There was a brief rumor going about that the recent diagnosis of a blood clot in Vice President Cheney’s left leg could cause him to resign his office. Rumor further went on that SecState Condoleeza Rice would then be nominated to take the veep’s office.

Which leads me to a political thought experiment. Let’s assume the following - all huge assumptions at this time, but this is, after all, a thought experiment.

1. Cheney does resign for health reasons (or any other reason you care to imagine) by the end of spring.

2. President Bush nominates not Rice, but former SecState Colin Powell to assume the vice president’s office. Powell accepts and is quickly confirmed by the Senate.

3. In early 2008, Powell announces he’s running for president.

4. Barack Obama becomes the Democrats’ presidential nominee.

Who wins the election in November 2008? Leave a comment.

Nota bene: I will delete all comments that attempt to change the terms of the thought experiment. Don’t bother writing that Powell will never accept high office again, he won’t ever run for president, or that Rice would be better than Powell, etc. Not interested. The terms are the terms. If you wish to run a thought experiment with different terms, fine, email (not comment) me the link and I’ll be glad to post it here as an addendum.

Now, comment away.

A few days ago I wrote a post attempting to defend Al Gore from the acrimony heaped upon him for his ultra-extravagant use of electricity at his home in Nashville. At the time I professed a high level of skepticism, though, at Gore’s own defense that his energy use was “carbon neutral” because he purchased “carbon offsets.”

And I was right. Because as it turns out, Gore is buying the offsets from himself.

The problem is that they were being purchased from Generation Investment Management — chairman, Albert Gore, Jr. In other words, Al was paying Al for the privilege of wasting electricity. It’s as if Gandhi had been photographed inside his ashram wearing spats and a waistcoat and sipping Boodles gin. From now on all the little gestures - riding in the hybrid limo, having the private jet pilot sign the carbon offset certificate, and for all we know, touring the North American continent in a solar-powered blimp - are going to look just the slightest bit hollow.

As Mark Steyn put it,

Al buys his carbon offsets from Generation Investment Management LLP, which is “an independent, private, owner-managed partnership established in 2004 and with offices in London and Washington, D.C.,” that, for a fee, will invest your money in “high-quality companies at attractive prices that will deliver superior long-term investment returns.” Generation is a tax-exempt U.S. 501(c)3. And who’s the chairman and founding partner? Al Gore.

So Al can buy his carbon offsets from himself. Better yet, he can buy them with the money he gets from his long-time relationship with Occidental Petroleum. See how easy it is to be carbon-neutral? All you have do is own a gazillion stocks in Big Oil, start an eco-stockbroking firm to make eco-friendly investments, use a small portion of your oil company’s profits to buy some tax-deductible carbon offsets from your own investment firm, and you too can save the planet while making money and leaving a carbon footprint roughly the size of Godzilla’s at the start of the movie when they’re all standing around in the little toe wondering what the strange depression in the landscape is.

A credibility problem here? I’d certainly say so.

Update: This simply does not pass the smell test. Gore is a founder (2004) of Generation Investment Management, based in London. CNS reports

GIM pays to offset the energy use of its operations and the personal emissions of its 23 employees, including Gore.

So, the firm will cover the cost to offset the energy use at Gore’s home, or his global jet travel, as it would the offset cost of any other employee, [GIM spokesman Richard] Campbell said.

So I stand corrected - Gore isn’t buying offsets to compensate for using energy like a drunken sailor goes through liquor. The company he owns gives the offsets to him. Now that’s brass. Since GIM is an investment firm, that means its depositors actually are subsidizing Al Gore’s profligacy. I wonder whether they know?