Against better judgment I was watching “The Situation Room” on CNN and Jack Cafferty offered up this insane idea from Florida Rep. Tim Mahoney that if the party is still deadlocked between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, perhaps an Al Gore lead ticket could surface with either a Clinton or Obama veep spot.

Sayeth Mahoney to the TCPalm:

(I)f neither Sen. Hillary Clinton nor Sen. Barack Obama has clinched the nomination by August, Mahoney says we may see a brokered convention, meaning the nominee could emerge from a negotiated settlement.

“If it (the nomination process) goes into the convention, don’t be surprised if someone different is at the top of the ticket,” Mahoney said.

Like a Greek opera, the long arm of Gore would swoop down from the heavens and save the presidency from the Democrats’ own bickering by naming himself God … I mean, president.

There’s probably a reason why Mahoney thinks this scenario is plausible, but you can only imagine the hot holy hell that would be unleashed if a man, despite how well liked in the party, is crowned king without putting one pinky toe in the primary process.

Is he INSANE????

A compromise candidate could be someone such as former vice president Al Gore, Mahoney said last week during a meeting with this news organization’s editorial board.

If either Clinton or Obama suggested to a deadlocked convention a ticket of Gore-Clinton or Gore-Obama, the Democratic Party would accept it, Mahoney said.

I’ll cut Mahoney some slack. He isn’t offering this as an option, just throwing it up as a possibility, but even within the conceit of possibility this is a really irresponsible brain teaser to drop passively at a newspaper editorial board meeting.

No matter how you feel about Obama and Hillary they both have been running or plotting to run for the top spot more than two years now. They raised the money. They signed up for the caucuses and primaries. They fought, they bickered, they endured controversies and an unprecedented number of debates. People are already worried that Hillary is going to manipulate the delegate voting process through some fast and loose reading of the rules, but at least she’s working within the confines of the rules. She is actively running for the nomination.

The super delegates, per the rules, could give her the nomination if they wanted to commit political suicide. But an immaculate election featuring Al Gore or some other Democratic savior would be like hitting the improvised explosive device of dumbassedness.

I can live with and vote for a Democratic nominee people actually voted for. I love Papa Al as much as the next Liberal, but hell to the no. It’s Barack or Hillary for all the delegates for reals or President McCain. Folks are just going to have to saddle up and ride this bitch out no matter how ugly it gets because one way or another the nominee is going to be someone who actually ran in the primaries.

Hell. I would have preferred if Mahoney has named checked John Edwards to be the Jesus of Democracy. At least he has some delegates. As bipolar and suicidal the Democratic Party is Howard Dean isn’t that crazy. I imagine he’ll throw himself under the bus if he allowed Stephen Colbert’s vision of “Democralypse Now!” to come true.