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January 10, 2007
Steve and Al
Russell Roberts
Holman Jenkins finds it strange that Al Gore is the protector of Steve Jobs:
We can only wonder what Al Gore is making of his experience as the No. 1 defender of today's No. 1 backdating miscreant.
Mr. Gore, an Apple director, was a member of the special two-man committee that investigated and exonerated Steve Jobs in the backdating matter. By now, we presume he is well-versed in what backdating is and isn't. But how easily Mr. Gore -- the scourge of Big Pharma, etc. -- could have been the one braying about greed, CEO theft, the defrauding of shareholders.
I didn't know that Gore was half of the committee. It puts this moment from yesterday's keynote address into a whole new light:
10:23am - "I can double-tap and it'll zoom in -- I can make this text bigger if I want to, and there it is. Isn't this cool? There is the New York Times. Unbelievable. You can look at multiple web pages as well, I just push this button in the corner, shrinks it down, and I can add a new page. Let's go to Amazon. I like looking at what DVDs are selling -- I like especially when Disney DVDs are on top."
10:24am - Page is loading, albeit a bit slowly. "And here we are, and there's a section over here, and these are the top sellers. Oh look, Al's "An Inconvenient Truth" is number one. Now I can go back to the NYT if I want, I can get rid of these by just hitting the X." Looks a bit like the UIQ browser, but much more slick.
When he just happened to check out DVD's and just happened to find Al's DVD (love that first name basis!), I thought he was pandering to the environmentalist in all of us to show how he's a good guy. But no. It's was a little thank you to Al. I wonder if Gore was happy to see his DVD touted or whether he cringed.
Posted by Russell Roberts in Web/Tech | Permalink
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Comments
I'd bet the guy who used to be "the next U.S. president" loved it.
Posted by: Daniel | Jan 10, 2007 12:59:16 PM
Gore has been on the board of Apple for some years now. Everybody in the Moscone Center knew of the relationship between Jobs and Gore.
Posted by: Felix | Jan 10, 2007 1:45:29 PM
Ironically, environmentalists have targeted Apple because of the toxic materials involved in its production processes:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/detail?blogid=19&entry_id=12397
I would love to see a reporter ask Al Gore to respond to Greenpeace's criticism.
Posted by: Russell Hanneken | Jan 10, 2007 2:22:26 PM
In another demo on their web page, they show the lead NY Times story which is something about the Democrats taking over the House with a picture of Pelosi and her hand raised high.
Coincidence? I think not.
Posted by: python | Jan 10, 2007 4:04:55 PM
python,
As long as we're being conspiratorial:
If you have Mac OS X, run the Dictionary application and look up stovepipe. Note the usage example.
I don't have a Mac in front of me right now, but as I recall it says something about "neocons stovepiping lies to the White House" (close to the exact words, I think).
Posted by: Russell Hanneken | Jan 10, 2007 4:40:25 PM
I forgot the dictionary was included in OS X. Thanks for the reminder. The exact entry is:
"verb [ trans. ] transmit (information) directly through levels of a hierarchy : neocons who stovepiped lies straight up to the White House."
The dictionary is the Oxford American Dictionary.
Posted by: Daniel | Jan 10, 2007 5:50:49 PM
So Algore and Rush Limbaugh are both Mac guys. . .
Posted by: Ray G | Jan 10, 2007 7:04:01 PM
Al Gore never cringes. He swells.
Posted by: Al Fin | Jan 13, 2007 9:32:26 AM
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