Al Gore: Americans Are Yearning for 'Unvarnished Truth' Offered by Current TV

November 25th, 2011 11:26 AM

In a special 80th anniversary edition of Broadcasting & Cable magazine (not online), former vice president Al Gore lays out his vision for how the American public is just desperately hungry for Current TV -- actual ratings numbers notwithstanding. To add humor on top of humor, Gore insisted that Current TV is not really leftist.

"Some of our competitors may see us as being on the left side of the spectrum," Gore admitted, "but the entire spectrum has been pulled so far to the right that we believe that we are completely right about what viewers are yearning for as we enter what is sure to be one of the most heated, energetic, and fascinating election years in memory."

It's comical that Gore would both pay a former ESPN sports anchor $10 million a year to be the poster child of his network, and yet write of his handiwork "Today, more than ever, audiences are seeking intelligent discourse instead of cynicism and sniping."  Gore thinks objectivity should go out the window in favor of the "best unvarnished truth" he can offer:

They want context, insight, and informed opinion. They want journalists to get to the truth and not just present a cliched "on the one hand and on the other hand" shortcut. They want a news network that connects the dots and makes sense out of a complicated world that is all the most confusing because of the cacophony of noises.

Wouldn't all of this sound like what liberals hate about Fox News? Gore insisted, "as a consumer of news myself, I have had the feeling for some time now that we’ve reached a tipping point where Americans are looking for a fresh and independent perspective, an unvarnished point of view – and that’s what they deserve." Gore thinks his millionaire backers aren't "conglomerates," so they can be truly progressive.

Networks owned by conglomerates often cannot follow our lead becuase of their owners' broad agendas that go far beyond seeking the truth, wherever it may be. What is needed is more independent networks that are not beholden to the larger and broader interests of their corporate owners.

What you get instead are networks that beholden themselves to left-wing socialist crusades like Occupy Wall Street:

So it is no surprise to me that Current was the first network to report on Occupy Wall Street. When others were reporting on the news of the day, we realized that this incipient movement was a game-changer, and then we helped to influence the direction of the news coverage and the headlines.

The article is titled "The Search for Intelligent Discourse." Naturally, "intelligent discourse" and "liberal unanimity" are one and the same. (Ask the public broadcasters.) Gore's quite explicit: he wants Current to drag the rest of the media establishment to the Left until Current is at the American "center." One can only imagine what would be on the Left of that.