One of the great mysteries of the 2000 presidential race was why Vice President Gore, after picking the centrist Senator Lieberman as his running mate, went to Los Angeles and launched a left-wing campaign in the general election. The question has vexed many of the vice president’s admirers for three years now. After his speech yesterday at New York to the hard-left organization MoveOn.org, it’s hard to conclude anything other than that Mr. Gore never had any commitment to the centrist principles the selection of Mr. Lieberman had suggested.

“Too many of our soldiers are paying the highest price for the strategic miscalculations, serious misjudgments, and historic mistakes that have put them and our nation in harm’s way,” Mr. Gore said in a speech that contained distortions that were downright mendacious. Could he possibly be suggesting that it was America and not our enemies who put America in harm’s way? “As for the cheering Iraqi crowds that we anticipated, unfortunately…that did not pan out either, so now our troops are in an ugly and dangerous situation,” Mr. Gore said of a post-war theater where Saddam’s mass graves are excavated daily while our troops fight valiantly against a cowardly band of assassins lurking in the shadows.

No doubt it’s what the crowd wanted. MoveOn.org features a June bulletin on the “Israel-Palestine Road Map” that blames Israel for the failure of Camp David II, blames the start of the intifada on Prime Minister Sharon’s “provocative” visit to the Temple Mount, and derides the road map for not demanding enough concessions from the Jewish State. Mr. Gore rose to national prominence here in New York, challenging the Rev. Jesse Jackson for his Hymietown remark. Twenty years later he’s come back to town to rail at a president who went to war on a bipartisan vote in the Congress to protect America, liberate Iraq, and vouchsafe Israel and other freedom-loving people. What an ironical denouement to the vice president’s career.