re: #15 kirkspencer
Lemme express my thesis in less glib terms: a lot of people who might have been only slightly skeptical or perhaps neutral on AGW heard and saw Al Gore embracing it and it immediately prompted a knee-jerk rejection on their part of anything he had to say on the topic.
And he made a handy high-profile target for the active deniers out there to rail against.
I generally agree with his arguments, I just found it a bit arrogant on his part to think that he could suddenly cease being a politician and become an elder statesman. That process usually takes more than a few months…