President Obama had some fun in his energy speech this morning, poking gently at Republican candidates who seem to think oil is the be-all and end-all of energy without alternatives by characterizing them as "founding members of the Flat Earth
March 15, 2012

President Obama had some fun in his energy speech this morning, poking gently at Republican candidates who seem to think oil is the be-all and end-all of energy without alternatives by characterizing them as "founding members of the Flat Earth Society."

He specifically took aim at Newt Gingrich, who has repeatedly ridiculed the President for his stance on algae as an alternative fuel.

I've always thought it odd that Gingrich would call algae biofuel investments "cloud cuckoo land," but no low is too low for Newtie, I guess. Only, he might want to rethink that line of attack, given that ExxonMobil and Chevron have substantial investments and relationships in algae fuel development startups.

Oops, and as it turns out, it seems Newtie himself had an investment in "cloud cuckoo land."

You know what's coming next: Gingrich used to hold interests in a company that developed algae-based biofuels.

The Cambridge, Mass.-based startup was called GreenFuel Technologies Corp., which raised more than $70 million in venture capital funding before closing its doors in 2009. Among its largest backers was Draper Fisher Jurvetson, through a fund in which Gingrich was a limited partner.

It certainly is true that Gingrich didn't personally make the GreenFuel investment decision, but he did choose to back the DFJ management team that believed in GreenFuel. Does that mean Gingrich now believes folks like Tim Draper and Steve Jurvetson are "intellectually incoherent?" And, if so, doesn't that throw Gingrich's own judgment into doubt?

Might be time for Newtie to sail off the edge of that flat earth into the sunset.

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