Excerpts of Gore's speech.

[Zan_of_Texas]

Here are a few excerpts, for those who haven't had a chance to read or watch the whole thing ... which I do recommend.

Send to your friends.

Al Gore speech, excerpts, January 16, 2006

http://rawstory.com/news/2005/Text_of_Gore_speech_0116.html

OR http://www.algore-08.com/

The American Constitution Society and the Liberty Coalition hosted a speech by former Vice President Al Gore at the DAR Hall in Washington. It was broadcast on www.cspan.org, which is likely to host rebroadcasts soon. The crowd was enthusiastic and gave him several standing ovations.

...

During the period when this eavesdropping was still secret, the President went out of his way to reassure the American people on more than one occasion that, of course, judicial permission is required for any government spying on American citizens and that, of course, these constitutional safeguards were still in place.

But surprisingly, the President's soothing statements turned out to be false. Moreover, as soon as this massive domestic spying program was uncovered by the press, the President not only confirmed that the story was true, but also declared that he has no intention of bringing these wholesale invasions of privacy to an end.

At present, 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 persistently.

A president who breaks the law is a threat to the very structure of our government.

...

Can it be true that any president really has such powers under our Constitution? If the answer is "yes" then under the theory by which these acts are committed, are there any acts that can on their face be prohibited? If the President has the inherent authority to eavesdrop, imprison citizens on his own declaration, kidnap and torture, then what can't he do?

...

Whenever power is unchecked and unaccountable it almost inevitably leads to mistakes and abuses. In the absence of rigorous accountability, incompetence flourishes. Dishonesty is encouraged and rewarded.

...

I call upon Democratic and Republican members of Congress today to uphold your oath of office and defend the Constitution. Stop going along to get along. Start acting like the independent and co-equal branch of government you're supposed to be.

...

We the people are-collectively-still the key to the survival of America's democracy. We-as Lincoln put it, "ven we here"-must examine our own role as citizens in allowing and not preventing the shocking decay and degradation of our democracy.

Thomas Jefferson said: "An informed citizenry is the only true repository of the public will."

...

Fear drives out reason. Fear suppresses the politics of discourse and opens the door to the politics of destruction. Justice Brandeis once wrote: "Men feared witches and burnt women.

The founders of our country faced dire threats. If they failed in their endeavors, they would have been hung as traitors. The very existence of our country was at risk.

Yet, in the teeth of those dangers, they insisted on establishing the Bill of Rights.

Is our Congress today in more danger than were their predecessors when the British army was marching on the Capitol? Is the world more dangerous than when we faced an ideological enemy with tens of thousands of missiles poised to be launched against us and annihilate our country at a moment's notice? Is America in more danger now than when we faced worldwide fascism on the march-when our fathers fought and won two World Wars simultaneously?

It is simply an insult to those who came before us and sacrificed so much on our behalf to imply that we have more to be fearful of than they. Yet they faithfully protected our freedoms and now it is up to us to do the same. ...

I endorse the words of Bob Barr, when he said, "The President has dared the American people to do something about it. For the sake of the Constitution, I hope they will."
...

[Greeby]

1. The most terrifying part

The Dean of Yale Law School, Harold Koh, said after analyzing the Executive Branch's claims of these previously unrecognized powers: "If the President has commander-in-chief power to commit torture, he has the power to commit genocide, to sanction slavery, to promote apartheid, to license summary execution."

:scared:

[C_U_L8R]

2. I'm curious how the Chimp and his little Turd Blossom...

will respond to this. I saw an RNC response which was
totally random and irrellevent. There's no way they can
debate a single issue... so I expect them to go on full-slime attack.

Oh BTW, the Freeps are hilarious... they are blathering about in absolute confusion.
I think Al mystified them with all those four syllable words... like con-sti-tu-tion.
Fweep fweep fweep.