| Gore blurts out the truth
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Fantastic speech by Gore today about the administration's dangerous consolidation of executive power:
The seductive exercise of unilateral power has led this president to interpret his powers under the constitution in a way that would have been the worst nightmare of our framers...
...In the end, for this administration, it is all about power. This lie about the invented connection between al Qaeda and Iraq was and is the key to justifying the current ongoing Constitutional power grab by the President. So long as their big flamboyant lie remains an established fact in the public’s mind, President Bush will be seen as justified in taking for himself the power to make war on his whim. He will be seen as justified in acting to selectively suspend civil liberties – again on his personal discretion – and he will continue to intimidate the press and thereby distort the political reality experienced by the American people during his bid for re-election.
And here I thought The Daily Show was the only place capable of telling the plain truth. Wait ... Gore cites The Daily Show:
Ironically, his [Cheney's] interview ended up being fodder for the Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Stewart played Cheney’s outright denial that he had ever said that representatives of Al Qaeda and Iraqi intelligence met in Prague. Then Stewart froze Cheney’s image and played the exact video clip in which Cheney had indeed directly claimed linkage between the two, catching him on videotape in a lie. At that point Stewart said, addressing himself to Cheney’s frozen image on the television screen, “It’s my duty to inform you that your pants are on fire.”
Until I find where this is posted on line officially, I've unofficially posted it here.
Posted
by D. Weinberger at June 24, 2004 01:48 PM
Comments
God I wish he'd been this bold in 2000. He might not have to be giving speeches on the faults of the Bush administration.
Come November...
Posted by: Rick Gregory | June 24, 2004 09:07 PM
"dangerous consolidation of executive power?"
Compared to which administration? FDR's?
"this administration, it is all about power."
Politics about power? Machiavelli inform the Prince immediately!
Next we'll hear that politicians tell lies...
Posted by: enowning | June 25, 2004 01:08 AM
Compared to the Constitution, enowning.
All human beings lie. How much and about what matters.
Posted by: David Weinberger | June 25, 2004 09:12 AM
Even if Mr. Gore never holds elected office again, I think the recent speeches he has made will ensure that his words are read by students of history when they inquire about the Bush administration, the aftermath of 9/11 and the war in Iraq. Absolutely brilliant. If only this man had been preseident.
Posted by: scott | June 25, 2004 10:56 AM
You've got to be joking, right? While I'm pretty dismayed by the current administration, the last person who should be giving lectures regarding its abuses is Mr. "No Controlling Legal Authority".
Posted by: Matt | June 29, 2004 04:52 PM
So is Matt saying that if you have a speeding ticket you can't criticize a drunk driver?
Posted by: Rich | July 3, 2004 05:14 PM
To all those who think that this was a "fantastic speach," I offer the following: "Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
Al Gore has no leg to stand on by offering up what he believes would be the outrage of our nation's early leaders at President Bush's use of force in the face of imminent threat to our security and safety. A historical review shows that from 1798 to 1993, the U.S. has used military force no less than 234 times, while Congress officially declared war only 5 times. (http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/foabroad.htm)
The historical facts show that President Bush, in the face of an unmistakeable threat by an openly hostile enemy, merely followed a Presidential tradition of taking difficult, decisive action while the Congress took the easy path of debate and indecision.
Only an ignorant mind adheres to a belief when confronted by overwhelmingly contradictory evidence (the root word in "ignorance" is "ignore"). Those of us who are true "students of history" find nothing brilliant in these blatant attempts at revisionism. What is brilliant is the way Mr. Gore and others of his persuasion effectively capitalize on this ignorance of our nation's history, which I believe is a national disgrace.
Posted by: randy | July 21, 2004 11:58 AM
Hey Randyman!
Good point - although the US has been involved in numerous conflicts throughout our very brief tenure as a nation on this earth, I would argue that every one of these conflicts whether declared war or not (i.e.; WWI and II, Vietnam, etc.), has been extremely profitable to a select few. Bush is only the latest in a long line of savants serving a coalition of the ravenous rich. Religious garbage and other political rhetoric are only some of the many smoke screens employed by intelligent agents since man first feared the dark - it's quite easy to keep the peasants from being able to sort out their thoughts and develop a clear idea of what's really going on with their minds filled with fear of God or fear of terrorists or fear of e.coli, yada yada yada. I'd say we have a good 30 years or so before global monetary and political consolidation becomes a reality. You'd better prepare your kids for a technocratic future modeled after the european fiefdoms. Got doubts? There are some reliable sources of original knowledge if you want to know the truth. Just search diligently and don't believe everything you hear and read (even this :)). So quit fretting over which president or politician did or said what - they are only minor pieces on the chess board; knights and bishops if you will... we are the pawns. Let's look at the real issues - perhaps even the very survival of mankind due to the greed and narrowmindedness of the people we choose to govern us! Who's really pulling the strings? Selah!
Posted by: john bravo | January 21, 2005 04:38 PM