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Health & Fitness

Blog: Al Gore Is Not An Idiot

Al Gore is a smart, accomplished ex-Vice President, author, and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.

Even though this is a local blog site with an audience that seems to be largely conservative, there are limits, I hope, to the extreme views of a few of our neighbors – for instance, the Patch reader who recently called Al Gore “an idiot.” You needn’t have a college degree, or even be an avid Tea Party member, to find that characterization over the top, inaccurate, and unintelligent.

The briefest of fact checking will dispel any notion of Gore’s “idiocy.” He went to Harvard, majoring in English and Government. After his military service – in the Army, in Vietnam – Gore attended Vanderbilt University Divinity School and then Vanderbilt’s law school. He was a member of Congress for 17 years. He was elected Vice President of the United States. He then won the popular vote for President by 500,000, losing the electoral vote and the presidency – with the help of the Supreme Court. Al Gore then worked to educate people about environmental issues, especially about the effects of global warming, for which he won the Nobel Peace Prize. He also won an Academy Award, and has authored several highly successful books. The recent sale of his TV network to Al Jazeera has caused a stir – but I would hesitate finding fault with the wisdom of that transaction until you know more about it. Al Gore’s accomplishments and intelligence are remarkable. Anyone who calls Al Gore an idiot succeeds, as if anyone cared, to show his own lack of intelligence.

On a purely self-centered note of my own regarding the ex-VP, he and I spent a few moments together during the introduction of our books at Book Expo 2002. I was stunned, but extremely proud to be on the same stage, briefly, with Al Gore.

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Al Gores’ new book is titled, The Future: Six Drivers of Social Change. My book, and recently revised E-book, of essays is titled, What I Learned On The Way Down. Both books are available now on Amazon.com

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