Politics sees some crazy partnerships in the twists and turns of capitol hill, but its seldom that you see the strange teams extend out into the media or the activist community- for the most part people are pretty wrapped up in their own stuff and don’t venture far from the farm except to protest or exchange jabs on the air.

So what to make of Glenn Beck supporting PETA’s recent calling out of Al Gore? The exchange goes something like this:

PETA says that if Gore REALLY wants to do something about the environment, he should stop eating meat because of how damaging meat production. Beck goes on air and says he usually doesn’t like PETA, but this time they are right. PETA plays it up, etc. Diane Sawyer ends up asking Gore on her program about it and he sort of does that Gore-laugh and acknowledges it as an issue but brushes it off as a major objection.

For his part, Glenn Beck brought up his conflicting feelings around PETA, but his eventual agreement with them when it comes to calling out Al Gore: "I've said before I disagree with PETA, but I respect them because they are not hypocrites: They say what they mean and mean what they say. I just disagree with what they say -- except when it calls for Al Gore to eat tofu."

The point that Beck brings up about meat production’s relationship to environmental degradation is a valid one, mostly from the standpoint of water usage. Gore later told Diane Sawyer that he has no plans to eat tofurkey this Thanksgiving, and that while Beck’s point was valid, CO2 is really the much bigger issue here.

Is it fair for Beck to side with PETA and attack Gore on this one? Can you discredit an environmental politician based on their choice to eat meat? Well, choices are what the book is all about- in fact the title is OUR CHOICE, and from the way it is described, there is a ton of research packed in to go behind the belief that people can, should and will make the choices to save the planet.

Whether you support Gore or not, watching PETA and Beck throw jabs at him is kind of sickening. Gore gets the shaft in the presidential election, goes through some soul searching and comes out on the other side a dedicated, consistent advocate for the environmental cause- not bitter or resentful, not aggressive or hateful about it either, just consistent and from what I can see earnest about his desire to get the message out there. And that’s really what he seems to be about.

Beck is a hack- he doesn’t really espouse any kind of ethos, he just attacks other people who he feels like are pulling the country down. What does Glenn Beck stand for? You don’t know. He stands for taking out Democrats. PETA- well, it’s right there in the name: “People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.”

So PETA, why would you embrace Glenn Beck’s attack tactics rather than approach Al Gore and talk to him about working with him? Whose side do you want to end up on?

Photo Credit under CCL: The Rocketeer