DeSmog

CEI Struggles to Remain Relevant, Bashes Gore

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The DC-based Competitive Enterprise Institute desperately wants to remain relevant in the global warming discussion, and has fallen back to some good old fashioned Gore-bashing to do so.

At a press conference yesterday, the CEI released a new ad campaign trying (again) to discredit action on global warming, by trying (again) to discredit the work of vice-president Al Gore.

You can check out the CEI‘s ads here – you’ll find they’re nothing more than a rehash of information long since made irrelevant. For example, the CEI claims that Mr. Gore’s home uses 20 times more energy than the average home, which is simply untrue, and it takes only a quick google search to find this Oct, 2007 CNN story stating:

Al Gore, who was criticized for high electric bills at his Tennessee mansion, has completed a host of improvements to make the home more energy efficient, and a building-industry group has praised the house as one of the nation’s most environmentally friendly.” Either the “think” tankers at the CEI are not familiar with Google, or, more likely, they’re willing to ignore the facts in an attempt to remain a relevant player on global warming in free-market, right-wing circles.

The CEI has been in a tail spin ever since its funding from oil-giant ExxonMobil was cut off quite publicly last year. Then there was the CEI‘s last embarrassing attempt at a television ad campaign.

And what better way for a right-wing think tank to pull out of a tailspin then to bash Al Gore.

They know that a little Gore bashing (no matter how inaccurate) is a sure-fire way to put them back in the good graces of the conservative cadre and hopefully get a few dollars from their fossil fuel friends.

Check out ThinkProgress for another take on the CEI ad campaign.

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Kevin is a contributor and strategic adviser to DeSmog. He runs the digital marketing agency Spake Media House. Named a “Green Hero” by Rolling Stone Magazine and one of the “Top 50 Tweeters” on climate change and environment issues, Kevin has appeared in major news media outlets around the world for his work on digital campaigning. Kevin has been involved in the public policy arena in both the United States and Canada for more than a decade. For five years he was the managing editor of DeSmogBlog.com. In this role, Kevin’s research into the “climate denial industry” and the right-wing think tank networks was featured in news media articles around the world. He is most well known for his ground-breaking research into David and Charles Koch’s massive financial investments in the Republican and tea party networks. Kevin is the first person to be designated a “Certified Expert” on the political and community organizing platform NationBuilder. Prior to DeSmog, Kevin worked in various political and government roles. He was Senior Advisor to the Minister of State for Multiculturalism and a Special Assistant to the Minister of State for Asia Pacific, Foreign Affairs for the Government of Canada. Kevin also worked in various roles in the British Columbia provincial government in the Office of the Premier and the Ministry of Health. In 2008 Kevin co-founded a groundbreaking new online election tool called Vote for Environment which was later nominated for a World Summit Award in recognition of the world’s best e-Content and innovative ICT applications. Kevin moved to Washington, DC in 2010 where he worked for two years as the Director of Online Strategy for Greenpeace USA and has since returned to his hometown of Vancouver, Canada.

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