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"Al Gore: Wackadoo Wing"

May 29, 2004...

Al Gore continued his vitriolic rhetoric against President Bush during an hour-long speech this week at New York University... a speech sponsored by MoveOn.org PAC. During his speech, Gore called for the resignations of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice and CIA Director George Tenet. Also targeted by Gore for resignation were three of Mr. Rumsfeld's top civilian deputies - the deputy defense secretary, Paul D. Wolfowitz; Douglas J. Feith, the under secretary for policy; and Stephen A. Cambone, the under secretary for intelligence.

By many news accounts, Gore was at his screaming and hollering best – or worst, depending upon your point of view. Here’s what New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd had to say:

“John Kerry's advisers were surprised and annoyed to hear that Mr. Gore hollered so much, he made Howard Dean look like George Pataki. They don't want voters to be reminded of the wackadoo wing of the Democratic Party.”

“They would like Mr. Gore, who brought bad karma to Mr. Dean with his primary endorsement, to zip it and go away. But more and more Democrats think it is Mr. Kerry who should zip it and go away.”

The Republican National Committee issued statement saying that Gore's association with MoveOn.org "cast serious doubt on his credibility." The GOP noted that two ads -- out of more than 1,000 -- submitted to MoveOn's anti-Bush advertising contest last year compared the president to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler. At least one of those ads was temporarily posted on the Web site MoveOn.org, but the group took it down and disassociated itself from the ad.

The GOP statement also noted that the group's executive director called for a non-military response to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

And in a second written statement, RNC Communications Director Jim Dyke highlighted terrorist attacks, including the first bombing of the World Trade Center, that occurred during the Clinton administration.

"Al Gore's attacks on the president demonstrate that he either does not understand the threat of global terror, or he has amnesia," Dyke said.