Or rather, when he speaks it is torture.

Former Vice President Al Gore said Wednesday he had no intention of ever running for president again, but he said the United States would be "a different country'' if he had won the 2000 election, launching into a scathing attack of the Bush administration.

"I have absolutely no plans and no expectations of ever being a candidate again,'' Gore told reporters after giving a speech at an economic forum in Sweden.

When asked how the United States would have been different if he had become president, though, he had harsh criticism for Bush's policies.

"We would not have invaded a country that didn't attack us,'' he said, referring to Iraq. "We would not have taken money from the working families and given it to the most wealthy families.''

"We would not be trying to control and intimidate the news media. We would not be routinely torturing people,'' Gore said. "We would be a different country.''

More evidence that a Gore presidency would've been an unmitigated disaster.

The language Gore uses is ridiculous -- tax cuts for everyone, but which are tilted toward people who actually pay more taxes are "taking money from working families" and giving it to the "wealthy."

Gore really is a communist.

But, what really riles me is Gore's claim that we are "routinely torturing people." You'd think that someone who once held high office would be a little more careful about slandering our troops.

We won't have a Democrat president for quite some time -- I can't think of a single one who is credible on national security. However, if the Democrats wanted to start building some credibility, then they could start by finding a way to shut up Gore and Howard Dean for starters.