[MamaLucci]

You can't make this stuff up.........it's like the libs are all trying to win a "Biggest Hypocrite" sweepstakes. LOL!

[doug from upland]

ARIANNA HUFFINGTON: Laurie David [NRDC board member and Larry's wife] threatened to kill me if I didn't. But it was love at first drive between me and my dark blue Prius.

GEORGE DICAPRIO: After meeting people at NRDC, my whole family became aware of the different emissions standards for SUVs and we wanted to feel as though we were contributing to a solution. Leonardo got rid of his SUV that week. He and I both now drive a Prius -- silver for both of us -- and I've convinced three of my friends to buy one as well.

And the Honda Civic Hybrid? Why'd you choose it?

KAY SCHRENK: We knew we wanted a hybrid, and we found the Prius mid-dash display quite distracting. The Honda's mileage indicator and battery-charging indicator are down where the speedometer is, behind the steering wheel. You do watch, because that's the fun of it. Our car is blue.

GREG WETSTONE: I wanted to get a hybrid, provided it was big enough to cart my two girls around, and that it performed pretty well. I'd driven both the Insight and the Prius before, and liked the way they both drive. The Insight was too small for us. But I was excited about the Civic even before it came out. I like the way the 5-speed drives. It's very responsive, fun to drive. It's a bronze-gold color.

Was finding and purchasing a hybrid easy or difficult? Did you have to wait long for delivery?

	Long-time NRDC supporter Kay Schrenk drives a Honda Civic Hybrid

EPSTEIN: It was easy -- a call to the local Toyota dealer in Berkeley. I ordered on the first day they accepted orders and received the car eight weeks later.

DICAPRIO: We waited a little over two months from the time we ordered the cars until they were delivered.

DAVID: I got the "Larry David treatment," so I only waited about two or three weeks.

HUFFINGTON: It was quick and effortless. Santa Monica Toyota brought it right to my driveway.

WETSTONE: Surprisingly hassle free. I bought it from the neighborhood dealer in Bethesda [a Washington suburb]. The car was stock.

SCHRENK: We waited all of five days. The dealer was terrific. They didn't try to load us up with options. We had to go back and get floor mats! We had to take it someplace else to change the CD player.

---

We spoke with these hybrid owners in 2003, with the exception of David, DiCaprio and Epstein, who were interviewed in 2002.

---

For detailed consumer and technical information about hybrids, see the Union of Concerned Scientists' Hybridcenter.org website.

Interview: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

[Argus]

Everyone must understand that the liberal aristocrats can't be held to the same standards as scuzzy little nobodies like you and me. They are big important people with big important jobs to do. They need big important vehicles to carry them around. The masses can take public transit.

[syriacus]

Great find, once again.

Anyone seen Al's old 'cycle and leather vest anyplace?

[kublia khan]

note to AL: eat a piece of fish for God's sake

[Incorrigible]

Doug,

Heard you on the Mark Levin show last night telling him about this info.

Mark is my favorite host on WABC bar none!

[lrvp99]

Whenever I hear Arianna Huffington on the radio, I could swear I'm listening to Mrs. Douglas from Green Acres, aka Eva Gabor.

[SpinyNorman]

From the NYTimes, via Michelle Malkin, circa 8/16/04
(http://michellemalkin.com/archives/000399.htm):


"When the leftist film maker Michael Moore used his publisher's plane on a recent book tour, for example, critics lambasted him for enjoying the corporate high life. The Hollywood activist Laurie David, the wife of Larry David of "Curb Your Enthusiasm," was labeled a "Gulfstream liberal" in an article in the latest issue of The Atlantic Monthly for condemning S.U.V. owners while flying around in private planes.

Arianna Huffington, a financial backer of anti-S.U.V. commercials, has also borne the brunt of criticism for traveling in a jet; and a supermarket magnate, Ron Burkle, is perhaps as well known for his eight-bedroom 767 as he is for the more than $1.5 million that he has given to the Democratic Party since 2000...

Then there's the criticism of the rich environmentalist who flies in a private jet to Sierra Club fund-raisers. A midsize Gulfstream 200 uses from 1,200 to 1,500 gallons of fuel for a cross-country flight, so if it holds four people, giving them the chance to stretch out on the leather sofas, each person would use about 350 gallons of fuel. That's 10 times the amount of fuel used per person by 130 passengers flying coast to coast on a Boeing 737-300.

It's also nearly the equivalent of driving a Hummer cross country, twice. Mr. Burkle's 767, if it carries eight people across the continent, would each use 1,000 gallons of fuel, enough for eight Hummer trips from southern Brazil to Dearborn, Mich.

Mr. Burkle did not return calls for comment, nor did Ms. Huffington.

Ms. David, whose husband was a creator of "Seinfeld,'' also could not be reached for comment. Liana Schwarz, who works closely with her at the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group of which Ms. David is a member of the board, said that she was out of town. Ms. Schwarz would not say if Ms. David used a private plane to get there..."

Hypocrisy, Arianna be thy name.......

[Archidamus]

The Cadillac Escalade rides better than the Chevy Suburban.

[Blood of Tyrants]

I don't think that ex-VP's get lifetime SS protection, do they?

[doug from upland]

Algore, San Francisco, 9-9-05 -- When there is no effort to restrain the global warming pollution gasses then global warming gets worse, with all of the consequences that the scientific community has warned us about.

Let me see, would, um, some of those global warming pollution gasses be coming from things like the Cadillac Escalades of elitist lefties?

[doug from upland]

Al Gore vs. the Automobile
Gore wrote in EARTH IN THE BALANCE pp 325-326, "It ought to be possible to establish a coordinated global program to accomplish the strategic goal of completely eliminating the internal combustion engine (by government fiat) over, say, a 25 year period." "I wrote in this book Earth in the Balance that we should set as a strategic goal the phasing out of the internal-combustion engine over a 25-year period. I accept now that was a mistake. Twenty-five years is far too long for a goal like that. I think we can do it quicker." (Ramesh Ponnuru, "The Attack Man," National Review, February 21, 2000)

[halley]

For what it's worth... My wife, my 12 year old son and I were fortunate to spend 3 weeks in Italy this past June/July. One day, while we were staying in Sienna in the Tuscan Hills, we rented a pair of Mopeds and took off to to a nearby town, San Genimgano (sp?)

While we were wandering round this beautiful medieval town, my wife nudged me a said "That's Tipper Gore". At first I wasn't buying it, because she looked like any other middle aged blond, but I sidled up alongside her and her her male companion call her by name. It was Tipper after all.

It dawned on me that where there's Tipper there must be Al, and sure enough, a few moment later who came around the corner but Al himself. He was wearing a rumpled LaCoste T-Shirt and a bathing suit (!), and looked like hell. A few minutes later we found ourselves in the same shop as Tipper, Al and her brother, while a small entourage of policy wonks waited outside discussing their plans for healthcare reform. We were in that shop with them for a good ten minutes, and I'm now convinced that he is, in fact, the model for Forrest Gump.

You can imagine all I might have said, but I held my tongue. I did send my 12 year old over to introduce himself however.

Funny how the world works. There was Al wandering around in an outfit I would never wear in public, and our wonderful President was that very moment flying into the G8 conference.

God was in his heaven and all was right with the world.

[Lucky2]

I want to know why the POS still has Secret Service protection! What a waste of the tax payer's dollars!

[chudogg]

at least he has good taste

[nopardons]

bttt

[doug from upland]

ARIANNA STORY PROVEN TRUE!

[doug from upland]

Step away from the Escalade and put your hands up, Mr. Gore!