Today, Al Gore delivered one of the great speeches in American history, in which, in decrying the dire Constitutional crisis created in the US by President George W. Bush, he often quoted the founders of our country.
One day, we will all look back to Mr. Gore’s speech, and either be proud that we listened and understood and fought for the sanctity of the US Constitution…..or be embarrassed and shocked that we didn’t comprehend the utter seriousness of the predicament of the United States of America in 2006.
Al Gore’s lengthy, blunt-spoken plea for our American democracy was orated in the Daughters of the American Revolution Hall in Washington DC, before a standing-room-only crowd that gave Mr. Gore numerous standing ovations. It was attended by both Democrats and Republicans, and was specifically endorsed by Rep. Bob Barr (R-GA), who was quoted in Gore’s speech.
In his speech, Mr. Gore articulated to thunderous applause and cheering, ”...the President of the United States has been breaking the law repeatedly and presistently. A president who breaks the law is a threat to the very structure of our government….Once violated, the rule of law is in danger. Unless stopped, lawlessness grows.”
Mr. Gore continued, ”...the President has also declared that he has a heretofore unrecognized inherent power to seize and imprison any American citizen that he alone determines to be a threat to our nation, and… the person imprisoned has no right to talk with a lawyer-even to argue that the President or his appointees have made a mistake and imprisoned the wrong person.
The President claims that he can imprison American citizens indefinitely for the rest of their lives without an arrest warrant, without notifying them about what charges have been filed against them, and without informing their families that they have been imprisoned.”
Mr. Gore concluded by calling for six immediate reform steps to be taken, including comprehensive “hearings into these serious allegations of criminal behavior on the part of the President.”
Video on c-span
With transcript below.
