Earlier today, I compared the post-ClimateGate conference in Copenhagen with Al Gore’s Live Earth rock concert in 2007.
With the Goracle’s descent to earth at Copenhagen, Allahpundit writes that the circle is now complete:
It was, says Politico, a Woodstock moment:
If Copenhagen is the enviros’ Woodstock, then Gore is The Who, the Grateful Dead and Creedence Clearwater Revival as a one-man band. The former vice president drew such a big crowd that security had to shut down access, with hundreds of unhappy activists left outside…
Moeller also quoted the 19th century conservative British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, saying that “to be conscious that you are ignorant is a great step to knowledge,” drawing a chuckle from Gore who, last week, traded barbs with Sarah Palin, describing her as a global warming “denier.”
Where the Woodstock/Copenhagen analogy breaks down: Woodstock was a success. Note well this data point from the new CBS poll showing just 37 percent consider global warming a high priority (down from 52 percent a few years ago). If the goal of climate-change “awareness” is to convince people that the threat is real and desperately urgent, how is this not an almost total failure?
To rephrase that last question, how do you pass cap-and-trade when even a clear majority of Democrats think green measures should bow before economic development? Answer: You don’t, which is why this issue is going nowhere in Congress until unemployment relaxes a bit. Or, I guess, until newspapers start running a lot more “Eskimos need refrigerators now!” stories.
Last week marked the 40th anniversary of Altamont (and T-shirts to commemorate the event are available in the lobby). This year, the role of the Hell’s Angels will be played by some of the more violent protesters at Copenhagen who are even more addle-minded than those actually attending the conference — 600 of the protesters have been arrested so far. As Jim Treacher quips, “When the cops arrest you for breaking windows to stop global warming, it’s abusive to make you sit outside in the cold.”
(Though this protester looks less like a Sonny Barger-wannabe and more like one of the mimes from an earlier ’60s film, Blowup — or perhaps Billy Crystal in Spinal Tap.)
Join the conversation as a VIP Member