Reporter Jim Krane wrote, "Gore said Arabs had been 'indiscriminately rounded up' and held in 'unforgivable' conditions."

As I related in MULLINGS last February: The Arab News, in its piece reported by Hasan Hatrash, showed Gore playing domestic American politics: "[Gore] said he and his Democratic Party colleagues have opposed illegal detention of Arabs in the United States."

Imagine the wailing and keening of the national press corps if a senior Republican had said either of those things during the reign of Bill Clinton. Every person who had every donated to the Republican party would have been required to answer for them.

The crop of candidates running for the Democratic nomination in 2008 all supported Gore in 2000 and Kerry in 2004.

The US press corps should, at a minimum, ask Clinton, Obama, Biden, and the rest of them if they agree with Kerry and Gore.

If the Democratic candidates do anything less than condemn their former standard-bearers, then they are guilty of agreeing with the slander.

On a sad and personal note, the Washington bureau chief of the NY Post, Deborah Orin, died yesterday of stomach cancer at the age of 59.

Deb was never a favorite of the Washington press corps because - in spite of having graduated from Harvard, and studying at the Sorbonne - she never intellectually ran with the crowd.

She was a tenacious reporter and political coverage in America will be diminished by her passing.

On the Secret Decoder Ring page today: Links to the Kerry and Gore foolishness; and a link to the NY Post's obit for Deb Orin. Also a Mullfoto which will help you understand how the news business in Washington works; and a Catchy Caption of the day.