Most environmental groups, while harboring some hope that Gore's rhetoric may some day translate to action, are aware that it is mostly hot air. For example, Gore is known as an expert on global warming, and is regularly briefed by the nation's leading climatologists. He has given much lip-service to this issue, calling for "vigorous action" on "the evidence of an ecological Kristallnacht."
But what has he done? During the climate treaty summit in Kyoto in 1997, Greenpeace accused Clinton and Gore of being in bed with Big Oil because of their retreat on greenhouse emissions in deference to oil companies like ARCO, Chevron, and Exxon.
When George Bush used to call Gore "ozone man" it was an unearned compliment. U.S. News and World Report put it this way:
"Gore's vivid language in describing environmental problems is almost never matched by equally passionate advocacy for a solution, particularly when powerful economic interests are at stake. Conservative critics who brand Gore an 'ozone man' have it wrong. On the environment, Gore favors extreme rhetoric but only incremental solutions."
As a U.S. congressman, Gore's environmental voting record was nothing to rave about. The League of Conservation Voters accor