The Netroots Nation Halftime Show
Sat, 07/19/2008 - 9:13am
There's a sort of trend in most multi-day conventions that can be seen as they progress. Every passing day, the crowds walking into the morning keynote tend to get a little thinner, their eyes a little blearier, their attention perhaps a little, well, less attentive. This is often worst on Saturday mornings, as folks are recovering from the full frontal assault of Friday night parties.
The Netroots Nation organizers, clever folks that they are, seem to have found the cure for that. No matter how bleary-eyed, nobody was going to miss the question-and-answer session this morning with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi — and if there was anyone still unimpressed, that quickly ended when Al Gore made a surprise appearance.
I'm still sitting here listening to Vice President Gore, so I'll keep you guys updated in the comments.
EDIT: I'm by no means the only Texas blogger covering this session. You should check out Nat Wu's stuff at Three Wise Men and Charles Kuffner at Off The Kuff.
Facebook
Twitter
Digg
Reddit
Line of the morning
By George Nassar
Sat, 07/19/2008 - 9:25am
On ANWR drilling, quoted as best as I can (hopefully I'll have the video clip for you guys soon):
"Drilling for insignificant quantities of oil that we're going to sell to China in 10 or 15 years anyway as a solution to gas prices now makes as much sense as solving the terrorist problem in Afghanistan by invading Iraq."
Poor cows.
By George Nassar
Sat, 07/19/2008 - 9:30am
Only in Netroots Nation would Gore get a question about whether meat production poses more of a global warming concern than cars. (Okay, I have to admit I'm a bit curious about the answer.)
Phew.
By George Nassar
Sat, 07/19/2008 - 9:40am
Okay, I feel a little better. He mentioned the increase in meat production due to higher demand in countries than China, and stated that it'd be "healthier for our bodies and for the planet" if we were to eat more meat. But he also stated that we can only do so much at a time, and that he himself is a meat eater, and basically avoided the question of whether cows are more of a problem than cars altogether. Considering he probably can't actually say "no, that's a ridiculous claim, cars are about a billion times worse," that says about everything I wanted to know about the subject.
A spot on the Obama administration?
By George Nassar
Sat, 07/19/2008 - 9:36am
Probably not.
Gore was asked if he'd be willing to take a spot in an Obama administration to work on energy and climate issues, and said pretty plainly that he feels he can do more as a private citizen informing others. Considering how much he's been able to do as a private citizen so far, I can't say I disagree.
Rock Star Gore
By George Nassar
Sat, 07/19/2008 - 9:43am
You know the vice president is popular when the "Troops Home Now" demonstrators start chanting over Gore and Pelosi and you hear calls from the crowd telling them to sit down.