms of the contract have not been fulfilled, that the whole contract is void, and to get back some or all of the 87% that has been paid. Shouldn't Gore want to keep that door closed? But Gore isn't only putting $435 million at risk. He's also putting his reputation up for attacks, such as the one in the linked WSJ article. If he's a big huckster, he's got an especially big stake in hiding his hucksterism, unless he's retiring from all of that and doesn't give a damn what history thinks of him. Meanwhile, al Jazeera has an opportunity to upgrade its reputation by arguing that it paid most of the money and held a small portion in escrow to motivate Gore to perform his contractual obligations. What were those obligations? Well, something that at least seemed worth $500 million to al Jazeera.

41 comments:

khesanh0802 said...

Once a scum-bag always a scum-bag.

Clayton Hennesey said...

Used to be you could access Google or RCP-linked online.wsj stories, but no more, at least I haven't cracked it yet. I've gotten now so I don't bother with WSJ links because I never get anything but the "login or subscribe" page anymore.

PB said...

The 2000 election was a seminal event in US politics. Since that time, the Democrats have gone full-Chicago on us, culminating in the current lawless, corrupt administration. The law means little except how it can be used to further the extortion and protection rackets.

clarice said...

A less incurious press would have figured this out ages ago, given the low viewership and crap programming.

Anonymous said...

So - of course - I was going to do some variation on an 'Al Gore Robot' but I just can't do it. Halfhearted, I considered 'Al Gore's Severed Head on Al-Jazeera says' but the man is already a soulless headless caricature; I'm worn out before even trying.

rhhardin said...

Profits are okay but I don't see what value Gore brought to the deal.

It's a crony arrangement of some kind.

Fritz said...

"Used to be you could access Google or RCP-linked online.wsj stories, but no more, at least I haven't cracked it yet. I've gotten now so I don't bother with WSJ links because I never get anything but the "login or subscribe" page anymore."

Try putting the article title into Google; it's worked for me recently.

Anonymous said...

Al Gore's Severed Head on Al-Jazeera says:

Global Warming is responsible for an increase in beheadings in hot climates, so: carbon taxes.

See? Halfhearted.

Chef Mojo said...

Boy, I wish he'd run in '16! I'd love to see him go mano-a-mano with the Hildebeast.

rhhardin said...

Does ISISs plan to wipe out Chicago involve a cow?

Anonymous said...

Al Gore's Severed Head on Al-Jazeera says:

My head may be severed, but my chakras are intact. So that's good.

Anonymous said...

Al Gore's Severed Head on Al-Jazeera says:

My head is hanging from my severed spine like a chad. Memories.

Anonymous said...

Al Gore's Severed Head on Al-Jazeera says:

By being beheaded I have substantially reduced my carbon footprint. May I recommend.

Anonymous said...

Al Gore's Severed Head on Al-Jazeera says:

Bill Clinton gets head and I get beheaded: it was always an unequal relatio

Anonymous said...

Al Gore's Severed Head on Al-Jazeera says:

Bill Clinton gets head and I get beheaded: it was always an unequal relationship, us.

Anonymous said...

Al Gore's Severed Head on Al-Jazeera says:

No matter what has happened, i can hold my head up proud. Or al least someone can do it for me. Because my head is severed.

Skeptical Voter said...

Nice to see--or at least believe, that somehow Al Gore got stiffed by the Qataris.

I think that Al Gore has done more damage to the US political system than any other politician in living memory.

Nixon had a legion of faults--I was raised by a yellow dog Democrat who taught his children that ol Milhous was the devil incarnate.

But when Joe Kennedy paid the dead in the Chicago graveyards to rise up and give Illinois to JFK in the 1960 election--thereby putting JFK in the White House, Nixon was statesman enough to avoid the temptation for political lawfare to overturn the results of the election. Compared to Gore, Nixon had much more justification for filing a lawsuit.

So I'm happy to see that Gore may not get as much dough as he wanted out of the deal. He can keep on looking for a "release" of his Second Chakra for the rest of his life as far as I care.

Anonymous said...

Al Gore's Severed Head on Al-Jazeera says:

I could beat Hillary for the nomination with one head tied behind my back.

Anonymous said...

Al Gore's Severed Head on Al-Jazeera says:

Our democracy has been hacked by big money, and I should know hacked, being beheaded and all. Perspective.

Brando said...

Why should anyone listen to what this oily moron has to say? Isn't this the same guy who told the other Democrats--before a single vote was cast in any primary--to back down and unite behind Howard Dean in 2004 because Dean had it in the bag? Wasn't this the same guy who as VP of an administration that was presiding over the longest peacetime economic boom since WWII, decided to run for president as a populist outsider, distancing himself from his strongest asset, only to lose to Bush? Isn't this the same hypocrite who sold modern day indulgences in the form of carbon credits to gullible, guilt ridden rich morons?

What if anything gives us reason to devote one minute to Gores inane rumblings?

Anonymous said...

Al Gore's Severed Head on Al-Jazeera says:

People have criticized me for being a hypocrite about global warming, with my extensive traveling and all. People: my head may fly first class, but my body flies coach. I have heard you.

Anonymous said...

Al Gore's Severed Head on Al-Jazeera says:

I may have no head, but Hillary doesn't have any ankles. Screw you, Bill.

David said...

Gore would have been president if he carried his native state of Tennessee. He would have been president if he had not foolishly decided to decline Clinton's offer to help him in Arkansas. He would have been president if he had been able to beat Bush in a debate. He might have been president if he had not ignored warnings from his own lawyers that his recount strategy in Florida was likely unconstitutional.

He wakes up with that knowledge every day. Every day he has to know that he blew his chance to be president, which was the only thing he really cared about. The money can not wall that out.

Anonymous said...

In Search Of The Goracle (Pieces Of Eight Carbon Credits)

Avast, only remnants lie,
First-matey to Clinton, President well-nigh,
Said to resemble a green Captain Bligh

The Southern breeze
Gusts! Lo! Here be rumors of infidelities
A smattering of Sheikh money littering the seas

Drago said...

Thanks betamax3000!

You always make my day.

PB said...

Yo David. Great smackdown!

FleetUSA said...

Both Algore and the Clintons have milked the liberal fan base and businesses for hundreds of millions.

MD Greene said...

The only reason his ratty little network had any value -- certainly nobody watched it -- was because, as a former high apparatchik, Gore was able to cajole/force all the cable companies to include it on their basic lists. Al Jazeera was willing to pay for broad access, and so Gore got for himself his second crony-derived fortune. (The cap-and-trade caper was the first.)

Curious George said...


"Blogger David said...
Every day he has to know that he blew his chance to be president, which was the only thing he really cared about."
AL Gore never really wanted to be POTUS.

Ann Althouse said...

"Used to be you could access Google or RCP-linked online.wsj stories, but no more, at least I haven't cracked it yet."

As I said in the post, copy some of the text and google it, and you should end up with a link of your own, as I did.

I would subscribe if the URLs I got could be shared and my readers could get in, which is why I subscribe to the NYT. But the WSJ doesn't work that way. I would link much more too.

I don't like having to write text explaining how to break through, and I don't understand why they're writing editorials trying to influence people and then making it hard to pass around.

Emil Blatz said...

Maybe the greenback poultice has soothed Mr. Gore after attaining first class fool status.

If you roll back history, there was one clear moment for him. In about April or May of 1998. He could have said to Bill Clinton, "either you resign or I will". Almost certainly Clinton would not have resigned. But imagine the advantage Gore would have had in the 2000 campaign had he been removed from Clinton while running. But, that's not Gore.

dreams said...

"Thanks betamax3000!
You always make my day."


Prolific too.

Uncle Pavian said...

If you're already Al Gore, how much damage is it possible to do to your reputation?

Revenant said...

I forget who said it first, but -- so long as politicians control what may be bought and sold, the politicians will be bought and sold.

SteveR said...

I can't imagine how that network was ever worth anything to anybody. Millions? For what?

ddh said...

By litigating, Al Gore demonstrates that he was never very bright.

David said...

Professor, your added comments underscore my point about Gore. He is a serial fuckup of the biggest issues.I wonder if David Boies gave him similar advice about this lawsuit? But we will never know.

Wince said...

Not the first case of a cable network being sued for millions on account of a gaping butthole.

'Dating Naked' star Jessie Nizewitz wrestles her date while producers forget to blur out her gaping butthole and vagina before airing it on cable television for the world to see and eventually post all over the Internet. - *whistles innocently* - She's suing VH1 for $10 million because have I mention the gaping? There's gaping.

George M. Spencer said...

Click here to go to the Clinton Foundation's website and see a list of the tens of millions of dollars the Clintons have taken from Arab governments and individuals.

Harry Truman barely had a dishwasher for Bess, and when Eisenhower left office, he drove himself and Mamie home. In a Chrysler Imperial. A 1955 Chrysler Imperial.

Imperial.

Unknown said...

"he's retiring from all of that and doesn't give a damn what history thinks of him."

He's a Democrat and the patron saint of global warming. The media will never let his reputation be tarnished.

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

David said...
Gore would have been president if he carried his native state of Tennessee. He would have been president if he had not foolishly decided to decline Clinton's offer to help him in Arkansas. He would have been president if he had been able to beat Bush in a debate. He might have been president if he had not ignored warnings from his own lawyers that his recount strategy in Florida was likely unconstitutional.


He would have been president if he wasn't such a pompous ass-hat.

In recent times Democrats have not done well when they nominate 'to the manor born' types.