Al Gore regrets supporting subsidies for corn-based ethanol when he was in office, he revealed during a speech in Athens yesterday, confessing that he’d done it more to bolster his presidential ambitions than to help the planet. “First generation ethanol I think was a mistake,” Gore said, according to Reuters, arguing that “it is not good policy to have these massive subsidies.”
“One of the reasons I made that mistake is that I paid particular attention to the farmers in my home state of Tennessee,” Gore admitted. “And I had a certain fondness for the farmers in Iowa, because I was about to run for president.” First generation ethanol, Gore explained, took too much energy to produce, and had a real impact on food prices. But he said he still supports second generation fuels based on farm waste, switchgrass, and other non-food sources.
That is much kinder than what I called him after reading this. But here is my real question. How can anyone believe anything he has to say about the enviornment/green technology etc. ever again?
After reading this statement from him, I am embarrassed that I voted for him. Looks like 2000 had as bad of options as 2008 for POTUS.