Gore Denounces Bush Administration for Attack on Civil Liberties

AP ^ | 11/9/03 | Jennifer C. Kerr

[Jean S]

WASHINGTON (AP) - Former Vice President Al Gore accused President Bush on Sunday of failing to make the country safer after the Sept. 11 attacks and using the war against terrorism as a pretext to consolidate power.

"They have taken us much farther down the road toward an intrusive, 'big brother'-style government - toward the dangers prophesied by George Orwell in his book '1984' - than anyone ever thought would be possible in the United States of America," Gore charged.

Gore, who lost the disputed 2000 presidential election to Bush, said terrorism-fighting tools granted after Sept. 11 amount to a partisan power grab that have led to the erosion of the civil liberties of all Americans.

He was especially critical of the Patriot Act, which expanded government's surveillance and detention power following the terrorist attacks.

Gore chided the administration for what he said was its "implicit assumption" that Americans must give up traditional freedoms in order to be safe from terrorists.

"In my opinion, it makes no more sense to launch an assault on our civil liberties as the best way to get at terrorists than it did to launch an invasion of Iraq as the best way to get at Osama bin Laden," Gore said.

His speech before a crowd of about 3,000 people was sponsored by the liberal activist group Moveon.org, which earlier this year held an online presidential primary in which Howard Dean finished first.

The second sponsor, the American Constitution Society, is a national organization of law students, professors, lawyers and others that says it seek to counter what it characterizes as the dominant, narrow conservative vision of American law today.

AP-ES-11-09-03 1639EST

[WOSG]

Another likely Gore/Left policy from 9/11 under Gore:

They would make it a 'hate-crime' to criticize Islam and Mohammed

[WOSG]

So the Gorebot is accusing the Bush admin of using the Patriot Act as a club against its political enemies, kind of like the way that Hillary used the IRS to audit and harass conservatives for 8 years. The fact that there is absolutely no evidence of any wrong doing by the Bush admin is no excuse.

You are 100% correct ... but remember, the Left often accuses the enemy of doing what they would do... so the one valid critique of the patriot act is it gives the corrupt Left a powerful tool they will abuse. But my retort is that 'Hitlery' will have plenty of other powerful laws to use should she gain power. Maybe it's a good thing the Patriot Act expires in 2010.

[Nick Danger]

Did somebody say, "Attack on civl liberties?"

[WOSG]

Gore didn't even carry his home state because many people rightly feared the erosion of their (2nd Amendment) civil liberties. Probably lost Florida because Reno's stormtroopers crashed in at 3:00 a.m. and took a little orphaned refugee boy away at gunpoint from a caring free community (that the liberal media "cult-ized" to justify the intrusion) to return him to the worker's paradise state where he'd be much better off anyway. Gore defending my liberties sounds alot like Bubba couching a girls soccer team.

Dang, I had my own list of horribles and forgot Elian. What a disgrace that was.

[Cultural Jihad]

The Anti-President, Al Gore, also claimed that the Dixie Chicks have a 1st Amendment right to our wallets.

[ServesURight]

ALGOREJEEZERA

[WilliamofCarmichael]

Here is something positive about Mr. Gore. It's about election 2000.

From David Frums Diary, NOV. 19, 2002: GORE SPEAKS, based upon an ABC interview. The words are by Karenna Gore.

He said, "We have to do what's best for the country, and it is not good for the country to have this kind of divisiveness. And he was on the phone, really calling off the dogs. There were people who wanted to fan the ... the flames of the racial issue and have real unrest. And he was on the phone asking them not to, because of what was best for the country not because of what was best for him politically. And that's really who he is. [end]

Where are the race riots I wondered at the time. The left knows that the media will go after Bush to stop the violence and answer the "will of the people." Gore would be the president. I have to confess I have some respect for Mr. Gore after that.

Who knows how many dead Americans there would have been, how many millions in property damage, how many cities would have erupted but he passed up the Dems' plan to make him president.

Of course now he's back creating "issues" to attack, cut, and destroy President Bush. Mindless liberals will be spluttering about this 1984 thing from now on.

[<1/1,000,000th%]

"They have taken us much farther down the road toward an intrusive, 'big brother'-style government - toward the dangers prophesied by George Orwell in his book '1984' - than anyone ever thought would be possible in the United States of America," Gore charged.

"Bush has allowed spying on peaceful organizations who merely have diverse ideas, lied to federal judges, used the military against civilians, used nerve gas outlawed by the Geneva Convention and...oh, wait a minute. Nevermind. That was Waco," algore added.

[CyberAnt]

Dear GOD in Heaven .. thank you, thank you, thank you, for protecting us from the presidency of Al Gore.

[WoofDog123]

"He was especially critical of the Patriot Act, which expanded government's surveillance and detention power following the terrorist attacks. "

As if something nearly identical if not worse wouldn't have been passed if he had been POTUS.

[kcar]

Now that's funny!

[CyberAnt]

What I have always believed .. if Al Gore had cheated his way into the WH .. we would have had worse than 9/11. By that I mean .. the terrorists would have received a signal .. Gore will do nothing about the 9/11 attacks. They would have attacked us again and again.

I believe these attacks would have so wounded THIS NATION .. that it could have caused civil war within the USA - its own citizens taking up arms to protect this nation. I know that sounds drastic, but we must remember that Clinton gave the terrorists 8 years of DOING NOTHING. The signal it sent was .. America can be attacked.

With President Bush .. the terrorists have gotten the opposite message .. if you attack us we will come after you.

[oldironsides]

Did Gore mention Maria Hsia and her 5 felony count conviction for raising illegal funds for HIM? Nuns and monks and all manner of fundraisng gone astray and Gore let the woman take the rap. Nice job Al. You are Da Man.

[tgslTakoma]

placemark bump

[tapatio]

Maybe we need a group called Move Over Or Get Mowed Over.org

[JPJones]

How many anti-2nd amemdment laws were passed while gore was VP? How many "stroke of the pen, law of the land" executive orders were signed? How many people/kids were killed in Orwellian style FBI/ATF raids during his administration? How many conservative political groups were audited by the IRS during those years? Remember their Newspeak? They weren't liberals, they were "new democrats", it wasn't tax and spend economics, it was "investing in our infrastructure", but it all depends on your definition of what sexual relations "is"

You can't get any more Orwellian than that administration, or the demo "Party".

[Jorge]

I am so tired of hearing this loon parrot every leftist cliche that comes along.

Gore needs to stop reminding us of what a sore loser he is.

[Kay Soze]

There has only been one instance in which US Citizens were detained in concentration camps.

It was during the democratically controlled White Administration of FDR. Executive order 9066.

[Kay Soze]

There has only been one instance in which US Citizens were detained in concentration camps.

It was during the democratically controlled White House Administration of FDR. Executive order 9066.

[tgslTakoma]

DC Chapter was there to shed some truth on Algore's record - After-Action Report.