One VP shoots a lawyer, while another defames the country

You know, I hate writing about Al Gore. On the one hand, he’s a sad but sympathetic character who came so close to the Presidency. I appreciate his self-deprecating appearances on Futurama (his daughter was a writer for the show.) But Gore’s speech in Saudi Arabia apologizing for so-called “abuses” is really beyond the pale. I don’t think Roger Simon is too far off when he suggests that Gore has lost it:

I think Gore has a secret wish to implode. Al is no rocket scientist (no Internet jokes, please) but he is a reasonably intelligent man. Let's assume he is aware, as most readers of this blog are, of Bin Laden's pronouncements about the strong and weak horse. At least he must sense the great gulf between our culture's response to self-analysis and theirs. For Wahhabi culture, such apology is nothing more than a display of weakness. Deep down Al must have some idea of the Saudi reaction to the statements he made. They would have contempt for him.

Does Al know? Does he care? Surely a statesman like Gore realizes that one of the reason Al-Qaeda attacked us because they believed we would not respond. Osama Bin Laden saw retreat in Beirut and Somalia, along with high altitude attacks in Serbia, and assumed that Americans did not have the stomach to fight. By apologizing to the Saudis – home of 15 of the 9/11 hijackers – Gore has reinforced this misconception to the peril of the country.

Extra – The Moderate Voice: “Even a potato that was just taken out of the sack would know that the location — Saudi Arabia, a country not exactly role model for the observance of human rights, democracy and a country of origin for many of the 911 hijackers — was a bad one. By choosing to deliver his speech there he was virtually ensuring that a controversy about it being on foreign soil, and from Saudi Arabia, was BOUND to overshadow its actual content.”

Jim Geraghty: “I'm sorry, you just don't trash America and its policies on foreign soil. And you sure as hell don't rip America for what you believe are human rights abuses in Saudi Arabia, that paragon of human rights, religious freedom, and civil liberties.”

Tigerhawk: “Al Gore has travelled to the heart of the Wahabbi Muslim world and attacked the United States. One is almost forced to wonder whether he has completely lost his mind.”

Neocon Express: “For some time now many have suspected that Al Gore has simply fallen off the deep end. Gore’s latest speech to the Jeddah Economic Forum in Saudi Arabia will serve to confirm these suspicions.”