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Tuesday, January 17, 2006

So Al Gore made a speech yesterday...(UPDATED w/Additions)

Many of the liberal bloggers have been praising it to high heaven. I dunno, I skimmed it, and I'm not hearing the music. But then, I probably still haven't fully forgiven Gore for the 2000 campaign.

Yes, he's usually right, but that doesn't make him "the conscience of the Democratic party," as some now want to dub him. But enough smart people don't see it my way for me to want to listen.

People like Digby, who has a link to the speech, so you can see for yourself, and his own comments. I agree with him (when he agrees with Gore) saying one of the things we must do is
...demand comprehensive hearings and go where the facts lead. I and others in the blogosphere have been calling for a select committee to invetigate the wiretap leaks so that we can have legal counsel rather than elected bloviators lead the questioning. This is absolutely necessary.


Here's Josh Marshall; another place I think he [and Gore] is right here is when the former says:


The point Gore makes in his speech that I think is most key is the connection between authoritarianism, official secrecy and incompetence.

The president's critics are always accusing him of law-breaking or unconstitutional acts and then also berating the incompetence of his governance. And it's often treated as, well ... he's power-hungry and incompetent to boot! Imagine that! The point though is that they are directly connected. Authoritarianism and secrecy breed incompetence; the two feed on each other. It's a vicious cycle. Governments with authoritarian tendencies point to what is in fact their own incompetence as the rationale for giving them yet more power. Katrina was a good example of this.


ETA: Daily Kos has Gore's reply to the response from the Attorney General.

The issue, simply put, is that for more than four years, the executive branch has been wiretapping many thousands of American citizens without warrants in direct contradiction of American law. It is clearly wrong and disrespectful to the American people to allow a close political associate of the president to be in charge of reviewing serious charges against him.

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