Only hours after basking in the warm glow of Hollywood’s cultural elite, Al Gore took two nasty PR hits that tarnished his Oscar victory. It was revealed that acting Cuban President Raul Castro had lavished praise on the former vice president’s anti-global warming film and even required that it be shown in primetime on Cuba’s official television networks. Not exactly the endorsement a potential Democratic presidential candidate would want.
Then it was revealed that Mr. Gore’s sprawling mansion in Nashville was consuming 20 times the power of a typical American household, and that its consumption had actually increased since the release of the Gore film, in which the former vice president can be seen telling audiences they should curb their use of electric power.
The Tennessee Center for Policy Research obtained public records that showed Mr. Gore’s mansion in the tony Belle Meade neighborhood has been consuming a monthly average of 18,414 kilowatt-hours, nearly twice what the average American home consumes in an entire year. His electric bill averaged $1359 a month in 2006 and his gas bill was $536. His heated pool house alone consumed more natural gas than his entire main living quarters.
Mr. Gore’s office responded with a lame statement claiming that his energy consumption was appropriate because he obtained all of it from a local “powerswitch” program that used 100% renewable fuels, whatever that means. His office also claimed that his home was in the midst of a renovation that would include the addition of solar panels to his roof.
No doubt the controversy over Mr. Gore’s power gluttony will fade away, but it illustrates a classic example of how liberals who believe the rest of the world should lower its expectations for the good life often find it hard to follow that advice in their own daily routines.
”’John Fund is an editorial writer for the Wall Street Journal and OpinionJournal.com”’