'We got him!'

- Al Gore: The war to topple Saddam was "a catastrophic mistake."

- Hillary Clinton, upon her return from her whirlwind Thanksgiving visit to Afghanistan and Iraq: "Clearly, (Bush's) quick move for some kind of (Iraqi) sovereignty, in whatever form, by July ... suggests to me there is a political imperative at work to try to declare victory - or at least (to) point to some kind of interim victory - before the November elections." What's more, the president's refusal to cede any authority over Iraqi operations to the United Nations "is a losing proposition."

- John Kerry, Sunday: "What I've argued all along is I always knew we wanted to get rid of (Saddam), we wanted to disarm him, we wanted to hold him accountable, but I wanted to do it right."

- Howard Dean, quoted in the Dec. 1 Washington Post: "Howard Dean launched a full-throated attack on President Bush's foreign policy acumen Sunday, saying Bush has 'no understanding of defense,' is conducting diplomacy by 'petulance,' and lacks 'the backbone to stand up against the Saudis.'"

"Amid a crush of well-wishers seeking autographs at a high school here (in Merrimack, N.H.], Dean said of Bush: 'I think he's made us weaker. He doesn't understand what it takes to defend this country, that you have to have high moral purpose. He doesn't understand that you better keep troop morale high rather than just flying over for Thanksgiving,' as Bush did in visiting Baghdad. At another town hall meeting, in Manchester, Dean added: 'Mr. President, if you'll pardon me, I'll teach you a little about defense.'...

"Blaming the war in Iraq on Bush's 'bullheadedness,' he said the president is 'incapable' of winning international support for reconstruction efforts because 'he managed to insult all the people whose help we need, gratuitously.'"

On Monday, in his debut foreign policy speech, Dean was - if you can stand it, worse.

Such confident mush, slush and gush amounts to nothing but priceless ignorance.

With Saddam now our prisoner and morale soaring to new heights, it's hard to know how these and other Democrats can look themselves in the mirror without weeping or knocking themselves out with mocking laughter. It's also difficult to imagine how, with the economy beyond their complaint, they can stake out a sensible position on Iraq specifically or security generally.

The capture of Saddam may have sealed Bush's re-election.