Gore Labels Bush a ‘Moral Coward’

President Bush is a “moral coward” who is too “weak” to say no to political backers in the coal, oil, utility and mining industries, former Vice President Al Gore charged Thursday.

Gore’s environmental address at the Beacon Theater was his most personal denunciation of the man who defeated him in the 2000 presidential election.

Asked for a response, the White House referred calls to Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie, who put out a statement calling Gore’s remarks a “political hate speech.”

“Like the Democrat presidential candidates, Al Gore has once again chosen to use his time at the podium to attack the president rather than put forward a positive agenda of his own,” Gillespie said.

Gore’s speech focused on what he saw as Bush’s failure to address the “overwhelming and undeniable evidence” that global warming is “a serious threat to our common future.”

Gore spoke to 2,500 Democratic partisans linked to the two liberal groups that sponsored the speech, MoveOn.org and Environment 2004.

Environment 2004, a new group, hopes to duplicate MoveOn.org’s success in mobilizing grass-roots Democratic activists, and plans to target swing voters in states where environmental issues are important.

In the most incendiary part of his address, Gore took aim at Bush’s persona as a wartime commander in chief.

“While President Bush likes to project an image of strength and courage, the truth is that in the presence of his large financial contributors he is a moral coward, so weak that he seldom if ever says no to them on anything, no matter what the public interest might mandate,” Gore said.

Gore argued that Bush, by asking companies to voluntarily curb emissions, was trying to provide political cover for his rejection of the Kyoto global-warming treaty.