[Ominous Music] Al Gore...He uses energy.

As I have previous talked about, their is an odd and pervasive desire to talk about certain candidates housing issues.

With Edwards it focused on his home...massive mansion...nice sized house for his family...sprawling compound. Yeah, for some reason people tried to turn his building a house, using his own hard earned money, for his family, into a scandal/punchline. Didn't stick...though most of us have forgotten he is around, with Clinton and Obama talking the air out of the race. Perhaps if and/or when one or both fall back it will resurface.

But with the ascent of Al Gore now, we have a new line of attack.

A few days ago, a small "organization" no one had ever heard of got their hands on Al Gore's utility bill. And, not surprising for a man who lives in a large home, Gore's bill was a lot of money. The "organization" claimed that Gore was a hypocrite for proclaiming the need to address Global Warming while living in a 20-room home.

A few days ago, a small "organization" no one had ever heard of got their hands on Al Gore's utility bill. And, not surprising for a man who lives in a large home, Gore's bill was a lot of money. The "organization" claimed that Gore was a hypocrite for proclaiming the need to address Global Warming while living in a 20-room home.

Huh?

Since when was it a crime, or even in poor taste, in America to do well and live in a nice home - and since when did Al Gore lecture anyone on the need to buy smaller homes? (Sure, it fits into the conservative smear about rich liberals being hypocrites, because somehow we're all supposed to be poor Capuchin monks, but that's neither true nor news.) But, no one was claiming that Gore was wasteful with his energy use. No one was claiming that Gore didn't try to "greenify" his home (he did). What they were claiming was that Al Gore lived in a large home and thus had a high energy bill. Uh, yeah. And?

So how exactly is this story news? Simply because some out-of-nowhere "organization" just happens to attack Al Gore a few days after his documentary gets the Oscar? Gee, some conicidence there. And in fact, contrary to the implication that Gore was sloppy with his own energy use - which would be news - Gore has been doing exactly what he preached:

The vice president has done that, Kreider argues, and the family tries to offset that carbon footprint by purchasing their power through the local Green Power Switch program -- electricity generated through renewable resources such as solar, wind, and methane gas, which create less waste and pollution. "In addition, they are in the midst of installing solar panels on their home, which will enable them to use less power," Kreider added. "They also use compact fluorescent bulbs and other energy efficiency measures and then they purchase offsets for their carbon emissions to bring their carbon footprint down to zero."

Now, ABC will argue that there is a controversy here and they're simply reporting both sides. Gee, thanks. But the first rule of journalism, in my book at least, isn't whether there's a controversy, it's whether there's a story. You can't legitimiately do a he-said-she-said when you know that there's no there-there. In this story, the complaint on its face, that Al Gore lives in a 20-room house, is bogus, unless Al Gore has been lecturing people about the need to live in smaller houses - and he hasn't, to my knowledge, nor do the stories say otherwise.

To reiterate a point made by ABC's own Mark Halperin a few years back:

We have a responsibility to hold both sides accountable to the public interest, but that doesn't mean we reflexively and artificially hold both sides "equally" accountable when the facts don't warrant that.

The attack on Al Gore is the equivalent of the "have you stopped beating your wife" allegation. It's not news, and it's not fair and balanced, simply because you report the views of the slanderer and the victim, especially when you know that the only thing people in the middle will take away from the story is a scent of scandal that blackens Gore's good name.

What is sad is that a story about HOW Al Gore and his family do or don't live up to his arguments for a greener lifestyle would be a good story. Informing people about these programs, across the country, to help use renewable resources would be informative and for the public good. And if there is some hypocrisy to dig up, well, there it would be.

But, again we have journalistic laziness. Why look passed the talking points? Why look passed numbers without perspective? The noise machine serves up a story, and the media can trundle up to the trough.

Thankfully, this story is not gaining much purchase so for. But he isn't running. If he does, the public and media should be smart about this guff. And with all the other candidates, we all should be smarter. Even if you don't like the candidates, buying into lies does you no credit. None at all.