Other than “writing” (in quotes because it’s highly doubtful he really could write a whole book) brain-dead, cliche-ridden books about sports and their supposed greater meaning, what’s George Allen been up to the past few years? The short answer, according to an article I wrote for Scaling Green, is “nothing good!”
Former Virginia Governor and U.S. Senator George “Macaca” Allen is now Chair of something called the American Energy Freedom Center. It seems like starting a front group is the default choice of every politician to leave politics (Dick Armey’s FreedomWorks, Newt Gingrich’s American Solutions for Winning the Future, and former Representative Bill Paxon’s Americans for Affordable Electricity).
True to form, George Allen’s front group is a PR firm masquerading as a non-profit policy center. It advocates “a future of abundant, affordable and reliable sources of American energy,” as opposed to “expensive, imported and highly regulated energy.”
What does this organization do? Basically, it shills for the dirty energy industry, opposing what it claims are “expensive, job-killing climate regulations,” spreading lies about clean energy, and taking lots of money from ExxonMobil and other unsavory actors. But the craziest thing about George Allen’s work at this supposedly “freedom”-loving outfit is this: “the dirty energy industry – oil and coal in particular – got an estimated $72 billion of our tax money in the United States alone between 2002 and 2008.” That’s right, the industry George Allen represents is a huge recipient of government, taxpayer-funded, corporate welfare, basically the polar opposite of everything George Allen claims to stand for. Utter hypocrisy, as usual, from George Allen and his ideological ilk.
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