Gore calls for special counsel on eavesdropping (Barf Alert)

Reuters ^ | Jan 16, 2006 | Reuters

[indcons]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former Vice President Al Gore called on Monday for an independent counsel to investigate whether President George W. Bush broke the law in authorizing domestic eavesdropping without court approval.

U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales plans to testify in Senate hearings, expected next month, to give the administration's legal justification for the secret domestic eavesdropping operation.

"A special counsel should be immediately appointed by the attorney general to remedy the obvious conflict of interest that prevents him from investigating what many believe are serious violations of law by the president," Gore said in a speech to The American Constitution Society and The Liberty Coalition.

Gore, the Democrat defeated by Bush in the 2000 presidential election, said the eavesdropping operation threatened the foundation of U.S. democracy, and he recalled the FBI's secret surveillance of Martin Luther King, on the U.S. holiday commemorating the civil rights leader.

Gore's comments also come at the start of a congressional election year in which Democrats are seeking to seize majority control from Republicans.

He accused Bush of breaking the law for not getting court approval for the National Security Agency eavesdropping operation on communications such as phone calls and e-mail coming into and going out of the United States of people suspected of terrorism ties.

"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," Gore said.

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

The 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act makes it illegal to spy on U.S. citizens in the United States without the approval of a special, secret court.

Bush has steadfastly said his actions were within the law and that he ordered the domestic eavesdropping operation to fight terrorism after the September 11 attacks.

"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," Tracey Schmitt, spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee, said in a statement.

"While the president works to protect Americans from terrorists, Democrats deliver no solutions of their own, only diatribes laden with inaccuracies and anger," she said.

[luv2ndamend]

http://www.realchange.org/gore.htm




Ok Al, "There is no controlling legal authority that says this was in violation of law."
-- Al Gore, seven times (in one form or another), White House news conference, March 3

[Berlin_Freeper]

"Forty years have passed since the majority of Americans adopted television as their principal source of information. Its dominance has become so extensive that virtually all significant political communication now takes place within the confines of flickering 30-second television advertisements."

-What about those three lengthy Bush/Kerry debates???

And the political economy supported by these short but expensive television ads is as different from the vibrant politics of America's first century

-You mean when they were shooting each other by the hundreds of thousands in the Civil War?

as those politics were different from the feudalism which thrived on the ignorance of the masses of people in the Dark Ages.

-Huh? Dark Ages? WTF?

The constricted role of ideas in the American political system today has encouraged efforts by the Executive Branch to control the flow of information as a means of controlling the outcome of important decisions that still lie in the hands of the people.

-Bush is controlling the flow of information? Then how is the Free Press stabbing our Troops in the back nearly every day???

The Administration vigorously asserts its power to maintain the secrecy of its operations. After all, the other branches can't check an abuse of power if they don't know it is happening.

-Let's forget secret operations and just broadcast all our safety measures to Osama so he can kill us in the largest numbers possible. Gore knows we never had any secrets against the Nazi's or Japs, that would be dangerous to us.

[gotribe]

Let's do it. Have a special counsel investigate eavesdropping all the way back to Roosevelt and write it up in several volumes. That way people will understand that our government eavesdrops all the time and has been for a long time and we're still a free nation. YOU IDIOT DEMS!

[p23185]

Let's do it. Have a special counsel investigate eavesdropping all the way back to Roosevelt and write it up in several volumes. That way people will understand that our government eavesdrops all the time and has been for a long time and we're still a free nation. YOU IDIOT DEMS!

In the past couple of days I have seen a post that stated even Lincoln spied on the Confederate Army, which certainly were American citizens!!

[carl in alaska]

From me, Gore's statements today just get a giant BFD.

(If you're not sure what that means I will reply with an explanation.)

[Waco]

No controlling legal authority pisant, now moveon, craphead.

[indcons]

Please explain..thanks

[Brilliant]

I think it's time to impeach Al Gore.

[Just mythoughts]

Guess old Rockefeller is truly gagged, had to get old algore to push his memo.

[nopardons]

Does that mean that that "special council" can then throw Clinton and algore into jail, because of their eavesdropping/ spying on AMERICAN CITIZENS, when they were president and V.P.? LOL

Poor algore, he has no working brain cells, whatsoever.

[nothingnew]

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

Ya can't make this stuff up!

FMCDH(BITS)

[carl in alaska]

BFD = big f###ing deal.....lol.

[IonInsights]

I can just see Gore, in the wee hours of morning, spending another sleepless night sitting in an overstuffed chair with Tipper curled up at his feet, and he stares into the glowing embers of a dying fire, wishing, rueing, regretting, resenting ever having had invented that damned internet.

...With a 3/4 empty bottle of Southern Comfort on the coffee table (hate for you to miss the whole picture.)

[EQAndyBuzz]

"Second, new whistleblower protections should immediately be established for members of the Executive Branch who report evidence of wrongdoing -- especially where it involves the abuse of Executive Branch authority in the sensitive areas of national security."

Anyone ever wonder what Vince Foster wanted to talk about?

[indcons]

LOL.....:)

[SAMS]

OK, he is not in ANY form of public office anymore. IMHO the only thing he can call for is Chinese take-out.

[Peelod]

http://aolsvc.news.aol.com/news/article.adp?id=20060116141909990004&ncid=NWS00010000000001

Do you agree with Gore's comments about Bush's domestic spying?

No
48%

Yes
48%

I need to know more
3%

Total Votes: 265,319

[King Prout]

by existing, The Log calls for a fireplace into which to be heaved.

[King Prout]

oo-OOO-oo!

[Trajan88]

What a bafoon.