After the 2000 election, several media organizations, from across the political spectrum, pooled their resources to recount the votes cast in Florida a dozen different ways. Regardless of the method used, GW still won. To declare that had all the votes in the state been recounted, Mr. Gore would have won is simply not true.

Stan, Portland, Oregon, USA

If the sea rises, the world gets too hot, the cities flood and "billions die"....... will it all come right then, since there won't be any fossil fuel based civilization, or indeed many people, to pollute the earth?

neil, waterford, ireland

I doubt Rupert Murdoch sets much store by Al Gore's prophecies.

But who do you think will be remembered when the lights go out and there's no petrol for your vehicle?

Oh, and by the way, when the oil runs out - this century - it will have a devastating impact on agriculture.

Tom MacFarlabe, Thornton Cleveleys, UK

Gore wasn't (isn't) likeable but is Hilary Clinton? Canadians were astounded when a bumbling George W. Bush beat out Gore and we'll probably (God I hope not) be equally surprised when the Ice Queen beats out her opponents.

Julie Dunham, Cambridge, Canada

Mr. Sullivan, what you and Gore's critics --- I recognize you aren't a global warming denier but they make this same point --- miss about the seven meter rise in sea level Gore mentioned in the film is that he clearly put it in context of all the ice caps melting, a worst case scenario. His critics like to pretend he made this up, like it came from nothing, but this charge is as true as the charge he claimed to invent the Internet. The small rise critics like to grab on to, the small rise projected by the IPCC, is from the ocean expanding as it gets warmer, without considering the effect of melting ice caps. Yes, Gore is trying to make it seem as serious as possible, but he clearly refers to current tends continuing without action being taken to stop them.

Eric Ferguson, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

Its interesting to note that should a newspaper publish an article which recognises the core validity of Al Gore's documentary on global warming an organised lobby in the USA - no doubt funded at its centre by big corporate concerns like General Motors, NASA, Exxon Mobil, etc - , suddenly pops up in the Comments section dissing Mr Gore. No less here that anywhere else. Same thing is happening in response to Micheal Moore's film Sicko.

Vested corporate interests, and their Little Sir Echos - will continue to push the Self-Destruct Button right up until the day the Panic Button is hit. Then they'll wail with despair rather than do anything constructive to fix the problem.

I'd rather see Al Gore approach was adopted, where information leads to action.

Kevin Williamson, Edinburgh, Scotland

As he tries hard to soften the fact that he finds Gore insufferable”, one might question Andrew Sullivan's opinion that Gore is “admirable.” That Gore’s flick An Inconvenient Truth is deceitful, not just inaccurate, is indeed insufferable in my view. What's more, a lot of scientists do not agree that Gore is "right about global warming."

Kent, Melbourne, Australia

"No, he’s not Michael Moore, purveying obvious flimflam for effect. But neither is he the picture of scientific sobriety his image and the movie’sreputa-tion depended on."

I believe this comparison is valid except for Gore's ice core graph demonstration. That has to be one of the great visual abuses of science ever. If flim-flam means relate an opposite, incorrect meaning, Gore takes the prize.

Jax, Oakland, CA,

The Clinton/Gore administration did not leave a booming economy. Nine months before the termination of this administration the dot com bubble burst and ushered in a recession. As for being a peaceful time, the World Trade Center was bombed the first time, the Kobar Towers , two US embassies in Africa and the Cole were attacked. This administration didn't have the will or the interest to nip a growing threat early on.

Gore was well off center stage and barely visible in both terms. Hillary had more visibility! Maybe that's why he hates Clinton so much!

Aside from the errors and exaggerations of "An Inconvenient Truth", Gore's refusal to consider the views of respected scientists who do not hold with his views is suspect. His lifestyle is hypocritical. When Al gets a smaller, energy efficient house, moves his office into a green office building and flies commercial flights, he might appear a tad more sincere.

The only big thing about Al Gore is his ego.

carioca, New York, USA

I think you balance the argument very well. It's sort of a shame that human nature leads us to respond to charisma with trust and admiration while often ignoring what may lie beneath. We do love celebrities. I often wonder how Gore would have reacted to 9/11. At the end of the day, as President, I don't know whether he and Hillary would be all that different.

Madison, Dallas, Texas, USA

Nothing 'indisputable' about it. The implausible feedback loops that are supposed to magically multiply the trivial effects of CO2 into a global meltdown have never been observed in nature. They are assumed by the climate models, which are then touted as 'proof' of the theory they take for granted. It would help if scientists would observe nature without preconceptions, instead of taking one piece of idealised lab theory and trying to extrapolate it from the test-tube to a planetary scale, where it is unlikely to work even if there were no other factors involved. It should occur to them that if all this virtual feedbackology were anything like accurate, ANY significant temperature rise (and there have been many) would have sufficed to make the earth a runaway inferno long ago. A very odd property of the magic feedbacks is that they can apparently only be triggered by the tiny warming effect of CO2, but not by gigantic warming events like the 1998 Nino. And only in the future.

John B, Middlesbrough, UK

The Earth, throughout History and long before, has periodically gone through periods of relative warming and cooling. It has ALWAYS been that way...and it will continue to be that way long after Al Gore has gone. Nothing that Man can do will change that! The Earth's climate periodically changes! Remember the Ice Age? The Mini Ice Age? The Dust Bowl and Heat Wave years?

Being a Prophet of Doom is the World's second oldest profession!

Al Gore is a nice, well-meaning guy, however he is certainly no scientist. He sincerely believe his own politically correct propaganda. Reducing air pollution and greehouse gasses are certainly worthy goals. However, doing so will NOT significantly affect the Earth's climate...nor the Earth's periodic climatic changes. They will continue to occur with or without the influence of mankind.

Our shame is that so many supposedly intelligent people have bought into Al Gore's psuedo-scientific nonsense.

Garth Strong, San Diego, CAL/USA

'His opponent, some of us have only belatedly realised, was a mediocre and incurious figure whose grasp of a few fundamentals and genial manner did not, in the end, qualify him to be a global leader in a period of historical crisis. '

Well perhaps but in the remainder of the article you raised a number of issues that caused me to doubt the qualifications of Al Gore to be a 'global leader'.

Even Gore's cause celebre seem to only have engaged him as an opportunity for dramatic theater.

I waas amused by your comment descibing the USA as an 'inexpert fractious nation' though. Compared to who I thought.

Oh well, at least the globally warmed and threatened state of Florida has had no hurricanes for two seasons now.

Wait, that can't be right...? :)

Jeff, Sarasota, FL, Inexpert Fractious Nation

I would like to see Al Gore run for President again. The Supreme Court's reversal of the popular vote in 2000 was probably the worst thing to happen to the World since World War 2.It is too painful to contemplate how much better Al Gore would have handled world affairs over the last seven years.He will go on to achieve much more as an environmental campaigner,no doubt- but how much better it would be if he were to be President.

Ken, bournemouth, britain

Any politician who can convince the west to take it's snout out of the trough of extreme consumption and mend it's polluting ways deserves admiration, whatever his quirks or perceived deficiencies. Well done Al Gore! People who respect this planet thank you.

paddy, dublin,

Gore should be our next president

walter vasconcelles jr., portland or,, usa

He's one of these blokes who just makes your skin creep for no tangible reason, like a snake in the grass.

Dave Madley, Alicante, Spain

I always thought that Al owed George at least a thank-you lunch for beating him--for otherwise AL would have been the man called upon to make dire decisions in the aftermath of 9/11 and he would have been the reviled one--assuming, of course, that 9/11 WOULD have happened on Gore's watch, which no American Democrat believes!
Were it not for that beating in 2000, Gore would not be Academy Award winner, Nobel Prize winner, Prophet, and putative POTUS!
So, go on Al; say thank you to George!
And, while you're about it, buy yourself a thank-you lunch. If you hadn't beaten yourself in 2000, they'd be calling you the names they now reserve for George Bush!

elixelx, elx, spain

His acheivements are colossal. Thanks for pointing them out and thereby refreshing our memories.
The Presidency sullies everyone in the end. Al should remain at the top savouring the capitol he has deservedly earned.

helen macdonald, St>sauveur,