Remember when the NYT belatedly told America that George Bush had broken the law by spying on americans? Remember the speech that Al Gore gave on January 6th, 2006?
A man completely under control, yet totally on fire, engaging his audience.... yet feeding off this same audience's yearning to see and hear a leader tell them the truth.
That was Al Gore... being Pissed. And yet it was something that grew beyond being pissed, it was Al Gore giving simply the most powerful eloquent speech of a lifetime, in a life filled with speeches a. The finest oratorial performance by a man all to often mired in mediocrity. But at what becomes a signature moment, Al Gores rises... and delivers.
When the audience rises in ovation, Gore continues, raising his voice, uses a more powerful inflection, The applause boils with more vigor, Gores voice takes on a growl, the audience is no longer an audience, they are a crowd roaring in approval of a man.... telling them the truth they so desire.
Acclamation at its finest, for his finest. Moment.
For example, as you know 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 that, notwithstanding his American citizenship, that person imprisoned has no right to talk with a lawyer-even if he wants to argue that the President or his appointees have made a mistake and imprisoned the wrong person. The President claims that he can imprison that American citizen -- any American Citizen he chooses -- indefinitely for the rest of his life without an even arrest warrant, without notifying them about what charges have been filed against them, without even informing their families that they have been imprisoned. No such right exists in the America that you and I know and love. It is foreign to our constitution. It must be rejected.
we here"-must examine our own role as citizens in allowing and not preventing the shocking decay and hollowing out and degradation of American democracy! It is time to stand up for the American system that we know and love! It is time to breathe new life back into America?s democracy
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 full 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 nuclear missiles ready to be launched on a moment?s notice to completely annihilate the country? Is America in more danger now than when we faced worldwide fascism on the march-when the last generation had to fight and win 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 did. Yet they faithfully protected our freedoms and now it?s up to us to do the very same thing!
Republican as well as Democratic members of Congress should support the bipartisan call of the Liberty Coalition for the appointment of a special counsel to pursue the criminal issues raised by warrantless wiretapping of Americans by the President.
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.
Third, both Houses of Congress should hold comprehensive -- and not just superficial -- hearings into these serious allegations of criminal behavior on the part of the President. And, they should follow the evidence wherever it leads.
Fourth, the extensive new powers requested by the Executive Branch in its proposal to extend and enlarge the Patriot Act should, under no circumstances be granted, unless and until there are adequate and enforceable safeguards to protect the Constitution and the rights of the American people against the kinds of abuses that have so recently been revealed.
Fifth, any telecommunications company that has provided the government with access to private information concerning the communications of Americans without a proper warrant should immediately cease and desist their complicity in this apparently illegal invasion of the privacy of American citizens.
Here is the 1 hour speech.
Here is the short version, 9 minutes and six seconds.
Just as Crocadile Dundde said, " Thats not a knife.... this is a knife..". Thats not Al Gore being pissed..... this is Al Gore pissed.
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IF you havent figured it out, theres a Wreck listed diary about AL Gore being Pissed off, when I first saw the title I was immediately reminded of the FISA speech, but no, the diary was considerably more arcane. For some reason I felt it was dishonoring the great FISA speech, by ignoring the FISA speech. WTF do I know.......