Al Gore "spinning out of control"

here.

This ain't really a fisking, since Yahoo! didn't provide the whole transcript. But there's a lot to do with what is there.

"How dare they subject us to such dishonor and disgrace! How dare they drag the good name of the United States of America through the mud of Saddam Hussein's torture prison!"

Yes, Abu Ghraib was horrendous. But psychological humiliation is not comparable to the hundreds of thousands that were killed or physically tortured by the Hussein regime. The isolated deplorable incidents that occurred at Abu Ghraib and are now being punished are not comparable to the institutionalized human rights abuses under the Hussein regime. Who is "drag[ging] the good name of the United States of America through the mud of Saddam Hussein's torture prison"? Those who would make the comparison between America and the Hussein regime -- namely, Al Gore.

Rice "ought to resign immediately. She has badly mishandled the coordination of national security policy. This is a disaster for our country," he said.

What is a disaster? I wish Yahoo! had provided more context. With Iraq calming down and moving closer to democracy daily, the country's long-term safety is better than ever. Other regimes in the region

• Know that we are serious about regime change in the Mid-East


• Will see that democracy is a viable form of government in the region


• Will be influenced by a free market/free culture nation on their borders

What's the disaster? The effort on the ground is going very well, with only a very small portion of Iraq under insurgency. The only way we can be defeated is if we defeat ourselves: if the American populace becomes disheartened about the war and calls for a premature pullout from Iraq. And this'll only happen if POLITICIANS KEEP GOING ON THE AIR LYING ABOUT ABOUT HOW DISASTROUS THE SITUATION IS. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy.

"It came from twisted values and atrocious policies at the highest levels of our government," he said.

What did? Is Abu Ghraib still the Democrat's main issue? Yes, it's atrocious. Yes, those responsible should be punished. But the Department of Defense was on this three months before the story broke.

President Bush "has exposed Americans abroad and Americans in every town and city to a greater danger of attacks by terrorists because of his arrogance, willfulness and bungling at stirring up hornets' nests that pose no threat whatsoever to us," Gore said.

Gore said that because of the war, Iraq has "become the central recruiting office for terrorists." The administration, he said, has also set up U.S. soldiers for "payback the next time they are held as prisoners."

Right. Hussein posed no threat whatsoever to us. Just ignore the WMD just found in Iraq. Ignore the "pesticides" that were found stored at military facilities, as well as buried in underground bunkers at agricultural facilities -- this in April 2003. Ignore the money Hussein funneled to terrorists in Israel. Ignore the level to which the UN became corrupted as a result of Saddam's oil-for-food dealings.

Everything can be explained away by the mentality that the terrorists won't terrorize if we just capitulate. Remember Chamberlain?

Or maybe Gore actually has a serious plan for Iraq, some better solution that he's provided to Kerry?

He said that Kerry should not "tie his own hands" while campaigning by offering any specific proposals for how he would handle a situation that is "rapidly changing and, unfortunately, rapidly deteriorating."

Guess not . . .

UPDATE: Via Instapundit, other blogger's reactions here.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Via blogs4god above, here's a transcript.