Inside Politics

GORE’S EVASION

“Last week at the Society of Environmental Journalists conference in Wisconsin, former Vice President Al Gore took questions from journalists about global warming for the first time in years. I attended to ask him about factual errors in his movie, ‘An Inconvenient Truth,’ “ Phelim McAleer writes in Investor’s Business Daily.

“You wouldn’t know it from the sparse media coverage, but the British High Court found so many errors in Gore’s movie in 2007 that British schools no longer can show the film without the equivalent of a health warning,” Mr. McAleer said.

“I asked Gore if he intends to correct the record. He dodged the question, and the so-called reporters defended his right to be evasive by shutting off my mic.

“The encounter was disappointing but not surprising. I served years of hard time as a liberal journalist in Europe and learned that covering the environmental beat meant toeing the line of extremism - no inconvenient questions allowed.

“But it is now time for journalists, and the consumers and businesses that will pay the ultimate price, to start questioning the conventional wisdom about global warming and exposing its true cost. If alarmists like Al Gore get their way, millions of American families will watch as their dreams of a prosperous and pleasant future disappear.”

BOOST FOR GOP

“Republicans won a pair of special elections on Tuesday in Tennessee and Oklahoma, picking up seats held by Democrats for decades,” John Fund writes at www.opinion journal.com.

“Combined with this month’s capture of the Albuquerqugree mayor’s office by a Republican for the first time in 28 years, Democrats have reason to be nervous about the approaching November 3 off-year elections. Given their lackluster performance in these races, they could face serious turnout problems that will boost GOP performance,” Mr. Fund said.

“In Tennessee, Republican businessman Pat Marshwon 56 percent of the vote to defeat Democrat Ty Cobb. It wasn’t as if Mr. Cobb had a name unknown to voters. His brother Curt had held the seat before resigning to take another government office (and it probably didn’t hurt having the same name as a baseball legend). But Mr. Cobb attributed his defeat to the fact that ‘a lot of people based their opinions on national issues the health care issue was the main one.’

“A couple of states over, national issues may also have played a role in the GOP capture of an Oklahoma House seat held by Democrats since 1965. Republican Todd Russ won 56 percent of the vote even though registered Democrats have a two-to-one edge in the district. The twin victories mean Republicans have captured a total of six state legislative seats from Democrats in special elections this year. The other wins came in Delaware, Texas, New Hampshire and Virginia.”

FOOD FIGHT

“Apparently, the Obama White House believes in diplomacy with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad but not Glenn Beck,” Chuck Raasch writes in USA Today.

“Two days after the president won the Nobel Peace Prize, Barack Obama’s communications director was on national television essentially declaring a message war on a major cable network that employs the abrasive commentator Beck, who recently called the president a racist,” Mr. Raasch said.

“White House Communications Director Anita Dunn accused Fox News of operating ‘as either the research arm or the communications arm of the Republican Party.’

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