# Al Gore- do the concert; Don't let your ADULT son piss on your big event. **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [July 6, 2007, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-gore-do-the-concert-dont-let-your-adult-son-piss-on-your-big-event/410719 "2007-07-06T12:29:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2007, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-gore-do-the-concert-dont-let-your-adult-son-piss-on-your-big-event/410719/1 "2007-07-06T12:29:01Z")
Politically, I’m in great disagreement with Al Gore. Yes, even on the great sacred subject on Human-caused/fixable Global Warming. BUT I’m on his side in this one. His grown son decided to speed while carrying around a portable pharmacy right before a global event around Al’s biggest cause. At first, I was with the pundits who were saying “Family comes first. Your pet Save-the-World cause can wait.” But it just occurred to me- Why? Why should he put his big mission on hold just because his GROWN son decided to play “Daddy! Look at me! I’m a bad boy! Piss on your big day!”? I’m thinking this is GD. If it’s more suitable for the Pit, please move it. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2007, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-gore-do-the-concert-dont-let-your-adult-son-piss-on-your-big-event/410719/2 "2007-07-06T12:53:52Z")
I’m in agreement with you. Furthermore, I wish to add that this doesn’t necessarily reflect poorly at all on Al Gore and Tipper Gore as parents, especially since his daughters seem to be doing quite well in life. Some people just screw up. I hope Al Gore III unscrews himself soon, for his own sake. Furthermore, and for the sake of argument, I would like to state that had this been one of the Bush twins, there would have been a thread on it in minutes. I hardly think family members are germane to most political arguments, but this is not a rule closely observed in the case of the Bush family. ---
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2007, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-gore-do-the-concert-dont-let-your-adult-son-piss-on-your-big-event/410719/3 "2007-07-06T13:08:00Z")
What **Mr.Moto** said, including the last part, unfortunetly. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2007, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-gore-do-the-concert-dont-let-your-adult-son-piss-on-your-big-event/410719/4 "2007-07-06T13:40:59Z")
How bad off is the son? 100 MPH sounds pretty fast, but who among us hasn’t done some speeding from time to time? And he had a little bit of pot in this car. I can’t get too worked up about that. Was he sober at the time? Does he have a history or really bad drug abuse? If not, go about your life, Al. I’m sure the kid is going into rehab anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Chief\_Pedant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@Chief\_Pedant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chief_Pedant)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2007, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-gore-do-the-concert-dont-let-your-adult-son-piss-on-your-big-event/410719/5 "2007-07-06T13:54:19Z")
[QUOTE=FriarTed] Politically, I’m in great disagreement with Al Gore. Yes, even on the great sacred subject on Human-caused/fixable Global Warming. BUT I’m on his side in this one. His grown son decided to speed while carrying around a portable pharmacy right before a global event around Al’s biggest cause. At first, I was with the pundits who were saying “Family comes first. Your pet Save-the-World cause can wait.” But it just occurred to me- Why? Why should he put his big mission on hold just because his GROWN son decided to play “Daddy! Look at me! I’m a bad boy! Piss on your big day!”? I’m thinking this is GD. If it’s more suitable for the Pit, please move it. [/QUOTE] I am not particularly overfond of Mr Gore either. But his adult son’s actions should have no bearing on Mr Gore’s life. Neither should they be a negative reflection on Mr Gore. Having reached a stage in my life where my children have become my adult friends I take no credit nor blame for them. I was responsible when they were growing up to be the best parent I could be. Sometimes you get a loser kid and it has nothing to do with you. I further do not understand the obsession with worrying about what someone else does with their private life, drugs or otherwise. Let the kid face the consequences of DUI and speeding–those are public dangers. What he decides to munch on when he isn’t driving should be up to him, witless as the choice may be. IMHO, IMHO not GD unless someone shows up to disagree. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2007, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-gore-do-the-concert-dont-let-your-adult-son-piss-on-your-big-event/410719/6 "2007-07-06T13:55:45Z")
[QUOTE=John Mace] How bad off is the son? 100 MPH sounds pretty fast, but who among us hasn’t done some speeding from time to time? And he had a little bit of pot in this car. I can’t get too worked up about that. Was he sober at the time? Does he have a history or really bad drug abuse? If not, go about your life, Al. I’m sure the kid is going into rehab anyway. [/QUOTE] In addition to the pot, Gore had a bunch of prescription drugs in the car that he did not have any prescriptions for. 100 MPH is fast. It seems to be about 35 mph above the limit for the stretch of I-5 that he was on. That’s a reckless driving bust anywhere in the country. Not to mention the fact that a Prius doesn’t get very good mileage at that speed. ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2007, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-gore-do-the-concert-dont-let-your-adult-son-piss-on-your-big-event/410719/7 "2007-07-06T14:07:26Z")
[QUOTE=John Mace] How bad off is the son? 100 MPH sounds pretty fast, but who among us hasn’t done some speeding from time to time? And he had a little bit of pot in this car. I can’t get too worked up about that. Was he sober at the time? Does he have a history or really bad drug abuse? If not, go about your life, Al. I’m sure the kid is going into rehab anyway. [/QUOTE] Al Gore III has had some incidents in the past which suggests to me he’s probably a bit of a “partier.” A lot of people had wild youths, and a lot of people probably don’t want to admit it but they too have probably done stuff during said wild youths that was either dangerous to them or others. So Al Gore III may just be a somewhat wild young twenty-something who has had the unfortunate luck of getting caught, or he may have genuine substance abuse problems, just a few incidents isn’t really enough to tell one way or another. In this particular incident, the [CNN.com](http://CNN.com) article I read said that he was not DUI and that he is in trouble for reckless driving (for speeding) and for possession of prescription drugs w/out a prescription. It does seem to me he’s bordering on serious trouble though. He has a habit for speeding, I believe he’s been stopped four times by police that have made the public record and at least three of them involved him going over 90 mph. He’s also been cited for drunken driving near a Virginia military base as well as cited another time for driving w/pot and his headlights turned off at night. I think he probably needs to either keep his substance-using limited to times when he isn’t driving or he needs to stop driving, if he keeps combining the two he could end up dead, or responsible for seriously injuring or killing someone else. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2007, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-gore-do-the-concert-dont-let-your-adult-son-piss-on-your-big-event/410719/8 "2007-07-06T14:38:08Z")
> [@](#): > > Al Gore- do the concert; Don’t let your ADULT son piss on your big event. I hate to get all GQ’y here, but wtf are you talking about? A judge reversed her injunction, so [Rio’s Live Earth concert back on](http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/07/06/1971337.htm?section=entertainment): > [@](#): > > A Brazilian judge has reversed her own injunction blocking the Rio de Janeiro leg of the Live Earth concerts, after organisers secured approval from the police and met security concerns. > > “The show is on again,” said a spokeswoman for the Rio Justice Tribunal. Is there some _other_ cancelled concert that’s not making the headlines? ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2007, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-gore-do-the-concert-dont-let-your-adult-son-piss-on-your-big-event/410719/9 "2007-07-06T14:51:00Z")
[QUOTE=Squink] I hate to get all GQ’y here, but wtf are you talking about? A judge reversed her injunction, so [Rio’s Live Earth concert back on](http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/07/06/1971337.htm?section=entertainment): Is there some _other_ cancelled concert that’s not making the headlines? [/QUOTE] > **[BBC NEWS | Americas | Al Gore's son in 'drug treatment'](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6276120.stm)** > > Former US Vice-President Al Gore says his son is getting treatment after being arrested for drug possession. Gore’s son was caught speeding & had quite a few meds & pot in his possession. I’ve heard several political pundits talk about how Al Gore’s first duty is to take care of his son & skip appearing at the concerts. First, I agreed with them but as I thought about it, it hit me that why should he let his son’s stupidity ruin his big weekend? ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2007, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-gore-do-the-concert-dont-let-your-adult-son-piss-on-your-big-event/410719/10 "2007-07-06T15:03:11Z")
Ahh, so this thread is about something that hasn’t happened, and shows no sign of happening, except perhaps in the minds of some ‘political pundits.’ -I feel your deep concern. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2007, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-gore-do-the-concert-dont-let-your-adult-son-piss-on-your-big-event/410719/11 "2007-07-06T16:00:46Z")
I certainly don’t consider this a “pissing on Al’s parade” incident. That would entail a conscious effort to thwart the event. The kid has problems and got caught at an inopportune time. Do we really think he intentionally did this? ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2007, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-gore-do-the-concert-dont-let-your-adult-son-piss-on-your-big-event/410719/12 "2007-07-06T16:22:40Z")
The Live Earth concerts are some of the most ridiculous acts of hypocrisy I have ever seen. “Let’s create an industry around creating more consumerist crap to bring attention to the damage people are doing to the Earth by consuming useless crap.” I hope these damn concerts go down in flames. As for Al Gore’s son. Rich Celebrity’s entitled son heavy drug user, news at 11. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2007, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-gore-do-the-concert-dont-let-your-adult-son-piss-on-your-big-event/410719/13 "2007-07-06T16:41:50Z")
[QUOTE=mswas] The Live Earth concerts are some of the most ridiculous acts of hypocrisy I have ever seen. “Let’s create an industry around creating more consumerist crap to bring attention to the damage people are doing to the Earth by consuming useless crap.” I hope these damn concerts go down in flames. As for Al Gore’s son. Rich Celebrity’s entitled son heavy drug user, news at 11. [/QUOTE] BUT, doesn’t driving a PRIUS (even at 100 MPH) make up for all that? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Parker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/35a633/32.png) [@Richard\_Parker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Parker)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2007, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-gore-do-the-concert-dont-let-your-adult-son-piss-on-your-big-event/410719/14 "2007-07-06T16:53:21Z")
[QUOTE=Mr. Moto] Furthermore, and for the sake of argument, I would like to state that had this been one of the Bush twins, there would have been a thread on it in minutes. I hardly think family members are germane to most political arguments, but this is not a rule closely observed in the case of the Bush family. [/QUOTE] This is no doubt true, but the better comparison will be in 10 years when Bush is no longer President and his daughters are adults. If we still see a thread in minutes, I’ll be surprised. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2007, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-gore-do-the-concert-dont-let-your-adult-son-piss-on-your-big-event/410719/15 "2007-07-06T16:56:05Z")
[QUOTE=ralph124c] BUT, doesn’t driving a PRIUS (even at 100 MPH) make up for all that? :eek: [/QUOTE] Not really. Prius’s are overrated. In most cases it’s conspicuous consumption intended to make it look like you care about the environment, rather than actually caring about the environment. I hear the battery removes like all the storage room. It’d be better if people focused on emissions standards, though a Prius is definitely preferrable to other emissions. ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2007, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-gore-do-the-concert-dont-let-your-adult-son-piss-on-your-big-event/410719/16 "2007-07-07T03:19:13Z")
[QUOTE=Kalhoun] I certainly don’t consider this a “pissing on Al’s parade” incident. That would entail a conscious effort to thwart the event. The kid has problems and got caught at an inopportune time. Do we really think he intentionally did this? [/QUOTE] Depends if you think that “nothing” happens “on purpose”. I agree, though. The show must go on.