Glenn Beck, Politico's Allen tag-teamed to mock Gore's appearance

On the February 26 edition of his CNN Headline News program, host Glenn Beck and guest Mike Allen, chief political writer for The Politico, discussed former Vice President Al Gore's appearance at the previous night's Academy Awards ceremony, in which An Inconvenient Truth won an Oscar for Best Documentary Feature, by trading attempted quips about Gore's weight. Beck said that "after the 2000 election," Gore looked like he was "on the doughnuts and Jack Daniels diet." After Beck noted that Gore has "found himself in a place where he's like, 'Holy cow, I'm cool all of a sudden?' " Allen said: "Yeah, well, he probably doesn't appreciate the 'holy cow' references. ... [H]e was a little bit jowly." Beck replied: "Let me make the fat jokes, will you? Geez."

Earlier in the program, Beck echoed a comment he made in a January 26 Washington Post article that it is "not true" that he is a global warming skeptic. After saying that An Inconvenient Truth "could have been put into the fiction category," Beck referenced a claim by environmental activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. that Beck is "CNN's chief corporate fascism advocate" because of his comments on global warming. Beck responded: "Let me make it clear, Robert Kennedy Jr., I'm not saying climate change isn't real. I'm just wondering if we're causing it, and if we can solve it without resorting to global socialism." As Media Matters for America has noted, Beck frequently questions the cause of global warming and has cited debunked scientists to support his doubts that "we're causing" global warming.

Moreover, as Media Matters has repeatedly documented, scientific organizations such as the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) share the view that, in the words of an IPCC study presented in February, "[m]ost of the observed increase in globally averaged temperatures since the mid-20th century is very likely due to the observed increase in anthropogenic greenhouse gas concentrations." [Emphasis in original] Neither these organizations nor An Inconvenient Truth makes the argument that humans are completely responsible for global warming.

From the February 26 edition of CNN Headline News' Glenn Beck:

BECK: Where do I even begin? Last night's Academy Awards -- so full of incredibly annoying moments. Celine Dion sang. I can't take it. [Host] Ellen [DeGeneres] wore the same red velvet tuxedo that I think I wore to my prom. But there was one moment that was, above all, really the moment that just made me shoot blood right directly out of my eyes all over my TV set. It was Al Gore, Oscar in hand.

Here's "The Point" tonight. Al has conquered Hollywood, but he's building an army of crappy actors, doped-up starlets, and former Deaniacs, I believe, to help him take the White House maybe next year or in 2012. Here's how I got there.

Was anybody even remotely surprised that An Inconvenient Truth won the Oscar for best documentary last night? I mean, I wasn't at all. I was surprised that it was in the documentary category, since it could have been put into the fiction category.

Let me make it clear, Robert Kennedy Jr., I'm not saying climate change isn't real. I'm just wondering if we're causing it, and if we can solve it without resorting to global socialism.

Anywho, here's the good news. Al's also been nominated for a Nobel Prize. Gee, I wonder what the odds are that he'll win that one, too.

At the Oscars last night, Al Gore, you know, he did a little bit with Leonardo DiCaprio about global warming. Not really a good actor, I noticed last night. Leo, on the other hand, is a good actor, and he doesn't make me want to vomit.

[...]

BECK: You know, after the 2000 election, Al Gore -- I don't mean to be unkind, because I've been there, Al -- but you looked like you were, you know, on the doughnuts and Jack Daniels diet. Got all puffy, you grew the beard.

I think, this is just a guess, that Tipper finally told him, good heavens, man. Have some self-respect. Shave and get a hobby. So he devoted his time to global warming. This is something he's cared about for 30 years. He made a movie. And now he's the golden child of the left.

[...]

BECK: No, you know what? I think Al Gore was the only one there that didn't have butterflies in his stomach. Anybody who says, "My gosh, I'm shocked" -- I mean, you knew he was going to win.

ALLEN: The butterfly is an endangered species. I think you should be a little more sensitive with your analogies.

BECK: Right. Right. Right.

[...]

BECK: And now he's found himself in a place where he's like, "Holy cow, I'm cool all of a sudden?"

ALLEN: Yeah, well, he probably doesn't appreciate the "holy cow" references. You're right that -- he was a little bit jowly.

BECK: Let me make the fat jokes, will you? Geez.

—R.D.