This is a partial transcript from “Hannity & Colmes”, May 26, 2004, that has been edited for clarity.
SEAN HANNITY, CO-HOST: Earlier today, at a speech right here in New York City, vanquished Vice PresidentAl Gore used the prison abuse scandal to launch a vicious attack against the Bush administration.
Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AL GORE, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The perpetrators, as well as the victims, were both place in their relationship to one another by the policies of George W. Bush.
How dare the incompetent and willful members of this Bush-Cheney administration humiliate our nation and our people in the eyes of the world and in the conscience of our own people?
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?
Donald Rumsfeld ought to resign immediately as the chief architect of this plan. Paul Wolfowitz, Douglas Feith, the intelligence chief, Steven Cambone, all ought to resign immediately.
Our nation has been ripped every single day Rumsfeld remains as secretary of defense.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: So has Al Gore totally lost it? Joining us now is 77 WABC Radio talk show host — we call him the great one, Mark Levin, and president of Hattaway Communications, former campaign spokesman for Al Gore, Doug Hattaway.
Doug, welcome back.
DOUG HATTAWAY, PRESIDENT, HATTAWAY COMMUNICATIONS: Thank you.
HANNITY: You’re friends with Al Gore. This is the third speech he’s given where he’s rally lost all control, including screeching at the top of his lungs that the president betrayed his country.
Are you at all embarrassed or uncomfortable at the shrieking, the shrillness, the rhetoric of a former vice president that is being heard around the world and the attacks he’s making? Are you at all uncomfortable?
HATTAWAY: Sean — I’m sorry you didn’t like his tone of voice. What I think you don’t like is what he was saying…
HANNITY: I’m asking — Doug, Doug, Doug, Doug. Answer the question. Are you as all — as a former vice president — are you unhappy with the tone…
HATTAWAY: Sean, I answered your question.
HANNITY: You’re not.
HATTAWAY: I think a lot of people are angry. His tone was absolutely appropriate. This administration ought to be hiding its head in shame.
HANNITY: OK.
HATTAWAY: And if any of those people had an ounce of integrity, they would have been fired a long time ago. I think Gore hit just the right note.
A lot of people in this country are angry about this administration dragging us into this, sending troops in there without armor, putting untrained reservists in charge of softening up prisoners.
HANNITY: Let me — let me put up on the screen. I want to ask you a question. Play a game with me here. I want to ask you, “Who said this?” OK? And then I want you to give me your best guess, OK? I’ll put it up on the screen so our audience will see it?
“You know as I do, there’s no doubt in my mind. that Saddam Hussein still seeks in power,
It says, “Despite our swift victory and all of our efforts since that Saddam Hussein still seeks weapons of mass destruction You know as well as I do; as long so just a couple years ago, there can be no comprehensive peace for the Israel or the people of the Middle East.”
Who said that just a couple of years ago?
HATTAWAY: Go ahead, Sean. I don’t know who said that.
HANNITY: Al Gore said that. One more chance. I’ve got one more thing.
HATTAWAY: OK.
HANNITY: Who said this? “In the interest of regional peace and for the sake of human decency, (Saddam) must be removed from power. That is the policy of this administration. It’s a policy I support. It’s a policy I am personally committed.”
Who said that? Who said that? Who said that one?
HATTAWAY: Let me guess. Al Gore.
HANNITY: Al Gore.
HATTAWAY: Here’s what you don’t get, Sean.
HANNITY: Al Gore said that.
HATTAWAY: You can be glad our military did a great job and got rid of Saddam Hussein and not be glad that the country was misled, that all the burden was put on U.S. troops and taxpayers so we’re asked to spend $100 billion on this war, that our kids are the ones being killed over there.
HANNITY: Let me get your response.
HATTAWAY: Al Gore was at — there a former vice president to be shrieking and as shrill is chilling to me, when the world is listening.
HANNITY: Al Gore, for a former vice president to be shrieking and shrill is chilling to me when the world is listening.
MARK LEVIN, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: He sounded like and looked like Jimmy Swaggart. He really did.
And I don’t know, maybe Doug can explain something to us. Usama bin Laden declared war on us five times during the eight years of the Clinton-Gore administration. Why didn’t you guys bomb him then?
HATTAWAY: Yes, I saw the talking points from the Republican Party.
LEVIN: It’s not a talking point. It’s a fact.
HATTAWAY: The problem here is…
LEVIN: Hold on, hold on. I didn’t get that from the Republican…
HATTAWAY: … bin Laden. Because we could have been focused on him, rather than…
LEVIN: Why didn’t you focus on him?
HATTAWAY: … focus on him rather than chasing down …
LEVIN: Well, why weren’t you focused on him? That’s my question.
HATTAWAY: … the United States.
LEVIN: Hey, earth calling Doug. Earth calling Doug.
HATTAWAY: Are you blaming the Clinton administration for Usama bin Laden?
LEVIN: You’re damn right. You guys could have taken him out, and you didn’t. There’s been a lot of books and a lot of evidence about it. Why didn’t you do it? Now you guys are experts.
HATTAWAY: Where is he now? Where is he, Mark? Where is he now?
LEVIN: He’s on the run, but he’s not playing with his camels in the middle of Afghanistan, which is what he was doing when your guy was president.
COLMES: Mark, nice to see you, sir. Good to have you back on the show. How are you?
LEVIN: Always a pleasure.
COLMES: Nice to see you, sir.
LEVIN: Yes, sir.
COLMES: But that’s a fair line of questioning. It’s a fair line of questioning.
LEVIN: I just started. I got a whole lot.
COLMES: You’re just warming up. I understand that.
If that’s your line of questioning, why not ask that same question of the Bush administration when they had a chance at Tora Bora, when they had a chance to have resources — we found out that they redirected resources from the hunt for Usama bin Laden to Iraq.
LEVIN: Right.
COLMES: A country not proven to be a threat on September 11. Is it fair to ask that about the Bush administration?
LEVIN: Ask it. I’ll answer it.
COLMES: Great.
LEVIN: There are 25,000 American troops in Afghanistan right now. I think that’s 24,000 more than Clinton had there. That’s No. 1.
COLMES: It’s all about Clinton, isn’t it?
LEVIN: No, no.
COLMES: It’s not about Clinton anymore.
LEVIN: You’re going to have a guy on here next that’s talking about Nixon, so let me finish my statement.
COLMES: Clinton’s not the president.
LEVIN: Hang on a second. No, he’s not. But Al Gore…
COLMES: We can’t get over that.
LEVIN: … was the vice president. Al Gore is still opening his mouth. If they go away, we wouldn’t be talking about Clinton and Gore.
I’ll make you a deal right now. Al Gore shuts his mouth and I won’t talk about him.
COLMES: That’s important to my hand.
LEVIN: OK.
COLMES: But listen…
LEVIN: What was the question again? Wait a minute. The Soviet Union sent in hundreds of thousands of troops in Afghanistan, and they were beaten.
COLMES: Yes. You know…
LEVIN: Hold on, hold on, hold on. Afghanistan’s never been conquered. We did more with less men, Tommy Franks did it, and our military. You be quiet. And Donald Rumsfeld…
COLMES: You know what? The other guest gets in too. Look…
LEVIN: Go ahead.
COLMES: You know, you talk about Gore being shrill. I find conservatives in this country, some of them, get very shrill when the truth gets told.
HATTAWAY: Unbelievable.
COLMES: And when we can calmly talk about what’s going on with this administration, the mistakes that we made, whether or not we support this war, clearly mistakes are being made. It’s acknowledged by almost every supporter of the administration. They don’t want to hear the truth.
HATTAWAY: Yes. They — I think that’s one of the facts of conservative political life. They have to have enemies, and when the facts disagree with them, they get shrill. And they attack people who try to come forward with facts.
I know they don’t like what Al Gore had to say. The fact is, half the country agrees with the guy. And they’re going to make enemies out of the half of the country that don’t agree with…
LEVIN: And half the country thinks he’s a mental patient.
COLMES: No, they don’t think he’s a mental patient.
LEVIN: They think he should go back to the dayroom he came out of.
HATTAWAY: I like what he had to say about the Republican talk-show hosts.
LEVIN: I know you did. Right.
COLMES: You know…
LEVIN: Yes, my friend?
COLMES: Do you think it’s productive to argue from the standpoint of he’s a mental patient, he…
LEVIN: Sure. He said — he said — you be quiet. He said — he said the president of the United States…
COLMES: Yes.
LEVIN: … betrayed us. I think calling him a mental patient is a lot less propaganda — hold on. I’m answering your question than calling the president of the United States — That’s the second time he’s done that.
Al Gore used to support taking out Saddam Hussein. Al Gore used to meet with this guy Chalabi or whatever his name was.
COLMES: Chalabi.
LEVIN: And — And they gave $8 million to his organization. Suddenly Al Gore sounds like Ramsey Clark.
COLMES: If we are given a series of predicates to go to war and those turn out not to be accurate, are we misled?
LEVIN: I don’t know. Did Lincoln mislead us?
COLMES: How’s this about Lincoln?
LEVIN: I’m trying to answer your question and you don’t want to be educated.
COLMES: Answer the question.
LEVIN: Answer your own question.
COLMES: Clearly, you don’t want to answer it. If we are mis — if we are
LEVIN: We always go to war on certain predicates and sometimes they changed. Now, while they haven’t changed…
HATTAWAY: Well, they changed this time.
LEVIN: Why don’t you be quiet?
COLMES: Good answer.
LEVIN: Sometimes the priorities change. Why were we fighting in northern Tunisia?
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