The American Spectator

“As I searched my heart on this issue over the last few days … I found myself feeling that if I voted for the Mitchell nonresolution I would do so hoping that it did not prevail. I found myself feeling even late last night that since it now appears that there is a majority in favor of the other point of view that it would pass and will pass regardless of how I vote. I found myself pulled once again to support the Mitchell nonresolution, speaking only of the process I’ve gone through.

“I feel that I owe it to those who are there [in the Persian Gulf] prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice, to give the best judgment of my head and my heart on what this nation should now do. I cannot reconcile myself to a point of view and a vote that says in effect, we will let this deadline come and go and try the sanctions perhaps until the next window, next August when military operations would again become feasible.”

As Kengor puts it, “the statement, ironically, was a rather cryptic and weak endorsement along the lines made at the same time by Governor Bill Clinton.”

If this is the best Gore could do at such a defining moment, imagine how President Gore might have come across in response to 9/11. But before he becomes everyone’s problem again, he remains the Democrats’ problem. Anyone want to wish them luck?