CNN Smears Vice President Gore

You've all probably read this piece at Kos, well, CNN just did their part this morning. I sent them some feedback, you should too. To wit:

I just heard your very brief "report" on Al Gore's energy use. If I heard it correctly, Ms. Stouffer said that "an environmental group" is criticizing Mr. Gore's home energy use.

This is some seriously poor reporting for a number of reasons, and I would like to see it retracted and corrected for the record.

First, you do not name the group. For all we know they could be a completely disreputable organization, or a group of two people claiming the label. This is horribly inaccurate and incomplete and misleading journalism. And as a matter of fact, I know who the group is, and they are not an environmental group at all, your reporter may have misspoken, regardless, since you left the group un-named, how could we tell?

Second, that group, "The Tennessee Center For Policy Research," IS a non-entity and hardly non-partisan, certainly deeply conservative, a fact you could determine with a little research. Look at who they link to, AEI, CATO, Club for Growth, Separation of School and State Alliance, all anti government, anti tax, highly conservative. And by reporting this group's attack on Mr. Gore, you give standing to an organization with NO standing, certainly not on a par with Mr. Gore.

Third, the attack is specious on many levels. Of course his energy consumption is higher than the average, his house is a bit bigger than the average home as well. And since you did nothing more than repeat this groups attack without verifying its validity or accuracy or context, you have simply participated in a right wing smear to discredit Mr. Gore and his message. As the Vice President's spokesman reports, "What Mr. Gore has asked is that every family calculate their carbon footprint and try to reduce it as much as possible. Once they have done so, he then advocates that they purchase offsets, as the Gore’s do, to bring their footprint down to zero."

Since you also don't report on what kind of activities go on in the Gore residence and guest house, such as intensive computer use, security equipment such as alarms, cameras, sensors etc, guests using the home as a research center, a well used home office, you know, figure out the context of WHY they use energy at the home, simply reporting a high level of energy usage is meaningless without that context, and, again, poor reporting.

Repeating a smear that begins with some conservative group of no real policy standing or credibility, and then moves on to a right wing smear gossip site like Drudge is poor reporting, shoddy reporting, lazy reporting, in fact, it isn't reporting at all, it's rumour mongering and partisan political attacks of the worst sort.

I want a correction, and I truly wish you people would do your damn job and, you know, RESEARCH before you report something. This charge against Mr. Gore is unfounded and nothing more than a conservative attack to try to stop us talking about global warming, and that CNN perpetuates that foolhardy behavior is almost criminal. Please stop. Report the NEWS, don't just repeat unfounded garbage handed to you. And don't tell us about time pressure, that is not an excuse.