Al Gore: Another guy who’s not ‘patriotic’ by Obama’s standard
Ira Stoll notices a timely little nugget in the New York Times’ story about the sale of Current TV, co-founded by former Vice President Al Gore, to Al Jazeera:
Al Jazeera did not disclose the purchase price, but people with direct knowledge of the deal pegged it at around $500 million, indicating a $100 million payout for Mr. Gore, who owned 20 percent of Current. Mr. Gore and his partners were eager to complete the deal by Dec. 31, lest it be subject to higher tax rates that took effect on Jan. 1, according to several people who insisted on anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. But the deal was not signed until Wednesday. (emphasis added)
Hmmm. Does this mean Gore is not one of the “well-to-do Americans, patriotic Americans, who,” according to President Obama in a campaign speech back in August, “… are willing to do the right thing, willing to do their part to make this country strong” by paying higher taxes? One of those people who has “made enough money”?
In fact, amid all the stories about companies paying dividends early to help investors avoid higher taxes (such as Costco, which like Current TV was co-founded by a confirmed Democrat) or doing the same with bonuses (such as Goldman Sachs, whose executives famously supported Obama heavily in 2008 before largely abandoning him last year), can anyone find a story about companies or individuals actively taking steps to ensure they do pay higher taxes?
Who are these well-to-do, patriotic people trying to do as Obama wishes? And don’t give me a link to op-eds Warren Buffett has written about the need for wealthy people to pay more taxes. Not when his company has been fighting the IRS about its tax bills — presumably not in an attempt to pay more than the feds are seeking — and recently bought back $1.2 billion worth of its shares to keep a single unnamed investor from having to pay higher tax rates.
Who are these patriotic Americans? If their cause is so good, why haven’t we heard about any of them acting on it rather than just grandstanding about it?
– By Kyle Wingfield
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247 comments Add your comment
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
January 3rd, 2013
4:13 pm
td, if Obama was going to take your guns he would have done it in the first two years of his Presidency when Dems had control of both houses.
What you are spouting is what the gun manufacturers and retailers want you to be spouting. And you are perfect spokesman for them.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
January 3rd, 2013
4:13 pm
That is REALITY, getalife.
Try it sometime.
getalife
January 3rd, 2013
4:14 pm
“What’s up?”
Waiting on cons to show patriotism.
I will be here a while waiting.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
January 3rd, 2013
4:16 pm
getalife, I will once again remind you that YOU are not the arbiter of who is, or what is, patriotic.
You are not qualified.
getalife
January 3rd, 2013
4:17 pm
Still waiting…..
President Romney
January 3rd, 2013
4:21 pm
Tiberius
Nice semantics game.
“Your surrender is accepted”
“Color me shocked” that the best you would have would be silly semantics
you little girls behave
Pizzaman
January 3rd, 2013
4:22 pm
Kyle, Tiberius @ 1:05 & 1:06,
Of course it’s OK for both sides to call the other hypocrites when they both do the same thing. Kyle as for patriots who live by their convictions there are none left if there ever were any.
It would be nice if politicians acted in the best interest of the Country but………….
The only solution is to vote them out but gerrymandering has made sure that will never happen.
At least we still have all the wackos, weirdo’s and crazies who thing the Feds are going to take your guns, money, retirement, and freedom. Without them there’s be no Vent, Wingfield or Bookman.
Merry, Happy and Joyous Holidays to all,
Pizzaman
Dusty
January 3rd, 2013
4:25 pm
JUST SAYING,
There seems to be a joint effort at demolition in Congress by both political parties. Democrats have decided to be blockheads instead of using their heads. Republicans have forgotten to “hold the fort” for citizens..The result is a whole lot of nothing with all of it to rise again in March.
If you want to congratulate the Democrats in Congress, go for i!! It’s your way of declaring joy over failure, a typical liberal characteristic. .
therefore we get something that helpps
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right
January 3rd, 2013
4:28 pm
I see that PR has nothing as usual to contribute.
JDW
January 3rd, 2013
4:30 pm
@td…”How about if we just take the guns away from all Obama supporters. This would have to make us safer as a nation.”
Sort of a mute point as Democrats seem to already know that in increasing numbers…from FiveThiryEight…you to remember Nate don’t you?
“An American child grows up in a married household in the suburbs. What are the chances that his family keeps a gun in their home?
The probability is considerably higher than residents of New York and other big cities might expect: about 40 percent of married households reported having a gun in their home, according to the exit poll conducted during the 2008 presidential election.
But the odds vary significantly based on the political identity of the child’s parents. If they identify as Democratic voters, the chances are only about one in four, or 25 percent, that they have a gun in their home. But the chances are more than twice that, almost 60 percent, if they are Republicans.”
http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/18/in-gun-ownership-statistics-partisan-divide-is-sharp/
As we keep telling you Democrats are smarter they know that the presence of a gun in the home increases the chance that a homicide or suicide in the home will be committed with a firearm and choose to remove the risk.
Hillbilly D
January 3rd, 2013
4:30 pm
Al Gore is just further proof of the old adage,”the acorn don’t fall far from the tree”.
JDW
January 3rd, 2013
4:34 pm
@Tiberius…”I’d say you need to catch up with the rest of the conversation, JDW, but since you’re incapable of doing so, I won’t bother.”
Thats what I thought…as usual you got nothing.
JDW
January 3rd, 2013
4:38 pm
@Dusty…”Liberals use it here to ridicule, distort, disgrace, sublimate and prevaricate.”
O’Dear…
Was there a point in there or are you just ridiculing, distorting, disgracing, sublimating and prevaricating?
Darwin
January 3rd, 2013
4:41 pm
Last time I checked Al Gore wasn’t running for public office. Stop your whining please!
Del
January 3rd, 2013
4:48 pm
It’s indeed amazing to see these left wing posters looking like idiots by ignoring the reality of our looming fiscal mountain. The Republicans need to stare Obama down and if necessary vote him down on raising the debt ceiling without serious entitlement reforms along with serious spending cuts. It’s hard to believe Republicans have what it takes to do so, however, but we shall see.
MarkV
January 3rd, 2013
4:50 pm
Dusty @ 4:12 pm
“I make my own decisions just like most sensible people. (The clue here is : SENSIBLE..).”
I am sure you do. But you have written the following:
“Any truth presented is immediately accused of being a misrepresentation or worse, a lie.”
You did not write “What I believe is the truth is immediately accused ….” You just feel that whatever you make a decision to be the truth must actually be the truth. You appear to believe that you must be right. What does that make you? How does “self-righteous” sound to you?
Dusty
January 3rd, 2013
5:06 pm
JDW,
I see you have not had your dinner yet.
You wanted me to repeat what I have already written? The whole point has been given, OK, I’ll repeat it for you.
Liberals here use freedom of speech to ridicule, distort, disgrace, sublimate and prevaricate.
There. Got it? You do well to follow some other pattern than the usual obsequious liberal litany. . .
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
January 3rd, 2013
5:12 pm
As usual our resident liberal misfit (redundant, I know) JDW has misfired in the logic department (that’s the department he has no knowledge of), and come up with this stupidity:
“As we keep telling you Democrats are smarter they know that the presence of a gun in the home increases the chance that a homicide or suicide in the home will be committed with a firearm and choose to remove the risk.”
Problem is that if you replace the words “gun” and “firearm” with any object; knife, tire iron, bathtub (hat tip to AmVet) or 7-iron, the logic of JDW’s statement remains the same.
Proving once again that it isn’t the weapon, but the person using it improperly that causes the injury or homicide.
But another epic failure as usual, JDW.
President Romney
January 3rd, 2013
5:12 pm
Liberals and Conservatives here use freedom of speech to ridicule, distort, disgrace, sublimate and prevaricate, yet I (Dusty) choose to be hypocritical and just cry about those on the left. I (Dusty) have no problem overlooking crap from the right because it meets my narrative.
_____________________
Fixed that for you Dusty.
Your welcome. Be good and as always keep your selective condemnation and hypocrisy with you at all times, no one doubts you are ever without it.
JDW
January 3rd, 2013
5:12 pm
@Dusty…”Liberals here use freedom of speech to ridicule, distort, disgrace, sublimate and prevaricate.”
I suppose you, Tiberius, Little Barry, td and the rest are always paragons of good taste and virtue.
Spare me the sanctimonious posturing…you want a civil conversation start one.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
January 3rd, 2013
5:17 pm
I have the good taste to not be a lunatic liberal and to avoid them at all costs.
As for virtue, you’ll never know.
President Romney
January 3rd, 2013
5:17 pm
JDW
Based on Dusty’s own criteria, words and actions; she and other so called conservatives on this blog are really HUGE LIBERALS.
Dusty
January 3rd, 2013
5:19 pm
MarkV
There is a difference between being self righteous and self determined.
I say what I believe to be right and have determined to be true.
Puppets, slaves, prisoners and the intellectually deprived cannot make their own decisions.
I do not fit into any of those categories so I make my own choices. Freedom of speech is vital..
Evidently you do not find freedom of thought and personal decisions to be appealing. Who thinks for you?
Hopeful
January 3rd, 2013
5:19 pm
The question is wwjd
Dusty
January 3rd, 2013
5:22 pm
JDW
Yep, civil conversations are very nice. I shall start one by ignoring you from now on.
President Romney
January 3rd, 2013
5:22 pm
“I say what I believe to be right and have determined to be true.”
You must have some very low standards on what it takes for you to determine something to be true based on what you post
Just because you believe something does not make it so
JDW
January 3rd, 2013
5:23 pm
@Tiberius…”Problem is that if you replace the words “gun” and “firearm” with any object; knife, tire iron, bathtub (hat tip to AmVet) or 7-iron, the logic of JDW’s statement remains the same. Proving once again that it isn’t the weapon, but the person using it improperly that causes the injury or homicide.”
Blather…blather…blather…you got no data and no case…here are the facts.
US Homicides by Weapon 200-2008
Guns…86,112
Knives…16,547
Blunt objects…5,782
Everything else…about 20,000
http://sbcoalition.org/2011/04/gun-violence-and-the-census-sobering-statistics/
Proving once again that you can make stuff up but that doesn’t make it true. Fact is more guns = more deaths pure and simple. Knives, tire irons, bathtubs and 7-irons not so much.
President Romney
January 3rd, 2013
5:24 pm
Dusty told you JDW
She likes an echo chamber. Anything that doesn’t meet her narrative is not good and she will cry and whine. (She her earlier posts as proof.)
Dusty
January 3rd, 2013
5:34 pm
NO dear mistaken PR
No one reading this blog mistakes liberals for Republicans. The snarling format is so liberal there is no doubt about their political persuasion. .
JDW
January 3rd, 2013
5:38 pm
@PR…yes she does like an echo chamber after all… she says what shes believe to be right and has determined to be true…anyone that disagrees must be either lying, ridiculing, distorting, disgracing, sublimating and prevaricating.
Does this mean there is now a Dustyville to go with Tiberiusville?
Rafe Hollister preparing for an Obamanist America
January 3rd, 2013
5:38 pm
JDW
“As we keep telling you Democrats are smarter they know that the presence of a gun in the home increases the chance that a homicide or suicide in the home will be committed with a firearm and choose to remove the risk.”
Doesn’t square with the facts JDW. Gun violence is lower in rural areas where guns are more often found in the home. Urban homes have less firearms per household yet there is more gun violence in urban areas. Of course we realize that rural people are much more civilized and church going, but that is not the total answer. Familiarity with firearms and firearm availability can be readily assumed by the criminals in rural areas.
Dusty
January 3rd, 2013
5:39 pm
Dear phony President Romney
Of course I could be wrong when I make decisions. That is true for everybody. Even you!!
But I still like to make my own choices.. Who make yours for you?
JDW
January 3rd, 2013
5:40 pm
@Rafe…you are missing the key point of “in the home”. The urban gun violence you cite typically takes place outside the home.
Mad Max
January 3rd, 2013
5:44 pm
Dr. Dre shelters his income through an Irish holding company. Google has $10B in accounts in Bermuda. Gore made $100mm over the past four years acting as a VC investing in clean tech companies that miraculously received Energy Dept. grants or guaranteed loans shortly after the investment. Most of these companies have yet to return a profit to the American taxpayer, yet Gore was able to cash out. Welcome to the new normal. As the WSJ pointed out today, the fiscal cliif tax rates have achieved Obama’s goal of completely rewinding Reagan’s 1986 bipartisan tax reform that simplified the code. We are officially back in Jimmy Carter territory where Washington constantly raises taxes across the board combined with special interest loopholes and tax credits to reward campaign contributors and lobbyists. The bad news is that with all of this complexity and” fair share” payments, the Federal Government revenue is going to go down. Sheila Bair recently pointed out that the income disparity between the rich and the poor is the widest it has been in 40 years. Based on the amount of tax loopholes and pork coming out of the Obama administration, if you make over $1mm per year and pay ANY Federal income tax, you should immediately fire your accountant. You can buy energy tax credits and pay your “fair” share, albeit at a discount, generating a double digit internal rate of return. And just wait, Obama is just getting started.
Rafe Hollister preparing for an Obamanist America
January 3rd, 2013
5:45 pm
Gun deaths and injuries have dropped sharply in California, even as the number of guns sold in the state has risen, according to new state data.
Dealers sold 600,000 guns in California last year, up from 350,000 in 2002, according to records of sale tallied by the California Attorney General’s office.
During that same period, the number of California hospitalizations due to gun injuries declined from about 4,000 annually to 2,800, a roughly 25 percent drop, according to hospital records collected by the California Department of Public Health.
Firearm-related deaths fell from about 3,200 annually to about 2,800, an 11 percent drop, state health figures show.
http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/california-gun-sales-up-gun-violence-down/
Your statement still is incorrect JDW. No study shows that more guns create more violence inside or outside of the home.
Al Gore
January 3rd, 2013
5:47 pm
When I’m in Atlanta, before I hit The Varsity for some awesome chili dogs, I get a soothing massage over at House of Tokyo massage parlor over off Cheshire Bridge.
The Mamasan treats me like I’m The President !
Rafe Hollister preparing for an Obamanist America
January 3rd, 2013
5:51 pm
Mad Max
It hasn’t gotten any play except on Fox Business and very little there, but Stuart Varney reported the CBO numbers on raising the Cap gains rate to 20% on those who make over $400K, projected that net revenue would go down, as less would invest in things generating a capital gain.
Dusty
January 3rd, 2013
6:02 pm
MadMax
Good post. And like you said, “the Federal government revenue is going to go down” under Obama leadership. Absolutely. I don’t believe he has any concept of debt or its meaning. Nor do his supporters.
They may dance to the piper but payday is in peril and they don’t know it yet..
President Romney
January 3rd, 2013
6:02 pm
Rafe @ 5:51
Is that what happened when Reagan raised the capital gain rate?
Rafe Hollister preparing for an Obamanist America
January 3rd, 2013
6:14 pm
PR
The record is clear, even Obama acknowledged in an interview on 60 minutes that increasing rates usually reduce revenue, he said he didn’t care, he was going to do what was “fair”.
Revenue from Capital Gains boomed when Clinton lowered the rate. No familiar with what happened under Reagan.
Aesop's Fables and other Lib Economic Theories
January 3rd, 2013
6:16 pm
“We have a Republican majority. We need to pass Republican bills out of the House,” Duncan said.
It only took them two years to figure that^^ out.
yeesh.
Aesop's Fables and other Lib Economic Theories
January 3rd, 2013
6:20 pm
Aaahhhhh, we’re fixing to find out how much the libs really love the troops -
You ma’am have overstepped a line that is not your domain. I am a Marine Corps Veteran of 8 years, and I will not have some woman who proclaims the evil of an inanimate object, yet carries one, tell me I may not have one.
I am not your subject. I am the man who keeps you free. I am not your servant. I am the person whom you serve. I am not your peasant. I am the flesh and blood of America.
http://www.guns.com/2013/01/03/marine-writes-letter-to-sen-dianne-feinstein-i-will-not-be-disarmed-video/
Kyle Wingfield
January 3rd, 2013
6:26 pm
All right, everyone. For a while, I plan to turn off the immediate posting of comments each evening and turn it back on each morning. I realize that’s an unpopular inconvenience for many of you — to be frank, it’s pretty much a pain in the neck for me — but I think in the long run these comment threads will prove to be more civil.
So, with that, I hope everyone has a good night.
Kyle Wingfield
January 4th, 2013
11:03 am
Comments are back on, with the publishing of a new post upstairs.
Doug B
January 4th, 2013
3:03 pm
There’s a difference between policy and individual actions. Would it bother you if a pro-NRA politician didn’t own a gun? Of course not. When Gingrich was fighting for “family values” and against gay marriage, did it bother you that he had a gay daughter? Selecting the correct policy for our country doesn’t mean that someone should not make an effort to do what’s best for himself personally within the law. No one, personally, wants to pay more taxes. That doesn’t mean that higher taxes aren’t the best policy.
stands for decibels
January 4th, 2013
6:59 pm
Late to this, but whenever it’s suggested that one side or the other is hypocritical for not unilaterally disarming, I always think that’s a pretty lame argument. Just as I didn’t care if (say) Michelle Bachmann made use of farm subsidies while railing against DC port, I certainly don’t care if a well-out-of-office pol like Al Gore timed a business deal to be more lucrative. Big. Whoop.
stands for decibels
January 4th, 2013
7:00 pm
(DC port? It’s probably pretty nasty. Meant “pork” of course.)