Clearly, Doug Powers doesn’t understand the Algore’s motivations.

Powers, filling in at Malkin’s place while she’s away, reports:

Former Vice President Al Gore and his wife, Tipper, have added a Montecito-area property to their real estate holdings, reports the Montecito Journal.

The couple spent $8,875,000 on an ocean-view villa on 1.5 acres with a swimming pool, spa and fountains, a real estate source familiar with the deal confirms. The Italian-style house has six fireplaces, five bedrooms and nine bathrooms.

Powers, along with the rest of the conservative blogosphere, is having great fun mocking Algore for his great concern about “carbon footprints” and “human emissions” and “the environment.”

But, see, you’re missing the point. All of you. You’ve gotta look at the motivations.

Man-made global warming has been suffering through a really bad stretch, lately, what with the data scandals and the really cold winters and the polls showing people just don’t give a flaming charcoal briquette.

Someone like Gore, who’s bet his entire professional legacy on the idea of man-made global warming, needs man-made global warming to be true.

So he’s just trying to make it happen. See? You examine the motivations, and it explains a lot.