No. In the 2006 election cycle, oil and gas companies contributed over $19 million to political campaigns. 82% of that money went to Republican candidates.
It appears that it is time to re-print the discussion of the hundreds of millions that Al Gore made via his global warming hedge funds. Generation Investment Management (GIM) was co-founded in 2004 by David Blood and Al Gore. Website - http://www.generationim.com/ Generation Global Equity Fund has $6 Billion in assets under management in early 2011 and is said to return more than 50% during the 12 months ending in March 2010. http://www.insidermonkey.com/hedge-fund/generation+investment+management/146/ Filings indicate that for an non-operational role, Al Gore gets 0.5% of assets under management each year and 5% of the profits. This amounts $30 Million each year in asset under management fees and an average of $60 Million each year in performance fees over the life of the fund (it has had an average of a 19% return). Of course, these fees have built up over time as the fund grew after inception in 2004. The fund was established in 2004 before he departed on his "Inconvenient Truth" film and tour in 2006 with the obvious intent of creating a scare that would drive money to the fund and it's carbon credit trading schemes. IMDb - Inconvenient Truth: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0497116/ In 2008, Al Gore invests $35 million with the Capricorn Investment Group. "Thatâs a big wad of cash for someone who reported barely $2 million in assets in 2000, when his job as vice president came to an end." http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2008/03/06/al-gores-big-investment/ Al Goreâs Inconvenient Loot http://riehlworldview.com/2007/03/al_gores_inconv.html Al Gore has thrived as green-tech investor http://articles.washingtonpost.com/...02345_1_clean-energy-clean-tech-firms-al-gore "Just before leaving public office in 2001, Gore reported assets of less than $2 million; today, his wealth is estimated at $100 million." (Actually other news reports indicate his wealth in 2012 was over $250 Million before getting $100M more in his recent Current TV deal.) You can make the case that Al Gore is a very savvy business person who has generated out-sized returns for investors and signficant wealth for himself. The reality is his fund can more properly be described as "Green Cronyism". Since 2008, most of the firms invested in by the fund had funding from the Obama administration. Of the 11 companies he mentioned in his 2008 slide show (e.g. Iberdrola Renovables), nine received or directly benefited from stimulus or clean energy funding. The Obama administration also supported the carbon credit trading scheme that makes a significant amount of the fund's trading profits. Bottom Line: Al Gore creates a hedge fund where he has no day-to-day operational role and then pushes the "Inconvenient Truth" to drive money for the fund. It is hard to made the case that Al Gore is driven by personal charity, true environmentalism (how about all those jet rides) or any type of real belief about 'global warming' --- it is all about making money... something he has been very successful at since leaving office.
OK. Tell me what this great product is that Al Gore sells to the public valued in the hundreds of billions of dollars that everyone wants and needs.
The only smart policy is ignoring ideologues like you who think they know better than everybody else and want to use that as a justification for power /control.