Is this appropriate or desirable behavior for a vice president?

[jrydberg]

Cheney, Kerry, Bozo the Clown, I don't care who it is, I still find it inappropriate.

 

[Pin Wizard]

Originally posted by jrydberg
Cheney, Kerry, Bozo the Clown, I don't care who it is, I still find it inappropriate.

Gore's actions haven't been very good lately either...

Al Unplugged
In 2000, he ran for president and critics called him wooden. This year, he's not running and few could level the same charge. In a series of rousing speeches, Al Gore has excoriated George Bush, saying the president has "betrayed this country." The Bush campaign puts Gore in what it calls John Kerry's "Coalition of the Wild-Eyed." How do you see the former VP?

Gore Says Bush Lied About al-Qaida Link
By LIZ SIDOTI, AP

WASHINGTON (June 24) - Al Gore on Thursday accused President Bush of lying about a link between al-Qaida and Saddam Hussein and said the president refuses to back down from that position to avoid political fallout.

''They dare not admit the truth lest they look like complete fools for launching our country into a reckless, discretionary war against a nation that posed no immediate threat to us whatsoever,'' Gore, the former vice president who lost the presidency to Bush in 2000, said during a speech at Georgetown University Law Center.

Republicans responded that the Democrat's assertions were false and out of touch.

Ken Mehlman, Bush's re-election campaign chairman, admonished Gore for delivering ''another gravely false attack'' and the Republican National Committee contended he was out of touch.

''Al Gore's history of denial of the threat of terrorism is no less dangerous today in his role as John Kerry's surrogate than it was in the 1990s in his role as vice president, a time when Osama bin Laden was declaring war on the United States five different times,'' RNC spokesman Jim **** said in a statement.

June 24
"When you boil it all down to precisely what went wrong with the Bush Iraq policy, it is actually fairly simple: He adopted an ideologically driven view of Iraq that was tragically at odds with reality." -- Al Gore
Hear Audio: 'Genuinely Unfit'
June 24
"Al Gore's history of denial of the threat of terrorism is no less dangerous today... than it was in the 1990s in his role as vice president, a time when Osama bin Laden was declaring war on the United States five... times." -- Jim **** of the RNC

May 26
"The unpleasant truth is that President Bush's utter incompetence has made the world a far more dangerous place and dramatically increased the threat of terrorist attacks against the United States." -- Al Gore
May 26
"Al Gore’s attacks on the president today demonstrate that he either does not understand the threat of global terror, or he has amnesia." -- Jim ****

Sources: AP, CNN, GOP.com

Mostly sidelined from the presidential race, Gore emerges every few months with another stinging review of the Bush administration. The former vice president, who has grown irate and bellowed in previous appearances, took a more tempered but highly sarcastic tone on Thursday.

Gore accused Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney of deliberately ignoring warnings from international intelligence services, the CIA and the Pentagon before the Iraq war that their claim of a link between al-Qaida and Saddam was false.

With a smirk, Gore then added: ''So when the bipartisan 9/11 commission issued its report finding 'no credible evidence' of an Iraq-al-Qaida connection, it should not have come as a surprise. It should not have caught the White House off guard.''
Too Angry?

Getty Images
Al Gore and other outspoken Bush critics are the stars of a Bush ad that calls them the "Coalition of the Wild-Eyed."
Watch the Ad | Story

The independent, bipartisan commission looking into the terrorist attacks found ''no credible evidence'' of a link between the events of Sept. 11, 2001, and Iraq. As to an Iraq-al-Qaida connection, the commission said there were contacts between the two, but they did not appear to have produced a collaborative relationship.

Gore said Bush and Cheney won't acknowledge what he called their fabrication because of the ''harsh political consequences'' of admitting there's no evidence of a link. ''If they believe these flimsy scraps, then who would want them in charge? Are they too dishonest or too gullible? Take your pick,'' Gore said.

Gore also accused Bush of abusing his presidential powers by invading Iraq without a war declaration from Congress, allowing Americans deemed ''unlawful enemy combatants'' to be held without being charged, and authorizing ''what plainly amounts to the torture of prisoners.''

He also called on the administration to disclose all of its interrogation policies - including those used in Iraq and Afghanistan, and by the CIA - and analyses about them.

''We deserve to know what and why it's being done in our name,'' Gore said to applause.

Still popular among Democrats, Gore is an important ally for Kerry because he can criticize Bush in harsher terms than Kerry, this year's Democratic presidential candidate. Aides said Kerry must temper his critiques of Bush to avoid alienating the independent and swing voters who will influence the outcome on Nov. 2.
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Gore's staff, in a typical heads-up, told Kerry's campaign a few days ago that he would be giving a speech on Iraq. The campaign did not know the details until Gore's staff released its media advisory this week.

The former vice president does not clear his speeches or schedule through Kerry's staff, but Kerry's aides welcome his attacks on Bush. They say Gore's red-meat rhetoric helps fire up the Democratic base and underscores criticisms Kerry makes in a more muted fashion.

Gore's speech was sponsored by the American Constitution Society, a liberal group of lawyers, law students, law professors and others.

 

[Alice28]

I don't care. It was innappropriate to say it in the Senate, but like they all don't say that word all day long. Puh-lease.

 

[Disney Doll]

Must be a slow news day if this is all we have to discuss here!