Mondale the Hawk, Albright the Hack

Former Vice President Walter "I will raise your taxes" Mondale has weighed in on a foreign policy matter.

He's offering the Bush administration advice on North Korea.

What's strange is that Mondale is being a hawk, while Bush is pressing for a diplomatic solution to the North Korean nuclear problem.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Former Vice President Walter Mondale joined the list of people supporting a pre-emptive U.S. strike against a North Korean missile.

Mondale said Friday that the United States should tell North Korea to dismantle the missile - and if it doesn't "we are going to take it out."

He said the missile would be easy to hit and "I think it would end the nuclear long-range dreams of this dangerous country," said Mondale, who's also a former U.S. ambassador to Japan, in the interview.

Mondale, 78, said North Korea already has nuclear weapons and its ambition to develop a long-range missile is "one of the most dangerous developments in recent history."

It's so dangerous, he said, because of the nation's isolation from the international community and its unpredictable leader, Kim Jong Il.

"It is the danger of our time," he said. "Here's this bizarre, hermit kingdom over there with a paranoid leader getting ready to test a missile system that can hit us."

Mondale certainly isn't mincing words.

He's taking the stance that Kim Jong Il is a danger who must not be appeased in any manner.

Contrast that with Madeleine Albright's comments from a few days ago.

While in Moscow for an investors' conference, Albright was spouting off on the Bush administration.

She blamed North Korea's nuclear aspirations on Bush's Iraq policy.

Albright believes:

"The message out of Iraq is the wrong one."

"The message out of Iraq is that if you don't have nuclear weapons, you get invaded. If you do have nuclear weapons, you don't get invaded."

This woman is so irresponsible.

What is she trying to do? Encourage nuclear proliferation?

Although Mondale's comments may be misguided, at least he isn't sending a message of weakness to the world. He's not blaming America, like Albright.

Mondale's message: No Nukes for you. End of story.

Albright's message: I'm so thoroughly immersed in my hatred for Bush that I'm incapable of conducting myself with integrity. I bring shame to myself as I dishonor and endanger America.