I'm happy for Al Gore, having sold his failed TV Network to Al Jazeera for a reported $500 million. Gore is rumored to receive $100 million from the deal. Good on you, Al, for being able to get something from the business you built with your own hands (although the President might disagree with how you were able to do it).
My hypocrisy sirens go off when Gore hurried the sale to get it completed in 2012, and not in 2013, thereby avoiding having to pay higher taxes on his windfall. Shouldn't Gore be paying his "fair share", being part of the 1%? It's also interesting that he preaches the evils of Big Oil, and the damage it does to Mother Earth, yet sees no problem in taking money that comes directly from Big Oil profits to line his already fat pockets.
For Al Jazeera, which is financed by the government of Qatar, the acquisition is a coming of age moment. A decade ago, Al Jazeera’s flagship Arabic-language channel was reviled by American politicians for showing videotapes from Al Qaeda members and sympathizers. Now the news operation is buying an American channel, having convinced Mr. Gore and the other owners of Current that it has the journalistic muscle and the money to compete head-to-head with CNN and other news channels in the United States.
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.
It will be interesting to see how well Al Jazeera does in the ratings (I'm guessing they will get significantly better numbers than CurrenTVdid). I'm not worried about what Al Jazeera broadcasts. If it's good programming, people will watch. If it's propaganda, it will do as well as Current did.
To those that lost their jobs when Gore decided to make himself richer, might I suggest that you go to his palatial mansion, and ask for a share of his profits? After all, he wouldn't have been able to get that much money, had it not been on the backs of the workers. As a good Democrat, and one who looks out for the American Worker, I'm sure he'll be happy to share the wealth from his latest endeavor.
Nice ethics, Mr. Gore.
Will those of you on the Left that followed Gore in lockstep now wake up and realize that he cares more about his personal fortune, than he ever did about MMGW, the Working Man, and tax equality?
