Gore Says Bush Wiretapping Could be Impeachable Offense (more than speech)

[AlGore-08.com]

http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=1511599

Former Vice President Says Legislators From Both Parties Did Not Do Enough To Stop Secret Activities

By TEDDY DAVIS

Jan. 16, 2006 — In an impassioned speech about President Bush's warrantless domestic wiretapping program, former Vice President Al Gore said in Washington, DC, on Monday that "the President of the United States has been breaking the law repeatedly and persistently."

Citing Bush Administration policies on torture, rendition and detentions, the winner of the 2000 popular vote said the President's "unlawful" eavesdropping program was part of a "larger pattern" of "seeming indifference to the Constitution."

Asked by ABC News following his speech whether President Bush's domestic spying program constituted an impeachable offense, Gore said it might be and pointed to one of the three Articles of Impeachment that the House Judiciary Committee approved against President Nixon on July 27, 1974.

"That's a legal determination for the Congress to make," Gore told ABC News. "But Article II of the impeachment charges against President Nixon was warrantless wiretapping that the President said was 'necessary' for national security."

"It can be" an impeachable offense, he added.

(more... )

[FogerRox]

1. article 2 baby-- read it & weep

[CAcyclist]

37. Visualize Impeachment

Anyone making a bumper sticker with that slogan?

[PurpleChez]

40. Not that I know of, but I'll make some buttons....

I just have to remember how to use the badge-a-minit machine.

[babsbunny]

47. Mine says, Save the Bill of Rights.........

IMPEACHBUSH.ORG, and then there is one that says, The Religious Right Are Neither, then of course my DemocraticUnderground.com sticker, and Jesus, Save Us From Bush, shall I go on?

[PinkyisBlue]

51. How about a bumper sticker that reads:

Jesus was a Jewish liberal.

[baal]

48. It may not be politically possible to pass

a bill of impeachment through the House at this moment in history, but if we
ASSASSINATE his reputation (only reputation please) in the press and on radio and TV, in the next session of congress we'll have a chance.


THIS IS NOT A THREAT AGAINST ANYONE!!!!! IT IS THIS PRESIDENCY THAT DESERVES DEATH, NOT GEORGE W. BUSH. PERSONALLY I WISH HIM WELL, JUST GET OUT.

[lovuian]

2. Gore is right its all there FBI and Attorney General and Congress

and right now the Conspiracy Obstruction of Justice and Abuse of Power is all there!!! Bush is NOT ABOVE the LAW!!!

[Laelth]

17. That's the question, isn't it.

We're about to discover whether or not the President is above the law. I hope, of course, he's not, but the jury's still out on that.

-Laelth

[goforit]

25. And what the hell is the FBI gonna do?..Duck and cover?

What a bunch of chicken shits!

[nofoil]

3. Go Al. Go Al-al!

I was at the speech today. It was insane. And I'm watching it again on C-SPAN as I write this. Just a little while ago, he said, "the administration did have the information about some of the hijackers before 9-11, and the information that could lead to the rest of them. One was in the phone book, but because of the incompetence of this administration, this information was never used to protect the people." YEAY! Go Al. Go Al-al.

And now, he just growled to the audience, "and I tell Congress, start acting like the equal branch that you are supposed to be in this country." I'm going INSANE! "It is time to stop the scocking decay of the American system," he's shouting now. YAHOOOOOOIEEE!!! "It is WE THE PEOPLE who must again find the role we once had (growling again) to save the integrety of our constitution!" I'M IN LOVE!!!"Is America really in the same amount of danger right now when we had to face facism world wide?... It is an insult to say we have more to be afraid of then they did."

Now, he's saying, "I endorse the words of Bob Barr, who said, the president has dared the American people to do somehting about it. For the sake of the Constitution, I hope they will!"

Tipper, step aside. Here I come!

[IndyOp]

10. Step Back NoFoil - I'm warning you - I have DU seniority...

And if ANYONE is going to make Tipper step aside, it is ME!!

Good God, he does *growl* doesn't he --> :loveya:

[primavera]

30. Careful what you say - she posts here from time to time

I haven't seen her of late, but this would be a likely time for her to stop by and see how the speech was received.

[nofoil]

36. Then She'll know

That I LOVE HER MAN!

[ronnykmarshall]

38. She does??

Does she use her name as her DU handle?

[Kurovski]

41. Are you sure you aren't thinking of Elizabeth Edwards, wife of

ex-vice-presidential candidate John Edwards?

I've never heard of Mrs. Gore posting.

Are you certain? Thanks! :-)

[primavera]

44. Umm, actually, you could be right

I thought it was Tipper whose posts I'd seen, but now that you mention it, I could have been confusing her with Elizabeth Edwards. Oops, that's embarassing, sorry, pardon my two cents.

[Kurovski]

46. But I bet Tipper has

lurked on DU once or twice on the advice of Mrs. Edwards...;-)

[joefree1]

4. If Democrats win back Congress this year Bush is toast

Now there's campagin commercial I'd like to see.

[regnaD kciN]

12. Not true, unless...

a) we win enough to take 67 seats in the Senate plus a majority of the House (which I think, given the Senate seats up this November, is a mathematical impossibility), AND

b) we manage to block Alito and any other "unitary executive" nut Bush nominates.

Otherwise, I could easily see a SCOTUS ruling tossing out any articles of impeachment on the grounds that Congress has "no right to interfere with the commander-in-chief's authority to conduct national security matters in a time of war."

:scared:

[joefree1]

21. Buck up

If there is one thing we should learn from the rethuglicans is to show no fear. A Democratic congress would be a huge blow to the pukes. We all need to keep the dozer plowing along.

[fasttense]

29. Does it matter if the dancing Supremes disagree?

I mean if Congress ever got off their corrupt butts and actually got enough votes to Impeach, brush would be out of the White House while his old boys on the court reviewed the Impeachment. Seems that the Andrew Jackson Impeachment took a long time to be reviewed by the court (of course he never left office/not enough votes).

[colonel odis]

33. i wasn't aware the supreme court reviewed impeachment proceedings

i thought it was the house that brought the charges and the senate that voted on them.

[PurpleChez]

42. I think you're right.

The Chief Justice presides but I don't think that SCOTUS is otherwise involved.

[Old Vet]

5. Wow-I so wholeheartily agree-What a speech!!!!!!!

[spun_in_montana]

6. I have to say I was

stunned by Gore. He was articulate, forceful and to the point. It was refreshing really, compared to what we are spoonfed.
Lets hope.
I have been reading my stash of Newsweek from the end of Nixon's days just in case....

republican a**hats
not always there

[regnaD kciN]

15. Yes, but...

...I think he still needs to work on his public speaking.

Although much of the speech's delivery was quite good, he still has a disturbing tendency to emphasize one or two words per sentence that are not necessarily the most important ones. He also will often pause a few words before the end of a sentence, then rush through the ending and right on into the next sentence. As a result, there were a number of important points in the speech that went by without sufficient notice, because he didn't pause at the end of the sentence to let the point sink in.

He also desperately needs to work at eliminating the finger-pointing (as opposed to gesturing with an open hand) and the frustrated head-shakes. Both of those hurt him in his 2000 debates, and they need to totally go away.

I only make these points because I'm convinced that Gore could well be our candidate (despite his previous denials of interest) in 2008 or beyond, and I can just see the press jumping on those mannerisms to dismiss him as the "same old uninspiring Al Gore" despite everything else.

[Voltaire99]

26. Even if he did improve his hand gestures...

...the Democratic establishment will never have him.

Gore understands as much, which is why he is, at last, his own man. Ask yourself: why don't elected Democrats sound as fierce as Gore? Why do they never mention the speeches he has been making these past four years?

The answer, quite simply, is that he has evolved beyond the Democratic Party's narrow confines and become a progressive.

Now, throwing out the rest of the bums and replacing them with Gore and people like him: that would get us somewhere.

[roguevalley]

7. I love how people are adding 'winner of the popular vote' to their

articles now. this is the third one I've seen with that in it.

[jsamuel]

8. "could be" ???! he said "is"!

[Judi Lynn]

9. Guardian article on Gore's speech:Gore launches bruising attack on Bush ov

Gore launches bruising attack on Bush over wiretapping

Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington
Tuesday January 17, 2006
The Guardian


The former vice-president Al Gore launched a withering attack on the White House yesterday for authorising wiretaps without court oversight, and accused President George Bush of repeatedly breaking the law.
The strongly worded speech makes Mr Gore the most prominent political figure in America to weigh in on the wiretapping scandal. Mr Gore, who lost the 2000 election to Mr Bush following the intervention of the supreme court, also went further than other Democratic critics in accusing the president of wrongdoing.

The revelation last month in the New York Times that Mr Bush signed secret orders in 2002 authorising the National Security Agency to monitor the email and telephone calls of thousands of Americans has outraged members of Congress and the judiciary.

Mr Gore said yesterday that the decision to bypass the courts was part of a pattern of behaviour from the Bush administration of "indifference" to the constitution. "We still have much to learn about the NSA's domestic surveillance. What we do know about this pervasive wiretapping virtually compels the conclusion that the president of the United States has been breaking the law repeatedly and insistently," Mr Gore said in a speech delivered to mark Martin Luther King day.

"A president who breaks the law is a threat to the very structure of our government," he said.
(snip/...)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1688147,00.html

[Olney Blue]

11. Gore's shot heard round the world.

[savemefromdumbya]

49. should have been bigger headlines here

[savemefromdumbya]

50. We have someone to speak for us - it's comforting

to know we are not alone

[Placebo]

13. Impeach Bush NOW.

[rodeodance]

14. whow---GRAND headline for abc!!--uses the big I word.

[rodeodance]

16. Al has the media's attention

[ms liberty]

18. Ha! I said yesterday he would! Yay!!! n/t

[UpInArms]

19. kickin' it up for Gore and the country

:kick:

IMPEACHMENT NOW!

[snowbear]

20. What was REALLY incredible... is that rightwinger Bob Barr...

.... actually agreed with Al Gore!

I was (((( SHOCKED )))) at his comments on CNN's Situation Room!!

Whooda' thunkit??!!!???

[dchill]

22. But - but -

but we're at war, see?

[Xenotime]

23. Gore is my president...

he is the voice of this country. THAT ADMINISTRATION STEALS, LIES AND MURDERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[f-bush]

24. Of course it's an impeachable offense

Just watch when the heat gets turned up, things are going to start to get real nasty. I wouldn't put it past this administration to suddenly have a few "unexplainable tragic deaths"

[allisonthegreat]

27. but will anyone listen???

I certainly hope the Justice dept. can run with this!! Even the diehard Bushie supporters are starting to think he's nuts!

[Laura PourMeADrink]

28. "winner of the 2000 popular vote" !!!! Excellent ABC ! n/t

[brainshrub]

31. Gore never used the "I word" in his speech. (I hate to be a killjoy.)

I hate to be a killjoy, but Gore gave a similar speech when the Abu Grabe torture came to light... and nothing happened.

I like Gore and I think he should run for re-election in '08; but let's not over-estimate the effect of this speech.

[zann725]

32. Keep the "I" word out there, Al! Right on! That was YOUR Presidency

...let us never forget it!

[superconnected]

34. If he broke the law he belongs in Jail.

This should be ESPECIALLY because he's the president.

[confludemocrat]

35. Gore used I-word, even Specter, where the fuck are some other Dems?

And don't bring up the quickly retreated-from Kerry "joke". As usual from him it doesn't count.

[Trevelyan]

43. Please be a citizen co-sponsor of Conyers' Impeachment Inquiry

Sign Letter to begin Impeachment Inquiry in the House of Representatives:

http://www.johnconyers.com Conyer's Action Items

http://www.conyersblog.us/

[ronnykmarshall]

39. GORE 2008!!!

I'd love to see Al Gore re-claim what is his ... The Presidency!

[mvd]

45. Yea for Gore!

I hope he runs again - or those Democrats who are considering a run should have the courage to back him.