Former Vice President Al Gore is seen at Constitution Hall in Washington, January 16, 2006. REUTERS/Evan Sisley
Posted on 01/16/2006 2:29:38 PM PST by Ben Mugged
Former Vice President Al Gore called Monday for an independent investigation of President Bush's domestic spying program, contending the president "repeatedly and insistently" broke the law by eavesdropping on Americans without court approval.
Speaking on Martin Luther King Jr.'s national holiday, the man who lost the 2000 presidential election to Bush was interrupted repeatedly by applause as he called the anti-terrorism program "a threat to the very structure of our government."
Gore charged that the administration acted without congressional authority and made a "direct assault" on a special federal court that authorizes requests to eavesdrop on Americans. One judge on the court resigned last month, voicing concerns about the National Security Agency's surveillance of e-mails and phone calls.
A spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee, Tracey Schmitt, attacked Gore's comments shortly after address.
"Al Gore's incessant need to insert himself in the headline of the day is almost as glaring as his lack of understanding of the threats facing America," Schmitt said. "While the president works to protect Americans from terrorists, Democrats deliver no solutions of their own, only diatribes laden with inaccuracies and anger. "
Gore's speech was sponsored by the American Constitution Society for Law and Policy and The Liberty Coalition, two organizations that have expressed concern about the policy.
The former vice president said that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales should name a special counsel to investigate the program, citing the attorney general's "obvious conflict of interest" as a member of the Bush Cabinet as well as the nation's top law enforcement officer.
Gonzales has agreed to testify publicly at a Senate hearing on the program, and he told a news conference recently that the president acted "consistent with his legal authority" to protect Americans from a terrorist threat.
(Excerpt) Read more at hosted.ap.org ...
Relax, Al. If President Bush overheard anything you said to a terrorist he would've notified you by now.
Never in the field of human history had some much time and effort been put into haveing Al Bore use so many words to say absolutly NOTHING of significance at all. Simplay amazing how insignifcant this speech will be by Wed.
Ol' Copperhead Al is on the loose.
I visit a forum called TimeBomb2000 (TB2K) occasionally, and half of them are foaming at the muzzle about what The Larch had to say today. Real moonbattery out there, and some take this bovine waste as gospel... Yuck.
Be more specific, Al. Name some Americans whose Constitutional Rights were violated.
Or do you, like Tipper, just say what the voices in your head tell you to say.
Gore criticizes Bush? Wow. Never would have seen that coming.
Can you collect unemployment as ex-Vice President?
..for how long? pension?
OK Al. How come you and your sucker Clinton did the same thing and you said it was legal even though we were not at war (you said) and you let the terrorist get away with anything they wanted to do.
Was he speaking from an African-American church?
Former Vice President Al Gore is seen at Constitution Hall in Washington, January 16, 2006. REUTERS/Evan Sisley
He thinks someone might listen in on his phone calls to his dope dealer. And how's he gonna keep havin' those "deep thoughts" if his dope gets cut off ?
Democrat Al Gore, pictured in 2005, President George W. Bush's rival in the 2000 presidential election, accused him of breaking the law by authorizing a domestic spying program.(AFP/File/Roslan Rahman)
A Buddhist temple, perhaps.
There's an environmental component to this. By speaking to no particular purpose, he is consuming oxygen that would otherwise be better used, and increasing carbon emissions.
For the sake of the planet, Al, please shut up.
Regards, Ivan
DU is labeling this a seminal moment in Al's ascent to the presidency.
No he was speaking to Chinese Intelligence officers who gave political contributions to his campaign.
Let's just go ahead with this and establish that Congress does not have the right to establish laws (FISA...a Jimmy Carter era abomination)which limit the executive's inherent Constitutional powers.
Funny how America survived "a threat to the very structure of our government" when the Kennedys wiretapped Martin Luther King's phone.
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