In the wake of former Vice President Al Gore's May 26 speech (sponsored by MoveOn.org and delivered at New York University) about America's Iraq policy, right-wing pundits purported to diagnose Gore as mentally ill. Following Gore's June 24 American Constitution Society-sponsored speech at the Georgetown University Law Center -- in which Gore accused President George W. Bush of lying about the connection between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda -- Bush-Cheney '04 chief strategist Matthew Dowd reacted to Gore's speech on MSNBC's Hardball, referring to Gore, along with Michael Moore and George Soros, as a member of “John Kerry's coalition of the wild-eyed.” Dowd's pronouncement turned out to be a preview of a new Bush-Cheney '04 video titled “John Kerry's Coalition of the Wild-eyed” and posted on www.georgewbush.com on June 25.
And a new crew of right-wing pundits weighed in on the mental condition of the former vice president.
Fred Barnes -- Weekly Standard executive editor, FOX News Channel Beltway Boys co-host, and regular contributor to FOX News Channel's Special Report with Brit Hume -- on the June 24 Special Report:
BARNES: You know, I think this speech has -- by Gore has crank qualities to it. You know, I mean that the kind of stuff you would hear in e-mails from people conspiracy-minded people.
Laura Ingraham, conservative radio talk show host, on FOX News Channel's Hannity & Colmes on June 24:
INGRAHAM: I mean, Al Gore said many things today that were ludicrous. But the one thing that he said that was probably the most outrageous is when he accused the Bush administration of using brown-shirt tactics to sell the war on terror and specifically the war in Iraq.
I found that beyond reprehensible, even for someone who has become a caricature of a far-left crazy person out there. That was outrageous.
Wesley Pruden, Washington Times editor-in-chief, in his June 25 "Pruden on Politics" column:
Al [Gore] is just a guy in from the street and off his meds.