Al Gore « The Feehery Theory

Posts Tagged ‘Al Gore’

Wither the Euro

November 3rd, 2011 by John Feehery

Either the Greeks should pull out of the Euro or the Europeans should kick them out.

That is how I look at the current debt crisis that has hit the financial markets.

I had the opportunity to peak behind the scenes of thinking of leading European institutions in the year 2000, just as the Euro was transitioning to become the leading currency on the continent.

I was lucky enough to be selected to participate in a European Union Fellowship, and I got a chance to spend some quality time in Brussels and Strasbourg.

I worked for Speaker Hastert at the time, and I left days after the Bush-Gore election, which still had not been decided (and wouldn’t be for the whole time I was in Europe).

The Europeans were nervous about Bush. They wanted Gore to win. The Vice President shared their perspectives on global warming (this was especially of interest to the Danes and the Finns), and they didn’t think that Bush had the intellectual curiosity to be President. Read more...

Tags: Al Gore, Bailout, Euro, Financial Crisis, Franc, France, George Bush, Germany, Greece, Mark
Posted in Theory | No Comments »

Nobody’s Perfect

June 4th, 2010 by John Feehery

Jim Joyce

Maybe Jim Joyce should run for President.

This is the only guy out there who admits he is not perfect. And that refreshing bit of honesty has inspired America.

Joyce is the umpire who blew the call in Detroit the other day, and his blown call ruined a perfect game pitched by Armando Galarraga on the last out of the game.

Joyce put it this way. “I just missed the damn call…This isn’t a call. This is a history call. And I kicked the shit out of it. I take pride in this job, and I took a perfect game away from that kid over there who worked his ass off all night.”

Every time I see this story on the tube, I tear up a bit. Not only did Joyce take complete responsibility and take his lumps like a man, but the aggrieved pitcher, Armando Galarraga, was unbelievably gracious in response. He almost felt sorry for the umpire. He didn’t cry like a baby. He didn’t bitterly complain. He acted like an adult, like a mature human being, like a grown up. How rare in this world! Read more...

Tags: Al Gore, Armando Galarraga, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Detroit, Hillary Clinton, Jim Joyce, Mark Souder, Newt Gingrich, tiger woods, Tipper Gore
Posted in Government, Politics, Theory, sports | No Comments »

America is Doomed?

May 27th, 2010 by John Feehery

Planet getting eaten (Credit: ESA/C Carreau)

I was watching television this morning and CNN was alternating between video of the great Gulf leak and a video from the Hubble telescope of a planet getting eaten by a bigger star.

So, the message is if we don’t all kill ourselves, well, then a big star is going to eat us all any way.

On that cheery note, let me add another.

America is doomed. At least, that is the message that we get all too often from both the left and the right.

We are going broke. Our workforce isn’t competitive. People in the rest of the world hate us. We can’t plug the damn hole. We have too many immigrants coming into this country. Crime is too high. Our military is stretched too far. We are too fat. We are too old. We are too young.

And of course, we better all start speaking Chinese soon, because the Chinese are so rich, they work so hard, they are so smart, and there are so many of them, that we really can’t compete. America is doomed.

Really? Put me down as an America-is-doomed skeptic. Read more...

Tags: Al Gore, Barack Obama, Brazil, china, Chinese, Christian right, Conservatives, Economy, Europe, India, Politics, poor, Tea Party, Tom Friedman, USA, WASP-12b
Posted in Economy, Financial Crisis, Foreign Relations, GOP, Government, Politics, Theory | 2 Comments »

Offense Is Better Than Defense

June 11th, 2008 by John Feehery

House Republican leaders have decided to go on offense on an issue that has resonance with the American people, gas prices. Rather than tie themselves in knots on an issue of dubious value, earmarks, they have decided to strike hard and fast against the Democratic Congress’s inability to act to bring down the price of gas.

The Republicans have some vulnerability on the issue, chiefly the fact that President Bush and Vice President Cheney are so closely associated with the oil industry. But the Democrats are even more vulnerable.

The fact that House Democrats have such a long record of opposing domestic production of oil and gas will be exploited time and again by House Republicans.

In fact, over the last decade, more than 90% of Republicans have voted to expand domestic energy production, while over that same time period, about the same percentage of Democrats have voted against those efforts.

You can expect Al Gore’s face to play a prominent role in the debate. After all, Gore has consistently called for higher carbon taxes and a sharp increase in the gas tax. Gore believes that only higher gas prices can save the planet from a certain destruction. Well, welcome to Al Gore’s’s world. Read more...

Tags: Al Gore, Barack Obama, Congress, House Republicans, oil prices
Posted in Government, Media, Politics, Theory | No Comments »

The Politics of Oil Prices

June 9th, 2008 by John Feehery

Last October, John Dingell of the House Energy and Commerce Committee unveiled a proposal to increase taxes by fifty cents a gallon of gasoline and jet fuel.

He did it to protest environmentalist efforts to put the entire burden of conservation on the backs of the auto industry, but his efforts were applauded by many Democrats who believed that gasoline was too inexpensive.

An important part of liberal theology is that American behavior must change if we are going to be able to protect the planet. That means that American consumers should take more public transportation, buy smaller cars, fly less, and generally consume a lot less energy.

Today, we have a situation that must make the liberals very happy indeed. GM announced that they are not going to be making as many SUV’s as they used to. Public transportation is bursting at the seams, unable to keep up with demand. The airlines are cutting way back on the number of flights they take.

Welcome to liberal Nirvana.

Who knew it could feel this bad?