Gore sorry Gingrich repudiates Pelosi ad

Former Vice President Al Gore is “sorry” that Newt Gingrich has repudiated the 2008 climate-change ad he cut with then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

Gingrich appeared in the ad for Gore’s nonprofit group and called for action on climate change. He has since called the spot “the single dumbest thing I’ve done in recent years.”

Gore said he was sorry for Gingrich’s change of heart. More broadly, he expressed concern that “special interests” are dictating candidates’ stances on the topic.

{mosads}“I am grateful that he did [the ad] and I am sorry that he has changed his position,” Gore said of Gingrich (Ga.), a GOP White House hopeful and former Speaker.

Gore called Gingrich’s repudiation part of a broader trend.

“But what it says … is more about the condition of the political system today, particularly in the Republican Party, but really across the board,” Gore said. “The special interests have so much power, they’re able to bludgeon these candidates to make them toe the line.”

The former vice president talked climate and politics in a Tuesday segment of The Young Turks, a show on his Current TV network (clips are available here and here).

Multiple White House candidates have backed away from earlier calls for capping emissions and softened their agreement with the consensus scientific view that the earth is warming and human activities are a major reason why.

Mitt Romney recently shifted his stance to argue in late October that “we don’t know what’s causing climate change on this planet,” while Jon Huntsman said Tuesday that there’s “not enough information right now” to formulate policies.

“Mitt Romney used to have a different position; several of them did,” Gore said.

Huntsman embraced cap-and-trade as governor of Utah but has changed his tune on the stump.

And Gingrich told conservative pundit Glenn Beck in a Tuesday interview that
there is “evidence on both sides of the climate-change argument.”

Gore also gently revived his criticism of President Obama’s leadership on climate change.

“It is a mixed bag. I don’t think that he gets enough credit for the good things that he has done,” Gore said, citing major increases in auto mileage standards. “He has gotten a bigger increase in the efficiency standards than anybody ever thought was possible.”

Still, Gore also said, “I wish that he had done more. I still hope that he will do more.”