Will Al Gore Change His No-Debate Policy After CEI’s Offer of Big Bucks?

New Video Challenge to Gore Offers $500, Plus Proceeds Of Worldwide Pledge-a-Dollar Campaign

Washington, D.C., November 16, 2009—For years, Al Gore has steadfastly refused to debate the global warming issue. Most recently, he ignored a put-up-or-shut-up challenge on the Glenn Beck Show from climate policy expert Lord Christopher Monckton, a former British government adviser. Today, the Competitive Enterprise Institute hopes to change all that with the release of a new video campaign. In it, CEI offers Mr. Gore a $500 check, together with the proceeds of a world-wide email pledge-a-dollar drive, all aimed at persuading Mr. Gore to accept Lord Monckton’s challenge.  

“To our knowledge, Mr. Gore hasn’t been in a debate since he ran for president,” said Sam Kazman, CEI General Counsel. “But given that he and his allies are seeking the biggest tax increase in history in the form of new energy taxes and rationing, he ought to at least have to courage to engage in a face-to-face defense of his position,” Kazman stated.

CEI’s video debate challenge comes several weeks before a major United Nations conference on climate change in Copenhagen, which begins on December 7. Representatives from 192 countries are expected to attend that conference. Global warming alarmists hope to reach a new agreement to ratchet up international restrictions on energy use. The previous agreement, the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, expires in 2012.

At the same time, the U.S. Congress is deliberating over major climate change legislation to set up a cap-and-tax carbon trading scheme.